Chapter 9 – First Fight, First Kiss
Hunter stormed into Evie's hotel room and threw his suitcase on the floor. She had just picked him up from the police station after he had been arrested for assaulting the Undertaker on RAW. His one phone call had been to Evie and he had to do some fast-talking to convince her to bail him out. She hadn't said more than two words to him since they left the St. Louis Police Department. He turned around as she came in and closed the door behind her. She walked right past him as if he wasn't there, and went into the bathroom. The door slammed shut with a bang and he grimaced. He started pacing the room, still angry, still frustrated. Even though he had beaten Taker bloody, the rage still burned inside.
After a few minutes, Evie came out of the bathroom. Separating herself from Hunter wasn't doing anything to calm her down. All she had done was twist a towel out of frustration. She stood there watching him pace back and forth. She was just as pissed as he was, but for different reasons.
He had been in a quiet, cold rage since last night at Backlash. During Hunter's title match with Hogan, Undertaker had come down ringside and clocked the referee, then whacked Hunter with a steel chair. Hogan beat Taker out of the ring and then bounced off the ropes, gave Hunter a Leg Drop and covered him for the win. Despite the fact that Hunter had lost the title, he shook hands with Hogan. Once he was backstage however, he had become very quiet.
She knew he was planning something, but hadn't been sure what. All her attempts to get him to talk to her fell flat. Then, this morning when she had tried again, all he told her was that Taker was going hurt tonight. That had been the only thing he said to her all day. He refused to talk to her about anything else up until he called her from the police station. As much as she had wanted to leave him there, she had picked up his things and gone to the station to post bail. Vince had called while she was on her way to make sure she was taking care of the situation. She could understand that Hunter was upset, but he had taken things too far.
"What the hell are you looking at?" he growled.
She looked at him like he had grown another head. "Excuse me?"
"I said, what are you looking at?" he repeated.
"Your sorry ass," Evie retorted.
He glared at her. "What?"
"You heard me Hunter." Her arms folded across her chest. "But just in case you missed it the first time, I'm lookin' at your sorry ass."
He stopped pacing to look at her. "Don't start with me Evie."
She could see the malevolent gleam in his eyes. "Don't start with you? Fuck you Hunter!" she spat out.
He walked over to her, looming over her, trying to intimidate her with his height. "What did you just say?" His voice had a quiet edge to it.
Evie heard it, but didn't care. She was tired of everything that had gone on for the past few weeks. It had tried her patience time and time again. And so had Hunter. She'd had enough. "Fuck you!"
He grabbed her by the shoulders; his fingers digging into her skin, his face centimeters from hers. "Don't," was the only thing he said.
She looked him right in the eye. "Fuck you," she repeated again.
His hand gripped the hair at the nape of her neck, pulling her head back slightly. Evie hit him hard in the stomach, causing him to let go of her hair. She elbowed him in the chest and as he pulled away, she delivered a right hook to one side of his face. He stumbled back, tripped himself up and caught the corner of his suitcase on his forehead. He landed on his stomach and she immediately was straddling his waist, twisting his right arm up behind him.
"Evie!" he bellowed. "Get the hell off me!"
She just jerked his arm up higher, causing it to hurt more. She leaned down. "What were you thinking Hunter?" Her breath whispered against his ear. "Huh?" She jerked his arm again.
"Dammit woman! Get off me!" He tried to roll onto his left side but that made her push the arm up again. "That fuckin' hurts! Get off me!"
"Not until you calm down."
"Calm down! You knock the breath outta me then punch me in the face and you want me to calm down?" he roared.
She didn't answer him, just continued to hold his arm where it was. She was trying to calm herself down. This had been the last straw for her. Over the past couple months, she had to put up with only Stephanie and Jericho, but now she had to deal with Hunter's constant mood swings. He was alternating between ignoring her and becoming temperamental with her. He would take out his frustration at the gym and in the ring, but usually ended up snapping at her as well. And she was tired of it. On several occasions, she had had to walk away from him so she wouldn't end up slugging him.
He lay facedown on the carpet, trying to get his anger under control. He was amazed that she had managed to take him down. He knew she was able to defend herself, but never had been the recipient before. He tried moving his arm again, but she still had it in a firm grip. Her thighs tightened around his waist as if she thought he might try to buck her off. He groaned, but wasn't sure if it was from the pain of having his arm twisted, or the fact that she had squeezed him with her legs.
