Hunter's Rose (First Draft)

Chapter Six

I could hear low voices as we made it to the bottom of the stairs. My body froze for a moment before I quickly shook my head. I can do this. It's just meeting a few new people, not everyone is like Jacob and his friends. I was safe.

I glanced up at Hunter, who was leaned against the railing of the stairs watching me patiently. 

"You good darlin?" He questioned. "We can go back upstairs if you want." He gave me a reassuring smile. I shook my head and blew out a breath.

"No. I'm good." I gave him a soft smile. He stared at me for a moment before returning the smile and holding his hand out to me. I glanced down at it for a moment before softly moving my hand to grab it, watching as it disappeared inside of his large one. His hand was warm and calloused. I felt a small shiver run through my body. He gave my hand a quick squeeze before tugging me softly in the directions of the voices.

"You're making it out to be a bigger deal than it actually was!" I heard a voice exclaim before laughter boomed from the room, making me flinch slightly.

Straight ahead from the staircase was a thick wooden door with multiple locks and a small window closer to the top. There was a wide bench to the right of it, with boots stacked underneath it and jackets hanging from the wall above it. The voices were coming from the open doorway to the left of it.

"Nah man." Another voice chuckled. "You're lucky the fire department was so close. His mom was so pissed!" Another round of laughter sounded.

We walked inside what seemed to be a living room. There were three massive dark brown couches that took up half of the room, circled around a large wooden coffee table. There was a fireplace with a tv hanging over it against the wall opposite of the couches, tall shelves on either side.

My hand tightened on Hunters as I noticed the men from last night lounging on the couches. Two blondes sat on each side of the center couch, one had short curly hair and the other was the man from last night with his hair pulled into a topknot. On the couch to the right of them there were two other men, one had tattoos covering his arms and brown hair that was styled in a buzz cut. On the other side of the same couch was the tan man with long black hair from last night. He shot us a quick grin as we walked in.

"Whatever." The man with the topknot grumbled out as he glared at a man with blonde curly hair. "Y'all just don't appreciate the finer things in life." The blonde shook his head with another chuckle. 

"What finer things are we talking about?" Hunter questioned, pulling us to sit on the empty couch. The other men glanced in our direction, making me shrink into Hunter's side. The man with the buzz cut shook his head with a slight laugh.

"Arthur was just telling us about the time Jackson blew his treehouse up when they were kids." The other men chuckled as the man with the topknot threw his hands up. 

"You guys weren't there, you didn't see it!" He tried to argue before he glanced at me. "What's your thoughts on fire?" I raised my eyebrows as he stared at me, waiting for my answer.

I glanced around to see the other men watching us, the curly haired blonde shaking his head in amusement. 

"Umm, I think it's warm.....and pretty?" I said hesitantly, flinching as the man jumped from his seat. 

"See! She gets it." He rejoiced. "They just don't understand creativity like us." He said as he shot me a goofy grin. My head tilted to the side as I stared at him. He was odd. I liked it. 

"This is Jackson." Hunter introduced. "He is what we like to call a pyromaniac." Jackson shot me a quick bow, making a small smile rise on my face.