[dohtml]<center><link href='http://fonts.googleapis.com/css?family=Wire+One' rel='stylesheet' type='text/css'><div style="width:400px;background-color:#F2F2F2;padding:10px;padding-top:5px;border-left:solid 5px # 949bae;border-right:solid 5px #949bae;"><div style="font-family: Wire One;font-size:45px;color:#242321;letter-spacing:2px;text-align:center;line-height:100%;">I'LL WAIT HERE, YOU'RE CRAZY</div>
<img src="http://i1131.photobucket.com/albums/m548/xpirateransack/adrian.jpg" <div style="border-bottom:1px dotted #000;border-top:1px dotted #000;"><div style="font-family: Wire One;font-size:45px;color:#242321;letter-spacing:2px;text-align:center;line-height:90%;">THOSE VICIOUS STREETS ARE FILLED WITH STRAYS</div><div style="width:250px;font-family: Tahoma;font-size:11px;color:#8E7E64;text-align: center;line-height:60%;font-variant:small-caps;letter-spacing:1px;">›phony people come to pray. look at all of them beg to stay. phony people come to pray.‹</div><p>
<div style="width:390px;background-color:#E6E6E6;border:dotted 1px #000;font-family: Tahoma;font-size:9.5px;color:#585858;text-align:justify;line-height:90%;padding:5px;">

Adrian was tired of his apartment. It was boring, lonely and he was ready to climb the walls. It had been a while since he really saw much of anyone. His brother had been by on Christmas, to drop shit off and to stock his fridge with food. But, he also had other obligations that didn’t include sticking around Adrian’s apartment for long. It was nice to have him around for a little while though and he probably would have been around after, if it wasn’t for all of the snow. So, for the most part, he stuck around by himself, played playstation games most of the day and used his computer more than he had in the last several months, which was insane given that he actually used it quite a bit on a regular basis anyway. One of his neighbours in the building had come over once or twice to hang out and watch crappy dvds and when he had to, he braved the snow, if there was money involved. And while most businesses were closed for snow, Adrian was still selling, because people would brave anything for a high. Though, he wasn’t selling out of his apartment, so that meant he’d have to leave too. He wasn’t stupid enough to have that type of traffic in and out of his place. It would get suspicious and he’d probably get kicked out in a heartbeat. Right now, he needed to get out of that apartment. He wasn’t used to being in that long. Usually there was something to do, a party to hang out at—something! The cold air hit his face, but he wasn’t too sensitive to cold so he felt like he could tolerate it. He had a heavy coat on, but that was all, enough to keep him relatively warm while it was buttoned up. He tucked his hands into his pockets as he walked. Even though he much preferred the noise of the city, he caught himself kind of enjoying the silence out there. Usually, he was unnerved by quiet. He’d always felt more comfortable with noise surrounding him; not only noise but activity and life. But, this wasn’t half bad, albeit cold as hell.
<p>
Absently, he glanced at shop windows as he passed them. There hadn’t been anything overtly interesting that he passed and he couldn’t help but note how strange it was to see so much business shut down. Adrian didn’t want the snow to last for long. He wanted to get back to his life and away from being shut in most of the time, especially at night. It was too damn cold and nothing was happening anyway, not enough to pick up and leave. It wasn’t that he wanted to leave the city, by any means. Adrian rarely left the city. Everything he needed was there. He didn’t know that he’d ever leave for any extended period of time. Drawing a hand from his pocket, he fiddled with a pack of cigarettes, internally wishing he’d brought gloves only because he didn’t expect his hands to be that cold. The pack and lighter retreated back to his pocket once it was lit and he took a long drag from it, kicking snow as he trudged along. That was until he saw a familiar face ahead, one that made him not slow down but hasten up. Well, that was one way of meeting up with her. Honestly, he didn’t think it was his fault that people like her made him into a dick. He gave her something and she gave him nothing in return. Drugs weren’t cheap and they weren’t free. He gave it to her with every intention of receiving money back for it. He had bills to pay himself, not to mention nothing that he received was free either. And sure, he might have jacked up some of the prices when he met her, but that didn’t change that she owed him. “Isn’t this a fucking coincidence?” He called as he approached, flicking the cancer stick to the ground and stomping on it on his way. Honestly, he didn’t understand why people couldn’t just pay what was owed or not choose to buy to begin with. Okay, so he technically knew it wasn’t that easy. But, she didn’t strike him as the addict that was willing to do anything and everything for a hit. She just skipped out on payment and he wasn’t going to let it slide. He didn’t plan on being too nice, not until he got his money, then the problems would be behind him.


</div></div><div style="font-family:arial narrow;font-size:8;color:#848484;text-transform:uppercase;text-align:center;">made by <a href="http://z10.invisionfree.com/CAUTIONTOTHEWIND/index.php?showuser=14828" target="new">cupcakesss</a> of Caution 2.0</div></center>[/dohtml]

[dohtml]<center><link href='http://fonts.googleapis.com/css?family=Wire+One' rel='stylesheet' type='text/css'><div style="width:400px;background-color:#F2F2F2;padding:10px;padding-top:5px;border-left:solid 5px # 949bae;border-right:solid 5px #949bae;"><div style="font-family: Wire One;font-size:45px;color:#242321;letter-spacing:2px;text-align:center;line-height:100%;">I'LL WAIT HERE, YOU'RE CRAZY</div>
<img src="http://i1131.photobucket.com/albums/m548/xpirateransack/adrian.jpg" <div style="border-bottom:1px dotted #000;border-top:1px dotted #000;"><div style="font-family: Wire One;font-size:45px;color:#242321;letter-spacing:2px;text-align:center;line-height:90%;">THOSE VICIOUS STREETS ARE FILLED WITH STRAYS</div><div style="width:250px;font-family: Tahoma;font-size:11px;color:#8E7E64;text-align: center;line-height:60%;font-variant:small-caps;letter-spacing:1px;">›phony people come to pray. look at all of them beg to stay. phony people come to pray.‹</div><p>
<div style="width:390px;background-color:#E6E6E6;border:dotted 1px #000;font-family: Tahoma;font-size:9.5px;color:#585858;text-align:justify;line-height:90%;padding:5px;">
Money had always been an issue in Adrian’s life. He had been hyperaware of it when he was a kid, because they hadn’t had much at all. His mom had a heavy drug addiction, his dad had never been in the picture at all and they lived in a crappy apartment with other crappy down-on-life people that struggled to get by or at least struggled until their next fix. He’d loved his mom; he had, although he won’t ever admit to it. But, she let him down over and over again. There was never enough money for anything, whether it be clothes or food. They weren’t doing well. It was his brother who had taken initiative to make sure that they had food and were taken care of. His brother was the one who watched over his mom to make sure she stayed alive (though he failed that) and he took care of things where Adrian was concerned. There was no one worth trusting other than his brother and there really wasn’t anyone in his life that he was so close to that he would ever imagine trusting, really. But, money had always been tight, at least until his brother started bringing it in and it was just the two of them without the weight of their mother. Adrian’s entire way of gaining income was illegal, but he wasn’t starving and he was living better than he ever had as a kid. But, that didn’t mean he had the best of the best. And he was never going to be the guy that could afford a mansion and a muscle car. But, he had nice things now. He had clothes and he had a place with things that he couldn’t have had growing up. But, he also had obligations and responsibilities that relied on money. Every bit counted and when someone skipped out on paying, it bugged the hell out of him. And it wasn’t like a legitimate job where he could go sue their asses for it. He couldn’t do anything but rough them up.
<p>
Cameron had really gotten under his skin when she didn’t pay him, especially the more he figured out about her from their conversation. When someone didn’t pay him, it was usually because they really, honestly couldn’t get the money and they were addicts that couldn’t help themselves. Now, he didn’t pity them either, because they were addicts and he didn’t actually hold a lot of respect for the people that helped him pay his rent. Adrian used on occasion, but he was careful and he’d never tried anything that was going to get him hooked without fail. Not only did he sell the drugs, but he knew a hell of a lot about what he was handing out. And that was good, because if he started to become an addict himself, he would have wound up in a lot of trouble and he’d be taken down fast. But, then there were those people that could get money if they wanted or were somehow spoiled and just seemed to think that they didn’t have to pay if they didn’t want to. Or they thought the amount wasn’t worth making a big deal about. To someone that took money as seriously as he did, it mattered. And everything he sold, he had to make a profit off of, because he had to pay for what he could sell. “Yeah, unless you’re about to give me my money, don’t think I’m gonna fuck off.” He shrugged and he wasn’t, as he continued to walk towards her. Even if she backed up, he was going to continue to. Though, if she started to run, he couldn’t be too positive that he would actually chase. He knew that getting money now was probably out of the question. The banks were closed. But, at the same time, he wasn’t going to walk by without reminding her. And really, it was always more effective to have this kind of conversation in person. It was so easy not to care or to be brave behind a keyboard. While for some people, Adrian had friends that would go out and help him rough someone up (it kept his hands clean and some people that owed him could probably return the favour), but he could also do it himself. He knew how to fight—had been fighting since he was young, because that was the crowds he wound up with. He liked to think he was good in a fight and he could defend himself easy enough. But, he wasn’t really looking to fight here. Really, he would much rather be paid than have to push anyone around. It wasn’t his fault there were jackasses that just didn’t pay.