He turned his face to the side. As his breathing slowed, he realized the absurdity of the situation and laughed at himself. Weren't you thinking about having those legs around your waist? But it was that type of thinking that had caused part of this situation. Slowly his anger dissipated as he lay underneath her.
Finally she realized that his breathing had become steady. She leaned over to look at his face. His eyes were closed, but he was bleeding from a cut on his forehead. The tension in his arm had lessened also. She relaxed her grip and noticed that he wasn't trying to fight her hold on him. "Hunter?"
"Yeah?" His voice sounded calmer as well.
"I'm going to let go of your arm and get off of you. If you don't behave yourself, I'll do more than knock you down. Got it?"
He nodded and she slowly released her grip and stood up. His arm slid down to his side and he rolled over onto his back. He looked up and noticed that she was standing over him, a leg on either side. He closed his eyes as he rubbed his jaw. "Damn. Where did you learn to punch like that?"
"College," she replied simply.
Despite the situation, he laughed quietly, and then made a face. "Think I might need some ice for this."
She walked back into the bathroom and picked up the ice bucket. He sat up as she came out. "I'll go get some."
Slowly he stood up, wincing as he did. She had hit him pretty hard. He stumbled into the bathroom to have a look. There was a huge red mark where her fist had impacted with his face. He was going to have one hell of a bruise, not to mention the swelling that was already starting. He noticed the blood on his forehead and ran a washcloth under the cold water to wipe it off. As he swiped it across the cut, the door clicked and she came in the bathroom with the bucket. After he put a band-aid on the cut, she grabbed a towel from the rack, quickly filled it with ice and handed it to him. As soon as he took it, she thrust her right hand into the ice bucket and sighed.
Hunter watched her. "What's the matter? Hand hurt?"
"Yeah. I haven't hit anyone like that since..." she paused to think. "Well, since I hit Jericho that night." She smiled at the recollection.
"Remind me not to make you mad," he joked as he sat down on the edge of the bathtub, the towel pressed up against his cheek. "Why the hell did you hit me anyway?"
Evie leaned back against the counter. "Because I got tired of everything that's been going on. You've been the biggest bastard for the past month."
"Wait. I've been a bastard? No. Not me," he said in a mocking tone.
She playfully chucked a washcloth at him. "After that night at the pool, you've been getting more and more irritable. I was nice enough to let it slide at first, but then you went and pulled this stupid stunt that got you arrested. That was the last straw."
He exhaled noisily. "I guess it was pretty stupid wasn't it? I was just so damn pissed at him for interfering last night. I had that match won until he came in with that steel chair. Now I lost the title and to make things worse, I'm on SmackDown as Vince's 'exclusive property'. I think that's what pissed me off even more."
"That I can understand. Vince called when I was on my way to bail you out. He was adamant about getting you out of there and started giving me shit about being an effective personal assistant." She grinned. "You know he threatened to fire me if I didn't post your bail. I was all for leaving you in jail overnight, but he wasn't having it. It was almost worth my job to let you sit there."
"He threatened to fire you?" When Evie reconfirmed it with a nod of her head, Hunter shook his. "Son of a bitch. You know he's gonna make things miserable for both of us now."
Evie's reply was tinged with sarcasm. "So what else is new?"
He chuckled. "True." He stood up in front of her, almost pressed against her in the small space of the bathroom. He set the ice pack on the counter next to her. "Lemme have a look at that," he said as he reached for her hand.
She took it out of the bucket and held it up so he could see it. A current coursed through her at the touch of his warm fingers on her cold hand. She sucked in a breath through her teeth at the contact. Absentmindedly, she wondered again what it would be like to have his hands touch her in other places as well, and then cringed at the thoughts that were running through her mind.
"Does it feel like something's broken?" he asked innocently. He gently turned her hand from side to side.
"No. It just hurts. I think it's more bruised than anything else." She kept her eyes fastened on what he was doing. She was afraid that if she looked at him, he'd know what she was thinking.
"Leave it in the ice for a while longer. I have an Ace bandage in my suitcase if you want it." He looked at himself in the mirror, turning his head to the side to admire the bruise that was forming. "Damn."
