Winter Air [H.S.]

Fifty-One

Harry opens the door hoping to see Flint sitting in front of Adam talking about Flint’s new upcoming novel. But he is surprised to see Adam sitting at his desk alone. “Oh, Harry!” Adam gives him a bright smile and nods to come in. Harry hesitantly walks in and Ava follows close behind. “Who do you got there?” 

Ava peeks her head from behind him. “Hi,” she greets meekly. 

“Ava Hastings, right?” Adam asks with a big smile. 

“That’s me. Yeah.” She looks down awkwardly at her hands. She can feel her heart breaking at the realization: her father wasn’t here. 

Harry walks up to the desk. He has a confused expression plastered on. His hands are stuffed into his jeans but brings one up to scratch the side of his neck. “Uh, where’s Flint Hastings?” 

Adam looks up at Harry with a confused face. “He left already.”  Harry could feel his blood begin to boil. The anger that he had been placing aside this whole time begins to seep up through his veins. He consciously pushes it back down not wanting to say or do anything stupid. “What do you mean he left?” His voice clipped. 

“He left about a half hour ago.” He answers confused. “Did you guys not already see him?” 

Harry could hear the small gasp from behind him. “No.” He says flatly, “We didn’t.” 

“But he said he talked to Ava about a half hour before hand.” Once again, he states bewildered. “That doesn’t make sense.” 

Ava grabs a hold of Harry’s hand and pulls him towards her. He looks over at her, his eyes burning with fury. But it quickly drifts away once he looks at her demeanor. Her shoulders are slumped and her eyes downcast. “It’s fine, Harry.” Her words coming out just above a whisper. “Let’s just go.” 

She doesn’t bother to look him in the eye. In fact, she can’t seem to do it. Her heart hurts too much. She knew that Harry was right. That wanting to meet up with her father to talk was a bad idea. He obviously had not wanted to be in her life when she was two and refused to talk to her before, what would make him want to do it now. It was clear to her that he did not want to have anything to do with her. The more that she thought about that the more she could feel the tears pooling in her eyes. 

Her own father didn’t want to talk to her. He lied and left. That’s what hurt her the most. The fact that he knew that she was going to come here today to talk to him, but chose to leave before she even arrived. “Please Harry,” she says once more, “Let’s just go.” 

-

Harry again remains still. He can’t seem to move. The anger that is dwelling inside of him  has created him immobile. All he wanted to do was find Flint Hastings and punch him until he was unconscious.

I warned him, he thinks to himself. I fucking warned him. The thoughts inside of his head are yelling. They keep replaying their previous conversation and the warning that he had made with him. He had told him that if he had hurt her once again he would find him and kill him. He knew what would happen and he still deliberately chose to not listen.  That fucking bastard. 

“Please Harry?” Her small voice brings him back out of his thoughts and back to reality. He looks down at her quivering body. Her eyes were beginning to turn red and glossy. He broke out of his trance and brought her into his arms. He gives her a soft kiss to her forehead while tracing patterns across her back. 

“I’m confused,” Adam speaks up once again. “Did you guys not meet with Flint?” Harry’s muscles tense up once again at the mention of him. Ava whispers a simple “it’s okay” into his ear and kisses just below. The muscles in his back automatically begin to relax.