STAY MINE // Harry Styles

Truth or Truth

The truth comes out! Let me know what you think! 👀

Next chapter: May 6, 2020.

For Patrons: May 1, 2020.

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The last Sunday of the month. Laura Hilfgard's flat. Thea's book was almost finished and ready for submission, and she was at the top of her game. She'd been putting off everything else to write, and for the first time in her life, everything was happening according to plan. Last year's Thea would've spent every passing moment waiting for something to go wrong. The writer-to-be Thea, however, was living her best life.

"Are you sure you want to omit the confrontation scene in chapter ten?" Laura asked once they'd stopped for a tea break.

Thea stirred her tea slowly, still contemplating her handwritten notes. "You don't need drama in every chapter. It's not realistic."

"It's fiction," said Laura. Thea glanced up with an eyebrow lifted, and the agent exhaled as she raised her hands, palms out. "Sorry, ma'am. Your book."

Blowing into her tea, Thea closed her pink notebook and took a sip. "Sorry, it's just the story is based on what happened to me."

"Oh?" Laura blinked, sounding both surprised and intrigued.

"I changed a few things," Thea said. "But yeah, my boyfriend used to be my neighbour. We met in his treehouse twelve years ago."

"Your boyfriend is Harry Styles, right?"

"You know him?"

"Everyone does." Laura stopped stirring her tea to add more sugar with the same spoon. She'd been stirring and adding sugar for the last five minutes, which made Thea wonder if she was going to drink at all. "I've heard so many stories about you two. You make a fine couple."

"You've heard stories about us?" Thea carefully set down her cup and smiled questioningly at the woman. "From whom?"

"Everyone," Laura said and finally brought the cup to her red lips. Thea watched Laura take the first sip of her overly sweet tea, and the only thing that came to Thea's mind was the likelihood of a connection between Laura and Harry.

Impossible. Harry would never have interfered. Not after their fight about John Conall. Besides, Blake had been the one who'd suggested her to Laura, not Harry. So how could Harry have possibly done anything?

Or could he?

What if he'd contacted Laura right after Blake had given the manuscript to her? No, Harry would never lie to Thea. Harry, of all people, would understand how much this meant to her, that she'd accomplished everything on her own without his help. Harry, of all people, would believe in her.

Once she got back to her flat, she found herself pacing back and forth in her living room, clutching her phone to her chest as she tried to decide if she should just call and ask him. Him saying he had no connection to her literary agent would put Thea out of her misery. But that would prove that she didn't trust him, and he'd be so angry, and they would fight again. Things had been going so well recently she didn't want to mess it up. Although there was a tiny part of her doubting everything, mostly herself...

Her phone rang, and she jumped. It was Harry. Biting her nail, she slid her thumb across the screen to answer and tried her best not to sound like she'd been overthinking. "Hey, baby."

"Hey, are you working?"

"I just got back from Laura's."

"Is the book done?"