Penny had finished up her meal and helped put away all of the left over food. She was sitting at the table with her kneed pulled up to her chest and her hand in Will's. The boys were talking but Penny kind of zoned out. She didn't really need to hear the conversation. She was tired and it was nice to just sit with them. Penny tugged at the end of her shorts and looked out of the window. The sun had set and the moon was glowing over the ocean. It was beautiful. Penny's mind wandered to the sleeping situation. She figured that her and Will were in separate rooms but she wasn't too sure. Part of her hoped that they had to be in the same room.
Arabella finished putting the clean dishes away and she let out a little yawn. She was getting kind of tired and was looking forward to going to bed with Hunter. It had felt like such a long day. Arabella turned her eyes to look into the dining room. Hunter was cleaning off the table and talking to Will and Penny. She smiled a little to herself and put the towel down. She walked into the dining room, pulling her hair loose from the bun it was twisted in. Her hand found Hunter's and she smiled up at him "Sorry to interuppt, but I need my man" Arabella said in a teasing tone and tugged on Hunter's arm a little "See you two in the morning"
"Hold on. Let me finish this." He said, wiping the table. She pulled his arm again and Hunter finally gave in. "Okay, okay. Calm down. I'm going." He said with a chuckle before tossing the rag into the sink in the kitchen. He washed his hands and dried them before taking Arabella's hand. "Good night, guys." He said as they walked to the stairs. Hunter smiled and swept her into his arms before climbing the stairs with her in his arms.
Will waved goodbye to them before turning back to Penny. He squeezed her hand gently and placed a small kiss on her cheek before standing up. "Hey, come on. I'll show you your room." He said, standing her up. They walked up the stairs and Will brought her to her door. "I'll see you tomorrow." He said before kissing her lightly on the forehead.
Arabella giggled and she wrapped her arms around his neck. He walked her to the bedroom and placed her on the bed gently put she didn't take her arms away from his neck. Arabella pulled him down to her and she pressed her lips against his, kissing him deeply. All she wanted to do was stay in that bed with him forever. It was perfect.
Penny looked up at Will when he kissed her and she forced a small smile on her face. She nodded and kissed his cheek "See you tomorrow" she said softly. With a sigh, Penny watched Will walk back to his room and she turned, stepping into her room.
Hunter smiled against her lips and laughed quietly before kissing her again. He finally broke the kiss and lightly brushed her nose with his. He smiled softly and kissed her again, lightly biting her lip. He broke again. "I'm going to change clothes real quick. Watch if you want." He said with a chuckle before leaving a small kiss on her lips as he stood up and walked to his suitcase.
"How could I turn down something like that?" Arabella giggled and she sat up, brushing her hair behind her ear. She watched as Hunter walked towards his suitcase and when he bent down to open it up, she wolf whistled. Arabella laughed at the look on his face and she turned her eyes down to the bed. She was going to untuck the blankets and climb in but she saw something shiny on the surface of the bed. Arabella reached out and grabbed it. It was a key to her apartment. She knew it right away. Arabella had all of her keys painted when she firt got her apartment. The one she had in her hand was white with blue stripes on it. She knew that she had given this one to Chad. "How did you get this, Hunter?" she asked softly, holding the key up.
"Get what?" He said as he slipped on a pair of sweatpants and turned around. His eyes widened. The key must have fallen out of his pocket. "Umm...That key?" He said, pointing at it. She nodded and Hunter cleared his throat. "Well," He said before taking off his shirt. "I talked to Chad and he uh...he gave it to me." He shrugged. He walked over and took it from her. He set it on the dresser and climbed over her again. "Where were we?" He asked before kissing her on the lips. He wouldn't do that typically, but he didn't want her to ask anymore questions.
Arabella pulled away from the kiss and she looked up at him. There was something she didn't notice before. A scar on near his hair line. Arabella reached up and touched it lightly. With a sigh, she moved out from under him and folded her arms across her chest. Why was he lying to her? Why was he keeping things secret "Stop lying to me Hunter. Chad wouldn't just talk to you. Something happened and I want to know the truth" she said and looked over at him.
