And I Don't Know What I'm Doing``Ade;;INACTIVE

[rocky]

"He needs to pee!"

Adrienne shook her head, and then exhaled softly as he pawed at her, wondering just how much of this she could take. The disinclination to be his plaything was offset a little by his willingness to spend an entire afternoon with her at Coney Island. It hadn't even been him who had suggested sex at the top of the Ferris wheel in the first place, but that was Adrienne's constant problem -- she loved and loathed the act, she did it and then regretted it, then did it again in what would fast become a vicious cycle.

Frank never wanted to spend any actual time with her. More often than not he wanted her under his desk servicing him while he made phone calls as if nothing at all was amiss.

"Can we go and see him first?"

Temptation 2, Resolve 0.

[mabs]

Reed rolled his eyes at her and laughed, raising a brow high at her. He sighed and nodded, dragging his feet figuratively. "Well I guess we can. If he pees in the floor your living room would be flooded."

Reed grinned and kissed her quickly again before pulling away from the car and opening the door for her. Reed, ultimately, wasn't a bad guy to date. You just never knew who else was dating him too. Not only that, but he seemed to have no feelings toward individual women. The sex as a whole he loved, he loved everything about him but they were just one of millions when in his bed. And he never really loved any one of them. Though he sure as hell lied the sex and the attention they gave him. 

Reed hopped into the car and drove back towards downtown, a carless smile on his face again. He had Adrienne on the ropes, certainly, he thought. Though he was sure she had his ropes too, if he was honest with himself. And he wasn't. 

"Alright, babe," he said to her, giving her a look. "Go check on that beast. I'll stay with the car. Make sure I don't get towed." Afterall, he was parked illegally. Again. For her. 

He was strung out and couldn't even see it. 

[rocky]

"Okay, I need to take him out-out, though. He's been stuck home all day."

She gave his thigh a squeeze. If he wanted her he would have to take her and her dog, and her life as a package. She couldn't just leave him cooped up in the apartment over night, that was awful. Especially not when she had just spent the better part of the day with Reed.

"So it's up to you. I'm going to go get him and you can decide if you want to sit here in the car or come with us -- or go home alone."

Her tone was light, but she was hoping now that he didn't just decide to go home. That would be hurtful, to say the least. She didn't wait for him to answer, though, just blew him a kiss and slid out of the car to head in and fetch the beast.

[mabs]

God. The things Reed did for sex. 

He would wait for her, but he wasn't exactly warmed up to the huge wrinkly thing yet. He would wait in the car. And...sneak a quick smoke form his glove box stash before he went in-fucking-sane. 

Reed watched as Adrienne went up and then came back down a few minutes later with the damnable bear of a dog. He was sure the things wasn't as offensive as it looked at first, but Reed has always been more of a German shepherd type man. They didn't seem so...hideous to him. But he suspected that George would grow on him if he woke up many more mornings in his master's bed. 

Reed felt a little better after the cigarette. He was never a habitual smoker, not after college, and he'd only taken up the habit (along with his drinking fancy) after law school started kicking his ass. And after Casey crushed him. But that was neither here nor there. 

He tossed the offensive cig butt out his window and stretched, yawning and closing his eyes for a moment. Damnable redhead. 

It wasn't long before he heard a knock on the window and he jolted up, opening his eyes to see a police officer there instead of Adrienne. "Sir, do you realize that you are parked in a no parking zone?" Reed cursed mentally, hoping that Adrienne would be coming down those stairs soon enough. 

"Officer, I apologize," he drawled out in a charming voice. "You see, I'm taking my sister to see our mother in the hospital. I hope you'll understand. Here she comes now." Reed hopped out of the car and rushed over to Adrienne's door, opening it for her. 

"It's okay Ade. Mom's gonna be just fine." He kissed her head for good measure. "Just let mr talk to the nice officer." Rees went to shake the officer's hand and slipped him a bill for good measure, thanking him for understanding such a traumatic experience. Reed resisted laughing until the cop's car was gone an they were headed down the road. 

"I told you I would get in trouble." 

[rocky]

"And I told you that you could go home."

Adrienne smirked. She had grabbed a few things while she was up there -- a toothbrush. Fresh underwear. She had changed her underwear but redressed in the same clothes, so he would find a surprise waiting for him, a reward, of sorts, for his patience. She was training him like a little dog.

She had taken the dog for a thirty minute walk and given him a proper exercise, and then she had spent a further fifteen minutes making a big fuss of him in the apartment. She had been half a minute from trying to fit the three them into the two-seater car, but had, at the last moment, changed her mind.

She did feel horrible for leaving again, though. She fastened her seatbelt quickly as Reed pulled away, and wondered what the hell she had gotten herself into.

He probably lived in an enormous, clinical apartment that she was going to be completely out of place in, and she'd have to tiptoe everywhere in case she smudged or broke anything.

