Heart of Ice

Chapter Forty-One

Song: Angel Pt. 2- JVKE, Jimin of BTS, Charlie Puth, Muni Lung

"Alaska! Did you hear the news?" Cleo barges into my room, yelling as loud as a freight train before rapidly shaking my shoulders. I press my head into my pillow, trying to hold on to the sleepiness in my body.

"I don't watch the news," I mumble.

"Ugh, not the news news!" She groans, attempting to flip me over, but I make myself stiff as a board as I dig my head deeper into the pillow. "I meant the household news!"

"I'm trying to sleep."

"Hunter ended things with Blair!"

My eyes snap open. I shoot up like a rocket, my heart thumping wildly. "What!?"

Cleo claps her hands and squeals. "Brett said he heard them fighting this morning and then Hunter said something like he was tired of everything she was doing and it was a mistake to have her around in the first place, and she got mad, slapped him, and left! Hunter's been in the gym for, like, an hour now going feral on the punching bag," She daydreamingly looks beyond me. "I bet that's one hot sight."

I smack Cleo with my pillow.

"Ow, okay!" She rubs her head. "I won't make any racy comments about your man anymore!"

Cleo mumbles what I assume is curses toward me under her breath, but I'm not concerned about that. For the first time in months, I feel hopeful. How ironic is it that Hunter and Blair split the day after my birthday? Maybe something finally made him see that I'm telling the truth. Just the thought that things could finally take a turn for the better brings a smile to my face and lessens the heartache I've been feeling.

Cleo eventually notices my daze and smirks. "Why are you so gleeful all of a sudden?"

"Oh, just happy that Blair won't be around anymore," I roll my eyes. "I've seen enough of her to last me a lifetime."

"Uh huh. I'm sure that's the reason."

"It is! Anyway, I have to get ready for training, so I need some privacy to get dressed."

"It's a Sunday."

"Your point?"

Cleo's smirk grows wider. "Nobody trains on Sundays."

Dammit. She got me there. But I play it off and grab workout clothes anyway. "Yeah well, I'm still trying to gain my strength back, so I need to train whenever I can."

"I'm sure," Cleo stands and makes her way toward the door. Before she steps out of my room, she glances over her shoulder, winking. "Enjoy your hot boxer boyfriend and 'train' hard."

She slips out the door before I can react. I roll my eyes before slipping on my gym clothes, and then I make my way to the gym. When I walk in, it's just as Cleo described-- Hunter pounding against the punching bag with an energy I have never seen out of him before. Seeing it is enough to justify Cleo's daydreaming about it, even though I want to slap her for it.

Oh, did I mention he's shirtless?

Sweat glistens against every bare inch of his skin, contouring his muscles in an incredibly delectable way. I have to pick my jaw up off the floor as I quickly slip to a spot behind the mats where he won't see me right away. I've only seen Hunter shirtless a few times after I turned 15. Since the night before my birthday, I knew why he did that, but that doesn't mean that every last breath in my body evaporates into thin air when I do catch a glimpse of his chiseled torso. With every punch, every jab, his muscles tighten and flow with the movement of his arms, and my throat is as dry as the Sahara as I find it difficult to tear my eyes away from him. With each movement, I notice that he never turns his back toward me, and I know it's on purpose. I have the inclination that nobody knows what is permanently etched onto his back. I can't see the tattoo, but just knowing it's there is enough to floor me, just like it did the first time I saw it. My heart races as the image of it flashes in my mind.