Hatred / l.h ✔️

11

~Iris' POV~

I decided to get out of Luke's cabin the next day. I'd woken up of my own accord, for once, and, after a shower, decided I was sick of just being inside all of the time. I will admit it might've had something to do with Eros being here now, though.

After I got dressed, I descended the stairs into the living room and was glad to see that nobody had come downstairs yet. Still completely bare foot, I escaped out the back door and closed it behind me. The heat outside swarmed around me, almost making me rethink my decision to go outside. It was hot as hell out here and I didn't appreciate it. Being outside in general had never bothered me, but when it got hot like this, I despised it beyond belief. However, the breeze that blew threw made it better, so I decided that it was good enough for me to not go back on my decision.

I stalked off of the porch, my bare feet padding lightly against the wood. I then made my way into the woods, deciding I wanted to walk around for a while. It wasn't as if I had anything else I wanted or needed to do. The leaves crunched under my feet as I walked through the woods, the silence being astonishingly intense aside from the sound of my footsteps. I'd have thought that perhaps the woods would've been a little more alive with noise during the day, but it was oddly quiet. That was okay, though. It was more peaceful because of how quiet it was.

The trees around me reached high up into the sky, the leaves stemming above me from the trees casting shade down to me. The shade that they provided made it feel not so hot, blocking me from direct sunlight.

For a good hour, I walked around before I just came to a stop beneath a tree, pulling my phone out. I had a few texts from Cassie, asking where I was repeatedly. Quickly, I sent her a text and told her I was taking a walk before I turned my phone off. While I sat there, I curled my legs up to my chest and frowned to myself, thinking of Eros.

Eros and I hadn't planned on being fuck buddies, really. A few weeks before I'd turned eighteen, I'd met him in a coffee shop and, at that time, it'd been a few years since I'd seen him. Andy had already gone off to college by then, after all, so Eros hadn't been around for years. There hadn't been any reason for him to be around. At first, he and I were just friends, which, I admit, might seem a little weird. He and I had never really spoken to one another when Andy and him were friends before college. I was a good six years younger than him, after all, and had been his friend's little sister. We hadn't had much to talk about.

However, that changed when we met again in that coffee shop. What had at first started out as an innocent friendship between Eros and I quickly took a turn. I'd always known he was attractive, even when he and Andy had been friends, but that was different. The last time I'd seen him before then was when I was about thirteen. I didn't have any interest in him at that time, nor had I ever planned to. Of course, though, things don't always go as planned. My hormones had spiked up a lot since I was thirteen, obviously. That was why, as our friendship had progressed, my thoughts of him stopped being so innocent.

I hadn't been able to help it. I'd tried to, of course, but my attempts were futile. The man practically exuded sex and I wasn't immune to it.

The both of us had agreed that it'd be just sex, no strings attached, and it had been. Never once had I felt feelings for him that made me want to have an actual relationship with him, and vice versa. He and I both wanted sex and so we had it. I liked Eros, but I didn't want a relationship with him. Even so, when we'd been friends with benefits, I admit that I had expectations. I didn't want him sleeping with anyone else while he was sleeping with me. For obvious reasons, I paid that back to him. I'd never expect him to do something for me that I wasn't willing to do myself. It didn't work that way.

Luckily for me, he'd agreed. Eros, I'd learned, was a man of his word and he respected and liked me, which I was grateful for. He never went against my wishes or our agreement, and nor did I. He'd never forced me into doing anything or tried to persuade me into sex if I said no. Even if it was just sex, there still had to be boundaries and a mutual understanding of what we both expected of one another. I was glad we'd had that.