</div></div><div style="font-family:arial narrow;font-size:8;color:#848484;text-transform:uppercase;text-align:center;">made by <a href="http://z10.invisionfree.com/CAUTIONTOTHEWIND/index.php?showuser=14828" target="new">cupcakesss</a> of Caution 2.0</div></center>[/dohtml]

[dohtml]<center><link href='http://fonts.googleapis.com/css?family=Wire+One' rel='stylesheet' type='text/css'><div style="width:400px;background-color:#F2F2F2;padding:10px;padding-top:5px;border-left:solid 5px # 949bae;border-right:solid 5px #949bae;"><div style="font-family: Wire One;font-size:45px;color:#242321;letter-spacing:2px;text-align:center;line-height:100%;">I'LL WAIT HERE, YOU'RE CRAZY</div>
<img src="http://i1131.photobucket.com/albums/m548/xpirateransack/adrian.jpg" <div style="border-bottom:1px dotted #000;border-top:1px dotted #000;"><div style="font-family: Wire One;font-size:45px;color:#242321;letter-spacing:2px;text-align:center;line-height:90%;">THOSE VICIOUS STREETS ARE FILLED WITH STRAYS</div><div style="width:250px;font-family: Tahoma;font-size:11px;color:#8E7E64;text-align: center;line-height:60%;font-variant:small-caps;letter-spacing:1px;">›phony people come to pray. look at all of them beg to stay. phony people come to pray.‹</div><p>
<div style="width:390px;background-color:#E6E6E6;border:dotted 1px #000;font-family: Tahoma;font-size:9.5px;color:#585858;text-align:justify;line-height:90%;padding:5px;">
Adrian wanted better than what he had growing up, but he wasn’t looking to change his life so much that he was such a far stretch from what he was used to. He didn’t have any motivation to be wealthy or completely successful. He didn’t think that he would ever fit in with a different class than his own and he wasn’t looking to give up on what he did now. He did go to a trade school, after deciding that he did want something legitimate in his life. His brother had helped a little with that. Adrian always liked cars and he happened to talk about them quite a bit, enough that his brother had finally asked him if he wanted to actually fix them or something. At first, he had laughed it off. He thought that it wouldn’t be worth the effort, but then, decided why the hell not? He could do that. He knew a little bit about cars as it was and he did like getting a chance to learn how to make some kind of career out of it. He didn’t know how far it would take him, if at all, but it was a good start. He didn’t have big dreams, really. The only person he had to look up to was his brother and he did appreciate the type of person he was. He wanted to be a lot like him, even if that person was a drug dealer and never going to be much of anything outside of this life. But both of them were doing good; they had money, places to live and food in their shelves. It was better than what they had growing up and Adrian was grateful that he had a brother that had been there. If he didn’t have that, he didn’t know where he would have ended up. It was a scary thought, honestly.
<p>
He’d already ended up in rough patches, even with his brother around to look out for him. He’d been arrested on more than one occasion. Usually it was fighting or drug possession that got him. He was lucky enough that he hadn’t been arrested for distribution, since that was a charge that held a lot of weight and scared him just a bit. He had to be smart though. Not all dealers were. But, he liked to think that he was learning from people that knew what they were doing and after a few years of having done it himself, he knew how it worked and how to keep himself from landing his ass in jail with a felony under his belt. Prison wouldn’t have been a good place for him. He was tough and he could handle himself, but in prison, it was a whole different animal. Adrian didn’t want to consider what that would do to him. “Then I guess I’m not fucking off so easily, am I?” He asked. Now, he wasn’t going to try to force her to pay him right now when he knew that was practically impossible. The banks weren’t open. He didn’t expect to get money out of her right now. But, that didn’t mean that he wasn’t going to be an ass about it. She deserved it, after all. She was the one that had waited so long to pay him. She should have had the money to him long before the banks closed and made it impossible. It hadn’t been snowing like this for the past six months. She had no real excuse in his eyes. “It hasn’t been snowing since you owed me; this is your own damn fault.” Adrian reminded her. He didn’t have any sympathy for her. There were a lot of people with a lot of reasons that might owe him. It didn’t mean he was going to be a bleeding heart for every one of them. He learned not to be sympathetic, because the money meant something to him, more than the person that owed him. And yeah, some people had some real issues with getting him the money and he could be lenient if it was that fucking bad. But he saw nothing bad about her. To him, she just looked like someone who could have paid him a long time ago, but decided not to do it. There was no respect here and absolutely no understanding.


</div></div><div style="font-family:arial narrow;font-size:8;color:#848484;text-transform:uppercase;text-align:center;">made by <a href="http://z10.invisionfree.com/CAUTIONTOTHEWIND/index.php?showuser=14828" target="new">cupcakesss</a> of Caution 2.0</div></center>[/dohtml]

[dohtml]<center><link href='http://fonts.googleapis.com/css?family=Wire+One' rel='stylesheet' type='text/css'><div style="width:400px;background-color:#F2F2F2;padding:10px;padding-top:5px;border-left:solid 5px # 949bae;border-right:solid 5px #949bae;"><div style="font-family: Wire One;font-size:45px;color:#242321;letter-spacing:2px;text-align:center;line-height:100%;">I'LL WAIT HERE, YOU'RE CRAZY</div>
<img src="http://i1131.photobucket.com/albums/m548/xpirateransack/adrian.jpg" <div style="border-bottom:1px dotted #000;border-top:1px dotted #000;"><div style="font-family: Wire One;font-size:45px;color:#242321;letter-spacing:2px;text-align:center;line-height:90%;">THOSE VICIOUS STREETS ARE FILLED WITH STRAYS</div><div style="width:250px;font-family: Tahoma;font-size:11px;color:#8E7E64;text-align: center;line-height:60%;font-variant:small-caps;letter-spacing:1px;">›phony people come to pray. look at all of them beg to stay. phony people come to pray.‹</div><p>
<div style="width:390px;background-color:#E6E6E6;border:dotted 1px #000;font-family: Tahoma;font-size:9.5px;color:#585858;text-align:justify;line-height:90%;padding:5px;">
Adrian didn’t have the strongest moral code and he obviously didn’t give a damn about breaking the law since his entire livelihood depended on it. He was a drug dealer, on occasional user and had no problem stealing or throwing his fists into someone if he had to. He’d beat the hell out of people before, because they didn’t pay up when they were supposed to. In the same respect, he had had his ass kicked by people for numerous reasons. He wasn’t infallible and he wasn’t the toughest guy on the block. He had his ass handed to him before. He got into fights often enough, because the people he ran with were just as aggressive as he could be. Adrian wasn’t someone that anyone would really look up to as being all that successful, despite having money and an apartment and things that he couldn’t have afforded as a kid. He gained all of it illegally. He partied a lot, sold drugs, slept with whoever he wanted to whenever he wanted. He didn’t have this high moral upbringing or standing. He did what he had to do to get paid and to keep going. He wasn’t a fuck up, because there was no one looking at him to be more than that. His brother only expected him to be as much as he was and that wasn’t saying much. Now, he had the utmost respect for his brother and looked up to him completely. But, even he knew that compared to normal, it wasn’t what most people would vote as the best role model. Still, he thought it was. Because, without his brother, he’d be a lot worse than he was now. He didn’t know what would have happened to him. It looked pretty bleak when he thought about what could have happened if he didn’t have his brother around and willing to take care of him.
<p>
When it came to his money, he didn’t give a lot of thought to who owed him or what their situation was. If he did, it had to be a damn special one and Cameron wasn’t falling into that with him. She was just someone who had either forgotten or just didn’t want to pay him. And obviously, she had a means to be able to. She wasn’t some poor, drug addict without a penny to their name to put food on their table let alone money in his pocket. And while he didn’t have a lot of respect for them either and tended to see it as they put themselves in that position, he didn’t know what her fucking problem was. People like her seemed to think they were entitled or some shit. Adrian really didn’t care why he didn’t get his money. It was just a matter of getting it. Everyone went through rough times, everyone forgot something now and then, but he wasn’t going to accept that. He knew he sure as hell didn’t forget to pay people he owed. And for some reason, people thought that they could get by without paying him. Adrian could be nice to people. But, once they owed him money, all bets were off and he didn’t care how big of a dick he had to be to get what he was owed, as long as he got it. And sometimes that meant being physical, other times just the threat of it worked better. “Do you? ‘Cause I don’t know, you sound like you’ve got a pretty thick skull.” He was still pissed at her, but she deserved it. He was the one that was owed money, not her. And yeah, it was for something illegal, but that didn’t matter. “I’ll stop harassing you once the snow melts and I’ve got my money.” Adrian replied. “You shouldn’t even fucking forget things like that.”


</div></div><div style="font-family:arial narrow;font-size:8;color:#848484;text-transform:uppercase;text-align:center;">made by <a href="http://z10.invisionfree.com/CAUTIONTOTHEWIND/index.php?showuser=14828" target="new">cupcakesss</a> of Caution 2.0</div></center>[/dohtml]

[dohtml]<center><link href='http://fonts.googleapis.com/css?family=Wire+One' rel='stylesheet' type='text/css'><div style="width:400px;background-color:#F2F2F2;padding:10px;padding-top:5px;border-left:solid 5px # 949bae;border-right:solid 5px #949bae;"><div style="font-family: Wire One;font-size:45px;color:#242321;letter-spacing:2px;text-align:center;line-height:100%;">I'LL WAIT HERE, YOU'RE CRAZY</div>
<img src="http://i1131.photobucket.com/albums/m548/xpirateransack/adrian.jpg" <div style="border-bottom:1px dotted #000;border-top:1px dotted #000;"><div style="font-family: Wire One;font-size:45px;color:#242321;letter-spacing:2px;text-align:center;line-height:90%;">THOSE VICIOUS STREETS ARE FILLED WITH STRAYS</div><div style="width:250px;font-family: Tahoma;font-size:11px;color:#8E7E64;text-align: center;line-height:60%;font-variant:small-caps;letter-spacing:1px;">›phony people come to pray. look at all of them beg to stay. phony people come to pray.‹</div><p>
<div style="width:390px;background-color:#E6E6E6;border:dotted 1px #000;font-family: Tahoma;font-size:9.5px;color:#585858;text-align:justify;line-height:90%;padding:5px;">
Adrian had never had good role models in his life. His mom hadn’t been much at all. He never had a good thing to say about the woman, really. He had a million insults for her and had been so angry when she died. It had been about ten years now and he was still so pissed off at her for dying on him. He hated that she hadn’t been the mom he wanted her to be. He didn’t hate her, as much as he said that he did and he wasn’t as careless as he acted. He was angry with her, angry and hurt that he didn’t grow up the way other kids might have. Adrian had never liked that she put her habit above her kids. It hurt. And his brother had been the only one that was really there for him. He never had a dad. He just wasn’t in the picture and his mom never talked about him. Neither did his brother and sometimes he wondered if they were even sure who his was. Yeah, there was absolutely no good thoughts to be had about the people who brought him into the world. But, he had all of the respect in the world for his older brother, because he took care of him after Mom died. He taught him how to make money and how to keep himself alive and out of trouble. If it wasn’t for him, he probably would have been dead by now. Adrian really didn’t doubt that, but it didn’t mean that he had been the best of role models, not by most people’s standards. His older brother was a drug dealer also and even more rough around the edges than Adrian himself was. But, he cared about him and that was what mattered, because there was no one else in his life that he really trusted that way.
<p>
Friends weren’t something that Adrian had a lot of. He knew a lot of people and had a lot of connections and people to hang out with, but no one was so close that he could call them his best friend or could really trust them. He met people through parties, sex and when they wanted to buy something off of him. That was what he was to people and that’s all they were to him. Trust was hard to him. He’d seen how easy it was to stab someone in the back and he’d learned young that there weren’t a lot of people in the world that he could trust. And while no one had ever told him to do better for himself, he did try to do more. He was going to a trade school now and that was different from before. It made him a little more legitimate. But, he didn’t think he’d ever stop selling drugs either. It was good money and it was keeping him alive right now. He never understood the people who could pay him but didn’t or that claimed they somehow forgot. It was one way to make an enemy out of him. Adrian didn’t make it his life’s purpose to make enemies, but he did it because he had to. And when someone didn’t pay him, that wasn’t someone he wanted to be friendly with. It was someone that he wanted to push around until he got his money. It wasn’t fair that he was out money because someone decided that they had better things to do than pay up. For some, it was really a matter of not having any means to pay him. In that case, he was still a jackass about it, but he could sympathise a little better. With Cameron, he didn’t feel sympathy. “You’d fucking better this time!” He thought he was being easy on her, really. Or maybe not, given all of the snow on the ground. “Busy doing what? Staring at the windows? Or were you planning on breaking in?” The last was sarcastic, because she really didn’t look like the kind of person that was going to break into a closed store and try to steal something. Everything was closed, however, so he didn’t know what she could have possibly been busy doing. Unless walking around and staring at shops was busy now.



