the unforgiven | james hetfield [2]

thirteen

chapter thirteen: back to square one

Iris didn't know what was keeping James so busy at the studio, but some time had passed before she actually got to see him again. 

Thankfully he showed back up before her mind started jumping to conclusions on where he could really be. She would've started thinking he was back to his usual sneaking around. 

What she didn't expect though, was to see him at her apartment when she came home from work. He wasn't even standing outside her door, he was already in there. 

Her brows furrowed in confusion as she walked in. The apartment appeared different, some things were moved around and brought inside that hadn't been there before.

"James?" Iris called out as she dropped her things on the couch. No answer. 

The door was wide open when she came up, so he had to be around here somewhere. There was no way he would just leave her apartment door wide open without her being there.

She never left her apartment door unlocked, she wasn't stupid. But the fact that James had a set of keys and probably got in that way made her regret not changing the locks. 

Iris went all over the apartment, looking to see if he was in one of the other rooms. Just as she returned to the living room, she saw James coming in with a box in his hands.

She stopped in her tracks and her brows furrowed. "What are you doing? What are you bringing in?" She asked, annoyed that he was even doing this right now. 

"I'm moving back in, what does it look like I'm doing?" He replied, acting as if they had agreed on this beforehand.

Her jaw dropped as he mentioned it so casually as if that was something he could do without her permission. This was the last thing she wanted to deal with after a stressful day.

"Like hell you are," She replied, getting upset now that he was seemingly dead set on staying in her apartment. "Don't you have your own place to stay?"

"Yeah, so?" He replied. "I don't want to keep driving back and forth all the time." He was acting as if it was no big deal, continuing to bring his things in and unpack them right in front of her.

Iris rolled her eyes. "Yeah, well, I need my privacy." She told him, growing even more stressed out at the situation. She did not want him here. 

James turned to her, dropping what he was doing. "Are you forgetting the fact that I used to live here too? We moved in together?" He argued. 

She rubbed her temples, trying to understand how any of this made sense in his mind. If she didn't even want to be around him, what made him think she was ready to live with him?

"You think you could do whatever you want now just because I let you back in? You didn't even ask me." Iris kept her voice low, trying to prevent another screaming match.

He thought it would be a good idea because then they would be closer. They wouldn't have to be apart and fixing things would be easier that way. But that seemed to have backfired on him. 

James rolled his eyes. "It was my apartment too, do you not remember how good we had it?" He argued back, his tone carrying a bit of sadness to it. 

"Yeah, that was when we actually used to like each other!" Iris spat, trying to get it through his head that things between them were far from being good anymore.

A brief silence fell over them after she said that. There was so much malice in her tone, and James wondered if his presence had bothered her so much to the point where it was hateful.

She didn't mean for it to come out that way. She was just stressed out from everything that was happening, and even she knew that she still held that soft spot for him. 

All she had to do was kick him out again if she wanted to, but she ended up hitting him where it hurt. They both stared at each other, feeling the effects of her words. 

James swallowed hard, pushing his feelings aside. "Iris, look, you're right, I'm sorry." He apologized, trying to keep from arguing about this further.

"I'm really getting tired of you saying sorry all of the time." She sighed, walking away to her room. "Do whatever you want, I don't care." She said before slamming the bedroom door.

She left James alone in the living room, not wanting to deal with him right now. "Obviously you do care!" He shouted after her, not caring if she heard him or not.

What was once considered a guest room was now turned into James's bedroom if he was ever going to stay over. Not that she would let him stay that often anyway.

He knew that there was more to her reaction, but she needed her space. There went another missed opportunity for the "communication" they so desperately needed.

James couldn't understand why Iris was so upset, and Iris couldn't understand why James needed to be this close right now.

Neither person was going to be able to articulate their feelings without getting into an argument, and maybe that was a result of the betrayal and hurt that still hovered over them.

If this was how it was going to be every other day, then maybe they needed to end things for good.