Sold // Harry Styles

Chapter 14

The impact of his hand against my face stings and all I want to do is cry but I don’t let A.J. have the satisfaction.  I bite on my bottom lip.  It feels as though his hand is still on my cheek even though I can see it by his side.

“That was a nice stunt you pulled on Harry last night, sweetheart,” he says lowly as he shoves me up higher onto the wall.  “I can't believe you set up that fire just so you could escape."  He chuckles. "Too bad it didn’t work.  You’re still here and so is he.  If I wasn’t so busy, I would just take you back home with me so I can keep a good eye on you.  Luckily for you, I have things to do today and Harry is going to have to keep you locked up.”

“I didn’t—”

“Sweetheart, I don’t care what you claim you didn’t do.  Word spreads fast around here and I just want you to know that if you try this stunt again, there will be much worse consequences than that silly slap to the face.  You can trick Harry but you can’t trick me.”

I gulp and he laughs slyly.  He takes a small step away from me.

“Do you understand?”

“Yes sir.”

He smiles with a nod.  “Good.”

He opens the door and takes a step out before turning around quickly to address something.  “Oh, and don’t tell Harry about your poor face.  You deserved it anyway.  If I find out you told him,” he laughs as he licks his lips, “I’ll make sure Harry learns a lesson harder than you.  Have a nice day, Michelle.”

I stay frozen in my spot unable to move.  My legs feel like they could collapse at any second.  I reach my hand up to my cheek.  It still stings from his hand.

I force back the tears and walk to the bathroom to take a shower.  The water feels good on my face and I can only hope that the mark will be gone by the time I get out.

By the time I turn the water off, the mark is still red on my cheek but it has calmed down quite a bit.  I reach for my makeup bag which is right where I left it—on the bathroom counter.  I glance in the mirror.

After playing around with the concealer, it barely looks like anything happened to me.  Harry probably won’t even notice.  He’ll still be drowsy when he wakes up.

A sticky note falls from the bag as I begin to zipper it up.  I pick it up and read Harry's barely elligible handwriting.

‘You don’t need makeup.  Natural beauty is better.’

I smile and shake my head.

I check my cheek once more in the mirror and nod my head.  It looks okay.

“Jackie?” I hear Harry call outside the locked bathroom door.  I quickly shove my makeup stuff back into the bag.

“Yeah.”

“I need to pee so badly,” he says bluntly.

I roll my eyes before opening the door.  He runs past me knocking my shoulder a bit as he does so.

“Thank you,” he shouts behind the closed door.

I go to Harry’s room and pick out the clothes I want to wear for today.  I don’t even need to change.  It’s not like we’re going out to do anything.  I’m going to be locked inside all day.

Gathering my new clothes in my hand, I close Harry’s door before slipping everything on.  By the time I’m done, Harry is leaning up against the door frame.

“How’s your arm?” I ask him.

He shrugs his shoulders.

“Come on, Harry.  Just tell me.  Does it hurt?  We should put the cloth back on it.”