</div></div><div style="font-family:arial narrow;font-size:8;color:#848484;text-transform:uppercase;text-align:center;">made by <a href="http://z10.invisionfree.com/CAUTIONTOTHEWIND/index.php?showuser=14828" target="new">cupcakesss</a> of Caution 2.0</div></center>[/dohtml]

[dohtml]<center><link href='http://fonts.googleapis.com/css?family=Wire+One' rel='stylesheet' type='text/css'><div style="width:400px;background-color:#F2F2F2;padding:10px;padding-top:5px;border-left:solid 5px # 949bae;border-right:solid 5px #949bae;"><div style="font-family: Wire One;font-size:45px;color:#242321;letter-spacing:2px;text-align:center;line-height:100%;">I'LL WAIT HERE, YOU'RE CRAZY</div>
<img src="http://i1131.photobucket.com/albums/m548/xpirateransack/adrian.jpg" <div style="border-bottom:1px dotted #000;border-top:1px dotted #000;"><div style="font-family: Wire One;font-size:45px;color:#242321;letter-spacing:2px;text-align:center;line-height:90%;">THOSE VICIOUS STREETS ARE FILLED WITH STRAYS</div><div style="width:250px;font-family: Tahoma;font-size:11px;color:#8E7E64;text-align: center;line-height:60%;font-variant:small-caps;letter-spacing:1px;">›phony people come to pray. look at all of them beg to stay. phony people come to pray.‹</div><p>
<div style="width:390px;background-color:#E6E6E6;border:dotted 1px #000;font-family: Tahoma;font-size:9.5px;color:#585858;text-align:justify;line-height:90%;padding:5px;">
Sometimes Adrian had wondered why the fuck his mom even kept him or his brother. Obviously, she was never in any state to really care for them the way he thought a mother should. He guessed since they lived past early childhood that she wasn’t a complete fuck up, but it still hurt that she was always there and yet not quite. He didn’t know how to pull her attention back to them and he never learned how. She had her addictions, her problems and it was what eventually killed her. To him, she had abandoned them in the end. No, he didn’t think that his mom wanted to die, because he thought she hadn’t. But, she left them to the world after making so many promises to be better. She always did that. He couldn’t count how many times, in the darkest times, she’d tell him that things would look up, that they would be better someday. She promised not to let him down but then did just that. She died on him, left him and his brother alone. And yeah, his brother had been eighteen at the time, but he really shouldn’t have had to raise his little brother up. It wasn’t fair for either of them. Though, he was always grateful that he hadn’t just left him or given him up. He didn’t have to look after him or deal it at all. They could have taken Adrian and he could have had some awesome life without him. But, at least it gave him hope that there was one person in his life that gave a damn not to fuck up his life. Trust really was hard to come by. There were so few people in his life that he could give even the smallest amount to. And if he was going to trust someone, nine times out of ten, it wasn’t going to be someone he sold to. It wasn’t as if he sold to the most responsible people, but most of them knew to pay up.
<p>
Adrian knew that he wasn’t the most intimidating guy around. He wasn’t very big and he wasn’t muscle bound like some of the guys he ran into, definitely not like the ones he sent out after people that didn’t pay him back. And not half as big as the guys that might have it out for him if he didn’t make sure that he was on good terms with his supplier. Luckily, it went through a bit of a chain and if he got into trouble then it was usually going to hit his brother first and then him. Adrian knew how to fight, he had to. And he could rough someone up and threaten their lives if he had to when he wanted money. Not that he would ever kill someone; Adrian didn’t think that he could. But, it was a good threat when someone really was throwing him to the dogs. It was good to have connections and friends that were more than willing to get their hands dirty by threatening and beating the hell out of people for him. Especially when some of the guys that bought from him were a lot bigger than he was. He didn’t need to get himself kicked around when he was the one trying to do the roughing up. And yeah, Adrian had his ass kicked now and then. He’d been jumped before, but he got out of most scrapes. “If you don’t, I’m not even giving you a warning,” he threatened. As she mentioned it not being that easy, he raised an eyebrow and looked towards the window, then back at Cameron. “What, you’ve actually tried?”



</div></div><div style="font-family:arial narrow;font-size:8;color:#848484;text-transform:uppercase;text-align:center;">made by <a href="http://z10.invisionfree.com/CAUTIONTOTHEWIND/index.php?showuser=14828" target="new">cupcakesss</a> of Caution 2.0</div></center>[/dohtml]

[dohtml]<center><link href='http://fonts.googleapis.com/css?family=Wire+One' rel='stylesheet' type='text/css'><div style="width:400px;background-color:#F2F2F2;padding:10px;padding-top:5px;border-left:solid 5px # 949bae;border-right:solid 5px #949bae;"><div style="font-family: Wire One;font-size:45px;color:#242321;letter-spacing:2px;text-align:center;line-height:100%;">I'LL WAIT HERE, YOU'RE CRAZY</div>
<img src="http://i1131.photobucket.com/albums/m548/xpirateransack/adrian.jpg" <div style="border-bottom:1px dotted #000;border-top:1px dotted #000;"><div style="font-family: Wire One;font-size:45px;color:#242321;letter-spacing:2px;text-align:center;line-height:90%;">THOSE VICIOUS STREETS ARE FILLED WITH STRAYS</div><div style="width:250px;font-family: Tahoma;font-size:11px;color:#8E7E64;text-align: center;line-height:60%;font-variant:small-caps;letter-spacing:1px;">›phony people come to pray. look at all of them beg to stay. phony people come to pray.‹</div><p>
<div style="width:390px;background-color:#E6E6E6;border:dotted 1px #000;font-family: Tahoma;font-size:9.5px;color:#585858;text-align:justify;line-height:90%;padding:5px;">
Adrian used to wonder what his life would be like if he lived with a normal family; if he had a mom and dad or even just one of them, but had a normal upbringing. He wasn’t sure what it was like to have a parent that wasn’t saddled with an addiction or that didn’t give a flying fuck about anything except for her next high. Adrian hadn’t had that. For him, the subject of parents was a hard one. He didn’t even know if he still had a father somewhere out there and if he ever met him, he would probably punch the bastard in the face for leaving them. Though, he probably wouldn’t have been any better than his mom. In fact, he assumed that he was probably just as bad and they would have been no better off with him around. It didn’t do him any good to imagine a better life than the one he had and right now, it was awesome. He had everything that he could have wanted. It wasn’t as if he was doing poorly. He did better than his mom ever had and he was living beyond what he had growing up. He liked that and was grateful for it, but it didn’t take away how he’d been raised. Nor did it change how he saw people who didn’t pay him and made up excuses that sounded ridiculous. He had limited sympathy for people who he thought were just being self-important and bratty. If someone in designer clothing complained about money, he wasn’t going to buy it. How could he? He knew what it was like not to have anything, to be barely scraping by and if someone wanted to buy drugs from him when they weren’t making it, then maybe they needed to get their priorities straight.
<p>
He didn’t see Cam as one of those people that he should feel sorry for. The only reason he wasn’t worse now was because the banks were closed and that was actually a fair excuse not to give him his money. But, it didn’t mean that he wasn’t going to continue to try to get the money off of her or to make sure that she didn’t forget to pay him as soon as the banks were open again. Adrian didn’t want to be forgotten again. He gave her the drugs, she owed him money. It was as simple as that. The only problem with getting money legitimately was that drugs were illegal and he could be put behind bars for quite a while for selling them. But, he was smarter than that—or at least, he’d learned how to avoid that from his brother and from other dealers that weren’t so lucky. He learned fast how to stay street smart. So when she threatened jail, he scoffed. “You think I don’t know how to get out of that? Everyone threatens it and I’m still walking around. I know how to make sure I stay clean. Maybe you just need to fucking think before you buy drugs to begin with. If you don’t wanna get your ass kicked when you bail on paying.” He shrugged, because it sounded that simple to him. If she didn’t want to get into that kind of trouble, he didn’t think it was so hard to avoid. Of course, he liked to lure people in so he could get more cash. But, drug dealers were salesmen too. They had a product to sell and it he was going to do his best to get people to buy. But if they didn’t pay, then he would scare them into doing it. He stared at her for a moment at the confession then shook his head. “Why am I even surprised?”



