Ferocity | Harry Styles

Chapter 9

"Melody's on her way home," Josie said, continuing to scroll through her phone.

Harry wanted to go to bed. Josie had been here for nearly three hours and she had made herself right at home. Harry was tucked into the corner of the couch because she was spread across two and a half cushions, her head propped up on the sofa's arm, her bare toes right beside him. She'd turned on a romantic comedy when she'd gotten here. It didn't seem like she'd watched anything after the first ten minutes, and by now the movie had turned into an environmental documentary, but still she kept the remote shielded beneath her shoulder. If she had been a babysitter, she would have been the worst babysitter ever. No more than three sentences had passed between them, and one of the sentences had been when Harry finally gave up and asked her to help him to the bathroom just a few minutes ago.

So, when he realized that Josie was speaking to him and he processed her words, he let out one of the loudest sighs of his life.

Josie raised her eyebrows and glanced at him over the top of her phone. "You're not having fun with me?"

"No," he deadpanned.

"Good." She smiled sarcastically at him. "I'm actually very entertaining but I heard you've been mean to Melody."

"'M not mean to—"

"Yes, you are. Cut her a fucking break, okay?"

His nostrils flared. "Why can' everyone stay out of our fuckin' business?"

"Something about you just invites people into your business, I guess." She grinned at him again and her toes brushed the side of his leg and he wanted her and her stinking feet out.

The door cracked open and Harry heard Melody mutter, "Fuck, it's cold out." He twisted toward her. She was shivering, the hood of her sweatshirt pulled up and her hat concealing the top of her face. She shuffled further into the apartment and her muscles seemed tight. Harry could relate. He knew that even if he only took a few hits, soreness kicked in almost immediately after a match, as adrenaline withdrew from his limbs. His mind could finally relax during that withdrawal, but his body couldn't, and Melody seemed to be the same.

"So?" Josie asked. She finally sat up and her feet were gone and Harry was grateful.

"I won," Melody said as she pulled back her hood. Harry tried not to wince when he caught sight of the spot blushing at the corner of her jaw. Or the split in that same cheek, or the way she was pressing her tongue to the inside of her lip, like she was licking at blood. Josie didn't react to her face at all.

"Well done, trooper," she congratulated. She stood up and grabbed her jacket from the edge of the coffee table.

"Where's Bea?" Harry asked, glancing between the two of them. He wasn't enthusiastic about Melody having traveled home by herself after having spent all her energy.

"I'm meeting her at the club," Josie told him. "You kids have fun."

Harry frowned and Josie was out of the apartment before she'd even zipped up her coat.

"Were you nice?" Melody asked after a moment.

"'M always nice."

She let out a dry laugh and peeled off her sweatshirt. "If only," she muttered.

Harry licked his lips as she tugged her beanie off her head. Her hair was tangled and wild and her fingers snagged in it as she tried to comb through the strands.

"Let me look at your face," Harry said.

"It looks bad but it doesn't hurt nearly—"

"Just let me look, Mel." His voice was tender, not angry, and she dropped her things on the edge of the rug as she made her way toward him. She perched herself on the cushion beside him. He watched her arrange her torso cautiously, trying to avoid twisting herself too much, until her face hovered just next to his shoulder.