Lone [MATURE HS]

Chapter 23*

A little panicked, I stand up to my feet and follow him as he goes to reach the knob of the door. "Harry," I call out firmly again. "What..what are you doing..?" My arm reaches out, hand grasping the fabric of his hoodie. He doesn't say a word. "Harry!" I raise my voice as he swings the door open, ignoring the pull I have on his top. My eyes follow his every movement to the steps he takes towards the stairs that descend to the second floor. "You said you'd --"

He turns around quickly, startling me only slightly. I look behind him, registering that he's too close to the stairs with his back to them, and I grab his hoodie and pull him closer to me before we even start the pending, and frustrating argument that is boiling between us.

"I don't know," is all he says. Harry's voice is low, and he speaks through a clenched jaw that only emphasizes his anger.

"You don't know what?" I ask.

"I don't know why you think that I'm going to take this easily? Why you think I'd be able to stay calm after you tell me that a guy put his fucking hands on you?" He almost whispers, and the way he's not yelling, the way he's not bursting out may be enough to convince me that he truly is scary when angry. Because someone who can be so quiet and radiate so much fury at the same time is frighteningly impressive.

I watch him carefully. "I didn't want to tell you right away, especially through the phone..I didn't want to ruin your mood with --"

"Ruin my mood?" He questions, eyebrows furrowing. His voice raises. "My mood is the last of my fucking worries. My mood..I don't give an absolute fuck about!...when that bastard is walking around threatening you and touching you!"

His face starts to get red and heated, that vein more prominent in his neck. I start to feel my face do the same, my temper cutting off the network to my composure. "I care about your fucking mood! I care about everything that even remotely relates to you! And I hate that! I fucking--!.." I rub a hand over my face, covering my sight from him. I then feverishly rub my face to somehow feel like I'm removing some of the pressure on my body.

He only stands there, watching me. Waiting for me to finish. I look at him again, sighing heavily. My face is angry, but my voice lowers again. "I didn't want upset you."

"What's more upsetting is that I didn't know the second it happened," he snaps back, making me want to raise my voice. "Of course I'm going to be upset. Fucking hell, I'm even more furious now! There's no point in trying to avoid that by waiting it out?!"

Clenching my jaw, I shout, "It wasn't like you could do anything from Florida!! God, I wanted to avoid the confrontations and the explanations! You were happy, at least you seemed it...! It was two days ago, so there wasn't any waiting out?!! I was going to tell you anyway, so don't fucking yell at me!"

Harry sighs heavily and when he's touching me again, even if it's just my chin as he moves closer, I know he's calming down, which favors the situation. On the other hand, I'm a little too fired up, and his touch doesn't do much to settle me. I glare up at him. "Don't make it seem like I'm the bad guy for reacting the way I am," he tells me.

"I'm not...!" I insist, locking eyes, breath fanning against his skin, lowering the volume of my voice as I sigh. "You want to act like I was hiding it from you. It was not like that. I just wanted to wait till you came back."

"I don't consider that a good reason," he states, and I shoot him a glare. "I don't, Tara. You want me to lie instead?"

Pushing his hand away from my chin, snapping, "No. But I want you to at least try to understand why I waited until you came back. It really isn't that hard."

"I know," he breathes out, annoyed. "I do understand. I do. It's just...I was away, and I wouldn't be able to tell you how much it could kill me if he did anything else."