Corruption™ (Punk Harry Styles)

Chapter Sixty-one

When I opened the door, I nearly walked into Gabby. She came back. Thank God. I’m still a little ticked off that she even left. She could have waited until I woke up so I wouldn’t start freaking out from a note that said she might not come back.

“I…I thought you would still be asleep,” Gabby said softly.

“And that makes it okay to just leave?” I snapped. I wasn’t actually angry, I guess, just hurt. She looked a bit scared after I said that.

She took one last glance at me before running towards the lift and repeatedly pressing the button for it to open. Jesus, why does she always have to run?

After thinking about my options for a second, I went after her and got into the lift just as the doors started to close. She looked shocked that I came after her.

"Why are you running away?" I asked as calmly as I could.

She looked away from me and stayed silent. I'm not doing this again. I finally got her to talk to me and now she won't look at me again?

I pressed the emergency stop button and the lift halted. Her attention was on the button I pushed, so I stood in front of it.

"I'm not letting you out until you give me an answer," I told her.

"What do you want me to say?" She sounded kind of angry.

"I want to know the truth. No more lies or silent treatments, I just want the truth."

"The truth? You want the truth? The truth is that I keep running away because I'm scared."

"Scared of what?"

"I...I'm scared of losing you again," she said softly.

"I told you I wasn't going to leave..."

"But people just say things sometimes and they don't mean it. People just say what you want to hear to make you feel better. I don't want that to happen...I don't want to go through that again."

"Neither do I. I want this to work, but it can't if you keep running away and I'm the only one trying."

"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry that you feel like that. I just didn't want to believe that you still cared...or that this was ever going to work out. And I...I love you so much that I can't go through losing you again...I just can't."

I stepped closer to her and took her hands in mine, "Then stop being scared and start believing that you won't lose me. All that time we spent apart was like a living Hell. I want to try this again, but you have to be willing to try too."

She nodded and looked up at me, “I will…but can we get out of here? I’m not crazy about the idea of being stuck in an elevator.”

“Yeah, me either.”

I pressed the button and then the floor number before turning back to her.

I’m glad that’s over with. I was thinking she would start crying and never say a word to me, but that’s not what happened at all.

She agreed to try this relationship again and work on our problems. I wasn’t expecting that, but I got it; I got her. She’s mine again and I’m not letting go this time.

We got out of the elevator and went back into the hotel room. She walked right past me into the bedroom and sat on the bed. I followed behind her and gave her a questioning look.

“Come home with me,” she said.

“I thought we were taking this slow?”

“I know…I understand if you don’t want to…I just can’t really sleep without you.”

“It’s not that I don’t want to, I do, but you’re sure you’re okay with me staying there?”

“Well, I mean, unless you’d rather live in this hotel room.”

“Okay. I just have to pack my stuff and then we can go.”

“You’ll really live with me?”

“Yeah. Why wouldn’t I?”

“I don’t know…I was just thinking negative again.”

“Start thinking positive. We can do this if we really try.”

She nodded and I kissed her forehead before starting to gather my things and pack them up. We’re really doing this. We’re really going to try again. Now I just have to pray that it works out.

* * *

It was nighttime already. The day went by so fast compared to the ones I spent alone. Even when I wasn’t necessarily alone, I still didn’t have her and that made me feel alone.

All we did today was unpack boxes from the old apartment and put stuff away. Nothing exciting happened other than the fact that we were living together again.

Now I was just putting my clothes away in the bedroom. Gabby went downstairs to make sure the door was locked.

I think she’s still a bit worried about Shawn. I don’t blame her, but she should know that he wouldn’t even lay a finger on her whilst I was here.

If he ever tried to do anything to her again, I’m almost positive that I would kill him. Hopefully he doesn’t have any relatives nearby that would notice his disappearance.

For now, I’m not going to worry about him. All of my focus is going to be on making this relationship work. I need it to work and I think she does too. Well, I hope she does.

“Who’s Mel?” Gabby asked as she walked into the bedroom with a sticky note in her hand.

My heart leaped at the mention of her name.

“What are you talking about?”

“This note was on the door. It says ‘I know what happened to Mel’ and then there’s an address to meet them at and a time.”

This can’t be real. If it is, then that means that…

“Who is she, Harry?” Gabby asked again, tearing me out of my thoughts.

“She’s my sister.”