killer instinct - || h.s. ||

64

TRIGGER WARNING: panic attack

---

" one heart broke, four hands bloody "

---

harry styles.

Unlocking the front door again, I allow Leo's little self back into the comfort of my loft draped in the moonlight with the city traffic in the distance. Leo just trots in while I unclip his leash from his collar, noticing his head turn up with his pointed ears.

He instantly treks away from me to curiously fill the hollow with his puppy paws tapping up the stairs – probably attaching himself at the hip to Rory.

I smile to myself, awaiting her company again with the dwindling high within my blood. But my mind feels light and airy with the haze hanging over my brain for once.

Hell, I don't even know why the fuck I decided to ride a goddamn bull with her tonight. Well, I do know why, and the blonde of whoeverthefuck's hair didn't help matters of my broken past. Let alone, in front of all those people but I won't even lie ... it was hot as fuck.

All I know is that hearing her laugh – genuinely – is something I'd pay unspeakable amounts to never stop listening to.

I just unclip my keys from my belt loop while kicking off my matching vans to settle beside hers. The jingle of my keys hitting the ceramic bowl on the counter fills the hollow. I run my fingers through my hair, ruffling it into place on a mission to get to my girl again for the promises of the rest of the night stirring through my stomach.

I step up the stairs with a lingering smile on my face, getting to the top to only find the platform with my bed barren. My smile falters as I find Leo's black tail wagging, then only do my eyes settle on the back of her head propped against the edge of my bed.

And my top drawer, wide-open.

My stomach drops to the floor as my hands instantly become clammy in unsettling nerves. "Ace?" I apprehensively mumble, catching Leo's attention to wander back over to me as if I could do something to help her.

I hesitantly wander over to her, and my throat constricts the moment I regard her knees tucked up against her chest with her gold locket dangling from her fingertips.

"Fuck–" I instinctually curse under my breath, never in a million years thinking I'd have to face this secret tonight but like I've said once before, the universe doesn't give two fucks.

Her head turns up at the nervous words leaving my lips and my hands lace at the back of my head, lifting the hem of my shirt just slightly to expose it to the cool air while the room begins to simmer in invisible flames.

And her tear-stained eyes pulse into me like daggers, lacerating through my chest from a secret I've hidden away from her.

"No lies," she numbly mumbles with such strikingly contrasting monotony in her raspy voice that it chills down my spine.

I stammer on the right words to say with the harsh truth hitting me in full, the thought of that night sickens my stomach into nauseating knots. "I–" I nervously shrug as she blinks up at me in that endless void of darkness.

"It was you?" Her voice cracks from her throat as she blinks up at me in such pain, so unbelievably lackluster in contrast to my typical star.

The sound of the internal ache dripping off the tone of her broken voice sobers me in clarity within an instant.

"God, Harry–" Rory grits out, shaking her head in distrust of the unraveling situation while my lack of words only sets off more frustration within her as she manages to pull herself upright before me.