Unlocking Desire (18+ only)

Chapter 2: Conversations in the dark

Finally snuggled up in her king sized bed, Hunter's comforting scent wrapping around her body like a blanket through the T-shirt she was snuggled into, Mia was finally relaxing for the first time that evening, giving in the exhaustion that had been pushed down in the frantic adrenaline that was often a result of Hunter and his parties.

Only this time because of Andrea and her lack of any self control whatsoever, Mia wouldn't say she'd had a fun night.

Usually Hunter's parties were a riot, often ending with her crashing into the very bed she was in now with a happy sigh, knowing she'd dancing her heart out with her friends and laughed till her throat hurt.

That was the general sentiment when it came to Hunter Miller's parties: he enjoyed throwing them, and people loved coming to them. And it certainly had its perks, not that that was Hunter's particular goal, but he was notoriously popular for knowing how to give people a good time.

He was friends with everybody, but close to only a handful, he smiled when he had to but preferred to frown, and he never, ever let people mess with his loved ones.

Loyalty was a huge deal in their friendship circle, which consisted of Hunter, Ryan, the siblings Mac and Minnie and of course Mia herself. But Hunter took the whole loyalty and trust thing the most seriously thanks to his father's unreliability when he was growing up, which probably explains his reaction to being cheated on at his own party.

Her mind flashed back to the earlier events of the evening. Stumbling through Hunter's living room, excusing herself from her a very drunken and quickly escalating drinking game to go pee. Mia had tried the door handle of the guest bathroom which had swung open to reveal Andrea in all her disheveled, drunken glory tongue tied, literally, with Drew, a guy on Hunter's basketball team which automatically made him a friend who should've known better.

Mia could tell they were entangled in other more complicated forms based on the way they sloppily pulled apart, but she decided to focus her glare on their embarrassed faces that had gotten redder by the second.

"What the fuck Andrea," she ground out clearly, her euphoric buzz quickly diminishing at the sudden burst of anger shooting through her veins.

"M-Mia I can explain it's not what it looks like." Andrea stumbled over her words while trying to overcome her evident lack of coordination and button up her skirt that had been hiked up to her waist.

Mia raised at eyebrow at the sight then fixed her steely silver eyes back on Andrea with a face that they both knew said "really?"

"Okay fine it is what it looks like, God Mia can you just not tell Hunter he'd lose his shit," she gave in, quickly resorting to begging which left a bitter taste in Mia's mouth.

Just as she was about to rain down on Andrea for even suggesting she'd keep something from Hunter, they all perked up at the distinct sound of the devil himself's voice calling Mia's name.

Mia braced herself for his appearance as she watched the blood drain from Andrea and Drew's faces in unison.

"Mia where the fuck-" Hunter appeared behind her in the doorway, his face a mask of confusion, till his eyes caught the mess behind her and she visibly saw him put two and two together in a matter of seconds. His brown eyes seemed to grow darker as he breathed out slowly through his nose.

"Get out. The both of you." He growled out, his face the picture of calmness but his eyes showing his boiling anger.

"Baby let me explain-"

"Don't fucking call me that!" He shouted abruptly, slamming his balled fist against the door beside him, making everyone except Mia flinch.

"Get out before I throw you both out myself," he said, his voice leveling out into an even rasp. Andrea and Drew didn't need to be told twice, they gathered their stray pieces of clothing off the floor and hightailed it out of the bathroom, both visibly keeping as far away from Hunter as they squeezed past him to scramble out the door.

Mia turned to Hunter who was staring after them, her eyes immediately falling on his balled fists that were obviously trembling, which she automatically reached out to hold but before she could touch him he stormed out of the bathroom, through the curious crowd that had assembled outside to witness the drama.

She had then followed him to do damage control, which had led her to this exact moment where she was lying in her bed trying to get to sleep.

Her thoughts were directed to Andrea once again. She did qualify as one of Mia's best friends, however that was mostly due to the length of their friendship rather than the quality of it. But they had been getting closer since Andrea showed interest in her best friend, which quickly secured her old title back as she shimmied her way back into Mia's life.

That was evidently over now. There was no way she'd let Andrea anywhere near Hunter after tonight's showdown, which by default meant she wasn't going to be around Mia either.

Through the restless haze of her thoughts she didn't hear the click of the door behind her, nor did she hear the light footfalls on the hardwood leading up to her bed. But when the mattress dipped behind her she turned quickly, relaxing when she saw Hunter sleepily crawling towards her.

He collapsed beside her with a sigh and she chuckled,
"You're invading my personal space here," she whispered into the semi-darkness. He lifted his head up so they were eye to eye,

"There was glass on my bed," he replied sleepily, causing Mia to give him a look which he ignored, "and technically this is still partially my house so call it even?" He reached out his pinky finger in the space between them and she hooked hers onto his larger one, smiling with her eyes fluttering closed,

"Deal." She whispered, leaving her pinky connected to his as they both fell asleep in the still darkness.