</div></div><div style="font-family:arial narrow;font-size:8;color:#848484;text-transform:uppercase;text-align:center;">made by <a href="http://z10.invisionfree.com/CAUTIONTOTHEWIND/index.php?showuser=14828" target="new">cupcakesss</a> of Caution 2.0</div></center>[/dohtml]

[dohtml]<center><link href='http://fonts.googleapis.com/css?family=Wire+One' rel='stylesheet' type='text/css'><div style="width:400px;background-color:#F2F2F2;padding:10px;padding-top:5px;border-left:solid 5px # 949bae;border-right:solid 5px #949bae;"><div style="font-family: Wire One;font-size:45px;color:#242321;letter-spacing:2px;text-align:center;line-height:100%;">I'LL WAIT HERE, YOU'RE CRAZY</div>
<img src="http://i1131.photobucket.com/albums/m548/xpirateransack/adrian.jpg" <div style="border-bottom:1px dotted #000;border-top:1px dotted #000;"><div style="font-family: Wire One;font-size:45px;color:#242321;letter-spacing:2px;text-align:center;line-height:90%;">THOSE VICIOUS STREETS ARE FILLED WITH STRAYS</div><div style="width:250px;font-family: Tahoma;font-size:11px;color:#8E7E64;text-align: center;line-height:60%;font-variant:small-caps;letter-spacing:1px;">›phony people come to pray. look at all of them beg to stay. phony people come to pray.‹</div><p>
<div style="width:390px;background-color:#E6E6E6;border:dotted 1px #000;font-family: Tahoma;font-size:9.5px;color:#585858;text-align:justify;line-height:90%;padding:5px;">
Adrian didn’t think that he would ever have a lot of money. Right now, he was doing pretty good, considering how little that he used to have and what he grew up with. Money wasn’t always that hard to get his hands on. And he knew a lot of people who did whatever they could to get money in their pocket, regardless of what kind of pride they had to throw out the window for it. He didn’t steal, he didn’t sell sex, he sold drugs. He thought they were the classier of the three, frankly. Though, not to mention a little bit safer to sell without getting caught or winding up with some fucking STD. And he didn’t generally accept sex either for drugs. He had told people that if it was good enough, he might be willing to, but then when it was over, he just laughed at them for buying it and still demanded money or just claimed it wasn’t that great. Because, when he did that, he was looking for sex, not really charging them nothing. He might drop what they owed a little bit if he really felt bad for them, but sex wasn’t going to help him. He had to pay his own bills and the guys he owed money to and he wasn’t going to be able to do that through sex. He had a little too much dignity for that and he knew it would never fly with most people. If anything, it just set him up for hell if he tried and he didn’t want to. But that didn’t mean that he wasn’t amused when someone jumped to sexual favours to pay him off. If he wanted sex, he’d have it. He usually didn’t need to wave drugs over someone’s head to get them to sleep with him.
<p>
He didn’t do it for the hell of it; he did it for money. He didn’t see why that concept was hard for people to grasp. He needed the money for himself. Sure, he knew plenty of dealers that were willing to give their product for sex now and then. They generally had more money than he did though and were more into that than he was. He didn’t need to demand sex from anyone and he didn’t get off on the power trip that some of them had. He just wanted his fucking money. Period. “Do I look like I give a damn? I don’t care if your brother was fucking president. It doesn’t mean anything to me.” He retorted and yeah, it was rougher when someone pulled that card. She had a lawyer brother so he had to be careful, but he would be clean if she tried to trail things back to him. And who tried to throw someone in jail because they bought the drugs to begin with? It was easy to get away with getting people beat up when they weren’t going to go to the cops to tell them it was from a drug deal. And when it came down to it, he might be making the threats and sending people off, but it was easy to deny it. “You mean you actually managed to get it?” He asked, glancing to the shop window momentarily before back at her. If someone wanted to steal dresses that really wasn’t his business and it wasn’t like he hadn’t seen or thought of doing worse. Though, he wasn’t really surprised that she was someone who might steal instead of paying for something. Yeah, he was feeling pretty bitter and ripped off.


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[dohtml]<center><link href='http://fonts.googleapis.com/css?family=Wire+One' rel='stylesheet' type='text/css'><div style="width:400px;background-color:#F2F2F2;padding:10px;padding-top:5px;border-left:solid 5px # 949bae;border-right:solid 5px #949bae;"><div style="font-family: Wire One;font-size:45px;color:#242321;letter-spacing:2px;text-align:center;line-height:100%;">I'LL WAIT HERE, YOU'RE CRAZY</div>
<img src="http://i1131.photobucket.com/albums/m548/xpirateransack/adrian.jpg" <div style="border-bottom:1px dotted #000;border-top:1px dotted #000;"><div style="font-family: Wire One;font-size:45px;color:#242321;letter-spacing:2px;text-align:center;line-height:90%;">THOSE VICIOUS STREETS ARE FILLED WITH STRAYS</div><div style="width:250px;font-family: Tahoma;font-size:11px;color:#8E7E64;text-align: center;line-height:60%;font-variant:small-caps;letter-spacing:1px;">›phony people come to pray. look at all of them beg to stay. phony people come to pray.‹</div><p>
<div style="width:390px;background-color:#E6E6E6;border:dotted 1px #000;font-family: Tahoma;font-size:9.5px;color:#585858;text-align:justify;line-height:90%;padding:5px;">
Adrian had only been a thief when he had to be. He knew how take things if he needed them. When he was a kid he was adept at shoplifting, but after his mom died, it happened less and less because his brother would have been disappointed if he got his ass pinned for stealing. It wasn’t like he didn’t know guys were could steal, burglarize and take what they wanted. He knew plenty of those, because he ran with the crowd that didn’t bother with legalities much. But, his brother had always insisted that he didn’t get into that kind of trouble. They dealt in drugs and violence, but he didn’t need to stack the charges on if anyone caught him. He needed to be careful and his brother made it clear that he didn’t want to see him in prison. That made two of them, really. Adrian had no interest in going to jail. It wasn’t a deterrent away from his current lifestyle, however. It was the only world that he knew and his brother was supportive of the drug sales. After all, he was the one who got him into it and was for the most part his supplier. He wasn’t his only one, but he definitely had it set up so he would take the fall if he screwed up too badly. He didn’t need that kind of protection anymore, of course. He was twenty-three, but he could always count on his brother to be there and to look out for him. It was something that he didn’t know how he’d live without. For most of his life, he had been the only one that he could trust. There was no one else that he could look up to or even assume might help him if he needed. Even his mother was too obsessed with her own habit to give a damn about her sons. Adrian felt lucky to have the brother he did, even if it wasn’t conventional and he wasn’t the normal role model most people had. But most didn’t have his fucking life and he wasn’t going to listen to their judgement.
<p>
He liked that he could go out and purchase what he wanted. Sure, a lot of the money came from drug sales because it was his source if income, but it was his money and it felt good to walk into a store and be able to pay the price on an item. He didn’t always have that growing up and he knew he was never going to have everything that he wanted. He wasn’t going to be filthy rich or anything. If he was ever legitimate it was going to be as a mechanic. And so far, he seemed to be doing well with the classes, better than anyone in his family had done. But, he was still stuck in the lifestyle that he was used to. That wasn’t going to stop. “What the hell ever. You’re brother’s just another fucking lawyer. It’s not a big deal.” He didn’t care how big or bad of a lawyer she had for a brother. He really didn’t. He would continue to get by like he always had without anyone throwing him away. It wasn’t his fault she’d decided not to pay him and he had to resort to those measures. It was her own fault for not paying him when he wanted the money. She forgot about it so as far as he was concerned, she had this coming. Adrian didn’t forget someone when they owed him money. He could forget them so easily otherwise. “How’d you do it?” He asked, and sounded genuinely curious about how she managed to pull it off.



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[dohtml]<center><link href='http://fonts.googleapis.com/css?family=Wire+One' rel='stylesheet' type='text/css'><div style="width:400px;background-color:#F2F2F2;padding:10px;padding-top:5px;border-left:solid 5px # 949bae;border-right:solid 5px #949bae;"><div style="font-family: Wire One;font-size:45px;color:#242321;letter-spacing:2px;text-align:center;line-height:100%;">I'LL WAIT HERE, YOU'RE CRAZY</div>
<img src="http://i1131.photobucket.com/albums/m548/xpirateransack/adrian.jpg" <div style="border-bottom:1px dotted #000;border-top:1px dotted #000;"><div style="font-family: Wire One;font-size:45px;color:#242321;letter-spacing:2px;text-align:center;line-height:90%;">THOSE VICIOUS STREETS ARE FILLED WITH STRAYS</div><div style="width:250px;font-family: Tahoma;font-size:11px;color:#8E7E64;text-align: center;line-height:60%;font-variant:small-caps;letter-spacing:1px;">›phony people come to pray. look at all of them beg to stay. phony people come to pray.‹</div><p>
<div style="width:390px;background-color:#E6E6E6;border:dotted 1px #000;font-family: Tahoma;font-size:9.5px;color:#585858;text-align:justify;line-height:90%;padding:5px;">
Adrian couldn’t be bothered to care what state someone was in when they bought off of him. If they took anything, then they had to pay. It was a simple concept, really. He was offering something to them for money. He wasn’t asking for anything else and he expected to get what he asked for. He wasn’t looking for a good time or sex in exchange for drugs; although it tended to get offered whenever someone’s wallet started drying up. Not that Adrian had never given someone a discount because they’d been good in bed or whatever. He had. But, it wasn’t average and it never took away the entire debt. Sex wasn’t going to pay the bills; not unless he was selling it and that was a line that Adrian was never going cross that line. He didn’t know why people thought they could get away without paying him. Perhaps because he couldn’t actually go to the cops when they didn’t pay him his money. It wasn’t as if he could sue them for something illegal to sell to begin with. But, he could send someone around to kick their ass a few times. And while Adrian could handle himself in a fight, it was easier to send someone else to do it. Not to mention, he dealt with some guys that were even bigger than him and that he didn’t want to risk getting into a fight with if he didn’t have to. Besides, other guys could be a hell of a lot more intimidating than him. He didn’t exactly have the most overbearing appearance. He wasn’t some giant guy and he wasn’t ever going to be. So, he had to take what help he could when it came to forcing people to pay up. And if Cameron kept him waiting for too long when the snow cleared, he was going to send them after her too. It wasn’t that he wanted to do it, but he wasn’t going to take more of her shit.
<p>
He didn’t appreciate being forgotten about. He was entitled to that money. And he refused to be intimidated by the thought that she had a brother who was some hot shot lawyer. That wasn’t something that needed to concern him. He would treat her the same as he would treat anyone that didn’t pay him after that long. As far as he was concerned, she could consider herself lucky that he wasn’t taking this even farther. He could have been a complete dick about the banks being closed and could have still tried to take matters into more violent hands. Adrian liked to think that he was reasonable. Though, no one liked being fucked around. “Good for him. Still don’t care.” He shrugged. He raised an eyebrow when she gave her reason, then rolled his eyes. “Did you have one of those huge bag-purses?” He asked, figuring that that was a lot more reasonable. Although, at the same time he didn’t think that she would actually tell him. He wasn’t sure of the point of a secret, given that he was never going to have any reason to steal a dress or steal her method with it. But, it was a little curious how she managed to get out of the store with it. It just wasn’t going to be too upsetting if he was never told the proper answer about it. If he was going to steal something, it sure as hell wasn’t going to be something that he couldn’t use. And there wasn’t a use in the world for a dress like that. And right now, he really wasn’t want of anything he needed to take for himself.