They were terrible for one another.

[mabs]

"Hmph," Reed grumbled out as he drove. "I may make you sleep on the couch then, sister Ade." The tease was in good nature though as he smirked a half grin and sped on to his apartment. Reed lived in one of the obnoxious complexes towards Central Park, the kind with pretentious facades and valet parking. Reed was used to it and loved it, the finest living that money could buy, and he felt right at home at it. Of course he was selfish enough that he didn't stop to hazard a guess that Adrienne might not have fetl so comfortable in such a lifestyle. Oh well. It wasn't his concern. The only tour of the place she was getting was straight to that bedroom.

Reed got out of the car as the valet opened the door for Adrienne and Reed tipped him and tossed him the keys. The man, Forbes, was used to Reed's habits with women. He was nearly unphased by anything now, though Reed could notice a flicker of curiosity on his face at the sight of Adrienne. Reed just smiled and wrapped his arm around Adrienne's shoulders.

The doorman opened the glass doors to the lavish lobby of the condominium complex, the combination of metal and mahogany wood furnishing the lobby with a certain masculine taste. Reed led them to the elevator, who smiled and gave the pair a nod. "Good evening, Mr. Armstrong," the young boy said pushing the button and turning the key for the penthouse suite. Reed looked unaffected as the elevator shot up, towards the top of the twenty some floor complex. Reed pulled Adrienne a little closer as they exited the elevator directly to the foyer of Reed's apartment, which was a mix of masculinity and style.

It wasn't quite clinical and minimalist, as many New York designers had taken to doing these days, and there were aspects of the apartment that were certainly that of a lived in space. A used corkscrew and an empty bottle of wine lay on the counter where Reed had opened it with one of the new girls in the office a few storeys below his firm's floors a couple nights before. Well, Adrienne had never claimed exclusivity. And Reed wasn't sure he could give that.

"Welcome to the mancave," he dubbed it with a laugh, releasing her an going towards the bar. "Want anything?" Reed leaned against the counter and looked at her, knowing that she would feel misplaced. However, how she would cope with it would be interesting all together. The apartment was clinical by any means. There was a slight layer of living all around, from the stakcs of DVDs by the TV to the recently used XBOX 360 with its controllers on the coffee table. A mix of genres if it had to be labeled. Just like the man himself.

[rocky]

This was worse than the car. Adrienne looked around with a quizzical expression on her face, her critical eye drifting over the wooden floor, his leather furniture, and locking, momentarily, on the lipstick stain on one of those wine glasses. She might volunteer to sleep on the couch at this rate. She had no right to be put out by the sight of it, but she was. It did nothing to appeal to her vanity to know that he hadn't even thought to hide it before he dragged her up here. Ass.

Adrienne wasn't against glamour. She just had a love-hate relationship with it: she hated to feel out done, and sadly, as much as she loved to feel glamorous, glamour had no such affection for her. She had no real sense of how to be chic, and this apartment only served to remind her of her shortcomings on the subject.

She folded her arms.

"No thank you. You don't have anyone to clean up after you?"

Adrienne's irritation was layered. Part of it was sheer feminine jealousy, the sort of unbridled, pure jealousy that she had absolutely no say in. There was an enormous part of her that felt slighted just because he hadn't felt the need to conceal it from her, though. She was sure he would have made more of an effort if she had been -- well. The girl who left that lipstick on the glass.

She felt stupid, suddenly, for messing around with him at the amusement park.

"You know -- never mind. I have a deadline to meet. I should probably just go."

[mabs]

Reed frowned suddenly after taking the wine glasses and putting them in the sink, discarding the wine bottle as well. "I tend to clean up after myself actually, Heart. That's one lesson I did learn from Daddy Armstrong." Reed sounded bitter for a moment, but it was offset by the tone of Adrienne and the look of her as she folded her arms aover her chest. He couldn't help it.

He didn't like for a woman to deny him, let alone a woman like Adrienne. A proud, haughty, arrogant twerp who was almost as full of herself as he was of himself. No, she was hardly getting away with that excuse. He slipped over to her from behind and pulled her back against him, bending to kiss her neck and push her hat off her head smoothly.

"Deadlines can wait. I haven't even given the tour yet." Reed suckled on the skin at her neck gently and clutched at her urgently, but tenderly for a moment. She thought she knew him. And her assumptions were probably pretty damned close, but she wouldn't get off with making arrogant assumptions and not backing them up. She had enough of his own assumptions to either live up to or refute. Reed ran his hands up and squeezed her chest gently, kissing her skin thoroughly.

"And damnation, Heart. You don't have to like me to sleep with me," he mentioned truthfully. "Hate is a passionate emotion too."

