"Is Zayn alright?" I asked Harry on our way to the backyard, because I hadn't seen Zayn since Amber left this afternoon.
Well, I couldn't blame him... there was no way I could relate to what he was feeling, even though she also lied to me. But they were dating and supposedly in love, considering a whole life together only to have it all thrown away. I honestly believed Amber when she told me she still cared about Zayn, and seeing their interaction today was proof that they loved each other.
That only made things even more complicated, though. It didn't change the fact she lied to him and pretty much used him as an informer without his consent.
Speaking of which, I really wanted to know who was this informer the FBI had to help with this case, I was so fucking curious... I just had a feeling it could be so helpful to us.
Amber was indeed quite helpful herself, I had never considered the things she said before, and now my brain was forming even more theories, and Harry and I had already rewritten the crime board.
We never thought that one of the trafficked kids could be behind this, but we had two things to work with. Did they only want to warn and use us to kill those who hurt them or abused them? Or did thụy think we were involved all along and this was a much more elaborate plan to kill us at the end?
What if they kidnapped Zayn precisely to use him as bait to kill us? What if we'd been looking at this wrong the entire time and they always knew Harry and I were together?
Fuck, maybe that's why they probably assumed we were also involved with the trafficking, and the list was an easy way to get our attention, and maybe they expected us to realize the truth about the trafficking all along. I mean, the kids would be around our age now and this could also be a message to our parents.. kill us after we killed my father's former clients.
I didn't believe Desmond and/or my mother were behind this anymore, they needed Harry and me to keep playıng our roles and they were too fucking arrogant. Their attention was focused on trafficking. it made no sense for them to be behind the list... right?
This was driving me crazy, we spent the rest of the afternoon eating pizza and rearranging the crime board, wondering who the fuck these kids could be, but the more I looked at the little kids' pictures, the more confused I got. They looked the most common a child could look and I hated children, so I really didn't know how to solve this puzzle.
Harry actually agreed Amber was smart by considering this, but we still had nothing to do... if the FBI didn't find them, we wouldn't be able to find them either. And we couldn't go around asking, we still had to pretend we were too busy working and hating each other.
When in fact I was hiding in Harry's house and hoping Niall wouldn't call me saying my mother was looking for me.
"Zayn is in the guest bedroom... he's been there all afternoon. I brought him some pizza but he said he wasn't hungry." Harry's voice made me snap out of my thoughts and I glanced at him, watching as he opened the back door so we could walk outside.
We decided to practice a bit to keep our brains occupied with something else before it could explode, and I was very fucking restless thinking about all of this shit. I was glad I wasn't alone though, Harry's company meant more to me than he'd ever know.
He was the one who suggested we could practice a bit to take a small break. He was eager for me to teach him some fighting tips and I was a bit wary about the gun part, but being reminded of the disgusting things my parents did and my mother was still doing just made me wish I was an orphan.
My father didn't deserve to have me moping around or being so shaken up about his death. I was going to use guns again one day and fuck it. Fuck them.
"I feel so bad for Zayn, this whole thing sucks." I sighed as the automatic lights around the pool turned on when we approached, and Harry and I walked closer to the large area behind the deck chairs.
I was barefoot and feeling the grass beneath my feet was oddly soothing, I had to focus on small things like this to keep me sane. I hoped I could get some sleep tonight.
I had changed my clothes too, I was wearing leggings and one of the sports bras I'd brought from my place, and my hair was tied up in a ponytail. I had two of my knives with me too, but for now, I placed them on the floor so we could focus on the physical confrontation first.
Harry's hair was loose and he was wearing a white t-shirt and sweatpants, looking just as good as always. It was fucking effortless.
"Amber was a cunt to him." Harry rolled his eyes, looking around his backyard. "I asked him if he wanted to talk but he said he needed to be alone"
"Well, sometimes we just need to think on our own. Sharing our thoughts isn't something easy to do." I shrugged, placing my hands on my hips. "Not all of us are as open as you."
"What? I just speak my mind." Harry furrowed his eyebrows. "I think people shouldn't be scared to talk about what they think. There's no point."
"Easier said than done." I chuckled under my breath, wondering if he knew how precious this trait was.
His bluntness was a blessing and a curse sometimes, it was intimidating.
"Touché." He smiled at me. "So... what do you want to do first?"
He reached for the gun tucked in the back of his sweats, carefully placing it on the floor before he walked closer to me, so it was now lying there right next to my knives.
