Gardens Of Eden (A Harry Styles Story)

58. Son of a Bitch

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**

What's worse, to have love and lost? Or never to have loved at all?

For Harry, the answer to that question couldn't be found. Not in the stacks of paperwork piled around the house, and certainly not in the glass of whiskey he nursed before finally collapsing in bed, to experience the most vivid dream of his life. He dreamt they found her, and she ran to him, more beautiful than all of his memories combined. He watched her in amazement get closer, so relieved, until the moment she should've fallen into his arms, disappearing instead into a ghostly vapour, sucking the air from his lungs.  

Waking up to find her gone felt like an anvil falling through his heart.

Dragging his exhausted body from the sweaty sheets, he threw a shirt over his shoulders. It didn't feel good imagining the worst, but that's all Harry did as he jogged off the long and restless night, trying to clear his head.

Shower, coffee, fresh start. 

It felt a million miles away.

Would Seville talk? Would today be the day that he made every piece fit into the puzzle?

The questions never turned off. There was an ominous tension about the morning, like the rain had fallen, and fate was about to step in and play her last card. Harry could hardly muster a sentence, let alone a smile, as he carried the weight of knowing fate didn't always play nice.

In the kitchen, Helga and Anne were talking at the counter. 

"Morning darling." Anne greeted him, "did you sleep?"

"Tried." He said honestly. "Any word from the Feds, or Alvin and-?"

"Jamie popped by around seven, left his laptop charger here. He was on his way home."

"Just then?" Harry rubbed his eyes deeply with the palms of his hands. "Shit." Jamie had stayed at the police station with Danielle for her second statement, which began sometime around midnight. Alvin had intended to stick around to speak with Seville's lawyers, but he'd sent Harry home, insisting that someone had to get some sleep, and with the black circles growing under his eyes, Harry had been hard-pressed to argue.

"Did they make it home, Dani and Z?"  

"Yeah, we probably won't see them today." Anne said softly. She had the same look in her eyes that Detective Brody had the night before, sympathy.

"Don't look at me like that, Mum."

"Aw, I just know how you must feel. Getting your hopes up... I'm so sorry, sweetheart."

He nodded, taking a long sip of his coffee. As the liquid warmed his body, he though of Ev and hoped, wherever she was, she had coffee. It was her favourite part of waking up.

His heart gave a painful throb and he turned away from the kitchen. "Let's just hope Seville talks."

**

Waking up on the bathroom floor was not my idea of fun. 

My neck was sore, I was cold, and I was starting to feel like I was never going to get out of this situation. How many more nights like last night was I going to have?

Derek had been in and out of my room all night. He had been drinking, something had happened. He was a ticking time bomb of aggressive energy, and it made him easy to manipulate. 

The first time he came downstairs, he pulled out a dress from his duffel bag, and made me try it on for him, telling me how beautiful I looked in it. I could smell a hint of perfume on the dress, its origin a complete mystery.