[rocky]

"I don't have to sleep with you at all," Adrienne said sharply, and smacked his hands as they groped at her breasts, stepping away from him, even as the skin on her neck began to tingle under his kisses. He had no ability whatsoever to read a situation, she was swiftly beginning to realise -- no concept at all of how she was feeling.

That how Adrienne was feeling could alter course on a dime hardly mattered to her at all. She was prone to sudden highs and equally sudden lows, and she had an ego that was very easily bruised. She didn't really want to be in an exclusive relationship, but she would rather not be informed so casually that she wasn't at the centre of his thoughts. He should at least afford her the delusion.

She picked up her hat and put it back on.

"I want to go home. Summon your boy for that."

[mabs]

Reed frowned and looked at her, realizing suddenly that he had gone between the territory of charming ass into douche-baggery ass. Reed sighed and looked down before catching her gaze.

"Alright alright. That was stupid of me to say. But don't pretend I've wounded you, Heart. You constantly assume the worst of me. As though I don't realize how I come off. Well I like who I am, dammit. And no one's ever going to change that fact! Not my dad, not my ex-wife, not even you." Reed was feeling a little overwhelmed, mostly by the fact of rejection and the distinct feeling she was stringing him along for play. Reed turned to look out the window.

"It's a two-way street, Heart." He stepped a little closer to her, raising a brow at her. "But what would happen if we both dropped our expectations of each other. You're making this more complicated than it is. And I'm making it more simple than it is. For some reason, you've got me...all strung out Heart. I don't like it. I absolutely hate it. But I can't stop it."

Reed challenged her with a look. "So are you going to kiss me. Or are you sleeping on the couch?"

[rocky]

"There wouldn't be any point in trying to change you!" Adrienne bit back at him incredulously, gesturing with an upturned hand. "It would be far more economical just to start again!"

She didn't think it was personality-altering to want the same degree of -- consideration he gave to other women. She had the impression he had no idea what he'd done, though, and that was somehow worse. It seemed he wasn't going to take her home, either.

She didn't know what he meant by 'strung out', and she didn't think it mattered. He could say anything he liked, it was the things he did that spoke more loudly and more clearly than anything he could ever tell her. She realised then why she liked him when he was scared: the fear made him honest.

"So are you going to kiss me. Or are you sleeping on the couch?"

"I'm leaving," she said flatly. "But thank you, for giving me options. That's very modern of you. You perpetuate your own stereotype, Reed. Are you telling me that I'm mistaken or are you telling yourself?"

[mabs]

"What the hell do you want me to say!" Reed bellowed, anger threading through him.

He was fighting with her. He never fought with anyone. Ever. It was much easier to let them fly off the handle to him and then leave. But now.... Reed was angry back. He watched her and heard her shout at him, and impulsively he pushed her back towards the counter of his bar, he held her wrists gently, but firmly and glared at her.

"You wanna know the truth of it Heart? Listen real, real carefully, as I'm only gonna say this once." Reed's dark green eyes were glaring in rage and he gritted his teeth for a beat, searching her expression. "I can't get you out of my head. I think about you, every minute, whether or not I can help it. And I hate it. I hate that lately all I want to do is impress your smart ass, bitchy, arrogant self. But I do. Damnation I like romancing you! It makes you seem like you aren't a total pirhana out to castrate me and sell me to the highest bidder."

Adrienne had slowly been forming an image in his head of an Amazonian woman, who would beat him to pieces and use him for sex. He didn't get used. He was the user! Reed impulsively kissed Adrienne to discourage her from cutting him off midstream, and he couldn't help it. He was addicted to the taste of her.

"I don't fucking need people. I need sex. But I need you. And I absolutely hate it. I feel like I'm about to get played at my own game. But I don't fucking care, Heart." Reed kissed her again, less agressively than before, hoping that she'd consent to him. There he was again! Waiting for her to make the call.

Goddammit!

[rocky]

"I don't want you to say anything!"

Adrienne squared her feet and faced him, giving him back as much as he dished out. Her nostrils flared, her eyebrows raised -- it was only the proximity of him that made her step back, and she felt the edge of the bar against her and squirmed. His hands locked around her wrists and she struggled a little, to shake him off -- he was towering above her, eyes flashing. Their gazes locked and Adrienne felt her heard thundering in her chest. Anger made him honest, too.

"I can't get you out of my head. I think about you, every minute, whether or not I can help it. And I hate it. I hate that lately all I want to do is impress your smart ass, bitchy, arrogant self. But I do. Damnation I like romancing you! It makes you seem like you aren't a total pirhana out to castrate me and sell me to the highest bidder."

He pressed his mouth over hers and she clenched her teeth in fury, turning her head to the side to dislodge him from her. Her own temper was surging, and she inhaled sharply through her nose as if drawing herself up to scream at him, and tugging angrily against his grip.

