Thorns of her Reality

Learn to Live, Isabella.

"Isabella." Damien's low soothing voice woke me. I took a moment to open my eyes in shock. I must have fallen asleep.

"Isabella, we're here," he said softly. I looked around through the car windows, trying to gauge where 'here' was exactly. I could see large city buildings all around us. The streets were crammed with people and almost immediately I began to feel uneasy and anxious about my surroundings. I gave Damien an uneasy look as my stomach began to churn.

"Where are we?" I asked, a hint of fear clear in my voice. I didn't like the look of this place. I had never seen so many people at once and, being a country girl, I felt incredibly out of place. Everyone that walked past the car looked wealthy and dressed with impeccable taste.

"Night Brooke. It's where I live." He replied with a smug grin on his face. My eyes grew wide with fear instantly and I began to hyperventilate.

"Woah, Isabella. Relax, I just wanted to treat you to a new wardrobe." He said cautiously, trying his best to calm me down. He reached over towards me, gently placing his hand on my knee. Instead of flinching at his touch, I began to calm down. I didn't want his hand on me, but at the same time, I welcomed it. How could he have such an effect on me? I began to pace my breathing, taking prolonged deep breaths until my heart rate slowed and my nerves subsided.

"I don't need your kindness," I muttered softly once I had calmed down. I didn't want to be perceived as such a weak girl, even though I knew I was.

"Please, Isabella. Let me give you the experience of shopping. All women your age love to shop, trying on new clothes and buying new outfits. You need to learn to live. There's a whole world outside of that rotten little ranch. I can show you the endless possibilities that life holds, if you'll let me." He begged, tightening his grip a little on my knee as he locked eye contact with me, holding a serious yet soft gaze. I paused in thought for a moment, mulling his words over in my mind. I had never been shopping before, much less know what girls do my age. After all, I didn't deem myself to be anything like a normal girl. Quite the opposite actually. I didn't know how I would even start living my life outside of the ranch, but I did know one thing, however, and that was that I wanted to do it on my own.

"Alright." I muttered. Wait, did I just say that? Before I could react to my own mouth's choice of word, Damien's eyes lit up like fireworks had reflected within them. Ugh! I thought. What is happening to me? It's as if something deep within my mind wants so desperately to be with Damien that it even controls my mouth. Damn mate bond, I scoffed in my own head, but placed a small smile on my face trying not to hurt Damien's feelings. He jumped out of the car, walking round to my side to open the door for me and holding his hand out patiently waiting to help me out of the car. I swallowed hard before gently placing my hand in his. Here goes nothing, I supposed, as I hesitantly climbed out of the car with the aid of Damien's help. I paused for a moment when I got out of the car, taking in the sheer intimidating view of the buildings around me that towered high into the sky.

"Magnificent, aren't they?" Damien muttered, pulling my attention from the skyscrapers around us. His facial expression shared both amusement and amazement at the same time.

"That's one way to describe them," I said rather sarcastically. He let out an amused laugh whilst I thought about how ugly and monstrous the buildings looked as they blocked out the sky above. I took a deep breath, pacing myself before starting to navigate through the concrete jungle. Damien led the way to an extremely high end shop. The kind I knew I would never walk into by myself.

He held the door open and followed closely behind me as I stepped slowly into the building, trying my best to take in my surroundings and holding my breath as I nervously looked around. The ceilings were high and the lights hung in the air above us. Artistic is the word I would use to describe them, as if someone had smashed a mirror and carefully hung the pieces on wire. Everything in here sparkled.

"Go take a look, Isabella." Damien whispered into my ear, startling me almost. I hadn't realized I had frozen in place, gaping in awe at the shop itself. I began to look at the clothes on the racks, stopping at a beautiful dress that I knew I would never be able to wear at our small country town. My heart almost stopped pumping entirely when I saw the price tag. I dashed the tag and turned my attention to anywhere that had a 'SALE' sign, but I was met with nothing. I turned to Damien, wanting to leave but quickly noting that he had picked the dress up from the rack.

"It is way too much, Damien. Put it back." I tried to scold him, but he took no notice of my demand. Instead, he urged me to walk deeper into the shop, wanting me to pick out more clothes. I sighed in defeat, he wasn't going to let me leave that easily. Why did he want to spend money on me? Everything I took a minor interest in, Damien would pick up from the racks. I kept eyeing him curiously as he followed me around like a lost pup, holding copious amounts of overly priced material. Once, I had been forced to walk around the entire shop, and Damien was satisfied that he had brought me an entirely new wardrobe. We headed to the check out.

