Loved

Iris’s p. o. v.

—————

” Louisa if I walk into that kitchen and see even your shadow, you’ll be going to school with a bald head!”

” Eeeeeeeeeeekk!!”

I didn’t need to turn around to see her running down the hallway, her footsteps were tiny but loud enough.

That’s what she gets for sneaking around with Jenny to steal cupcakes from the refrigerator.

Her bedtime was an hour ago!

Jenny’s laughter preceded her presence in the living room where I was watching some TV.

” And we wonder where she gets her violence from” she chuckles again and I turn to view her leaning against the wall near to the kitchen door.

” I honestly wonder the same thing” I reply with a huff and throw myself back down to continue with my entertainment.

” You are hilarious” she laughed lightly a little longer before speaking up ” goodnight Jules”

” You’re going to bed already?” I regard her with my sight again.

” Yeah, and you should too” she walks up to me and embraces me in a brief hug.

” You’re right” I answered.

But immediately, my phone rings out, causing Jenny to chuckle once more and send me a final wave before leaving.

I reach into my pocket and the name across the screen causes uncertainty for a moment.

Mason.

I can’t believe I was actually considering not answering his call.

I did anyway.

” Hey” Mason’s voice sounds airy as he says the first words.

” You seem out of breath” I chuckle and realized how much I actually missed his voice.

” Yeah, just got home from the gym”

” Gym? At ten pm? What are you? Batman in training?” I teased and it sent him reeling in laughter.

” Jules I miss you”

His words caused silence to encroach our conversation.

I miss him too, so much and heaven’s know that I’m hurting him with all this distance and nonsense that I’m carrying out for someone who doesn’t even care !!

I took a breath or two before responding.

” Me too”

He released a sigh that almost sounded like relief.

” For a second there, I thought you didn’t miss me too” he chuckled lightly but the hurt under his words were as dominant over every other.

” You know why I’m doing this right? Just for the deal. Only for the deal”

” Yeah I know, I can’t wait for it to be over. I need you more than anything right now”

” Even more than you need a shower?” A smirk forming on my lips.

” Okay maybe not. But after the shower, yes”

I laughed at his failure in romance.

” So tell me about your day”

And Mason being who he is, made no hesitation in explaining all details about his day, down to the moment he mistakenly got black coffee instead of sweetened for himself.

I silently listened to his words with a smile on my lips.

I really do miss him.

” So enough of me, what about you?” He asked when he was done.

What has really been going on in my life?

Well a whole lot if you ask me, I mean there’s Hunter who got shot and is mad at me for no reason whatsoever, then there’s Soldo who’s sending a lot of letters recently, then there’s the photos-

The photos!

Am I considering telling him about it? maybe it’ll make him see more reasons why I don’t think it’s safe for us to get back together.

But how am I going to tell him we’re being spied on?

” Jules?” He calls out for me again.

” Uh.. Mason, there’s something-” I started but was cut off by the sound of a vehicle driving into the pathway.

” Yeah? What’s up?” He asks for the continuation of my statement.

” I’ll tell you later, something just came up”

” Oh, alright. Goodnight Jules”

” Night Mason”

As soon as we ended the call, Hunter walks in with a scowl on his face and creases in his brows.

He regards me with only a lifted brow and continues to walk away.

The stiffness of his shoulder and the way he rolls it makes it pretty obvious that he missed his therapy tonight also.

” Good evening to you too Mr McConnell” I huff and cross my arms with a bottled up attitude.

” I don’t recall greeting you” his voice was firm and downright annoyed but of recent, I’ve learnt not to care.

” Sadly I was taught manners”

He scoffs before muttering an ‘indeed’ .

” Did you have your therapy session?” My arms still crossed as I watch him head for the stairs.

” Jules leave me alone” he groans and continues moving.

Not today.

” No. Your arm looks as stiff as a rock and it’s only a matter of days before it becomes immobile”

” Well I feel fine” he spits out and begins climbing the steps.

” You’re too stubborn for your own good! At least let me help you!”

No response from him and I find myself pursuing him up the stairs just in time to stop his door with my feet from shutting.

” Jesus! Iris did you take some Novocaine shots this evening? Why are you bloody damn adamant on annoying me!?” He yells once I stepped into his bedroom.