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[dohtml]<center><link href='http://fonts.googleapis.com/css?family=Wire+One' rel='stylesheet' type='text/css'><div style="width:400px;background-color:#F2F2F2;padding:10px;padding-top:5px;border-left:solid 5px # 949bae;border-right:solid 5px #949bae;"><div style="font-family: Wire One;font-size:45px;color:#242321;letter-spacing:2px;text-align:center;line-height:100%;">I'LL WAIT HERE, YOU'RE CRAZY</div>
<img src="http://i1131.photobucket.com/albums/m548/xpirateransack/adrian.jpg" <div style="border-bottom:1px dotted #000;border-top:1px dotted #000;"><div style="font-family: Wire One;font-size:45px;color:#242321;letter-spacing:2px;text-align:center;line-height:90%;">THOSE VICIOUS STREETS ARE FILLED WITH STRAYS</div><div style="width:250px;font-family: Tahoma;font-size:11px;color:#8E7E64;text-align: center;line-height:60%;font-variant:small-caps;letter-spacing:1px;">›phony people come to pray. look at all of them beg to stay. phony people come to pray.‹</div><p>
<div style="width:390px;background-color:#E6E6E6;border:dotted 1px #000;font-family: Tahoma;font-size:9.5px;color:#585858;text-align:justify;line-height:90%;padding:5px;">
Adrian didn’t have a lot of people to disappoint and the standards were already low. He only ever answered to his brother; because he was the only one that he ever thought legitimately gave a damn about him. If something was wrong, he was the one person that he could rush to with hopes that he could clean it up. It wasn’t as if he lived in a world where messes couldn’t get his ass killed. He was living up to what was expected of him really. And if he wanted to be like his brother he was already on his way to that, if not hitting it already. The only difference was that his brother still looked out for him and made sure he was surviving. It wasn’t that he thought he was completely irresponsible. But, he supposed that big brothers were kind of there to help out with that kind of thing. At least someone in his life hadn’t failed him completely. Unlike his parents; who with one nonexistent and the other dead because of her own fucked up mistakes, Adrian didn’t have much to look to where blood was concerned. Beyond that, he didn’t have a lot either. He had a lot of friends, sure, but they were mostly acquaintances and people that he only hung out with at parties or when they wanted to get high. Which was okay with him because he wasn’t looking for any deep connection. He didn’t want to be completely alone, but he didn’t need to be dependent on other people either. He couldn’t trust that deep in anyone. When it came down to it, it was always better to expect that someone was going to try to screw him over. But, see, he had his moments where he tried to give someone the benefit of the doubt. He had given it to Cameron when he didn’t have her pay right away when they met, but not he regretted that.
<p>
She wasn’t someone that he could ever see himself trusting that way, especially not where money was involved. But, at the same time, he thought that he had threatened enough that she should know better than to stall on paying him when she had the chance. Adrian wasn’t going to accept that easily and he would gladly send someone after her. Well, maybe he wouldn’t be so glad about it, but it wouldn’t take much. “Whatever. They’re all the fucking same. You’re brother’s no better than the next.” He shrugged, still not believing that he really had anything to worry about where that was concerned. He didn’t care what she thought about her lawyer brother. He wasn’t worried. And even if he had been, he wasn’t going to act it in front of her. All that he wanted was for her to pay him and then he’d get out of her hair. He didn’t see what was so hard about that or why it was a goddamn inconvenience. If you owed someone money, you fucking paid them. There was never anything simpler than that. He didn’t know why it seemed to be a lot for her to wrap her goddamn head around. “Why not?” He asked and he really hadn’t been too curious before, but he seemed to have that curiosity heightened because she wasn’t telling him. “You obviously couldn’t’ve just worn it out of the store.” But it also seemed like something pretty big to be sneaking out of a store. It wasn’t as if he was ever going to have a need to steal a dress so he didn’t know why he needed to know. If only because she refused to tell him.



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[dohtml]<center><link href='http://fonts.googleapis.com/css?family=Wire+One' rel='stylesheet' type='text/css'><div style="width:400px;background-color:#F2F2F2;padding:10px;padding-top:5px;border-left:solid 5px # 949bae;border-right:solid 5px #949bae;"><div style="font-family: Wire One;font-size:45px;color:#242321;letter-spacing:2px;text-align:center;line-height:100%;">I'LL WAIT HERE, YOU'RE CRAZY</div>
<img src="http://i1131.photobucket.com/albums/m548/xpirateransack/adrian.jpg" <div style="border-bottom:1px dotted #000;border-top:1px dotted #000;"><div style="font-family: Wire One;font-size:45px;color:#242321;letter-spacing:2px;text-align:center;line-height:90%;">THOSE VICIOUS STREETS ARE FILLED WITH STRAYS</div><div style="width:250px;font-family: Tahoma;font-size:11px;color:#8E7E64;text-align: center;line-height:60%;font-variant:small-caps;letter-spacing:1px;">›phony people come to pray. look at all of them beg to stay. phony people come to pray.‹</div><p>
<div style="width:390px;background-color:#E6E6E6;border:dotted 1px #000;font-family: Tahoma;font-size:9.5px;color:#585858;text-align:justify;line-height:90%;padding:5px;">
When Adrian was still a kid, he learned not to dream too big. He would end up disappointed in the end, naturally. He wasn’t cut out to do anything amazing. In fact, most of his life, he didn’t even know what his future looked like. Even now, he might have been working towards something and he might have had goals, but he didn’t know what his life would be like months from now, let alone years ahead. Who knew if school was going to work out for him? And even if it did, it didn’t mean that he was necessarily going to be successful. It meant that he was qualified to be somewhat successful. He didn’t know if he was really pushing towards anything that was worth a damn, but he wanted to have a little more than being really good at making a sale. Cars had always interested him, so he didn’t see why not. He liked to help work on them so it had been a natural selection. And it wasn’t as if he had to have been a genius to become a mechanic. A part of Adrian wanted to think that there was a little more out there for him, but at the same time, he was a realist and he didn’t know if there actually was. He was lucky to have what he did. If it hadn’t been for his brother or for the way he earned money, then he would probably be dead by now. He might have grown up in a less than savoury environment, but if he had been left alone when his mom died, he wouldn’t have gotten far. He would have been another one of those dirt poor kids that had been tossed around in the system and he would have probably aged out and wound up on the streets. Instead, he fed to those types half of the time. He sold drugs, kept a cash flow coming and had a brother that took care of him if he needed it. He had luck there and he was grateful for it, because it could have disappeared in an instant.
<p>
Adrian wasn’t sure what he would have done if he didn’t have a brother. Right now, even, he didn’t want to see what his life would be like. He needed someone to count on. No matter how many times he said he didn’t give a fuck about who cared about him or what was there to help him, he did need his brother’s guidance. He needed some support system, even if it was one person that gave a damn about whether he lived or died. Of course Adrian cared about himself. He didn’t want to end up dead or on the streets by any means, but he didn’t know if he was cut out to be completely alone. He might have been pretty independent now, but it didn’t mean that he was completely by himself. It didn’t mean that he wanted to be alone. But, he also didn’t need a lot of close friends. He didn’t do close. He had a lot of acquaintances, people he dealt to and people he slept with, but there was no such thing as a best friend in his life and he’d never had a real relationship for so much as a day. It was going to stay that way too, as far as he was concerned. Because, he just didn’t attach that way. He would rather keep his distance, because people were fucked up on a personal level, more than they were when they were just partying and having a good time. Once feelings were involved, it was messy and hard and Adrian didn’t feel like being let down by everyone. “Fucking make me,” he dared. “Your brother’s just the same. So shut the fuck up already, no one cares.” It wasn’t that Adrian wouldn’t be able to understand defending a sibling. If someone was bad talking his brother, he would have been ready to punch them in the face for it. “Seriously? That’s not a reason.” Adrian replied; well, it was a reason, but it felt like a completely silly reason, really.


