Stumbling (H.S. / A.U.)

Chapter 46

Thursday, September 28th

(around 2 am, the day of the meeting at Sweet Creatures)

Harry's POV

Ri was asleep and I tried to make sure I didn't wake her as I removed myself from the bed. Her restless body shifted, she was a sleeper that often would move around so I am not surprised but I hesitate to watch and make sure she does not wake. Her lips were barely parted, soft, with quiet hums as she buried herself deeper into the pillows.

I find my boxers, shorts, and a dirty shirt to slip on. Realistically I cannot even care enough to find something clean at this moment. I shuffle through my disgusting room, god damn I am glad that Riley didn't notice all of this and instead was willing to romance me earlier tonight.

I meander my way down to the kitchen and find a disgruntled Louis raiding the fridge. The lights were all off, but the eerie glow of the refrigerator light casted a bunch of shadows across the room. "Toss a water?"

Louis doesn't even turn around before throwing an unopened drink over his shoulder to me. I snatch the plastic container out of the air and grab a seat at one of the barstools in front of the kitchen island.

Lou dug around for another minute while I gulped down my water. Today felt like a lot. Every day has been late. "What's that old saying, like, a penny for your thoughts? What's on your mind Haz?" Lou says as he turns to me with some leftovers in hand.

I don't know if he could just read the strained expression on my face or if he was in the same boat and just feeling the vibes of true stress that had been plaguing us all. The tensions were a little high after Niall and I came home from the warehouse, and lucky for me Niall told them most of the story because I felt like I had been hit by a car. I used all the energy I had in me to try and keep it together just on the ride home and in front of Riley.

Liam went on taking care of me duty, making sure I was at least staying hydrated, trying to convince me to shower or leave my room, plus checking on my wounds. Louis went on Niall duty, making sure his drug come-down didn't end up being a big fucking fiasco, which it was. Since all of us had been trying to cut back (because the guys were doing everything to help me quit) we were all on edge anytime drugs were around and I know that was a huge trigger for Louis too.

I swear in the weeks we have been cutting back on drugs the alcohol consumption in the house has tripled. Nowadays you can find empty beer bottles scattered anywhere from the bedrooms, living room, showers, the gym, and even the surveillance room in the basement. Not ideal, but better than being a coked out mess that can't tell Monday from Thursday with no real intentions of doing anything productive. Nowadays we all have a small buzz or drink to just get us through the horrific events of the day and our job to stay afloat and not want to massacre each other, the annoying frat bros that we now are realizing are a giant pain in our ass, and our fucking p-o-s bosses who need their heads on a spike. You could say our tolerance for people is wearing thin lately.

Riley had really turned my life around, and even though right now I am realizing how much I have turned hers around for the worse, she changed mine for the better I think. Minus the whole 'right now I have two different cartel leaders wanting me to bid down the other and do an extensive murder for them otherwise myself and my girlfriend plus everyone I have ever cared about might die an extremely tragic death' thing.

"Going to go check?" I raise my brows and Louis knows exactly what I am referencing. Since I didn't answer his question about what's on my mind he deduced that there was too much to talk about out in the open up here, and since I also asked the surveillance cameras he knows that I wanna' head to the basement. He double backed really quick for a beer before grabbing his snacks and heading to the basement door.