She looked up and noticed what he was doing. Tentatively, she reached up and touched his cheek. "Oh wow. That's going to be one hell of a bruise." She gently traced the outline of the mark. "Hunter, I'm sorry."
He looked down at her as her hand pulled away from his face. "I've had worse," he said softly.
He was acutely aware of how close they were to each other. He could smell the scent she wore, feel the warmth from her body, and hear her breathing softly. Deep down, he felt the familiar ache of desire. Not being with a woman in months was taking its toll on him. Lately he'd had been having a difficult time being near Evie. He had become confused at what he was feeling for her ever since the night of the swimming pool. That was one of the reasons he had been irritable with her. But pushing her away had resulted in the one thing he was trying to avoid. She was now merely inches away from him.
Part of him wanted to walk away from her; the other wanted to kiss her. He genuinely liked Evie. She had become a good friend over the months, but that didn't dampen the fact that he found her attractive. If anything, she had become more desirable to him physically and emotionally as the months had progressed.
She looked at him and caught a glimpse of longing in his eyes, mixed with confusion. His close proximity was making her slightly nervous. Why was he looking at her like that? Her lips had gone dry and she licked them. "What?" she asked softly.
He made up his mind and without responding to her question, leaned in and kissed her; gently at first, then becoming more insistent as she responded in surprise. As he wrapped his arms around her, pulling her closer, he could feel her heart pounding through the shirt she was wearing.
Evie's arms crept up over his shoulders, her fingers tangling in his hair. She could feel the ache of passion rising within her as she leaned into him. Her pulse was racing. She knew she shouldn't be doing this. He's your boss for goodness sake! Ignoring the thought, she allowed him to continue anyway. The spark of desire grew as she felt his hands caress her back, pulling her as close as possible. As his tongue slid across her lips, her knees weakened. A sudden knock at the door startled both of them and the kiss was broken.
"I guess I better see who it is," Evie said breathlessly.
"I guess." He moved away so that she could answer the knock. As soon as she walked out of the bathroom, he closed the door. Leaning on the counter, he took a deep breath, counted to ten and blew it out. Why the hell did I do that?
'Cause you were thinkin' below the waist dumbass, the little voice in the back of his head chortled.
He snorted in disgust. I sure as hell wasn't thinking with my brain.
What brain stupid? said the voice.
Oh shut up! he shot back. He could hear the murmur of voices in the other room. Opening the door, he walked out to find Evie holding a manila envelope. "Who was that?"
"Just the desk delivering some papers I've been waiting for," she stated distractedly.
Hunter looked at Evie. He was debating whether or not he wanted to talk about what had happened in the bathroom. Why make an awkward situation even worse?
He cleared his throat. "Am I staying with you tonight?"
She started at the sound of his voice. "What?"
"Am I bunking with you or did you get a room for me?"
"Oh. Yeah I did." She fished a keycard out of her pants pocket and held it out to him. "Here."
He took it from her and picked up his suitcase. "I guess I'll get some sleep." He headed for the door, but stopped and turned his head to look at her. "Thanks for comin' to bail me out."
"You're welcome." Disappointment flashed across her face as she turned away.
"G'night Evie." He heard her mumble something in response as he stepped out into the hall. The door swung shut behind him, but he just stood there. You should've said something. Anything but goodnight. He shook his head.
First time you practically groped her, now you kiss her and then walk off with no explanation. Stupid. That little voice again.
You think I don't know that?
The voice laughed at him. Yeah, well if you hadn't been thinkin'… Wait, I forgot, you weren't. Not with your brain anyway.
Who asked you? he retorted.
Laughter echoed through his head as he walked to his room.
Evie sat down on the bed, the envelope still in her hand. What was with him anyway? She couldn't figure him out. It seemed like he was just teasing her. She had enjoyed the flirting. And she definitely enjoyed the way he had touched her when he was undoing her swimsuit. But the way he had reacted afterwards, she didn't understand. One minute he couldn't contain himself and the next he was pushing her away.
Maybe he's just testing me. Or maybe he's really interested in me. Maybe he's just being a jerk for the sheer fun of it. Actually that's more like Jericho than Hunter. Oh hell. I don't know what to think anymore.
She tossed the envelope on the bedside table and took up the remote for the television, looking for something to distract her mind from Hunter.
*************************************************************