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[dohtml]<center><link href='http://fonts.googleapis.com/css?family=Wire+One' rel='stylesheet' type='text/css'><div style="width:400px;background-color:#F2F2F2;padding:10px;padding-top:5px;border-left:solid 5px # 949bae;border-right:solid 5px #949bae;"><div style="font-family: Wire One;font-size:45px;color:#242321;letter-spacing:2px;text-align:center;line-height:100%;">I'LL WAIT HERE, YOU'RE CRAZY</div>
<img src="http://i1131.photobucket.com/albums/m548/xpirateransack/adrian.jpg" <div style="border-bottom:1px dotted #000;border-top:1px dotted #000;"><div style="font-family: Wire One;font-size:45px;color:#242321;letter-spacing:2px;text-align:center;line-height:90%;">THOSE VICIOUS STREETS ARE FILLED WITH STRAYS</div><div style="width:250px;font-family: Tahoma;font-size:11px;color:#8E7E64;text-align: center;line-height:60%;font-variant:small-caps;letter-spacing:1px;">›phony people come to pray. look at all of them beg to stay. phony people come to pray.‹</div><p>
<div style="width:390px;background-color:#E6E6E6;border:dotted 1px #000;font-family: Tahoma;font-size:9.5px;color:#585858;text-align:justify;line-height:90%;padding:5px;">
Adrian didn’t have much in the way of hobbies. He liked video games and movies and tended to spend a lot of his time partying, but that wasn’t much of a hobby really. Cars were kind of that for him, but it wasn’t as if he had a lot of cars to tinker with. He didn’t have one of his own, though he had been able to help work on friends’ cars a couple times and he liked cars enough to want to go to school for it. But, he didn’t even know how much of a dream it was. Adrian didn’t really start a lot of new things. It wasn’t that he was afraid of trying new things, he just never saw a way to fit it into his life. Most of his life had been spent in the city with the same type of people. Frankly, he rarely left NYC at all and he’d been born and raised there. And Jersey, Connecticut and Vermont remained the only other states he had ever travelled to. He always thought that he’d travel one day, see more of the US, because it was kind of weird never going anywhere. But at the same time, everything he needed was really in one place. He was lucky enough to live in New York—if lucky was really how he could describe it. Frankly, it hadn’t been the best life and he had the short hand a lot growing up. But, he liked it more than he would if he was raised in some tiny town where there wasn’t anything and he had to leave all of the time. He couldn’t imagine ever having a different home. Though, at the same time, Adrian could never think ahead but a couple of months. He didn’t see his future farther than that.
<p>
He figured that next year would look a lot like this one. He didn’t see any huge changes coming for him. It took a lot for his life to change. And while some things did, nothing massive really differed year after year. He might do a little better and he was out on his own where he hadn’t been a couple years prior, but that didn’t mean that much. He was still the same person with the same job and with the same life as before. He was content with it too. It wasn’t perfect and Adrian lacked a lot. He might not admit that he cared, but he wasn’t in the best of places. It wasn’t exactly easy to only trust one person in the world and to have a limited future. While he did his best not to think of it that way and thought he was better off than some, he couldn’t help but know that it was so easy to get into a crappy situation. He lived in a world filled with drugs, money and illegitimate work. It wasn’t safe, secure or any of those things. And now and then he met people like Cam who couldn’t even keep a deal to pay up. At the shove, he glared at her, but he didn’t push her back. “Don’t fucking touch me,” he warned. “And I’ll say whatever I want.” He didn’t care what she thought or who her brother is. “Whatever. Yes, I can, because I’m pretty damn sure someone’s lawyer brother isn’t the best person in the world. You don’t know everyone in the world, so you can’t say that he is.” He just pushed her argument back at her. “It’s a dumb reason. Just tell me.” Because she didn’t want to tell him made him want to know more. It didn’t make a lot of sense, except that he was going to annoy her until she told him.


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[dohtml]<center><link href='http://fonts.googleapis.com/css?family=Wire+One' rel='stylesheet' type='text/css'><div style="width:400px;background-color:#F2F2F2;padding:10px;padding-top:5px;border-left:solid 5px # 949bae;border-right:solid 5px #949bae;"><div style="font-family: Wire One;font-size:45px;color:#242321;letter-spacing:2px;text-align:center;line-height:100%;">I'LL WAIT HERE, YOU'RE CRAZY</div>
<img src="http://i1131.photobucket.com/albums/m548/xpirateransack/adrian.jpg" <div style="border-bottom:1px dotted #000;border-top:1px dotted #000;"><div style="font-family: Wire One;font-size:45px;color:#242321;letter-spacing:2px;text-align:center;line-height:90%;">THOSE VICIOUS STREETS ARE FILLED WITH STRAYS</div><div style="width:250px;font-family: Tahoma;font-size:11px;color:#8E7E64;text-align: center;line-height:60%;font-variant:small-caps;letter-spacing:1px;">›phony people come to pray. look at all of them beg to stay. phony people come to pray.‹</div><p>
<div style="width:390px;background-color:#E6E6E6;border:dotted 1px #000;font-family: Tahoma;font-size:9.5px;color:#585858;text-align:justify;line-height:90%;padding:5px;">
As a kid, dreams weren’t easy to come by. What he wanted, more than anything else was to be stable. He wanted to have a home like everyone else’s. He wanted a mom that gave a fuck about him enough that she wouldn’t kill herself with every drug she injected into her veins. At the end of the day, he wanted to matter. He wanted to be worth a damn to her and he had never received that. There were times where he had hope again, where it looked like everything was going to get better and that maybe he had a shot, but then it fell again and when he finally had the most hope he could have, it crashed horribly. There was no wonder why he couldn’t trust and why hope was so distant for him. Adrian had never been able to trust it. He had one person that wouldn’t let him down and that he believed in above all else. Everyone else, he didn’t give a damn about. He couldn’t trust them beyond petty things, because people screwed him over. That’s all they ever did. The world wasn’t there for him and it wasn’t out to get him either. But unless he knew how to play the game, it was going to work against him in every way. Adrian didn’t have a fond outlook on the world. He didn’t have people to look up to that had dreams that were even remotely as big as his and his won were nothing. He wanted to party, sell drugs and work on cars. He didn’t know how long it would last him or where he would be in the next ten years, let alone five. All that he did know was that where he was in the present was better than some of the places he’d been before. By no means was he on a good path. His main source of income was illegal and he dealt and hung out with a crowd that was bound to get him in trouble if he wasn’t careful. It wasn’t like he’d never gotten into it or had ever been worried about his life. Especially when he fucked with the wrong person and ended up having to fight them off. What he wanted was to be the guy that people didn’t want to screw with and because he had connections to take care of people who didn’t pay on time, he accomplished that a little bit.
<p>
What mattered was that he was alive now and fine with it. He wasn’t unhappy and would have said he was happy faster than he ever said unhappy. Adrian didn’t give himself the time to be unhappy with anything. He wasn’t going to let himself look at the world as fucked up or at his life as being less than ideal. It was his life and it was fucking perfect. He might not have had a lot of people that he cared about, but it was better than no one. He had one person that was all he really needed. Anyone else didn’t have to enter his life and stay in it. Adrian didn’t think of other people before himself or care deeply about his friends because he didn’t have them to give a damn. If he did, maybe it would have been different. He wasn’t heartless or cruel or completely without empathy. He just didn’t have the connections. He was guarded and kept those walls up for a reason. To put it bluntly, his life had sucked for most of it. There was a lot of bad to remember, but he refused to dwell on it if he could help it. It didn’t change what was in his subconscious, but it kept him going. “Bad things? Less than perfect is fucking bad now?” He asked, scoffing at her. “You sound like an idiot. He’s not the best. Period. Not to anyone else but you.” Because to say he was the best and get worked up about it seemed ridiculous to him. He couldn’t give a rat’s ass about her brother, let alone think that he was the best. Whether it was the best person or best lawyer. “There’s always someone better.” Adrian finally shrugged. “You probably didn’t steal it at all.” Because apparently she couldn’t answer.


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[dohtml]<center><link href='http://fonts.googleapis.com/css?family=Wire+One' rel='stylesheet' type='text/css'><div style="width:400px;background-color:#F2F2F2;padding:10px;padding-top:5px;border-left:solid 5px # 949bae;border-right:solid 5px #949bae;"><div style="font-family: Wire One;font-size:45px;color:#242321;letter-spacing:2px;text-align:center;line-height:100%;">I'LL WAIT HERE, YOU'RE CRAZY</div>
<img src="http://i1131.photobucket.com/albums/m548/xpirateransack/adrian.jpg" <div style="border-bottom:1px dotted #000;border-top:1px dotted #000;"><div style="font-family: Wire One;font-size:45px;color:#242321;letter-spacing:2px;text-align:center;line-height:90%;">THOSE VICIOUS STREETS ARE FILLED WITH STRAYS</div><div style="width:250px;font-family: Tahoma;font-size:11px;color:#8E7E64;text-align: center;line-height:60%;font-variant:small-caps;letter-spacing:1px;">›phony people come to pray. look at all of them beg to stay. phony people come to pray.‹</div><p>
<div style="width:390px;background-color:#E6E6E6;border:dotted 1px #000;font-family: Tahoma;font-size:9.5px;color:#585858;text-align:justify;line-height:90%;padding:5px;">
Adrian had been a lot more naive when he was little and before his mom died. He used to believe her when she said that things would change. Although the doubt was always in the back of his mind, he tried to lend her some hope before she disappointed him yet again. There were times where she would talk about things getting better, about her getting a job and how they would get a better place and he’d go to a nicer school with better friends and everything would be fucking great. Of course, that was a fantasy even to her. Still, he soaked it up and gave her a little bit of hope, just enough that it would hurt like hell when she let him down. He gave her the most belief before she died. He thought that finally, he would get a piece of some better world. And after that, he really stopped looking at anything else. He didn’t give a fuck about living some other life. It wasn’t in his list of goals. He wanted to stay in the same area, with his same friends and with the same job that he had now. He didn’t want to move on to better things, because what the hell was wrong with his life? He didn’t care if he didn’t have anyone that he could really call friend, not to the extent that some people saw the friends they cared about. He literally had no one except for his brother that he honest-to-god cared about. He didn’t even know how upset he’d be if anything happened to the guys he hung around. Sure, he’d be sad. But he learned not to be disappointed and tried to make loss seem like nothing. He had the things that he wanted now. There was a lot that he hadn’t been able to have as a kid that he could easily have his hands on now. Life didn’t suck too badly, but it wasn’t good either. It wasn’t the best life, although he loved how much he got to party and did like his life for the most part. It wasn’t what most would want and there was no changing that. Adrian was always going to have the life that he had, no matter what. And a lot of people wouldn’t get that.
<p>
People who he saw as spoilt or entitled tended to get under his skin more because he had never been either of those things. When he saw Cameron, because she hadn’t paid him, that was what he saw. When he first met her, she’d just been hot and a customer that he’d allow get away with not paying him right away. He did that with some people, because it helped pull them in later on. And usually, if he looked at someone, he could pinpoint if they would be able to. And a girl wearing designer clothes usually stood out as having money. There were some people who would ask him for an extension when it was more than obvious that they would never have the money. He had to be careful. “Whatever. Just keep fucking saying it, it doesn’t make it true.” Adrian retorted, because he wasn’t going to agree that some guy was the best. He didn’t even know him or care about him. And he was sure that there was always someone better. That’s how it worked. He wasn’t the best just because he was her brother. Although, Adrian would wager that his brother was the best too, because there was no one in the world that he had counted on as much as he had his sibling. So, in a way, he could have gotten it. Too bad he wasn’t going to relent and think of it that way. It was just annoying. “Mhm, sure, whatever you say. You can’t even tell me how you did it, so how can I believe you even did?” He asked. And it did make some sense, but it hadn’t been why he used that argument initially. Before, it was just a way to try to get her to tell him. Though, really, he supposed, it made sense.