Hunter sighed and rolled next to her. He sat up and looked at her. "Look, Ellie. He came by the apartment. We had a little....conflict. I took the key back. He won't be bothering you again." Hunter said hurriedly. "It's not that big of a deal." Hunter said, taking her hand softly.
"Yes, it is, Hunter" Arabella said, taking her hand back "I can't believe that yo didn't tell me about this, first of all. Second of all, why did there have to be a conflict? Everytime you see Chad, you don't have to beat the crap out of him" she added and pushed herself to the side of the bed, away from Hunter. She wasn't very pleased with him at the moment.
Hunter looked at her in disbelief. "Ellie, I tried to talk to him. He attacked me and threatened to kill me and you." He said in a slight pleading tone. "It was self-defense. Are you really going to defend him after everything he did to us? He hit you and RAPED you. He beat the crap out of me and left me for dead. Excuse me for getting back at him a little." Hunter said with a huff before folding his arms and shaking his head.
"I am NOT defending him. I'm just saything that I don't like what you did" Arabella said and she sighed. She was angry at Hunter, mostly for not telling her. Sure, she was glad that she wasn't going to have to see Chad again but she was too pissed off to think about that "Besides, I thought that you got back at him when you nearly killed him" she snapped.
"I did that because he punched you in the face!" Hunter said, slightly offended. He took a deep breath and closed his eyes. "Ellie, I was practically dead. I hadn't had a meal in days. I had been sleeping under an overpass. He came to me and said that you wanted to be with me. He lead me to an alley and then beat the shit out of me. He should be glad someone helped him." Hunter said with a sigh. It made him sick that Chad was still putting a schism between Arabella and him.
"Oh, look..another damn thing you never told me" Arabella snapped, pushing herself off of the bed and looking down at him "What else are you keeping from me, Hunter? Do you have a sister that I don't know about? Maybe a long lost twin brother? Or is there ANOTHER fight with Chad that you haven't told me about?" she said, her voice raising slightly. She couldn't believe that they were fighting but she angry and she couldn't stop herself.
Hunter looked up at her. "If I had known you were going to react like this I wouldn't have told you anything." Hunter said quietly. Hunter couldn't believe that she would act like this. "Ellie, I'm sorry. I should have told you, but you can't tell me that Chad didn't deserve everything he got." Hunter's stomach clenched. He was hurt that she would think he would lie to her. Hunter looked down at the bed. "Do you have anymore crazed exes that want to kill me I should know about? Or maybe you want to parade me around your father again so that he can call me inbred and useless?" He said bitterly. As soon as he did, he regretted it. He went too far.
Arabella looked at him and she took deep breaths, trying to keep herself from blowing up or crying. Why did this have to happen? Eveything was going to well. "You are so...ugh" she muttered and she stomped over to the bed. Arabella grabbed her pillow and her teddy bear and looked down at Hunter "Sorry to bother you with all of my crazed exes and my horrible father. We won't bug you again" she hissed and stormed out of the bedroom and down the stairs.
"Ellie, wait!" He shouted, but she kept walking. Hunter sat on the bed for a second. Why did this happen? Things were going so well. For once! This thing was going well, but this had to happen. It was always something. He got out of bed and hurried down the stairs after her. He found her on the couch in the living room. He sat down next to her and sighed. "Ellie, I'm sorry. I went too far." He said quietly.
Arabella was furious and she was hurt. Couldn't Hunter understand that she was just angry because he didn't tell her and she was worried about him? She let out a sift sigh and quickly wiped a tear off of her cheek when Hunter sat down beside her. Arabella scooted away from him and she pulled her knees up to her chest "Yeah, you kind of did" she said with a hint of bitterness in her voice.
Hunter gave her space. He didn't want to do anything to make this more difficult. "Ellie, I said it without thinking. I didn't mean it. I'm really sorry." He said reluctantly putting a hand on hers. "I should have told you, but I didn't want you to worry. You had a lot on your mind and I had a lot on my mind and I just...I didn't think." He said quietly. "I couldn't be more sorry."
Arabella looked at him then sighed and looked out the window, resting her chin on her knee. She was silent for a little while, not really sure how to respond to Hunter. She wasn't happy with him. But she also didn't like fighting with him. After a little while, Arabella looked over at Hunter "I'm just...I'm really ticked off that you didn't tell me about this. I thought that you were going to be open and honest with me and the fact that Chad stopped by my apartment is a pretty big deal. And I asked you too, I asked you if anyone came to my door and you said that it was just a delivery. It was Chad, wasn't it?"
