Way Back into Love ↪ Owen Grady

eleven ↪ stuck inside

    Lowery's jeep came to a stop. I glanced up from my phone and threw him my most judgemental side look. "Really, now?"

    "That's not how you get yourself a man, hiding from him until it's time for you to leave the island" Lowery shrugged. "That's low even for me"

    I sighed and hopped off the jeep, waiting for him to do the same. "So what should I do?"

    "How would I know? I've never really had a real girlfriend" he shrugged right before he pushed his foot on the gas, leaving me there. Well played.

    I recomposed myself and sighed really loudly before stepping towards the Raptor's enclosure. The gate was open, only a few workers in there, no sign of Owen. I eyed Blue, her head peeking out of her security containment system, she chirping very loudly for some reason.

    "Hey, aren't you the Dolittle girl?" one of the guys asked.

    I raised an eyebrow. That's what they still called me? Weirdos. "Not as good as he was" I joked.

    "Give it a try? She's very grumpy today, I can't take any more fuss from this prehistoric chicken"

    I shook my head at his words, so offensive. A few steps later I was in front of the hissing raptor. I tilt my head to the side and outstretched my hand in her direction, placing it on her head. "Hey girl, what's wrong?"

    Blue frantically tried to move, uselessly, hissing in pain. I eyed the rest of her and spotted the only part of her body she wasn't, in fact, moving.

    "Okay, can some of you show me her left leg?"

    "What?" the first employee asked confused, while the other two were just "Hell no" and "No thank you"

    "Nice. Good thing these raptors are in your hands then" I blurted out.

    "What's going on?" a familiar manly voice spoke from behind me, my whole confidence shattered like glass. "Elle? What are you doing here? I thought you were-"

    "Owen" I took a deep breath before turning around, getting a way too close look at Owen's gorgeous face. He looked down at me with such softness in his eyes my heart melted. — "She-, uh, she's hurt. Her left leg is bleeding"

    "What?!" the raptor trainer released Blue in a quick graceful movement and sent her to the exhibit, where the other raptors were. He then opened the gate and hurried himself in, stopping by her side.

    The other workers gasped dramatically and ran away from the enclosure in no time. About me, I honestly had no idea what to do. Those raptors were raised by Owen, they could recognize his scent, but they had never met me. From what I knew they could've eaten me alive by the time my first foot landed in their habitat. To my surprise, I reacted quickly by grabbing a first aid kit and stepped into the exhibit, locking the gate behind me. Go big or go home. Do or die. Please don't eat me.

    "What are you doing??" Owen panicked when he noticed me beside him.

    "Keep her down" I just instructed. It was still a mystery to me how I would be such a scared kitty my whole life until someone other than myself needed help. Note to self: being selfless kinda sucks most times.

    The raptor trainer did as requested while frantically looking around. He was clearly scared the other raptors would notice us and do who knows what.

    "Oh, God, I hate blood" I mumbled under my breath, still loud enough for Owen to hear. "Oh, wait, it's actually not that bad"

    Owen kneeled to my side so he could see the cut himself. His breath tickled my skin for how dangerously close he was, too close. His scent traveled all the way to my lungs and I had to squeeze my eyes shut so I could recompose myself once again. He stretched out his right hand and placed it on mine, slowly moving it out of the way. His touch was incredibly warm and somehow intimate, it made me feel things. So many things.

    "It's a thorn" he softly stated. "Should be easy to remove"

    "Mh-mh" I hummed dreamily, completely lost in the safe bubble of the moment.

    When I didn't hear any more sound, I glanced up at him. He was so focused it was cute, his eyes glued on Blue's cut. He furrowed his eyebrows while I just stared at him like some creep. But, boy, didn't he just look so good? He locked his gaze on me and curved up his lips in a small smile.

    "I'm sure you didn't come all the way here to take a thorn out of a raptor's leg"

    "That's exactly why I'm here, actually" I joked clumsily.

    "Oh, really?" Owen let out a throaty laugh and laid his head back.

    "I felt bad for ditching you earlier" I blurted out and looking away, my cheeks felt warmer.

    "You're here now" he softly said.

    "What the hell is going on here??!!" a loud high-pitched voice screamed from outside the enclosure. Jesus, Claire, really?!

    I must've rolled my eyes very hard because Owen softly laughed at me before answering.

    "Everything is under control! She's sedated!" he yelled back before he glanced down at me and whispered. "Is she sedated?"

    "No" I laughed.

    "Okay, she's not sedated! But we got it!"

    I burst out laughing at his expression and he did too. How could someone be such a goofball and a badass raptor trainer at the same time?

    Claire, on the other hand, wasn't having fun at all. "That's it, I'm calling Roger!"

    "No, you're not" Owen said with such confidence while he grabbed a pair of tweezers and removed the thorn in one quick firm movement.

    "I am, in fact, calling him!" Claire continued.

    "No, you're not" the guy repeated, this time making it sound like some kind of song. He then moved the tweezers in my direction. "Here"

    "Gross, no!" I snorted. "Get yourself a tissue"

    "Woah, okay, your loss" he smiled goofily, before doing the exact same thing again. "You're sure you don't want these?"

    "No! Stop!" I laughed helplessly at such childish manners.

    "Fine, I'll take those to my bungalow. You never know when you need it" he snorted in a very cute way at his own words. "Good thing I'm still your favorite"

    He pouted and tilt his head to the side. Ugh, stop being so cute! —"Maybe"

    "I'm calling him!" Claire continued for the hundredth time.

    "Geez, we got it. Call the guy already!" I snapped, Owen's eyes widened at my response.

    "I would have to report you two." the redhead frowned.

    "And I would have to report the rest of the employees because they expressly asked me to walk in and legit ran away when they heard one of the raptors they should take care of was hurt" I made a point.

    Claire widened her eyes with her mouth gaped open while Owen just tried to hide his smirk. He coughed a little and recomposed himself before pointing at me with his thumb.

    "Roger seriously fired this?"