There Will Be Time Ch. 02

"Don't look down, look at me," he commanded harshly. She whimpered at the feeling of his fingers digging into her flesh. She braved to look up at him resisting the urge to tear away from him. Why was he acting this way?!

Blinking she hoped she had been seeing things, and when she opened her eyes again she found that his teeth were normal. Squaring her shoulders and piercing her lips Adina stared back at him defiantly. She didn't care who he was, or what he was at that moment.

She caught the look of fear in his scorching horrified gaze and slowly built back her confidence. "I'm sorry," he uttered his breath quick and short.

They stared at one another for a long time before he finally eased his death grip off her arms. A sigh of reprieve escaped her lips as she watched him turn away from her. She took this moment to take in James' visage. He seemed to be dressed for bed in nothing but pajama bottoms. The flesh on his back was taut against the well-defined muscle. Her eyes fell down to the small of his back and she smiled at the two dimples there above his ass, wondering how it would be to press her lips there, even though he'd just about scared her to death.

"I've never been able to control myself around you when you piss me off like this," he ground out turning on her again, eyes blazing. "I want you. You know that. Why do you make me wait on your answer like you're someone important, waiting for you to show up after such a long time? I have been waiting for you for eons, and you insult me by charming another man? You have the nerve to hit me? Stupid... woman."

His words fell on her like a ton of bricks. Eons? They had only met two weeks ago for Christ's sake! It had only been about two to three weeks since she'd seen him. That counted as years to him? She wasn't sure if she quite understood him right.

After a short while all the nervousness she felt previously at standing in front of him left her person. "You make me angry, too. You just love to push my buttons," she stammered in a high pitched voice, choosing not to use his choice of words. "Although, I have no idea what it is you're angry about in the first place! There's nothing between me and Andrew except friendship."

He gave her a disbelieving look and she quickly spoke. "Alright," she began softly. "I'm sorry that I hit you. You just shouldn't talk about people you don't know that well. But that still gave me no right to hit you. I'm so sorry," she expressed remorse, wringing her hands in front of her waiting for his face to change. The scowl he had hadn't left his face, but she could see the tension of his mouth ebb.

Adina threw her hands on her hips and huffed trying to stifle her rage at the same time it resurfaced. "And another thing; I'm not stupid and obviously I am someone important if you're upset that I 'ignored' you. If I were insignificant you wouldn't even bother to get angry!" She hadn't meant to yell, but he was really impossible sometimes and she couldn't let him get away with his previous statements.

'Or maybe he just likes to see you snap... It's so not worth it, Adina,' the voice in her head signaled.

"Oh man, okay let's start over," she exhaled strongly. "Hi, I'm Adina Richards. I am brown, twenty-one, and I come from the tribe of Judah. You're turn," she said extending her hand and trying on a smile.

When he didn't say anything or move to take her hand, she looked at his face surprised, somewhat hurt by his refusal of her peace offering. "No? Okay... Instead of saying 'Hey, I'm James Whatever' or something along those lines or 'Hey, I'm glad that what I said to you was actually absorbed', you're just going to stand there like a tree stump?"

She stopped talking when she gauged his anger filled expression and dropped her lonely limb.

"Okay. I'm leaving now. Sorry again," she sighed dejectedly with a nod of her head turning on the balls of her feet to walk away. Feeling like an idiot, she didn't know whether to go left or right. Somehow and for some time, she had felt like this was how their meeting would transpire if they ever did meet in person again. She scolded herself for not thinking positively.

Anywhere was fine as long as she was away from him. Did he forget what happened between them in the restroom? 'That God-awful restroom.' Maybe he didn't think much of it like she did. James' words that night had been sweet, like a lover's, but before his irrational behavior she thought that he'd felt the same as she did in their desires.

How could she be so stupid? To think that she had wanted to see him after all this time, to become his lover. Yet how he treated her, spoke to her was unlike a lover; what she wasn't expecting was that he would argue with her and provoke her. Except she didn't know what hurt more—the fact that he didn't think she was someone important, or the deeply wounded look in his eyes after she struck him.

'What are you saying? You don't need to be important to him. He's a bastard. I said it before,' she goaded herself shaking her head, pushing the painful feeling down to the bottoms of her feet.

Before she could make a decision on where to go, she felt his hand clasp around her wrist and with a soft yank she flew into his arms. She yelped at the feeling of her heart dropping into the pit of her stomach and shook with momentary fear.

His fingers snaked into her hair and grasped a handful at the back to pull her face up to look at him. "Did nothing that happened between us mean anything to you?" Anguish flickered over his usually tough features as she watched him go through some internal battle. "Adina," he said softly with strained twinkling eyes, "Who are you thinking about? Who is he that keeps you from me?"

Adina inhaled sharply and she tried to understand the man who was holding her a little too tightly. "No one," she replied with a shake of her head, wide eyes darting over his face. "I promise," she said relaxing into his familiar body embracing him. A small smile of content touched her lips as her cheek pressed against his solid bare chest.

"You have no idea how much I miss you. I wish this wasn't a dream. I wish I knew where you were." But she was happy that for a moment she was able to touch him again. "Because I want you too." The torturous need in her body was eased as she held to him closely, enjoying the rise and fall of his chest, the soft scent of him, and his fingers playing in her hair. Her body felt light and fluttery as she stood with her lips parted gaping up at him expectantly.

Unable to resist she crushed her mouth to his, his sharp teeth sinking painfully into her bottom lip. "Mmh!"

"Ouch." Sharply jerking away she reached a trembling hand to her mouth, staring at the blood on his teeth. The fangs were back, she realized. In shock she watched his eyes change to a darker color as he first tasted and then sucked the dark liquid away.

'A monster?'

Unbearable horror gripped her heart suddenly at the carnal look in his eyes. 'I shouldn't have come. I should have followed my instinct!'

His arms tightened around her small body, her head shaking at his insidious intent as she tried to no avail to push him away. She felt as if he were squeezing the life out her and her blood burned in her veins, screaming to get away.

"Adina," he groaned roughly, holding her to him in his iron grasp. "Please!"

Her eyes pooled with tears. "No," she managed to utter before those long fangs came down upon her. She felt a sharp pain on her throat. She closed her eyes at the pain, powerless to do anything about it, and it slowly faded into a feeling deliciousness.

"Nnnn!" The cry was what sent her body bowing up on the bed. She was shaking, heaving for air as if she were having a panic attack as she held her neck. She blinked to adjust her eyes to the darkness of her bedroom and clutched a hand against her thrashing heart.

"Oh my God," she breathed, willing the adrenaline in her body to desist.

Adin... Khalid... James.

Reaching a trembling hand to her mouth, she winced when she realized it was hurting.

"It wasn't real!" Frantically she hopped out of bed and stood in front of her mirror trying to examine herself in the dark. She blinked her eyes quickly, refusing help from the light, and finally saw what she wanted to see. She'd bitten her lip in her sleep; the tooth mark was her own.

Huffing she slouched her shoulders in relief and went and got back into bed. "What a dream." She hadn't been lying down for about five minutes when she heard a knock at her front door. Adina jerked her head towards her phone for the time. It was two in the morning.