Chapter 65
I was happy it was finally Friday and I would have two days off work to spend with Hunter. It had felt strange to shut myself away in the office when he was home Especially the first days when he had been restless and had looked like a cute puppy as soon as I went out into the apartment. But since he had started drawing again, things had gotten better. I was happy he had liked my gift and I was really curious about what he was drawing. He hadn’t shown me and I didn’t want to snoop or pressure him. He would show me when he was ready, I assumed. I shut down my laptop and made my way nut of the office. To my surprise, I didn’t find Hunter on the couch as I expected
“Hunter?” I called out. I was worried he had gone for a walk or something. He was getting stronger, but I didn’t like the idea of him being outside on his own. No one had discussed it, or even acknowledged it. But I knew I was not Simon’s and the mafia’s only target right now. Hunter was on the same list as me. To my relief, Hunter walked from the dining room with a smile on his face.
“Hey, sweetness. Done for
e for the day?” he asked and kissed me.
“I’m done for the week,” I told him. “Did I interrupt something?” I asked,
“No. I was just keeping myself busy. Have you had a good day?”
“It was okay, at the end it seemed like it would never end, I was looking forward to the weekend so time stood still, I told him. He chuckled.
“I’m looking forward to having you all to myself for a couple days.”
“You look much better today,” I told him. He looked happier and his skin had gone back to its usual tan colour. His eyes sparkled with their honey colour and didn’t look sunken in.
“I feel better, I needed a couple of days of rest, but now I have bounced back. I think I can go back to work on Monday”
“Let’s see. Maybe you can start by working from home? I can work from my room and you can have the office,” I suggested.
“Are you worried about me, sweetness?” he asked.
“I am,” I confessed with a sigh.
“I’m tougher than I look.” Hunter placed a kiss on my head.
“I will try not to worry too much,” I sakl.
“I don’t mind. It shows you care. As long as you don’t try to tackle me when I go to work or tie me to the bed. Actually, I won’t mind the tying to the bed part.” He laughed. I joined him and shook my head. I liked the flirty version of Hunter. To be honest, I liked all versions of him. “Can I persuade you to order in tonight?” he asked.
“I would like that,” I agreed as we moved to the couch. Hunter pulled me down into his lap and he only flinched a Ettle as he flexed his shoulder. “What do you want to do this weekend?” I asked.
“I don’t know. If it’s okay with you, I would like to stay in 1 giggled at that. It had been less than a week since he was kidnapped, shot and tortured. I had no problem staying in the apartment.
“I would like that. We can make something special for dinner and maybe bake something?”
“I like baking with you,” he told me in a low, raspy voice that did things to me. He placed a kiss on my neck. “Could we invite lason over?” be then asked. The topic switch was so fast it almost made my head spin.
“Sure,” I said.
“He will enjoy a homemade meal and he is almost as bad at relaxing as I am,” Hunter told me
“We’ll invite him over and make sure he gets some good food. But I suspect that once the two of you get in the same room there is no stopping you from talking shop,” I told him. Hunter looked a little guilty as I said it. It’s not a bad thing, and I don’t mind it, I added.
“I don’t want you to be bored,” he said.
“Are you kidding? With the things you two talk about, it’s fascinating most of the time. If you call him and invite him over for tomorrow, I will get the takeout menus for today.“I decided,
“As you wish, sweetness,” he agreed and I went to the kitchen to look in the drawer full of menus. I selected five I thought sounded good and walked back.
Chapter 65
“Come
by around five and we can have a look at it before we eat,” Hunter said. He was on the phone so I assumed it was Jason on the other end. “Yeah, would be okay to have Laurence stop by as well,” he then said. I got an idea and waited patiently for Hunter to be done with his phone call. When he ended the he looked at me. “Surry, sweetness, I guess you were right. Jason needed to talk about some things. He has been holding off to let me rest, but now we need in de with them. I told him it was okay and that you wouldn’t mind Laurence dropping by for a quick talk,” he said to me.
“I don’t mind at all I actually got a brilliant ides,” I told him..
“Really? Let’s hear.”
“How about we invite Wictor and Anthony to have dinner as well. Tony, Jason and you can talk shop before dinner and Wictor and I can hang out. Then we can ab eat and hang out,” I said.
“You were right, that is a brilliant idea,” Hunter told me.
“I know. Here are the menus I picked out, you get to pick what we eat while I’ll call Wictor.” While Hunter looked through the menus, I phoned Wictor
“Are you sure?” he asked…
“Of course I’m sure. Why do you ask?” I wanted to know,
“I’m having a hard time not comparing him with his son. I’m sorry. You have told me they are nothing alike, but I still expect him to act li never wanted me around,” Wictor told me.
like Simon. And Simon
“I get it. And it’s not strange that you don’t know that Hunter is different, you haven’t met him. All I ask is that you join your new hot boyfriend and come over for dinner and keep an open mind,” I said.
“I can do that. And he isn’t my boyfriend, we haven’t had that conversation yet.”
“Okay, so come with your friend that you really, really like who makes googly eyes at you,” I conected myself and I could see Hunter doing his best not to laugh.
“Fine, fine. I will be there,” Wictor agreed.
“Thank you. I miss you, little brother, it has been too long.” We said goodbye and when I switched focus back to Hunter, he was doing something on his phone. Judging by the open menu he was holding, he was ordering our food. When he was done he looked up.
“Did you convince him to come?” he asked.
“I did. He’s just a bit weary because he doesn’t know you
you” I said.
“He thinks I’m like Simon.” It was a fact, not a question. But I still wanted to
to give an answer.
“Yes, or he knows that I have told him the two of you are nothing alike. But then he knows I wasn’t exactly a good judge of character when it came to Simon either. He will understand when he meets you.” I snuggled up beside Hunter and he put his arm around me.
“I don’t want to come between the two of you, or cause issues for you. I know how important Wictor is to you,” Hunter told me. I took his hand in mine and played with his fingers.
“It’s sweet of you. But this isn’t jeopardising mine and Wictor’s relationship. We have been through worse things and we still stick together. He’s just nervous and a little worried about me. Once the two of you meet, it will be Ene,” I reassured him
Later in the evening, after we had eaten and relaxed on the couch, I was walking out of the bathroom to go to bed when I noticed the bed was empty. It took me a moment to see Hunter standing by the window, looking out over the city with his sketchbook in hand. 1 smiled.
“Are you ever going to show me one of your drawings?” I asked in a light tone, making sure he knew it wasn’t a demand. He looked at me with genuine surprise.
“Would you like me to show you?” he asked as if the idea hadn’t crossed his mind.
“Of course, but only if you are comfortable with it. I’m just curious,” I told him. He held out his hand and I took it and joined him by the window.
“I’m out of practice so they don’t always come out as I want,” he tell me.
“I’m not an art critic. I just want to see how you see the world.” I reassured him. He turned the pad so I could see what he was working on. It was a pencil drawong of the view from the window of the city, Hunter had used negative space to create the effects of the city lights cutting through the darkness, “It’s amazing.” I told
him
“It’s not done yet,” he said and told me what he was working on and what he wasn’t happy about. He sounded passionate and involved. It was inspiring to listen to
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Chapter 65
him talk about his work “Sorry, I didn’t mean to bore you,” he said in the end.
“You don’t bore me. I
ore me. I love to listen to you talk about your art. Can I see another one?” I asked. Hunter nodded and turned a couple of pages back in his pad
“Oh, eh. I didn’t mean for you to see that one,” he stammered and tried to move past the page. But I stopped him and looked at the page in wonder.