"I'll help you." I sighed, looking up into his eyes but his gaze was shamelessly focused on my boobs.
"Harry?"
"Sorry, you look really hot. Did you pick this on purpose to distract me?" He asked, brushing his fingers on the swell of my breasts and making me shiver instantly.
"Well, we gotta work with what we have... men are weak." I stepped away from him with a smile.
"Remember the auction? Or the time you broke into my hotel room? You're much stronger than me so I have to use some tricks... which involve distraction."
"Harder, yeah?" He said, laughing softly as his dimples indented on his cheeks. He looked so much younger when he laughed like this, it was a sound I didn't hear often.
He ran his fingers through his hair before he started to walk around me slowly, raking his eyes down my body with a predatory look... just analyzing me. Or he could be just checking me out and pretending he wasn't.
"I completely threw you off with that, didn't I?" I smiled, remembering the surprised look on his face when I said the word that was now very much used whenever we fucked.
"You did... I couldn't stop thinking about it. I couldn't stop thinking about you." He admitted, stopping when he was right in front of me and I had to tilt my head back to meet his eyes.
He parted his lips and poked his tongue out to wet them, distracting me more than I should allow before he stepped away again.
"Nice to know I left a good impression." I cleared my throat, recomposing myself and pretending his intense gaze hadn't affected me.
"You did, I made myself come a lot of times because of that." He cackled, this time lyìng his hair up in a bun. "Your voice haunted me.. and after the lap dance, I was very much fucked. You looked so good that night, I was going to come right there if you'd kept grinding that pretty ass on me."
I bit my lower lip to hide a smile, it ſelt really good to hear him admit this out loud. "I did the same.
Touching myself thinking of you." I decided to play along, stepping closer to him when he arched his eyebrows in surprise. "I felt terrible after because I still hated you, but I came really hard"
"What did you think about?" He grinned, and I just knew I was feeding his ego.
"You eating me out... me riding you.. you fucking me from behind...just a lot of things." A said casually with a shrug of my shoulders. "Maybe it's the hair... the last time I'd seen you it was short, remember?"
"Yes, when you stabbed me and I shot you. How could I forget?" He laughed again, scrunching up his nose in a very cute way.
God, I wondered what would've happened if we never got the lists... I'd still be living in an illusion and hating Harry. There would be nothing between us... fuck, things would be entirely different. And I very much liked the way they were now.
"Please, that was foreplay." I waved him off, pinching his cheek. "Come on, show me what you got now.′
"Just fight you?" He seemed very confused. I often forgot how slow men were.
"That's why we're here, baby." I smiled at him, standing right in front of him as I prepared myself.
I was very observant, I already knew the way acted and moved... and I was going to beat his ass.
Harry did surprise me when he didn't hesitate, though. He moved fast, trying to reach for my arms to immobilize me, but I was faster. I pulled away just in time, using my knee to hit just the right spot on his leg to make him lose his balance.
"Fuck!" He cursed under his breath, stumbling back.
"Don't hold back, please. I can take you." I smiled at him. "I can take you so well.. right, daddy?"
"Shut up, you're doing this on purpose." He groaned, closing his eyes for a few seconds as he took deep breaths. "You asked for it."
Harry moved towards me again, this time going straight to my face when he tried to punch me, but I dodged it quickly, punching his stomach but being careful not to be anywhere near his healing wound.
He grunted but he didn't step away, using his elbow to hit the side of my body in a very well thought move, but I ignored the pain and grabbed his wrist, twisting his arm behind his back and kicking the back of his knee much faster than he could see it coming.
I forced him to kneel on the floor in front of me, but he strongly pulled his arm away from my grip, making me lose my balance when he grabbed my ankle so I could fall on the ground.
"Shit!" I fell on my back, trying to get up but he was quickly on top of me, using his weight to keep me tackled on the ground as he straddled me, grabbing both of my wrists and holding them on either side of my head.
"You're a very sore loser, baby." Harry tried to catch his breath, tightening his grip on my wrist as I felt the cold metal of his rings against my skin. "That's gonna leave a few bruises."
"I didn't lose." I breathed. "And maybe you could leave some more... the ones on my ass are fading... I miss seeing your initials there. They remind me how hard you fuck me, baby." God, this was so easy.
Harry's eyes widened the moment the words left my lips, and I brought my knee up to hit his crotch at the same time I headbutted him, making him roll to the side as he groaned in pain.
