Harry's POV
3 years ago...
I wake up with a pounding in my head but most importantly alone. I groan looking around for my love but I can't seem to find her.
"Hope?" my hoarse voice calls out. I wait for any response, any sign but it's all silence. I sit up and that's when it hits me. The club, the arguing, the words I said.
"Fuck!" I yell jumping out of bed and heading to the spare room. I twist the doorknob flinging the door open, happy that she's letting me in, except she's not here. The bed is made, nothing is out of place. I furrow my eyebrows running downstairs, seeing a piece of paper on the counter.
The paper is addressed to me written in her messy but somehow neat writing. I open up the paper reading the words she wrote.
Our tears stain the paper, smudging the words even more. I fucked up. I pushed her away. She doesn't want me anymore.
This is all my fault.
**************
Hope's POV
Now
To say life has been amazing since leaving is an understatement. Athena and I have adjusted greatly to our surroundings. Our neighbors love us, we have friends, I've had the occasional fling here and there. I love my life for once.
It's around noon here and I'm doing my daily routine of sitting on my bedroom floor staring at the waves hitting the sand. My dad remembered the one thing I wanted to do as a kid and I couldn't be more grateful. Ever since I was a child I've always wanted to move to Hawaii, and now being able to live here is surreal.
The house we live in is huge. Too big for only 2 people but we love it. It's a modern mansion, white marble, glass walls, a private beach. It truly is my dream house.
Athena and I have very similar rooms, both of us sharing a glass wall facing the ocean, as well as the size. Both white and black decorate our rooms but while mine is more simplistic with artwork hung on the walls, hers are decorated in photos of the friends she's made, along with posters and photos of the celebrities and bands she obsesses over.
Athenas has been excelling at school. For 16 she's doing a hell of a lot better than I was. She's at the end of her sophomore year in high school and is excited to start junior year. She just turned 16 a week ago and I let her throw a party. It wasn't too big but it also wasn't small.
As for me, I didn't go to college, like I planned on, and I haven't got a job. I mostly just train all the time, doing odd jobs that my dad sends me. Nothing dangerous of course.
When we first got here I was keen on knowing how to protect myself and Athena in case anything happened so my dad assigned someone to train me. I eventually became so good that he inducted me officially and now I do jobs for him when his other men don't have a chance.
Just some drug busts and getting money for the most part but it's something that I never would've imagined I'd be doing.
Well the old me anyways. I'm not the same girl I was 3 years ago. She was heartbroken, followed her heart, didn't think with her brain.
Now I could give two shits about men, sometimes I follow my heart but I use my brain to make sure it's the best decision for me. Athena has been training as well and she's almost as good as me. I love my life here and so does Athena. Sometimes bad shit happens but then the good comes along and this is the good.
The doorbell rings and I sigh, breaking out of my trance. I head down the long staircase hissing at the cold floor beneath my feet. I open the door and see my neighbor Benny standing in front of me.
"Hey, Benny! Come in!" I gesture for him to enter. Benny is a couple of years older than me. Black hair with green eyes. He's very sweet and kind and he's someone I consider a friend.
"Hey, Ruby! How are you?" He walks in heading over to the kitchen sitting at one of the bar stools.
"I'm doing good, trying to keep track of Lexi." I sigh and he nods.
"Entering her wild child phase I see." he grins and I groan.
"Yep. I thought I was bad. Feel bad for my Mom now." We share a laugh and the door opens revealing Athena.
"Hey, Lexi," I yell indicating that someone is over before she can say my real name. Athena looks up from her phone, putting her bag down and waving.
"Hey Ruby, hey Benny." She smiles walking over to us.
"Did I interrupt your dick appointment?" she giggles and I roll my eyes.
"Room now." I point up the stairs and she groans.
"It was a joke, Ruby!" I wave her off and she groans, flipping me off before heading upstairs. One thing about Athena now is that she has no filter.
I don't really care what she does as long as she's honest with me. If she comes home after curfew she usually tells me who she was with and I just tell her to be in for next time because we don't want any repeats of what happened to us.
"Ugh, teenagers." I groan, putting my head on the counter as Benny laughs.
"So Ruby, did I interrupt your dick appointment?" he questions and I smack his shoulder.
"Can't interrupt something that I can't get." I sigh.
"Dry season?"
"Yep, James and I broke it off a couple of weeks ago." He nods in understanding about to say something when my phone rings. I head into the living room grabbing it and seeing it's one of our bodyguards.
