Unlocking Desire (18+ only)

Chapter 1: Flying glass

"Hunter!" Mia screamed through the door, the panic in her gut rising up her throat at the sound of objects flying and smashing against the floor through the door her ear was pressed against.

"Hunter open the fucking door," she tried again, raising her voice higher over the thrumming bass of the music from the party down stairs mixed in a chaotic concoction with the piercing melody of vase glass meeting hardwood flooring.

"Leave me alone Mia, I need to be alone," she heard him shout, followed by an extra aggressive smash of glass. To the untrained ear, that was a clear indication to high tail it the fuck out of there and let Hunter do his Hunter damage. But Mia had been one of Hunter's closest friends since primary school, so she knew better.

And even though the uncanny rasp behind Hunter's voice sounded alarmingly violent, Mia also knew that he was hurt, and unsuccessfully trying to deal with it. Because that was exactly what her now ex- best friend had done to him.

Stupid Andrea and her stupid commitment issues. Mia had known her friend's track record with guys, that despite the fact that she was always always in a new relationship every month, she still cheated on every one of them to feel a sense of toxic, twisted power over men, and Mia still trusted her with her Hunter, her most loyal, beautiful, deeply misunderstood friend.

She was so stupid to have given Andrea the go say to get him, because Andrea could get anyone, blindly trusting that she meant it this time when she said she really "really" liked him. Mia had fucked up, and through the thick haze of alcohol she had consumed earlier in the evening, she knew she had to fix this and be there for her best friend.

"Hunter if you don't open up this damn door I'll break it down myself! And I don't care if all my bones break down with it!" She screamed at the door, brushing back her black curls and stepping back, taking one pause before she flung her body at the door, unsuccessfully opening it but very adequately causing a swarm of pain to fizzle down from her right shoulder to her hip.

"Mother- fuck!" She hissed and held her side as she breathed out slowly to try and somehow dispel the unexpected pain.

The door flung open and she stood upright. Hunter stood there, towering over her, despite her 5'8 height in her 6 inches, looking disheveled, murderous and quite frankly like a mad man. It wasn't a site she wasn't used to.

"Mia what did you do? Are you crazy?" He dragged her body towards him into his room, slamming the door behind them and immediately checking her arms and torso like an ER nurse had suddenly possessed his body, "you could have actually broken something," he continued to poke at her with his regular deep set frown and she pushed his hands away with a whine.

"Stop it will you? It was the only way to get you to stop your caveman shit, so there's less broken decor we'll have to hide from your mum." She set her hands on her hips despite her still slightly throbbing arm, and tried to avoid dwelling on the chaotic mess surrounding them which she knew they'd both have to bribe the maid to clean later, and focused her stern grey eyes on Hunter.

"Are you okay?" She asked, her tone softening slightly now that they had both calmed down. He made to turn away from her.
"Hunter," she grabbed his arm to halt his movements and reached up a slender hand to his cheek that was rough with stubble and now sporting a fresh cut from a projectile of flying glass, most likely from his aforementioned caveman tantrum.

"Hey," she whispered, her soothing tone making Hunter visibly relax and close his eyes softly as she dropped her hand from his cheek to his other arm.

"I'm sorry," he grumbled, "I ruined the party for you-"
"Hey stop that," she interrupted, "I'm the one who should be sorry, okay? Andrea she-" at the mention of his recently exed girlfriend the flame of anger quickly reignited in Hunters eyes but she continued, "you and her is my fault okay? If I hadn't just pawned you off you never would've gotten together and she never would have cheated on you at your own goddamn party and I'm so so sorry," she babbled on while he shook his head, shaking her hands off him so they fell limply at her side.

"No this one isn't on you Mia, I'm the one who agreed to go out with her okay? I'm the one who said yes so I won't let you torture yourself about this one like I know you will." He pointed at me and She gave him an annoyed look.

Obviously having someone know every corner and crevice of your personality doesn't come in handy in arguments.

"Okay fine, but I should have at least warned you about her cheating streak."
But he shook his head, running his hand through his unruly curls, almost the same as hers except ten shades lighter in a mix of honey blonde and auburn.

If he shaved his beard more often he could easily pass off as a charming boy next door type of kid with a modeling potential, but that wasn't Hunter so he kept his beard scruffy, adding five solid years to his face.

"Nope sorry you don't get to blame yourself about that one either M, because Ryan and the guys already told me about all of that and I still decided to take the risk with her." He kicked at a lone piece of glass that used to be a lamp and it collided with his bedroom wall with a smash. Mia didn't even flinch.

"God two months of my senior year wasted." He chastised himself out loud, "all for some hot piece of ass, you idiot,"

"Hey! Im still here dumbass," Mia spoke past the lump of irritation in her throat, which she wished she could blame on her protectiveness of Andrea, but really she knew was because of her annoying possessiveness over Hunter that was always a lot stronger when she drank but never failed to spike when he talked about girls. It was irrational and she didn't buy into much, often blaming it on how much she just loved and cared for him.

"Sorry," he mumbled, his neck going a little red despite having said worse things about some of her other female friends in the past.

"You're staying right? Mary sent some of my t shirts to your room for you to sleep in if you want." He said, now obviously completely out of his angry mode and finally walking around his king sized bed, his heavy boots crunching into glass as he went, seeming to search the ground as though assessing the damage.

Hunter's rages had actually gotten a lot better, they were leveling off at once every two months, a streak that sometimes broke depending on how shitty his dad was treating his mum that month, even though he kept that extra detail out of his reports to his therapist.

Mia was normally heavily involved in covering up those unprecedented shitstorms, as was Mary the maid, and together they did their best to keep Hunter in check and to keep his mum from worrying herself to death about him.

Mia's role in Hunter's life was an important one, and even though they didn't always say it, every one at school and in their circle knew that Mia and Hunter's friendship was the ride or die type, that if anyone were to fuck with Mia or rub her the wrong way Hunter and his boys would see that you never make the mistake again, same went for anyone who messed with Hunter, though Mia's methods of punishment were a lot less violent than Hunter's.

Either way the kids at school did their best not to fuck with either one of them.

"Yeah I'm staying, certainly wasn't betting on trying to find a sober driver this late." She relished the small smile he gave her in return, telling her that he was actually fine now and she could start thinking of resting her feet that were being crucified by her damned heels.

"Alright then, I'll check on things downstairs, see if some of the boys want to crash for the night too," He crunched over to her and held the back of her head to plant a quick kiss on her forehead before stomping out.

Mia sighed, feeling a sudden wave of exhaustion and with one fleeting look at the mess of Hunter's room, turned and made her way down the corridor to the guest room that had been branded as hers by default of overuse.