Again, the dark shades of this room is something that would take your eyes days to do some adjusting.

” I’m annoying you?, You’re the one who apologises to me for everything then you pick up a fight with me for nothing!”

” Well I see you’ve acknowledged that we’re not meant to be speaking!”

This shouting fest is going to become something usual for us.

” What is wrong with you!? Do I look like the crook who shot you!?”

” Iris get out!” He points to the door and turns his back to me as he takes off his wrist watch.

” No!”

” I’m going to do something we’ll both regret if you don’t leave!”

” You won’t hurt me!”

His stance becomes rigid at my words and he halts in taking off his suit jacket.

A few seconds of silence pass between us with only the sound of us controlling our temper by taking long deep breaths.

” What do you want?” He finally says but his back is still all I can see.

” Did you get your therapy tonight?” My words now calm like we were having a normal conversation, although my deep breathing could still be heard.

” No” came his simply yet frustrated reply.

” Then let me help you”

“N-”

” Put away your dumb ego for once and let me-”

” Fine!” He hollered and whirled around to look me straight into my eyes from a distance.

” Huh?”

” You wanna touch me so much? Then fine! Go ahead!” All of a sudden he shrugs off his suit jacket and dress shirt, leaving him in his button down and pants.

” Uh.. I n-never thought you’d agree” my words cracked at his sudden change in manner.

” Oh really? Then why bother arguing with me?” He begins unbuttoning his shirt and throws it off.

” Because.. uhm.. because..”

Really Iris? It’s now you stutter?

” Because what!? If you’ve got nothing to say then leave”he pulls off his vest leaving a bare chested Hunter and Iris in an enclosed room.

For some reason that makes me hotter than human temperature.

” Sorry.. err.. where do we start?” I ask and try to avert my eyes from his naked torso.

” Oh I don’t know, I’m not the therapist here” his eyes narrow to slits as he folds his arms across his chest.

Eyes be tamed!

” Fine! Sit down on the bed” I had to shut my eyes to release that instruction because looking at him may betray me.

No movement or sounds were heard and I opened my eyes to see what’s going on.

Hunter still stood across me with one brow raised and arms still folded.

” What?” He shouldn’t look at me when I’m trying to grasp concentration.

” Why are your eyes shut? My previous therapist ensures her eyes are wide open before anything”

Trust Hunter to get a female to massage him.

” Just go sit down”

He shrugs and goes to sit at the edge of his bed, giving me minimum of three seconds to catch my breath.

” The ointment is in the cupboard in the bathroom” he tells me and I give him a nod before going to retrieve it and returning.

I stood at least four feet from him with the ointment in my right arm, thinking of how to actually massage his shoulder without making any body contact.

” If you’re going to use telekenesis then forget it!” He blurts out seemingly tired of my time wasting.

*(Telekenesis is a magic key word meaning the transportation of something from one place to another)*

” I’m not using telekenesis!” I shout back.

” Then you’ve got some extensible digits thinking you can get to me from way over there” he rolls his eyes and uses his arms to balance himself and lean back on the bed.

” I’m… stop!” I really don’t know what he should stop but he’s making me nervous and I don’t need it.

He only shrugged in response to my demand, looks up to the ceiling and sealed his eyes shut.

I watch as he slowly breaths in and out, honestly not minding my presence around him.

After much analysis and conflict, I finally decide to move towards him and get this over with.

In four hesitant strides, I was before him and I sucked in a shallow sigh before placing my knees on both sides of his thigh like I was straddling him but making sure to raise my weight up to avoid unnecessary contact.

He wasn’t expecting my movement so quick, so when the bed dipped at his sides, he snapped his eyes open and failed to hide his shock at my position.

I’m beginning to regret putting on my nightwear shorts and a tank top tonight, because the way his eyes scan from the top of my head down to my thighs ( rather shamelessly) is causing a thermal reaction that’s turning my white skin red.

I cleared my throat to avert our minds from the rather uncomfortable distraction and squeezed out some of the ointment into my palms.

Reaching out and making the first stroke on his shoulder to smear the peppermint scented anodyne.Nôvel(D)ra/ma.Org exclusive © material.