I furrow my eyebrows answering the phone. I make sure my voice stays low and quiet so Benny can't hear me.
"Hello." I say into the speaker and the voice that follows is panicked but calm.
"Hope where are you?" they ask.
"I'm at home, why?"
"Is Benny there?" They say and I nod before answering remembering they can't see me.
"Yeah, why?"
"Okay, you need to get him out of your house now. He's one of Gabes. Gabe has found you. We're on our way to pick you up, get a bag with what you'll need." he says frantically and I nod my head.
"Okay, thank you and I'm sorry that happened." I say loudly making sure Benny catches the tail end. I hang up groaning.
"Lexi get your ass down here right now!" I scream up at her and I motion towards Benny.
"Hey I'm sorry but I need to yell at her now so can we catch up a bit later?" I ask him and he nods.
"Yeah, I'll come over later."
"Okay thank you I'm sorry again."
"It's no problem, Ruby." Athena comes bounding down the stairs rolling her eyes.
"What!" she yells at me and I point at her to come here.
"What the hell did you do in school today!" I yell at her as I watch Benny make his exit.
"What do you mean what did I do!" she yells back just as the door closes behind him. I let out a sigh of relief before holding Athena by the shoulders.
"Gabe has found us we need to go now. Grab your shit." I tell her and she nods. We run up the stairs grabbing our go bags that have everything we need.
"A, do you have your phone and laptop and their chargers?" I ask her and she nods. "Okay good, it's time to go." I finish shoving my laptop into my bag. We get out just as they're pulling up and we hop into the van.
"Chris, what's the sitrep?" I ask
"Benny is one of Gabe's men and has been feeding intel to him for the past 3 years. We're heading back to the main base where your father will be waiting to brief you on the rest." he tells me and I nod
"Son of a bitch." I mumble under my breath.
"Hope isn't that where everyone is." Athena asks and I nod my head. I unlock my phone, scrolling through my contacts, and clicking on my dad activating a call. One ring later he answers.
"Hope! Are you guys okay?" he asks.
"Yeah, we're fine. I got the call as Benny was in the house, we're in the van now on the way to the airport we should be there around 5 am your time." I answer and he breathes out a sigh of relief.
"Okay, I'll be here when you get here to brief you on everything. I'll see you guys soon."
"Yep see you soon, love you." I say.
"I love you too baby." he replies before hanging up. As we pull up to the airport hopping into the private plane Athena cuddles into my side.
"Time to go home, Athena."
****************
The flight and the ride back to base was easy. No problems at all. Athena slept for most of the flight but I couldn't sleep. I let the anxiety fill my body of what was to come.
Would the boys hate me?
Would they understand?
But my mind kept referring back to one person.
Harry.
We pull into base and the door opens and I see my dad standing there. Athena jumps out running into his arms.
"Dad!"
"Hi, baby. Look at how big you've gotten." he whispers, kissing her head.
"Hey she's not that big, she's the same height as me." I fake pout and he laughs pulling me into the hug.
"Hi bubs. You're an old lady now." He grins and I smack his shoulder.
"I'm only 20." I mumble.
"Okay, as nice as this has been, we need to start moving," he says. I nod motioning for him to start walking.
"Okay, so what's going on." I ask. He turns to Athena telling her to go with one of the men.
"Dad, we need her. She needs to know what's happening and quite frankly she can help us." I tell him and he looks like he's fighting with himself.
"Do you want to help Athena?" He asks her and she nods.
"Yes." he sighs, motioning her to follow closely.
"Gabe found you. Benny has been one of his men this whole time, we recently found that out. He more than likely knows you're back which means he'll be back soon." He explains as we get to the door of the meeting room. His hand rests on the handle turning to me. "Some of the boys are in here. Are you guys going to be fine?" he asks and I nod.
"Gonna have to be." I mumble. He nods before turning the handle and opening the door. Heads shoot in our direction as we walk in. I survey the people around me. Some faces look familiar, some new. My eyes stop when they catch my best friend.
"Hope?" He gasps stunned at me standing in front of him. His legs move fast and before I know it I'm wrapped in his arms again.
"Hey Ni." I breathe out, wrapping my arms tighter around him.
"I missed you so much." He whispers in my hair.
"Same here." I never realized how much I would miss all of them until I was actually gone. The first couple of months were hard. I would look around for them or wait for one of them to burst into the house but that never happened.
