Seeking Relief

Loses His Cool

Jade froze when she heard her door opening and closing.

Her heart rate started to skitter when she heard footsteps stop behind her.

She jumped when from behind her, she heard a deep voice say quite angrily, “Jade! What. The. HELL?!”

She turned her head to look over her shoulder.

There at her kitchen entrance, feet at a wide stance and hands on his hips, stood Adam. His eyes danced with anger while he looked at her tight lipped.

She faced forward, did the last few swipes across the kitchen floor, then dropped the rag back in the bucket with a ‘plop’. She stood up, pulled off her long nylon gloves dropping them on the edge of the sink. She turned around while quickly patting her hands dry on her shirt and shorts.

When she turned all the way around, she sheepishly looked up at Adam’s face.

His anger seemed to have been replaced with hurt.

She didn’t want him to feel hurt, and she definitely didn’t want him looking at her that way. But she didn’t know what to say.

So, instead, in all of her eloquence, she just went, “Uhhhh…”

“What the f**k are you doing?!”

Adam couldn’t believe what he was seeing. 

His shift had been overscheduled and some employees could go home early. He opted to not stay and go home. He was looking forward to surprising Jade by spending some time with her.

But when he walked in and saw her on her hands and knees, he had two reactions.

The first was an immediate reaction in his d**k. He had always admired her classic beauty and, alongside with the other men in their group, appreciated her attributes.

They all wanted to be respectful of her and not be crude towards her.

None of them ogled her in the open.

But they all agreed and were open about how they came to care for and desire her.

But here, he saw her ass on perfect display and all he wanted to do was get down on the floor with her. He wanted to smack it, bite it, pull her shorts to the side and bury himself immediately in her.

Then he felt anger.

He felt anger at himself for his disrespectfulness.

When she looked over at him with those wide eyes, he felt his d**k jolt with renewed vigor as he imagined her looking at him with those eyes glazed over with pleasure.

He felt more anger at his inability to control his lust.

Then he realized what exactly it was she was doing.

Cleaning in a method that was unnecessarily hard on her injuries. 

Adam realized with Jade’s overzealous cleaning, she could have undone any healing progression she made.

His anger then turned to hurt. It seemed that she would dismiss all their effort to help her and not take her situation seriously.

When she stood and finally looked at him he felt his heart throb. He felt his anger tick again with her unintelligent reply. She was not an airhead and she was above those kind of comments.

He acted on his hurt and anger.

“What the f**k are you doing?!” He said. He internally flinched at how harsh he was.

Jade looked down then back up at him. She brought her hand up to the back of her neck and looked up at the ceiling. She closed her eyes for a long moment and when she opened them, she looked him in the eyes. Adam felt himself losing all concentration as he looked into her green brown eyes.

He saw her hurt, her horror, and haunting all over again. She had lost that hallowed look that she had had in the first days they saw her, but here it was back again. As if it was the first night again when she looked at him.

His heart slammed into his throat. His anger and hurt immediately fizzled.

“Jade, what happened?!” He asked in a hushed tone.

“Uhmm…” She said again.

“Jade.” He said.

She bent down and picked up the bucket and put it in the kitchen sink. She then tipped the bucket and dumped it. As she stared into the sink, watching the soap bubbles swirl down the drain she spoke again.

“I had another nightmare. It was bad. Really, really bad.” Adam remained quiet to let her continue.

“I didn’t mean to start cleaning like this. It started out changing the sheets since they were soaked with my sweat. I did the dishes, wiped the counters, then one thing led to another. I just kept going until I felt better.”

“Do you feel better now?”

“Well, yea.” 

“And what about your pain.” He didn’t form it as a question, but more of a statement. Because he knew what her answer was, he just wanted her to say it.

“Hurts like hell.” She replied with an ironic quirk to her lips as she continued looking into her empty sink.

“And what were you going to do about it?”

“Ice it and drink a bit.” She said sardonically. 

That snapped what little control Adam had over his anger and hurt.

“Dammit, Jade! Does anything we do matter to you? All that we did to help you, does that not matter?!”

She turned to him with fists at her side.

“How dare you.” She said through ground teeth.

“I appreciate EVERYTHING you guys do for me. But I still can’t believe it, so I’m waiting for the shoe to drop. This is too good to be true. You’re going to leave or burn me. I’ve handled myself this far so how dare you judge me for how I handle my anxiety then turn it on me.”

She stomped past him into the living room. Then turned to face him.

“How I handle my emotions following a nightmare has nothing to do with you guys. So quit f*****g reading into it. And don’t you dare turn this on me ever again.” She turned again and went to walk into her bedroom, dismissing him.

But Adam was too quick.

He shot out his hand and caught her in the crook of her elbow. He pulled her to him, and he hugged her to him.

He should have known she was having night terrors still. She had them while she was in the hospital, of course she had them at home. He knew she wasn’t on any kind of anxiety medication. She was doing a form of physical exertion and fulfilling tasks to maintain control over what she could.

He pressed his face in her hair and took a deep breath.

His anger was completely gone as soon as he bit out words he immediately regretted.

“I'm sorry.”

Adam had immediately regretted his harsh words as soon as they left his mouth.

“I’m sorry.” He said, hugging her even tighter to him.

He continued, “I reacted and spoke before listening to your side. But cleaning like this while you’re healing broken bones is not going to do you any good, it may possibly set you back. You have come so far, and I want so desperately see you healed. I’m sorry for what I said. It was in anger and I shouldn’t have reacted.”

 Jade melted in his arms. Adam had outright and immediately apologized.

He genuinely apologized.

It wasn’t a verbal battle used to make her feel guilty, but a black and white, clear cut apology. And for someone like her who never got them, and instead was used to the manipulative, twisted ‘I’m sorry’s, getting the real deal was something quite precious to her.

She brought her arms up, wrapped them around his torso, and squeezed, returning his hug.

“Thank you. Thank you for apologizing. I’m sorry for my harsh reply, too.”

Adam chuckled, “Don’t be sorry. I’m proud of you for standing up to a jerk like me.”

Jade pulled back quickly and looked up at him, “You’re not a jerk!” She protested.

Adam just gave her a small smile, which she returned. Adam stared into her deep green brown eyes and felt himself becoming lost in the depths of her soul.

She started to let her arms slip from his body, but Adam wasn’t ready for their contact to end. He tightened his grip around her middle, then without stopping to think, he dropped his head to hers.

Adam’s grip on his control had snapped.

Finally.

He paused mere centimeters from her mouth, he felt the puff of her breath as she gasped in surprise, he saw her pupils dilate.

He then brought his hand to the back of her head and slammed his mouth over hers. Her mouth was still parted in her surprise and he took advantage of the access. With vigor he caressed and explored her mouth and tongue.

Finally fulfilling all the fantasies he had futilely tried to tamp down.

When she moaned into his mouth, he dropped his other hand to her butt, and pulled her closer to him. Pressing his d**k against her, he could feel her heat through the thin material of her shorts. This time he groaned into her mouth.

Too soon, in his opinion, she broke off the kiss. She buried her head in his chest.

He wasn’t sure if she was out of breath, too, but he felt like he had just sprinted a half marathon. He was almost successful in getting his respiratory rate under control when he heard her mutter something.

“What?” He asked.

“You can let go now.”

He smiled, squeezed her, then released her from his embrace.

“Maybe I should apologize more often.” He teased.

He laughed outright when her face turned an even brighter red.