Hunter’s eyes were still roaming my body whilst I started rubbing the wounded area in a circular pattern.

Not rude at all!

From the curve of his bicep to the bone of his scapula, I gently rubbed the cream in as I was taught back during my classes.

After about three minutes of rubbing in to ensure all surrounding areas had a touch of the soothing ointment, I used my thumb to softly press the left side of the wound that was blotched purple because the red side shows the part still needs to do some healing.

He winces at the contact which causes me to cease any movements for a few seconds and after watching him relax, I repeat the action but he winces again.

” When was the last time you saw a physiotherapist?” I asked as I continue massaging despite his pinch of pain that makes him to squeeze his eyes shut.

” That’s not your-” he tries to say but I was having none of it.

” Shut up and tell me” I demand and my statement may have shocked him because his eyes open again and he lifts a brow at me.

” Or else what?” He asks like I threatened him and I’m glad he feels like I did cause I looked him straight into the eye.

” Ahhhh!! What the fuck Iris!?” He screams when I applied more pressure than usual to his shoulder.

” So?” I demand again and he stares at me for a while before doing what I wasn’t expecting.

He laughed.

He was actually laughing at the situation of things and not at me like I feared he would.

It’s been a while since we were actually breathing the same air without anger or frustration between us.

His laughter was something I wasn’t looking forward to but I’m glad he did. And as usual, it’s contagious nature had me laughing too but I bite my lower lip to stop it.

” It’s been a week” he finally answered after his laughter died down.

A week?

” That’s not true, on Wednesday you said you were just coming back from the therapist” I question further while I continue to massage the injured area.

” And you believe I didn’t lie to you because?”

” I forgot you could do that” I commented with another chuckle threatening to escape but Hunter beat me to it.

Unfortunately this time around, I joined in too.

After the laughter had died down again, I pick up the ointment tube and reapply some around the wound once more.

” What got you so riled up this evening?” I bring up another conversation.

” Huh?” He asks in response.

” Tonight, you seemed pissed off at me”

” I’m always pissed off at you”

” True, but tonight was rather an extreme circumstance”

He took some seconds before sighing and speaking up.

” It’s Michelle”

Michelle?

” What about Michelle?”

” Well, she’s been doing some thinking of recent and it’s breeding negative thoughts in her mind”

” Negative thoughts like?”

” I’d prefer not to say”

” Oh ”

At least he’s still opening up a bit.

I bring my arms down to his chest to massage the area towards the ribcage.

” Have you tried eliminating those thoughts?” I ask up.

” I tried, but sadly I’m not one to force a lady into doing or believing things she doesn’t want to”

” Why do I find that hard to believe?” I ask with a smirk on my face that earned a chuckle from him.

” Iris you’re an idiot” his amusing tone extracting another short laughter from me, while I kept on with the therapy.

Iris?.. yay.

” Are you still mad at me?” If I don’t ask anything tonight at least let me ask this.

” I don’t know” he really sounds unsure of himself.

” I’m sorry”

” Why are you apologising?”

” I don’t know” my response comes with a shrug and a smile on my face as I finalize the massage with few strokes on the shoulder blade.

” Done!” I exclaimed, feeling a little proud of myself.

Then I temporarily forgot that I was still hovering myself above Hunter’s thighs when I flopped down on him with a little much force making him groan.

It was then that I felt he was.. he was uhm…

In the mood.

I tried to move a little further down from his hardened area but I only ended up squirming and Hunter hissed so loudly before grabbing me by my waist to get me to stay still.

” Iris stop!” His words were strained and his eyes shut.

I swear I was eighty shades redder than the actual color red by the way my body was heating.

” Now slowly get up without unnecessary movements, got it?” He asked with his eyes still closed.

I nodded but I’m sure he didn’t see it.

Once his arms were off my waist, I slowly stood up to my feet successfully and it was only when he felt my weight was gone did he open his eyes.

” Uhm.. sorry. Thanks. Goodnight!” My jumbled thoughts weren’t able to form a correct sentence as I sprinted out of his bedroom.

Did I really just thank him for giving him a hard on?

My embarrassment only doubled when I heard him laughing behind me once I shut the door.

Funny thing is, I found myself laughing too.