Dried and Dying Roses (BWWM)

Forty: "I (Adrian) Think I Do This All The Time..."

"Isa,"

"Put the clothes I set out for you on, Adrian," Isa murmured from where she was standing at the stove, making a quick breakfast.

He let out a loud sigh, "Why?"

"Because," Isa stated calmly, "I'm going to go on a date with you, then, we're going to ride around and figure out what the fuck we're doing."

Isa could hear the anger in his voice as he snapped, "I've got shit to do, today, Isaline. I'm not going on a damned date with you."

"Okay, fine," Isa shrugged , her voice a little higher with how irritated she really was, "Then sit down and wait for the food to finish."

"Alright,  I can do that,"  Adrian responded, a smug air to his demeanor.

Isa wasn't quite finished yet, continuing to speak, the anger in her voice totally evident now, "And tell me when exactly it was that you fell in love with me."

Adrian's face clouded over in his rage, but his voice  was as smooth as velvet when he spoke.

"Get the fuck out of my house."

His lip was curled in disgust, and even though she knew she shouldn't have said anything, she did anyways, knowing exactly how Adrian was going to respond. He had told her he loved her in his slumber three days ago. The first time Isa though it was a fluke, but the second, third, and fourth times following that had her believing that these late night confessions may have been true. After having a long talk with Nicole, Isa found out that apparently everyone but herself had known that this man was in love with her.  Isa felt so, so very bed, but then she thought of the day he had told her not to love him, and she was livid.

He couldn't follow his own violent demands? If she couldn't do it, then why didn't he listen to his own advice?

But that wasn't what upset Isaline the most.

She was going out on a limb here, but she thought that when you loved someone, you treated them like you did. Adrian had been doing the complete opposite.

When she met the gaze of the irascible man, Isa could see that she had made a mistake saying what she had, but she had to get it out. Knowing what she now knew, that knowledge had been boiling inside her, festering until it was almost painful for three painstakingly long eternities that only turned out to be mere days; but she hadn't planned to talk to him about this in this fashion at all.

"Adrian no. I didn't mean to bring it about like that, but me need to talk about it."

Those impeccable acting skills made themselves known that morning for the second time before Isa's eyes. His face went blank, eyes so cold that the flecks of azure within that grey abyss of emotion turned to glaciers that sent a chill down Isaline's spine, "I don't know what you're talking about."

Isa almost believed him.

With a sharp shake of her head, Isa pleaded with him with both her eyes and mouth, "Please, Adrian don't do this. We can talk-"

"I said that you needed to get the fuck out of my home, Isaline."

"Adrian-"

"NOW!"

Isaline's body flew back, and she hit the running stove. Frantically, she turned, trying to find something to grab ahold to before she hit the ground, and she did find purchase, but not on anything desirable. When she reached over, she did so across the stove, aiming for the control panel, but instead, landed on the open flame. The white flame from the gas stove licked at her exposed forearm, pulling a scream of agony from her so loud that her own head immediately began to pound; but before the pain of that too could settle in, she blacked out for a moment, overtaken by a pain so powerful she couldn't think clearly.