Behind the counter stood a tall, hot blonde. Her hair was perfectly scraped into a donut bun. Not a single hair strand was out of place. Her makeup was done perfectly and her uniform was neat and tidy. She looked prudish, stuck up and rather bitchy to say the least. She gave me an ugly glare before flashing her most perfect fake smile at Damien. Ugh. The anger in me started to rise as she delicately flaunted her body in front of him. Scanning the clothes and neatly packing them away, trying her best to bend down to grab them so she could flash more of her cleavage to him. Wow, am I jealous? I thought. I looked at Damien, who had his eyes firmly placed on me. He wasn't giving her an ounce of his attention, he was looking right at me. Why me? I mean, I am definitely not beautiful. Especially in comparison to her. What did he find so fascinating about me?

"That'll be £26,000." She said in a sweet polite voice from across the counter. I couldn't help my mouth as it dropped open. I swear my jaw could have hit the floor. Damien pulled a card out of his wallet, completely unphased by the price, as if it were mere pennies to him. Once he had paid, I rushed as fast as I could back to his car and away from the shop.

"Where are you going in such a hurry?" Damien asked, calling after me. I was taking the biggest strides possible to get away from him but he was taller than me and his strides matched mine easily.

"Return them please, Damien. This is all too much and I want to go home." I pleaded with him as I tugged on the car door. He stood there, pursing his lips for a moment. Watching me with a blank expression, I couldn't read his emotions and I didn't know what he was thinking.

"No." He finally said reluctantly, pressing the key to his car that controlled the boot. He gently placed the bags into the boot of his car and shut the door.

"You agreed to this, Isabella. You have made it through one shop and you are already bottling out on me." He said in a low voice and I could feel his pain. I let out a sigh, crossing my arms in defiance.

"You never said you would spend lots of money on me, Damien." I tried to argue.

"Trust me, it's not lots of money for me, Isabella. Look, stop fighting this and let me finish treating you. Please." He said with pleading eyes as he held his hand out for me to take. Ugh. Not those eyes, I can't fight it. I tutted in defeat, placing my hand in his. Rolling my eyes at his victorious grin when I did so. I let him lead the way away and eventually we ended up at a fancy salon.

Damien paid for me to have my hair and makeup done and they agreed to remove the mirrors for a surprise reveal. I sat there anxiously in the chair, fiddling my thumbs as the beauty therapists argued over what colors looked best. I had no say in the matter and I had never worn makeup a day in my life, so I would have been too inexperienced to suggest anything anyway. As for my hair, all I had ever done was scrape it out of the way. It was always messy, dirty and I wasn't exactly allowed to do anything with it anyway.

Damien left the shop for a moment, quickly returning with the beautiful dress I had first seen when I walked into the shop, along with a beautiful pair of flat shoes to match. Damien had suggested heels previously but there was no way I could walk in them. I tried a pair on in front of him to prove my point as I stumbled around, waddling like an injured penguin. I was a long way from perfecting a shoe like that, not to mention how uncomfortable they are to wear.

"Here." He stated as he handed them over to me. "For the reveal," he suggested with a bold smile. I carefully took the clothes and was guided by one of the therapists to a changing room with no mirror. I put the dress on, being careful not to ruin it in some way, as I had never worn a dress before. I eventually managed to get it on, zipping it up from the side. I slipped on the flat shoes and left the changing rooms to head back over to Damien. They all stood there with their mouths gaping open and a full-length mirror in between them. I slowed my pace, wondering what the matter was, until I looked at my reflection in the mirror. I slowly approached my mirror reflection in sheer disbelief. Was that really me? The dress fit perfectly, sparkling and hugging my figure. My hair looked healthy, shiny and hung in big beach wave curls. My makeup looked remarkable and I didn't even recognize myself anymore. I

looked beautiful. I blinked a few times, trying my best to convince myself that this was real.

"You look magnificent, Isabella." Damien's seductive voice growled low behind me, and I could feel him approaching me from behind. I gazed upon his reflection in the mirror and blushed instantly in response.

"Thank you." I muttered under my breath as I wafted my hands on my cheeks, trying my best to cool them down.

"I think it's time I took you to another restaurant, one that is worthy of holding your beautiful presence. My blushing cheeks continued to burn from his compliments.

"What do you say, Isabella? Can we reattempt our first date?" He asked politely, holding his hand out like a true gentleman.

"Well, it would be such a waste if I didn't show off my new look," I said, flaunting my hair with new-found confidence. His lips curled up into a devilish grin as I gently placed my hand in his.

"Lead the way." I said enthusiastically. Flashing him a sweet smile.