Hunter's head sank a little and he nodded. "Yes, but I'm really sorry. Ellie, I just wanted him to be out of our lives. There was nothing stopping him from coming back and bothering us." He said quietly. "I just wanted us to be together without interruptions. I know I should have told you, but I knew that you'd freak out and you seemed so happy and I just..." Hunter felt awful. "I feel really bad. I'm sorry." Hunter stood up and looked at her. "I'll sleep here. You can have the bed." He said quietly.
Arabella looked over at him and she closed her eyes for a moment. Was her relationship with Hunter ever going to be easy? Was it ever going to be smooth? She yawned a little and rubbed her eyes "I just..I worry about you, Hunter. Which I know is stupid, you can take care of yourself. It's just..." She said in a soft voice "I don't know what I would do if you got hurt or if I lost you.." she admitted and subconsciously put her hand over the thin scar on her wrist "I'm fine here" she whispered.
Hunter sat back down and took her hand away from her scar. "Ellie, it's not stupid." He said as he put his hand on her wrist and lifted her other hand up to his lips. "Ellie, I'm never going to leave you." He said quietly before kissing the back of her hand lightly. "I can't take care of myself." He said with a small smile. He ran a thumb lightly along the scar. "I can't even sleep on a bed. You take it." He said quietly.
She took a shaky breath and looked at her wrist in his hand for a second before looking up at his eyes. Arabella wanted to stay angry. She was ticked off and she didn't want to give in to easily but he was making her heart melt."I'm sorry I got so angry" She whispered and looked down "I don't like hearing about you fighting or anything like that"
"I know, I'm sorry." He said quietly. "I'll stay out of trouble, from now on." He said with a small chuckle. He ran a few fingers up and down her arm and studied her hands. They were soft and small with long and nimble fingers. "Ellie, I'm sorry." He said quietly.
Arabella looked down at her hands in Hunter's. She wondered what he saw there. When she looked at her wrist, she felt ashamed and guilty. What she did like was how small her hands were compared to Hunter's, it was like it was proof of how much he could protect her and save her "I'm sorry too" she whispered, not moving her eyes "I shouldn't have gotten that mad"
Hunter let go of her hands and put his arms around her. He only held her close, wanting never to let go of her again. He still felt a little bitter about how this fight went, but he hated fighting with her. Hunter buried his face in her hair and held her tighter. "I love you, Ellie." He said quietly.
Arabella let out a breath and she fell into his arms, letting her body relax against his. She put her face in his chest and she nodded softly "I love you too" She whispered against his skin. Arabella wasn't happy, not really. She was still a little angry about the fight and what had happened but she didn't want to fight with him anymore. She was too tired. Arabella closed her eyes and she placed a gentle kiss against his chest.
Hunter sighed. "Come on. Let's go to bed." He said quietly. He found himself feeling tired. The steps up the stairs seemed impossible. "Never mind." He scooted back in the couch and laid down on her pillow. He pulled her down with him. He wrapped an arm around her waist. He took a deep breath and buried his face in her hair. It was so comfortable.
Arabella let herself fall into Hunter's arms and she closed her eyes. Being the emotional person that she was, she wanted to cry and smile and yell and break things all at the same time. Arabella moved closer to Hunter and put her hands ontop of his "Hey, Hunter?" she whispered and took a deep breath "I never really thanked you. For saving me in my bathroom and all the millions of times before that"
Hunter smiled softly. He sat up a little and turned toward her. "No thanks necessary, ma'am." He said with a chuckle. "I'm just glad to see you're okay." He said quietly. "Really, really glad. Good night, Ellie." He said, leaving a gentle kiss on her cheek and laying back. He pulled her closer to him and renewed his grasp on her waist.
Arabella smiled softly and she kicked the teddy bear to the ground. She moved a little so that her body lined up perfectly with Hunter's and she closed her eyes. Sleeping with him felt right. It felt natural and comfortable. It felt safe. Soon enough, she was drifting off into a gentle sleep.