The best thing for her, probably for both of them, would be for him to leave, but he couldn’t bring himself to do it. Not yet anyway. Maybe in a little bit. He just wanted to be near her for a little longer. He frowned as he thrust the screen back into place. For the first time he began to realize that when Isabellewas near, the darkness that had been haunting him, the loneliness that he had experienced since destroying Brendadidn’t tearing at him anymore. For the first time since he had been thrust intothis dark existence, there was actually a little bit of peace in his soul.
And itwas because ofher.
Confused, angry, and extremely disgruntled, he returned to the couch. He lay awake for a long time before sleep finally claimed him. And then, the dreams startedagain.
CHAPTER 11
Isabelle managed to avoid him, and everyone else, for most of the next day. She was scared that Ethan would sense her humiliation, and discomfort. That the stooges would make some comment about her staying at her parent’s house, and she was petrified that she would run into Jess. Her own self hatred was enough, without having to see Jess’s hatred on top of it.
She got up before the sun rose, knowing that Aiden would be leaving early in the morning. She wanted to say goodbye to him before everyone else got up. She managed to corner him by the bathroom as soon as herose. She had ended up in tears by the time that they had broken apart. The tears had shocked them both. She hadn’t cried in years, and it fully made her realize just what an emotional mess she had become.
He had promised that he would be back soon to visit, and had pleaded with her to stop crying. Although he was too much of a man to cry, he had been as reluctant to release her as she was to release him. When she had finally managed to let him go, she had turned and fled from the house. She knew that her absence from his departure would be remarked upon later, but she didn’t care.
It had been years since she had gone to the treehouse, but that was where she sought her sanctuary. She sat in the tree for hours, watching the sun move across the sky as she tried to sort through the mess of her jumbled emotions. As the sun began to set, she realized that she hadn’t even come close to figuring out how she felt. She wasn’t sure that she ever would.
She refused to cry again, no matter how much she wanted too. Crying was not going to solve her problem, and she was already disgusted with herself for being weak. With a resigned sigh, she climbed wearily out of the tree house, tired, and emotionally drained. She reached the ground and wrapped her arms around herself to help ward off the cold chill that permeated her entire being. Kickingmiserablyat the ground, she made her way slowly down the path, and back to the house.
She couldn’t avoid himforever;she couldn’t avoid all of them forever. She was just going to have to deal with it, and take everything as it came. She couldn’t keep living like this. He would be leaving soon, Jess would be leaving soon, and then it would all be over. That thought didn’t give her the reassurance that it used too, but she refused to linger over the reason why. She couldn’tallow herself tobe alone with him anymore, that was all, and no matter what she was feeling for him, it didn’t matter anymore. She didn’t even like him!
That wasn’t entirely true, she admitted to herself. She did like him, a little too much for her peace of mind. Isabelle sighed tiredly as she climbed the steps and opened the screen door. Everyone had come back from working on the house, and they were now gathered in the living room, watching a movie. They all turned to look at her when she entered. “Where have you been all day?” Ethan inquired.
Isabelle shrugged absently. “Around.”
“You missed Aiden.”
“I saidgoodbye to him this morning.”
She moved forward to lean against the doorframe. She stared blankly at the action movie that theyallturned back to watch. She found her gaze traveling involuntarily toward Stefan. He was sitting in one of therecliners;his feetwerepropped up, his gaze intent upon her. It took all she had to break his stare, and turn away.
“Where’s Jess?” she asked as she moved toward the fridge.
“She moved out!” Ian calledto her.
Isabelle froze with her hand on the handle. “What?” she asked in surprise, her heart leaping painfully as a bubble of hope bloomed forth. She quickly shoved it aside. “Why?”
She stepped back to peer into the living room again. All heads were turned toward Stefan. He looked at her, his face hard, and his eyes distant. “We broke up.”
Isabelle’s eyes widened in surprise as his gaze burned into her. She swallowed heavily, her emotions swinging rapidly back and forth like a pendulum. For a moment she feared that she would be sick. She closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and swung the fridge open. She needed to sort through her emotions. She was also hungry, and in desperate need of a shower to ease the chill in her. She grabbed a bag of blood, and headed for the stairs.
“I’m going to take a shower so don’t even think about flushing the toilets!” she yelled over her shoulder.
“Would we do that?” Jackcalled innocently. Isabelle ignored their laughter as she made her way up the stairs.
“Why does she do that?” Stefan asked the minute that Isabelle was gone.
“Boss us around? Because it makes her feel better,” Ian answered absently, his gaze riveted on theTV.
“It makes us feel better,” Ethan answeredwith chuckle. “It keeps her happy, which in turn keeps the rest of us happy.”
“Yeah, Isabelle can make your life a living hell if she’s mad at you,” Mike supplied.
Stefan quirkedaneyebrow as he stifled a laugh. He knew first hand just how miserable she could make someone’s life when she wanted too, but all of that was going to change tonight. Jess was gone, out of the house, and Isabelle no longer had any reason to fight him, or herself. He began to harden as he thought about all of the wonderful things that he was going to teach her, and do to her.
“I already figured that out,” he saidsoftly. They all shot him questioning looks that he chose to ignore. “No, why doesn’t she feed in front of you?”
Ian and Ethan exchanged a quick smile. “Because we used to tease herabout itwhen we were younger. We told her that she was ugly when she did it, that she looked like a freak, and all kinds of other stuff. She hasn’t fed in front of anyone since she was eight,” Ethan explained.
Stefan was surprised to find himself highly irritated with them. All he could picture was a small Isabelle, in pigtails, crying over her brothers taunting. It was something that had obviously affected her. His jaw clenched tightly as his hands curled involuntarily into the arms of the chair. It didn’t matter that they had all been children, or that they had all taunted and teased each other, all he could think about was the pain that they had inflicted upon her. He wanted to tell them that it wasn’t funny, but he bit his tongue, they didn’t need to suspect any of his attentions toward her.