"Oi! I reckon it's my turn with her now." a voice speaks out from behind Niall. I let go of him, wrapping my arms around the second man in front of me.
"Hey, Lou." I whisper as he gives me a long hug.
"I finally got my drinking buddy back." he grins as I laugh.
"Yeah, I guess so." I smile genuinely at him before my dad clears his throat. We all head to the chairs sitting down as he stays standing beginning to talk.
"Gabe wants to start a war. To end things once and for all. A let the better gang win per se." he begins and I nod along. "If he wins, our gang disbands and we live our lives until one of his men finds us and kills us or we can join his gang, prove our loyalty and we live a life similar to this. And vice-versa." He finishes.
"That's so fucking stupid, there are so many flaws within that compromise," Athena speaks up.
"How so?" my dad asks, skipping over her use of language.
"Well first of all do you really think that if he loses he'll disband the gang, and even if he does, that the men that do decide to come over will be loyal. Then you have the fact that if he wins will he really initiate us into the gang or is he just saying that to kill all of us. There are too many loopholes in that compromise. The only way to make sure it stays certain is to kill the leader, which means either you or him will die." She explains. Silence covers the room as we let her words sink in.
"Then I guess we'll just have to be the better gang." I grin standing up.
"Gabe thrives on two things. Attention and power. Even growing up, that was the most important thing to him. He always had to have a say in what Niall and I did, he always had to have the spotlight on him. Even when I was kidnapped and he was sending the videos to you guys, he was the main attraction. He made himself known." I tell them and Niall lights up.
"Remember that one time when we thought it would be funny if we ignored him that whole day he was home with us and he nearly murdered us when he realized what we were doing." he asks me and I nod. "What if we did that. Ignore his demands, keep us underground while we prepare. If we just give him crumbs of attention he'll thrive for more. Eventually, he'll snap, and because he's not thinking clearly he'll come in guns blazing, not ready for what we have planned." Niall finishes and Dad nods.
"Sounds like a solid plan. Athena?"
"Sounds good to me." She says and we all nod. "Okay, we'll pick up on this tomorrow, go get some sleep." Dad announces and everyone scatters to their respective areas. I say a quick good night to Niall and Louis telling Athena to head up to the apartment without me.
She knew what I was going to do and she knew to leave me alone. I head down to the gym wrapping my knuckles with the boxing tape. I walk over to the punching bag stretching my body out. I throw one punch after another and another. I let my emotions flow out through my punches.
The sadness, the anger. I found that I loved boxing. The way I was able to channel my emotions through my fists into the bag gave me such an adrenaline rush. I don't do it too often, only when I'm stressed or my emotions are about to explode. I slow down to a stop feeling myself get tired and I sit on the ground gaining my breath.
"Thought Harry beat me to the gym this morning." A voice interrupts me and I lift my head. A smiling Liam is making his way towards me.
"Hey, Li!" I smile back at him, getting up and hugging him. "Jesus you got buff." I wince after hitting his chest hard.
"Yeah that's what happens when you hit the gym every day for 2 years." he says, hugging me back.
"How are you doing, Hope?" he asks me and I take a step back taking the tape off my hands as I shrug.
"Well, I was living the life in Hawaii." I chuckle. "I'm fine, just stressed about all this happening I guess. Going from a semi-normal life to being thrown back into this is kind of nerving." I explain. He nods before motioning his head to the door.
"Harry will be here soon so unless that is how y'all want to requite your love, I'd head out now." he tells me and I roll my eyes.
"Doubt he's still in love with me after I left." I mumble more to myself.
"Hope, the love you and Harry share is so true and raw. Crazy or not, that kind of love never dies. You may not feel it now since you've been so far away for years but once you guys see each other again everything will click in place. Trust me." he gives me a light-hearted smile.
"When did you become so philosophical Li?" I tease him laughing.
"A lot has happened since you've been gone, Hope." he whispers and I nod.
"I'll see you later." I say walking away from him.
"Bye Hope." he calls out as I make it to the elevators, pressing the floor I need to go to. I bask in the silence and the silent footsteps I make to the apartment.
Opening the door is like a smack to the face. It's nearly identical to Harry's. I sigh, closing the door and heading upstairs to where I know the bedrooms are. I open the first door, noticing the bed, and immediately running to lay down.
My body and mind are exhausted. I snuggle into the covers and let my thoughts run ramped. Finally falling asleep to the same thing I have been for the past three years.
Imagining my life with him.