Tribulation [h.s]

58

"What you want from a devil like me, devil like me?
You see the devil don't mean to be evil
He just regrettably forgets to exceed expectation."

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THE AUCTION.

"If you ever want to feel broke, this is a good place to go to."

I roll my eyes when I hear Niall's voice in the earpiece. Keeping my voice low, l respond. "Niall, you have a yacht and like fifteen cars."

"Uh, wrong. I only have fourteen cars."

Harry's voice cuts in. "Sucks to suck, I guess."

Liam jumps into the conversation. "Wait, what?"

Chuckling, I let my eyes scan over the people in the room as the live classical performance continues. This place superseded my expectations tenfold. I practically grew up in the slums of New York, so being surrounded by people effortlessly flaunting their wealth always makes me feel out of place.

I can hear the smirk in Harry's voice when he responds from beside me, his hand settling on the lower part of my back. "Don't worry. You can tell Liam what happened, Niall. He'll understand."

I can't see Niall, but I swear I can feel his eye twitching. "Harry beat me in a street race. We bet on the yacht and my car."

"Oh, dude," Liam wheezes into the mic. "you're never getting those back." I find it hard to bite back a grin. Liam mocks Niall as if he should've known not to challenge Harry in a race.

"Know what's better than a yacht?" Niall bites out.

"Are we really doing this here?" Louis cuts in, momentarily disrupting Niall and Liam's feud. He sounds exhausted — like he's read this script a few thousand times.

Liam is silent before he responds suspiciously. "...What?"

"Your mom-"

"What do you say, babe?" He smirks, wiggling his brow. "After this, wanna take a trip to Cali and stay on my new yacht?"

Niall groans. "Fuck you, man...."

I snort and weakly push Harry away. "Yeah, okayyy."

His laugh makes my heart sing. "No, seriously," he says to me only, cutting off his mic (I could still hear Niall and Liam bickering, though). "C'mon," he pleads a bit. "We'll even take Maggie. I have a beach house by the docs," and though it had started as teasing banter, his soft plea began to feel more genuine. "She'd love the beach there. The sands look white."

Somehow, he's gotten closer to me, and his voice falls to a whisper. "She would love that," I agree with him, humming softly. "She's never been."

"Never?"

I nod. "I've never been to the beach either."

The small smile that had been on his face most of today. "You've never been to the beach?"

I shake my head. "Nope."

"I'll take you," he says so decisively and quickly that I can't help but laugh. He looks down at my lips before stealing a quick kiss. "I'll take you to the beach, and then I gotta take you to Italy to see that light festival."

I smile softly, feeling myself melt on the inside as I hear him make future plans for us. "You remembered that?"

He scoffs before pulling away. "Who do you think I am?"