Apartment No.4

Part 39: I love you

Short chapter this time guys sorry... but I think you like it and I have some seriously JUICY chapters coming up 😏 can't wait for you to read them!

Guys, the other day we hit #36 in teen fiction! That's the highest we've been!!!! Keep smashing those votes out so we can hit #1!!!

Love you all!! Enjoy!

"What have you done?" I whispered holding his arm as tightly as I could to stop him snatching it away.
There was a cracked line of dried blood along his knuckles and the black and purple bruises traced along he knuckles of his fingers as well.

I hovered my fingers over each knuckle before dropping his hand quickly and running to the kitchen to get frozen peas.

"I'm fine."

"For Christ's sake, Mason if you argue with me now I'll make this a whole lot worse for you." My voice was deep and throaty as tears began to well in my eyes.

By the look of him he was fine, other than his hand of course, which led me to think that he wasn't on the receiving end. While I love him and have been thankful for the times he has fought for me - even when it wasn't needed - I don't know how much longer I could deal with this.

If he's using violence as an answer to every little thing that comes his way, there was a bigger issue than him being protective.

"Tell me everything." I said, my red splotchy eyes boring into his piercing greens. He stared back, his lips forming into a thin line.

"Tell me!" I pushed his chest and he sighed heavily through his nose.

"One of the Medicine classes had a guest lecturer today... Dr. Ross. I bumped into him in the hallway of the student coordination office."

I held my breath.

"He... He said some stuff. About me - about you... and about Claire." I frowned in confusion, feeling a headache coming on.

"About Claire?"

"Yeah, he was working on her ward for a few weeks and saw me going in and out of her room when I was visiting her." He scratched the back of his head, avoiding my gaze.

"So you beat him up? What were you thinking, Mason!? You need to learn to control your anger!" I was getting worked up again. "Once people know they can get a reaction out of you they'll keep doing it and use it to your advantage."

"Would you shut up for a second!" He yelled back at me, his eyes lighting up with anger. I shut my mouth and took a step back, nerves fluttering in my chest.

"If you'd just let me speak you'd know that I didn't smash his head in - I wanted to, believe me - but I didn't. I walked away and punched a brick wall - but that wasn before I called him some rather unflattering names and told him where he could stick his medical degree."

"Oh." If this was any other time I would've found him funny, but given the circumstances....

"You need to appeal this," I said, deliberating before walking towards him and wrapping my arms tightly around his waist missing his touch. Even though we weren't necessarily arguing badly, I still found his touch the most comforting thing to me.

"I can't, I deserve it.. but that prick deserves every bad thing that comes to him."

We stood in silence, my eyes pinched shut as I held him and he held me. My curiosity got the better of me and I had to ask,

"What did he say about me?" He sighed deeply and pushed me back, walking into the kitchen to get a glass of water.

"Nothing necessarily bad that's what bothers me." He sat on the bench and I walked over to him, standing between his legs.

I didn't know what to say and I don't think he did either, so we waited in comfortable silence for the other to say something to make the situation better, if possible.

"I love you, you know that right?" I said, placing my hands on his thighs and raising to my toes to kiss his jaw.

He gave me a lopsided smile and nodded with his eyes closed.

"I know, just... feels good to hear it sometimes." He transformed his mouth into a tight lipped grimace and I could feel my brows pulling together before I felt it was time to lighten the situation.

Goofy grin time, Ashley. Goofy. Grin. Time.

"I love you." I kissed his neck. "I love you." I kissed his jaw. "I love you." I whispered for pressing my mouth to his.

He smiled under my lips and returned my kiss. I wasn't expecting to have him lying on top of me on the kitchen floor, but hey. It happened.

And... I may or may not have been shirtless...

As our kissing got heavier and more heated with each passing minute he picked me up, wrapping my legs around his waist and carried me to our bed.

He kissed my neck, my collar bones, my stomach, my ribs and dragged his lips all the way back up to my panting mouth. He paused over me.

"Are you sure?" He asked, his eyes slight with a fire.

Too high in the clouds to speak I just nodded and we drifted into a night tangled in sheets and pillows.

The next few nights were spent that way in a blissful high as I tapped my feet through each class just to get back home to a suspended Mason as he awaited the appending doom of his university career.

His mood considerably brightened when his sister, Claire, arrived however.

"Claire's here!" He cried out, pulling on a shirt over his head as he opened the door to find a grinning claire, the female version of him.