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FINN BENNETT as SHAWN HEARD EYE FOR AN EYE (2025)

the sincerity in his voice catches her by surprise. she's heard it many times before from her clients, but with him it felt different. when people say they miss her, she knows they mean her body and what she does for them. but when valarr says it, it genuinely feels like he's missed her as a person. it makes her face soften as she looks up at him from her velvet couch. "i missed you too, my pretty boy." she says it softly, meaning every word of it. she knows it's dangerous to form attachments, but she can't help it. in moments like these with him, it allows her a moment of grace where nothing else in the world mattered but this boy with the silver strip in his hair. raising her hands up, she reaches out to him to pull him down onto the couch beside her. "come here. we don't have to talk or do anything you don't wanna do or talk about."

he's not going to bleed out. in fact, she doesn't even know if any of this blood is his to begin with. carefully, she drags the cloth over his broad chest and down along his stomach to clean him up. there's definitely some tenderness there. some banged up ribs most like. but she knows he would rather chew concrete than step foot in a hospital. she knows that the only reason she's here is so he doesn't have to. amara lets out a scoff at his order. always so brash. but she can't help the smile that worms her way onto her face in spite of it all. she tilts her head to look up and giving him the look a scolding mother would give her child. "you've heard of saying please before, haven't you? it would do you some good." her smile appears again, unable to help itself. she returns back to patching him up. "what do you want me to talk about? my day? or how i think you're stupid for still doing all this shit?"

WUNMI    MOSAKU    ,    jimmy    kimmel    live!

the moment almost doesn't seem real, but she can feel the rough stubble of his jaw, and taste the ale on his lip that he's drank. ananya can feel the heat of him despite the layers between them, and it makes her wish there were much less layers. she's happy to let him have his moment of victory, even if it steals away her breath and leaves her feeling like she’s drowning in this well of desire she never knew was there. not even his words seem to break the moment, earning only a soft chuckle from the runaway princess. “mmm, you always say the sweetest things." she teases, voice a low inviting murmur as she let's her nose bump lightly against his. it's clear that she has no problem with giving him another reason to try and shut her up.

how easily she could make his blood go from surging through his veins towards his cock, to making it boil in aggravation was beyond him. he lets out a heavy exhale from his nose. normally, he would have dismissed her teasings like he's done before. but perhaps because he's had too much to drink tonight, he lets it slide. in fact, a smirk tugs dangerously at the corner of his mouth. "fuck off," he murmurs in his usual gruff voice. he didn't want to be clever and trade jabs with her. he just wanted to feel her under him, for that tension to finally snap. his hand moves from her waist, up her back, and tangles into her hair enough for him to get a good grip enough to lightly yank her head back and bare her throat to him. "i say what's true," he murmurs, his voice rough, vibrating deep in his chest. "and the truth is, you've got a mouth that gets you into trouble."

❛ ... you can get better. i saw it happening, you got results. adam, you were practicing what i told you ! ❜ she smiles, and it's clear she's proud of how far he got. but then ... it's her fault he didn't stay like that. and she doesn't even know how to fix that. ❛ you didn't waste my time. you're good, adam. really good. i know it. ❜ she was the one that wasted his time. it's her turn to look down. the least she can do is try and make it a little better. she grabs his hand then, cleaning it next.

when she tells him to look, he does just that. his eyes flicker up to the face he's seen dozens of times, even in his dreams. and as he looks at her, it's like the first time again. he feels the way her blood settles in her cheeks, allowing them to tint a pretty shade of pink that nearly matches the color of her equally pretty lips. his eyes linger on those for a few seconds too long, a dangerous thought coming to mind about what they would feel like pressed against his own. would they be as soft as they look? he watches the way they move when she speaks, how they form each word. his brows furrow slightly when she dismisses his worry. "no." he shakes his head, not accepting that this was just about him. because this went so much deeper than what he did. it was also about why he did it. he was stuck. if he got better, he would rejoin society and would not need to see her anymore. if he didn't get better, whoever was her higher ups would think he was a lost cause and that she wasn't able to help him, and then she'd be relocated to another patient. he'd lose her no matter what. he was trapped in this in between. and what he did tonight, exploding that hero after being berated by the hero's condescending words, it was the last straw that broke the camel's back by forcing him to confront the notion that someday, he would lose her. his brows pinch together, suddenly overcome with emotion. he doesn't cry. he hasn't been able to for years. "i cant... i can't..." he tries to talk, but his voice quivers and breaks with each attempt to speak. "i can't lose you, dr sakarya. i can't...." he shakes his head again, not wanting to think about think about it but knowing that he needs to talk about it. he focuses on her cleaning his hands, how so much blood stains them even beyond that which she scrubs away. he lets her praise wash over him, always soothing to his mind. he wants to believe that. so badly he does. he wants to be good... for her. "neslihan," he says softly, like her name was a prayer. and when he sees the flash of her eyes when she lifts her head, he moves to lean in to find the answer about whether her lips were as soft as they looked.

for a time, naomi had been grayson's escape. the person that he had let in, someone that he could be himself with rather than the puppet that he continues to be for hs family. his family is not there now, but he still cannot let his guard down any longer. the thread between them has been severed, and grayson had been the one holding the scissors. he had let expectations win over his wants. what naomi had done, however, had not been enough to kill the affection that he continues to feel for her. he had merely chosen his family over her, over himself, as he has his whole life. he should not have shown up for this trip to begin with, his excuse of not wanting to waste money as weak as the rest of him. he had longed to see her again. mimicking her nod, his eyes fall to the ground, molding himself once more to be agreeable to the circumstances around him. "that works for me." her terms are ones that he can accept without being dishonest, reaching for his suitcase and rolling it across the floor to the dresser. his movements are mechanical as he unpacks and only moves when he has to hang up pieces of clothing that had been meant for the themed events outlined on the cruise's itinerary. "i am rather hungry." and he, too, longs to dull his emotions with a drink. "i do want to change, but i will let you have the bathroom first."

it's hard to be so close to him and not feel the urge to slip back into old habits, to pretend nothing has happened between them and they could just pick up in their relationship where it had left off. but too much has happened. naomi doesn't regret writing that piece about his family's company, but she does wish that he could have been spared from it. perhaps then things would have been different. "thanks," she gives a small awkward smile as she sidesteps around, heading to the bathroom to change. it gives her a moment to breathe and recollect herself, and her new outfit allows her to play the part that she's on vacation. with a bit of newfound courage, she exits the bathroom, granting him the space while she grabs her purse in the meantime. slipping her bag over her shoulder, she pats her hair down. "are you still a rum and coke kind of guy?" she asks once he exits and grabs their room key, falling into step with him as the head out of the room. "i'll buy the first round."