I couldn't help but cackle, this was fucking priceless. His eyes were screwed shut in pain and he kept his hands over his crotch as he inhaled sharply.
"You get distracted too easily. You know how to read your opponent well and you can be fast when you want to, but you're too impulsive and careless." I stood up from the ground, wiping my hands on the back of my leggings. "Just make sure to punch the face or the throat, that's gonna help you have more time to figure out your next move."
"I think you broke my dick." He groaned, completely ignoring what I said.
I walked closer until I was standing next to him, watching as he pouted his lower lip.
"Baby, I would never." I smiled at him. "We both need it."
"Go ahead... you're digging your own grave, Cleo."
He took a deep breath, opening his eyes to look deep into mine. "Let's see how smart that mouth can be when my cock is down your throat."
I crouched down next to him, grasping his jaw to pull him closer until he was sitting up.
"Awe, look at you trying my distraction trick." I teased him, wiping my thumb over his lower lip to clean off the blood from the cut left there where I'd hit him.
"No, that was an actual warning." He deadpanned.
"Even better," I whispered, standing up again as I walked closer to my knives.
I grabbed one on each hand, watching as Harry grunted when he got up, taking deep breaths and adjusting his sweatpants.
"I wanted to talk to you about something." He spoke up, catching my attention. "About the board.. we're kinda stuck on the lists and theories, so I think we should cross out another name: Louis."
"Is that why you wrote 'die' with a red marker?" I asked him, raising one eyebrow.
"Yeah... I mean, we have a lot of questions to ask him and he's going to pay for shooting you." He shrugged. "I thought maybe we could kidnap him and bring him here so we can torture the answers out of him and then we kill him. One less person to worry about."
Well, Louis was still the only one we hadn't paid much attention to. We only knew he wanted to avenge his father's death, but was that all? He did mention Desmond and my mother when he kidnapped us... maybe he also knew things we didn't know.
We could finally find out if he was behind Zayn's kidnapping, the pictures, or the shooting. And we wouldn't be interfering with Amber's case, so it seemed good enough for me.
Plus, I couldn't lie that I was missing the thrill of it.
"Okay...only if I get to kill him," I told him and Harry surprised me when he cupped my cheeks to pull me closer, planting a soft kiss on my lips.
"Deal." He smiled. "We can plan it later, I can make some calls to figure out where he is and his address... I wanted to tell Zayn about it but he seems so upset."
"He is, but he's gonna be okay. We can talk to him later, we have to plan this carefully... which means I'll plan it." I told him, earning an eye roll. "You know I'm right."
Harry didn't say anything because he knew I had a point.
I looked down at the knives on my hands, noticing the bruises already showing on my wrists from when Harry had grabbed me. Poor thing, I knew his pretty face was going to have a bruise soon, but practices were never supposed to be easy.
"Okay. I didn't think you'd agree." Harry furrowed his eyebrows, grabbing one of the knives from my hand. "I thought you'd say I was thinking recklessly."
"I think we need to do something, just waiting and pretending is driving me insane." I sighed, crossing my arms. "I'm scared because I don't know what to expect."
"I know... it's complicated because it doesn't depend on us and yet we're in the middle of this mess." He said, looking deep into my eyes. "I just wish we could magically figure this out without putting our lives in danger... or Zayn's or Niall's. I have a bad feeling, Cleo. Whoever made the list is too quiet."
Fuck, I hated that he was right. We had no idea what to expect and we didn't know the true motives behind this... I hated feeling so helpless.
"Let's start with Louis, at least he can clarify a few things," I told him, glancing at the gun he placed in the ground. "Is it okay if we focus on the knives tonight? I don't think I can... I'm just-"
"Cleo, it's okay. We don't have to." He interrupted me. "I'll be ready to help whenever you are, plus I really suck at fighting so we're gonna be here for quite a while."
I appreciated what he was doing, it was just too much... and I wasn't in the mood to have a panic attack, because I just knew I wasn't ready. I was too nervous in general and the way my heart was racing wasn't a good sign. I could try to pretend all I wanted, but my fear wasn't going anywhere with a blink of an eye.
And it just felt too real right now.
"Okay." I cleared my throat. "Let's see your aim with the knives then."
"Now we're talking." Harry smiled, playing with the knife on his hand before he brushed his thumb on the snake handle, looking at me with a wicked glint in his eyes. "I have the best aim."