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<img src="http://i1131.photobucket.com/albums/m548/xpirateransack/adrian.jpg" <div style="border-bottom:1px dotted #000;border-top:1px dotted #000;"><div style="font-family: Wire One;font-size:45px;color:#242321;letter-spacing:2px;text-align:center;line-height:90%;">THOSE VICIOUS STREETS ARE FILLED WITH STRAYS</div><div style="width:250px;font-family: Tahoma;font-size:11px;color:#8E7E64;text-align: center;line-height:60%;font-variant:small-caps;letter-spacing:1px;">›phony people come to pray. look at all of them beg to stay. phony people come to pray.‹</div><p>
<div style="width:390px;background-color:#E6E6E6;border:dotted 1px #000;font-family: Tahoma;font-size:9.5px;color:#585858;text-align:justify;line-height:90%;padding:5px;">
There were a few things that Adrian thought he was good at, but he had never been perfect. He did poorly in school, because it didn’t have a point. The only reason he hadn’t dropped out was because his brother told him that he was supposed to keep going. He did it to make him proud, not for himself or for anyone else. There was no one else that mattered or gave a damn if he did well in school. The teachers didn’t give a shit about him. He wasn’t a kid that they paid any attention to. After high school, he didn’t even think about college. One, they didn’t have that kind of money, two, there was nothing there for him. He didn’t have a career he wanted to get involved in and he didn’t see what higher education could do for him. It wasn’t until recently that he made his decision to finally go back to school, but to a school where he’d learn a job and that was it. And they had enough money put together to manage it. After all, his job was paying well. Adrian didn’t know if he would ever stop selling drugs. It was good business and got him a lot of money that he wouldn’t otherwise have. And he was good at it. It allowed him to party and hang out wherever he wanted to. He had a way with words, sure, and he was good at talking someone into buying which worked in his favour. He was also good with the threats, even if he physically didn’t look like much in comparison to the goons he could send to pound someone’s face in for not paying him. If they weren’t trying to rip him off, he might even sympathise, because god knows he’d been roughed up a few times himself. But, not because he was cheap.
<p>
His life wasn’t horrible. It had been worse than it was now and he dealt with people who were even worse than him on a regular basis. It didn’t mean he was always happy though. If Adrian was honest, he wasn’t. He had been pissed off at the world for a long time. It was something that was always inside of him, building away beneath the surface. His life didn’t suck right now, not really. But there were parts that did and even now it wasn’t perfect. He was a fucking drug dealer for crying out loud. He wasn’t the perfect kid from the suburbs that was for damn sure. And he didn’t come from a family that could give him everything that he wanted. The money that he had now, he earned, basically. Some of the things he had, he did get from his brother and his brother probably had even more ways to get money. His brother took care of him; made sure that he wasn’t starving to death or anything like that. But, at the same time Adrian thought he could take care of himself. He just didn’t want to find out what it would be like to be completely alone. It was bad enough that he didn’t have many people in his life to begin with. To lose the one person that he had all of that trust in would devastate him. It would take his life and rip it to shreds in an instant. There would be little else for him because he didn’t know what he’d do without him around to help out. Adrian wasn’t a little kid. He was twenty-three. But, he still didn’t feel so independent that he wanted to be without his brother forever. He’d never want that. Fuck no. “No, he’s a lawyer. I’d probably think he was a douche.” He retorted, because that’s what most lawyers were, right? Honestly, he didn’t know, or care. He would push stereotypes because he didn’t care what she thought about him or that she thought her brother was so damn good. “Stealing a dress isn’t magic. And it’s not like I’d use it. I don’t need to steal a fucking dress.” He replied, in his own way saying whatever secret it was didn’t have to be. And if she didn’t tell him, he’d just keep bugging her about it. If only because she refused to tell him.



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[dohtml]<center><link href='http://fonts.googleapis.com/css?family=Wire+One' rel='stylesheet' type='text/css'><div style="width:400px;background-color:#F2F2F2;padding:10px;padding-top:5px;border-left:solid 5px # 949bae;border-right:solid 5px #949bae;"><div style="font-family: Wire One;font-size:45px;color:#242321;letter-spacing:2px;text-align:center;line-height:100%;">I'LL WAIT HERE, YOU'RE CRAZY</div>
<img src="http://i1131.photobucket.com/albums/m548/xpirateransack/adrian.jpg" <div style="border-bottom:1px dotted #000;border-top:1px dotted #000;"><div style="font-family: Wire One;font-size:45px;color:#242321;letter-spacing:2px;text-align:center;line-height:90%;">THOSE VICIOUS STREETS ARE FILLED WITH STRAYS</div><div style="width:250px;font-family: Tahoma;font-size:11px;color:#8E7E64;text-align: center;line-height:60%;font-variant:small-caps;letter-spacing:1px;">›phony people come to pray. look at all of them beg to stay. phony people come to pray.‹</div><p>
<div style="width:390px;background-color:#E6E6E6;border:dotted 1px #000;font-family: Tahoma;font-size:9.5px;color:#585858;text-align:justify;line-height:90%;padding:5px;">
When his mom had still been alive, Adrian hadn’t been out of control or hard to deal with. Not that his mom gave a damn enough to deal with him as it was. He didn’t have rules to break, expectations to live up to or anything to really point himself towards. Once she was gone, he’d hit rock bottom multiple times. He was angry, hurt and had one person in the world to look to. And his brother had dealt with him. He put up with him when he was at his best and at his worst. And Adrian could have a temper, he could yell, scream and fight because it felt better than swallowing reality back then. He wanted to be independent, of course. He wanted his brother to be proud of him, because he wasn’t living off of him entirely. Of course, pride came easy no matter what he was doing. Selling drugs was the way of it, really. He did that and no one questioned whether it was right or wrong, because it was a way of making money and he was good at it. It was what kept his rent paid and food in his mouth. He had a good little business running and had for a few years now. Things were good for him in that respect. Adrian didn’t see himself as failing at any part of his life, even if it wasn’t ideal for everyone else. Even with what the rest of the world saw was another drug dealer with a fucked up life, he saw something better. He saw something to be proud of and that he was worth something. And at least he had enough integrity to fucking pay people off. A lot of people didn’t, people who could easily be better off than him, financially.
<p>
What other people saw when they looked at him didn’t matter. He didn’t give a fuck what they saw or what they thought about him. They didn’t give a damn about him so why did their opinion even start to matter? He showed people who he wanted to show them and that was it. He was extremely guarded and content with being that way. He didn’t need anyone getting too close. No one ever had either. He wasn’t out to make a lot of friends or to care about other people. It wasn’t that he was incapable of caring either, but no one had ever cared about him, bar his brother. So, why was he about to give anyone else that kind of respect? People didn’t deserve it. He used people all the damn time. They were good company for parties or money in his pocket. But, it was a world where it was either use or be used and Adrian was sure that he was used by other people too. That’s just how his life had always been. There were few genuine people and he didn’t trust most. And girls like Cam who didn’t pay him just frustrated him to no end. Did it take a lot to pay off a debt? If someone asked for money for something then obviously they needed it. People didn’t get by with being hot and that’s it. There was always something else involved and Adrian didn’t give a damn how hot the person he was selling to was. At the end of the day, he would still ask for the money. He could lead them on and act like sex could help, but it didn’t. He would still charge them the same as he would have without it. “Why the fuck not? I don’t know him. So, I really don’t care if you don’t think so. Most lawyers are douchebags.” And he didn’t know her brother but wasn’t looking to get to know him either. “No, and obviously you don’t know fucking how. Since you just keep twisting it around. You probably just conned someone into buying it for you or something.”