"Let go," she said through her teeth, grappling with him in futility -- they were almost nose to nose as he went on.

"I don't fucking need people. I need sex. But I need you. And I absolutely hate it. I feel like I'm about to get played at my own game. But I don't fucking care, Heart."

"Stop talking to me as if I'm you're ex-wife!" Adrienne roared at him, freeing one of her hands to thump his chest with an open palm. He seemed recoil and spring back at her, his mouth on hers once more, and this time she kissed him back -- but it was aggressive, and she hit him again and again as she kissed him.

"You -- don't even -- know -- why -- I'm -- angry -- at you!" she choked out between ferocious, crushing kisses. She shook her other arm free and dug her fingernails into his biceps, pushing him back as hard as she could. "Fuck -- you're the biggest moron I've ever known. I'm making it complicated? You think everything is about you."

[mabs]

Reeed felt her aggressive, ferocious kisses and her feminine hits (though they were harder than he would have given her credit for) and he kissed her back with equal intensity. He dove down to assault her throat as he ripped at her clothes and his own, dragging them to the floor.

"Right now, it's about you. And teaching you a lesson, Heart," he panted against her aggressively. He had hardly expected the bout of pure, angry hate sex that had ensued between them, though his heart raced at it. Adrienne was a terrible match for him in every way possible. She was everything he hated in a woman, yet he was drawn to her. She was beautiful, and she was sexy and sensual to boot. He couldn't help himself. He just couldn't fucking help himself.

_________

Morning. A devilish combination of cheery sunshine and a figurative 'fuck you' from the gods of the weekends festivities. Or so it felt like to Reed, every morning that he had the unfortunate event to wake with a hangover. And this morning, he felt as though he had a hangover, though he'd been completely sober when he'd fallen asleep. When they had fallen asleep.

Adrienne was wrapped around Reed, sleeping much like she had been laying when he finally rolled off her that last time, the pair of them so spent and exhausted that moving seemed too much. Reed was hardly ready to come to terms with morning, especially after a night like the one before. There was something about fucking the oblivion out of someone against and on nearly every concievable surface in his apartment that made Reed just want to crawl back into bed.

He felt loose and almost used in his own right. In what form of thinking was hate sex ever a good outlet for an argument. Oh but it didn't matter anymore. He was spent and comfortable and in a much better humor than the night before, as their aggression had poured out into sex and violent passion. Each time they'd came together though he served to come to a much less aggressive mform of lovemaking until they finally hit the bed in the wee hours of the morning. Which explained why Reed was so entwined in the woman whom he hated, despised, and wanted against his better judgement. And cared for, if he were honest. Adrienne had a way of inducing a certain amount of affection.

Reed stretched slightly, though he tightened his arm around Adrienne and closed his eyes, snuggling deeper into the covers. Fuck morning. Fuck the rules of 'casual relationships'. Adrienne held a power over him, and he figured he might as well submit to it. The rewards at least were orgasm-inducing. Reed buried his face against her neck and closed his eyes, his large arm looped possessively around her middle, pulling her back against his chest. And damned if he didn't like the closeness.

God! But he couldn't. He shouldn't. He wouldn't. But to be honest, Adrienne had been on his mind for a two solid weeks now. Even when he'd indulged in a blonde fantasy the few nights before, he'd been thinking of his curvy redhead. And her tight, thorough, hot--Reed groaned and kissed her shoulder. "Good morning," he grumbled out in a low voice, hoarse with fatigue. If Reed wasn't already in too deep, he would have kicked himself for becoming so weak. Maybe marriage had softened him after all. In certain areas.

[rocky]

Adrienne slept fitfully, plagued by strange dreams about Reed, Victor and Frank. It was a nightmare, they were circling her as if she was trapped in the middle of a carousel, and their faces were interchangeable. She frowned in her sleep as Reed tugged her closer, clinging to him and burying her face in his chest.

"Good morning," he mumbled, and Adrienne stirred a little, the dream fragmenting -- she was in the middle of trying to convince Frank not to leave her, a bitter sort of flashback to their less than cordial break-up -- only his face was changing, all the time. Sometimes he was Frank, and other times he was Reed. Or Victor. Or that kid, Two-Bit, or Curtis. Or Roger.

No, she said in the dream, please, Frank, I --

"I love you."

She was still sound asleep, but the words came out of her mouth, mumbled and distant. She didn't want to wake up. She didn't want to wake up in Reed's arms, even though she fit there perfectly. The night before had been a battle -- they had fucked one another as if they were fighting, and it was the roughest, most impassioned sex she'd ever had. She had little finger-tip sized bruises all over her from where he'd been gripping at her, and she had clawed his back thoroughly -- she didn't feel any more content, though. Unlike Reed it had only left her wondering what it meant.

And what the hell she was doing.