Lush Expiration | Harry Styles AU | BOOK 3 ✓

31

Harry Styles

I had promised Niall to pick him up from the airport. Lauren and he would be spending some time in Los Angeles to help me out with Ethan. After firing him without a legitimate reason, I feared he would come back soon - especially after Angelina called me.

While Niall was going to help me out, Lauren was here to distract Vicky. Even though Lauren liked hanging out with Vicky and didn't mind coming to Los Angles, she preferred to be here on different terms. But I needed her to make it look like nothing was going on because if Vicky found out what I did, then I wondered if she would stick with me.

Lauren and Niall got out of the plane, and I opened the trunk of my car for their suitcases. Niall took his sunglasses off his face and smiled at me. I didn't know if the smile was genuine because I knew he didn't like what I had done to Ethan.

"Didn't expect to see you so soon, Styles." He said.

"Neither did I." I replied as he handed me his suitcase. "How was your flight?"

"Terrible. Lauren couldn't stop snoring." Niall told me.

"Shut up, Niall." Lauren said when she walked past him. "I hope this is the first and last time we clean up the mess you made, Harry." She added before giving me a friendly kiss on the cheek. I didn't know how to respond, so I just stayed silent and waited for her to take a seat in the car.

I shut the trunk and looked at Niall who quickly ended a call. "I know where Ethan is staying." He let me know. "But I'm not going to tell you because you can't visit him."

"I wasn't planning on visiting my evil cousin."

"Mmm, sure. Right now, I can't give you all the information I get from my lawyers." He made me clear seriously – Niall wasn't in the mood to play games. "They're going to send someone over to his current location, so let's just hope he's there. We are going to figure out if he has reached out to his own lawyers yet."

"And what if he has?"

"Then we've got to figure out our next step. Don't worry about it for now." Niall waved me off. "It's better to go to your house and pretend we're here for an unexpected business deal. It's important Vicky doesn't suspect a thing."

I nodded in agreement before we got into my car. I felt disgusting for keeping this from Vicky and not sticking to the promise I made to her, but it was the only option. As much as I told myself Ethan wasn't capable of ruining me, Vicky, us or the club. . . I was totally wrong.

Due to the fact I fired him without any ground to stand on, I could expect the worst outcome. I wasn't ready to lose the club nor my girlfriend. We had to win this battle before it was going to start.

"I'm dropping you off at the club, Lauren." I said aloud as I looked at her through the rearview mirror. "Vicky will be practicing the new routine with her colleagues. Make sure you don't come back to my house before 7 pm."

"At least let me borrow your car." Lauren told me.

I rolled my eyes. The only person who was allowed to sit behind the steering-wheel was Vicky. However, for now, I had to deal with Lauren's wishes and accept it.

"If you-"

"She isn't going to crash your car, Harry." Niall assured me instantly – as if he knew I was about to warn her. "Lauren drives better than I do." He added and I saw her smile because of his compliment.

"Sure." I let her know.

Instead of dropping Lauren off, she got what she wanted. She gave Niall a passionate kiss before I gave her the keys to my car. I warned her to make sure she understood I didn't want her to ruin one of my favorite possessions. Obviously, she drove away very fast just to piss me off on purpose – it worked.