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[dohtml]<center><link href='http://fonts.googleapis.com/css?family=Wire+One' rel='stylesheet' type='text/css'><div style="width:400px;background-color:#F2F2F2;padding:10px;padding-top:5px;border-left:solid 5px # 949bae;border-right:solid 5px #949bae;"><div style="font-family: Wire One;font-size:45px;color:#242321;letter-spacing:2px;text-align:center;line-height:100%;">I'LL WAIT HERE, YOU'RE CRAZY</div>
<img src="http://i1131.photobucket.com/albums/m548/xpirateransack/adrian.jpg" <div style="border-bottom:1px dotted #000;border-top:1px dotted #000;"><div style="font-family: Wire One;font-size:45px;color:#242321;letter-spacing:2px;text-align:center;line-height:90%;">THOSE VICIOUS STREETS ARE FILLED WITH STRAYS</div><div style="width:250px;font-family: Tahoma;font-size:11px;color:#8E7E64;text-align: center;line-height:60%;font-variant:small-caps;letter-spacing:1px;">›phony people come to pray. look at all of them beg to stay. phony people come to pray.‹</div><p>
<div style="width:390px;background-color:#E6E6E6;border:dotted 1px #000;font-family: Tahoma;font-size:9.5px;color:#585858;text-align:justify;line-height:90%;padding:5px;">
Adrian knew exactly what it was like to hate the majority of his family. He hated both of his parents, although his dad was someone that he would never know or be able to find. But on principle, he hated the man. His mom, he claimed to hate loudly. He wouldn’t say anything good about her, except that he loathed her; she was a whore, a junkie, a bitch and a liar. She was all of these words that he had conjured up too young and he kept repeating them. Because underneath it, of course he had loved his mother. He’d been devastated when she died and he spent years building up walls to keep people from disappointing him and hurting him the way that she had. He didn’t want to let people in. He didn’t trust that family really meant anything. He was lucky enough to have a sibling that gave a fuck, but it was the luck of the draw. He saw people who had good families; close ones, and it was frustrating to see them complain, when they’d never have a clue what it was like to be without anything with the potential to be close. Adrian cared about his brother and that was just about it. That was what he cared about when it came to family because that was all he had left. He didn’t pay attention to distant relatives or extended family. They might as well have not existed. It was just him now. And his brother might be around to take care of him when he needed it, but generally speaking, Adrian took care of himself too. And he didn’t need anyone else in his life, because he had gotten this far without having a huge support system; he could keep it up. He didn’t need a lot of people surrounding him. He needed what he had. Period.
<p>
Adrian tried not to spend most of his dwelling on the bad parts of his life. He’d rather focus on what was good about it and what he had now that he hadn’t growing up. Adrian would rather have fun than sit around and mope about his life or try to face down what he felt beneath every wall he had built around himself. It was easier to have a good time and to keep going. He didn’t mind being shallow or not going too deep into himself. Delving too deep into the type of person that he was or what he felt was something that scared more than helped him. ‘Whatever. They’re all the fucking same. And you won’t hit me, because I’ll hit you back.” He retorted and he really didn’t feel like getting into a fight right there. He would rather that she didn’t hit him at all and he wasn’t looking to retaliate. But, he didn’t take the threat all that seriously either. He didn’t give a damn about her brother so he didn’t know why he had to pretend that he didn’t think that he was probably just some douchebag lawyer that only gave a fuck about money and his own career. He really didn’t see how it changed anything. He didn’t need to have an opinion of some stranger. To say that he was probably the same as any other lawyer felt fine to him. And sure, it got to her a little which was kind of funny, but also, he thought, kind of dumb. “You’re not telling me because you probably didn’t even do it at all. You’re just acting like you did, but if you really did it, you’d be able to answer it.” He remarked back at her.




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[dohtml]<center><link href='http://fonts.googleapis.com/css?family=Wire+One' rel='stylesheet' type='text/css'><div style="width:400px;background-color:#F2F2F2;padding:10px;padding-top:5px;border-left:solid 5px # 949bae;border-right:solid 5px #949bae;"><div style="font-family: Wire One;font-size:45px;color:#242321;letter-spacing:2px;text-align:center;line-height:100%;">I'LL WAIT HERE, YOU'RE CRAZY</div>
<img src="http://i1131.photobucket.com/albums/m548/xpirateransack/adrian.jpg" <div style="border-bottom:1px dotted #000;border-top:1px dotted #000;"><div style="font-family: Wire One;font-size:45px;color:#242321;letter-spacing:2px;text-align:center;line-height:90%;">THOSE VICIOUS STREETS ARE FILLED WITH STRAYS</div><div style="width:250px;font-family: Tahoma;font-size:11px;color:#8E7E64;text-align: center;line-height:60%;font-variant:small-caps;letter-spacing:1px;">›phony people come to pray. look at all of them beg to stay. phony people come to pray.‹</div><p>
<div style="width:390px;background-color:#E6E6E6;border:dotted 1px #000;font-family: Tahoma;font-size:9.5px;color:#585858;text-align:justify;line-height:90%;padding:5px;">
Hate, at the end of the day, was easier than loving people. It was easier, because when they disappointed you, it wasn’t going to hurt like hell. They couldn’t really crush you if you didn’t give a fuck from the start. It was easier that way. The less people he cared about, the less likely he was going to be disappointed. It was easier for him to get by, knowing what people were like, but not having to put up with the ill effects. He felt like he had been betrayed by the people that were supposed to be closest to him and if the only person in the world that could give a damn was his brother and not the rest of his family, then why would strangers care? He wasn’t going to put himself up to get knocked down. He wasn’t going to rely on anyone knowing that it would be pulled out from under him quickly. He didn’t want to trust. Now, little pieces of trust here and there were different. He could trust someone to give him something or to pay him, because that wasn’t trusting anyone with something that was going to hurt him if they didn’t come through with it. Well, not unless he ran short on money because of them and then that could get him into trouble with the system above him. But, generally, if someone disappointed him by not paying, he threatened and had other people knock them around. And he could trust those guys to do it if he needed. But, that didn’t make them close friends of his. They were friends, in a way, he supposed, but at the end of the day he wouldn’t even trust the guys that beat up people for him with anything too close.
<p>
He didn’t know how people could go through life and trust so many people or to look optimistically at a person. He didn’t know what it was like to have friendships that were unconditional. He knew what it was like to have a sibling that cared about him no matter what, but it didn’t translate to everyone else. And really, he didn’t know why his brother was there to give a fuck about him. He could have just left him. He had been old enough to be out on his own when his mom died, so no one forced him to stick around and take care of his annoying brother. No one made him dig him out of trouble when he got too deep and no one was asking him to deal with his anger and hate of most of the world. But, he did it anyway. And his brother might not have been the greatest guy by society’s standard, but he was great to him. His brother was a drug dealer and the kind of guy that you didn’t want to cross when it came down to it. He had seen him work over people before and knew he was probably even more street smart than he was. But, he gave a damn about Adrian and was willing to look out for him in ways that no one else had. That, to him, was enough for him to look up to. Adrian never had the best role models. No one he was close to had made much of themselves. Adrian was doing more just by going to school. And for a long time he didn’t think he would ever go that far and even now didn’t know if he would do much with what he was learning. He hoped to, but life didn’t always go how he wanted. “He’s just the fucking same.” He snapped back and shoved her back when she pushed. “Don’t touch me.” He warned. He didn’t want to fight her, but he wouldn’t be shoved around either. “Yeah, right,” he laughed. “I’m saying it ‘cause I don’t believe you. You’re probably bought everything you could ever want. I don’t think you’d know how to steal if you had to.” Now whether or not he believed it didn’t matter. Because, yeah, he was also trying to bait her.

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[dohtml]<center><link href='http://fonts.googleapis.com/css?family=Wire+One' rel='stylesheet' type='text/css'><div style="width:400px;background-color:#F2F2F2;padding:10px;padding-top:5px;border-left:solid 5px # 949bae;border-right:solid 5px #949bae;"><div style="font-family: Wire One;font-size:45px;color:#242321;letter-spacing:2px;text-align:center;line-height:100%;">I'LL WAIT HERE, YOU'RE CRAZY</div>
<img src="http://i1131.photobucket.com/albums/m548/xpirateransack/adrian.jpg" <div style="border-bottom:1px dotted #000;border-top:1px dotted #000;"><div style="font-family: Wire One;font-size:45px;color:#242321;letter-spacing:2px;text-align:center;line-height:90%;">THOSE VICIOUS STREETS ARE FILLED WITH STRAYS</div><div style="width:250px;font-family: Tahoma;font-size:11px;color:#8E7E64;text-align: center;line-height:60%;font-variant:small-caps;letter-spacing:1px;">›phony people come to pray. look at all of them beg to stay. phony people come to pray.‹</div><p>
<div style="width:390px;background-color:#E6E6E6;border:dotted 1px #000;font-family: Tahoma;font-size:9.5px;color:#585858;text-align:justify;line-height:90%;padding:5px;">
Adrian didn’t know the last time he told anyone that he loved them. It could have easily been years, because he didn’t really love anyone other than his own brother. And they weren’t exactly the type to be sentimental. But as siblings, it was obvious that they cared about each other. With other people, he never got close enough to love them. It was an empty word to him. As a kid, his mom had abused the word all of the time and it turned him off from it. She didn’t love him. If she had loved him, the bitch would still be alive. Simple as that. And people didn’t care about him, except his brother. He didn’t get close enough for them to really give a fuck. He was sure that most of his friends would sell him out in an instant if they had to. And he would probably do the same thing back if it was necessary. And sometimes it really was. He couldn’t be attached to people because it always ended badly. When Adrian liked someone, he could say that well enough. He did like certain people’s company more than others, but it didn’t mean that he loved. He just didn’t. Adrian kept himself distant from emotional attachments. Whether it was sex or friendship, he didn’t get that close emotionally. He didn’t have to. Sex was about feeling good physically; it didn’t have anything to do with love. For some people, it might, but for Adrian it never had. He couldn’t remember one experience that he would really call that intimate. It could be fantastic sex that he wanted again, but that didn’t mean he loved the person or would care if he never saw them again. It was hard to get close. He didn’t want to let anyone in.
<p>
To be honest, he would rather no one ever got through the walls he built around himself. They kept him safe and he didn’t want anyone to see him for what he was. He would rather that they saw him for what he showed himself to be. He didn’t need anyone to see that he had his fair share of insecurities and issues and there was so much hate and anger in him that he couldn’t get rid of. He didn’t need anyone but his brother. He was there for him when he was upset and Adrian really didn’t get upset often. He didn’t think he had a reason to. He had since buried most of his problems and when he felt down, he buried it some more. He didn’t want to be anything more than the face that he wore. It wasn’t that complicated of a situation and the closer someone got, the more he was ready to push them away. It didn’t mean he didn’t have friends, they just never crossed a line into anything more and he never invested much into the friendship. Adrian didn’t know how people managed that, how they could put trust and love into someone without realizing that it was going to backfire and they were going to end up hurt for it. Maybe some people were just lucky. He was well aware he didn’t have the best background, so maybe if he had some rich family with two parents and a happy family unit it would be different. But, he didn’t. He never had any of that and never would. “He fucking is. Shut up.” He shoved her back, not about to be shoved any more by her. He wasn’t going to say any different. He didn’t even know her brother. But lawyers were usually assholes, so why would hers be any different? He didn’t care about who he was. “Nothing’s fucking open.” he retorted, but maybe there had to be at least something. People couldn’t have everything completely shut down. “But whatever, fine. Even if we find one though, I doubt you’ll get away with it.” He said and actually started to step down the street. It wasn’t that he didn’t believe her, he just wanted to make her prove it, because she was the one that insisted that she had without offering him a way that she had.

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