fight for control ↠ harry styles [b1] ✓

CHAPTER 8

"The car should be here in ten minutes," Harry informed me which at first, I didn't even hear. It took me a second or two to actually put together what he had said.

"Alright..." I replied to Harry before the call I made was accepted. "Hello? Yes... would you care to fill me in on what exactly happened?!"

The word 'annoyed' couldn't quite describe how I felt after the call ended. I felt useless and out of control being away from London. Nothing that couldn't be fixed happened, however, had I been at home it could have been sorted in literally half an hour. Now, I had to wait hours until they contacted me again whether things got back to normal or not.

"Do you ever get time off from work?" Harry asked when he saw that I was no longer on the phone. It kind of irritated me that he initiated this conversation because my mood was not right for it. In general, I didn't wish to talk to him willingly because no matter whether he forgot or not, I wasn't here to make friends with him.

Technically, I was only here because my drunk ass said I would be. And I am not one to cancel on people. They may do it to me, I will not do it to them. I know how it feels.

"No. There is no need," I replied with a shrug of my shoulders. "Where is that car? How long is it going to be?"

"I said ten minutes but with traffic, I'm not sure."

"Right..."

"So, all you ever do is... work?" he sounded almost weirded out by the possibility. As someone who ran a business like myself, it was kind of ridiculous for him to think I had time for anything else.

"Look-,"

"So, you only work," he confirmed it for himself. My eyebrows furrowed as he said that, I didn't understand why it bothered him so much. It was much harder to believe that he may not have dedicated all of his time to his company. "Remember what I said on that interview?"

"Did I look like I paid any attention to whatever you said?"

"Rude," he said.

"Been called worse," I shrugged.

"To refresh your memory, I said – if you let your work consume you, it is hard to get out of it and think positively."

"Are you trying to tell me I let my business consume me?" a low chuckle erupted from my chest through my throat and out my lips as the words he said processed in me.

"Pretty much," he hummed. I rolled my eyes and stifled a laugh. "It's not healthy, you know."

"Neither is caring so much about someone who you supposedly despise."

That one shut him up and it stayed that way until we had to get in the car. Again, my attention went back to my phone but this time around it happened because Danielle texted me. To put a little bit of extra stress on me, she told me the New York meeting was to happen tomorrow which was no good for me.

I was nowhere near prepared.

"Fucking hell," I sighed as my head hit the headrest of the seat, my eyes closed as my thumb locked my phone. This was really all just a big shit show. I knew I shouldn't have agreed to this in the first place... but my drunk self didn't.

"What happened?"

"Nothing..." I said right away. Harry was so fucking nosy. To the point where I found it slightly annoying. If he thought last night and this morning made us friends, well, he had a massive storm coming.

"Don't worry, I'm not gonna steal your idea or business client," he chuckled under his breath. "I'm not as bad as you think I am."

"Alright, okay, sure," I snorted. He tried to fool me but I wasn't stupid. "It's honestly nothing to do with you so why are you so arsed?"

"My godness, you shouldn't drink that much wine. Makes you cranky."

"You make me cranky with your constant questions."

"Sorry that I'm trying to make conversation with the only person I can. I'm kind of stuck with you."

"Why did you ask me to come? You really didn't have to. It's like you're the one obsessed with me," I said as I remembered back to the time we ran into each other in Joe's at the tills. He told me I was the one obsessed with the other when it was pure coincidence that we ate at the same restaurant.

"You're so annoying, honestly. I see why I didn't try to reach out before," he murmured but I heard it all. His words rolled off of me like raindrops down a glass window. Like I had told him before, I had been called worse and whenever he gave me these names, all they did was secure a position for him at the very bottom.

"Not sure what you expected from this."

"Yeah, neither do I," he said and the conversation ended with that.

To be fair, the fact that I even agreed to last night and this morning was questionable enough from my part so I didn't even want to get into why he came up with this. I never, ever, said yes to someone so quick. Whenever someone asked me out – whether that be as a date or simply a friendly hangout – I cancelled on them at least three times before they either convinced me or gave up.

And I preferred the latter option.

Opening up to people was shit. Whenever they were let in, they took what they wanted, damaged what they didn't think was of use, then fucked off. What was the point? Nothing. I couldn't wrap my head around as to why people even done it in the first place. It was terrific enough to allow my family into my life therefore the thought of giving a complete stranger that opportunity was not something I had ever really considered.

When we arrived at my hotel, I got out of the car and went straight for the revolving doors. I didn't even make it inside when the car was already ages away from me. I seemed to have pissed him off but honestly, like I told him, I didn't know what he expected.

I wasn't a people person. I didn't know how to hold a conversation unless it was all about business stuff. I wasn't interesting enough to talk about myself and I didn't find others interesting enough to get to know them.

"How was your late morning and afternoon?" Danielle asked me after she walked up to me from the lobby. She sat on one of the couches with her iPad in her hands.

"It was alright. Few hours of my life I will never get back but hey ho," I sighed as my index-finger pressed the button on the side of the lift.

"Was he really that bad of a company?" she chuckled as we stepped inside. Thankfully, no one was there and the doors closed just before anyone else could have gotten in.

"The worst, honestly."

"Alright, well, we've got more important things to get to. Like sorting you out for tomorrow's meeting," she changed to a more professional tone of voice and I finally felt at ease. Here we go. Hopefully, a step closer to brushing STYLES under the rug.

"Please, let's."

• • •

a.n.
so harry's got a lot to do before ren softens up huh i personally love her standoffish attitude towards harry, usually it's harry being a dick towards the main gal but now it's ren hehehe

also omfg we hit 2k which makes me so happy hsjsjsjs i love seeing the numbers go up cos for me that means u guys are enjoying it and that's such a nice thing to know 🥰

anyway i shall stop rambling and leave. don't forget to vote & comment & follow for casual updates . smoochies xx