Rich H.S

Part 24

Thursday

"Mr Styles, there's a Mr. Horan here to see you. He doesn't have an appointment, but he said you'd want to see him. Would you like me to let him in?" Cassidy said, peeking her head around Harry's office door.

He felt a rush of anxiety wave over him at her words. Before this whole situation, Harry would've been happy to hear his friend was visiting but now that Niall had been helping him, all Harry could think about was him finding something or worse, finding nothing.

Harry still wasn't sure what to do about Ethan and with time coming up for him to pay his second installment of the blackmail money, he was running out of time. There was no way he was going to be paying any more money to that sick son of a bitch.

"Let him in. Thanks, Cassidy" Harry flashed her a tight-lipped smile and anxiously tapped the tip of his pen against the desk as he waited for Niall to enter.

He heard that Irish laugh of his before he saw him, noting the way Niall was blatantly flirting with his assistant and rolling his eyes at his antics. Trust Niall to flirt with his assistant at the first given opportunity, even after his obvious flirting with Jed all fucking week.

Harry knew something was going on between them, but he kept that idea safely tucked away. Niall always joked about sleeping with guys, but he had never confirmed anything with Harry that actually told him he was into men. Harry didn't want to make assumptions or even talk about it if Niall wasn't ready for that conversation, plus, Jed was actually starting to warm up to him and he didn't want to jeopardise that relationship.

If Niall and Jed were together, Harry didn't want to be the invasive friend who outed them, even by accident.

Harry was sure they were fucking though, even if it was just them burning some sexual frustration. He was like 85% sure.

"Harry!" Niall cheered, loud and boisterous. Harry couldn't help but smile, standing up to greet him with a hug.

"Hey Mate" Harry greeted, patting Niall's back in that classic hug guys did. It was good to see him. Niall always managed to provide Harry with a bit of an emotional boost. "Please, sit"

Even though the circumstances weren't the best, Harry genuinely loved having Niall around so much. Before this, it could be months between their social catchups. Now Niall was over pretty much every night. They were able to work on this whole mess and also spend time together.

Once Jed left after his visits, Niall and Harry could spend hours just talking about anything really. You were the topic a lot of the time and even though Niall had never met you before, through Harry he felt like he knew everything about you.

If there was one thing Niall got from his conversations with Harry, it was that Harry was head over heels in love and adored you more than anything else in his life. Except Archie of course.

"You've got a meeting in 15 Mr Styles, don't forget" Cassidy warned Harry, her hand on the doorknob in preparation to close it.

"I've got it, don't worry" Harry assured her, not giving anything away until the door was closed. "So what's going on? I assume this isn't a friendly visit"

"Look" Niall sighed, his expression turning serious. Nothing good could come from a serious Niall and Harry was immediately more concerned than he was before. "We've got nothing."

"Nothing?" Harry's jaw tensed. "What do you mean, nothing?"

"I mean... Ethan's clean."

"Clean?" Harry repeated.

"Yes. I've combed through everything, and I mean fucking everything, mate. We needed time to be sure, but even with Jed's tailing there's nothing." Niall was frustrated about this whole thing too. He was emotionally invested from the start and now, even after all the time he spent on it, there was just nothing. Hell, he managed to get Jed working alongside him and doing work way out of the scope of a PI.