Behind us was chaos. People were screaming, fleeing. In reality, it wasn't as bad as the panic made it sound. The ground team was handling it. Harry and I bolted for the back exit. My right hand clutched my gun and my other held Harry's.
A glass window shattered just to our right. We both ducked. He squeezed my hand.
There was a lock on the back exit when we reached it. The door was practically hidden by a curtain, so no one else had spotted it. Harry lifted his foot and kicked through it.
Two men with bandanas covering their faces and fists up greeted us. There was no time to think; I took my hand out of Harry's grip and hit one of the men in the cheek with the side of my fist. He stepped back, his eyes wide. Harry was handling the other one, but the one I had hit didn't know what to do.
"Can't hit a girl, yeah?" I said, in Spanish. Before he could respond, I shoved my elbow into his nose. He knocked to the floor, clutching his nose. The other one was on the floor when I looked over to Harry. He breathlessly laughed and reached for my hand again.
My heels tapped against the floor as we darted through the back hallway. No one else was there. We had almost made it to the exit leading outside when Harry suddenly stopped. He let go of my hand and began to pat his suit jacket.
"Harry," I hissed. "What the hell are you doing?"
"Fuck," he said. "Tilly, go; find your way back to the hotel. I let something in there."
"Is it really that fucking important?"
He began to jog away from me.
"Baby, just go; stay safe."
My lips parted as he dashed back through the door, to the chaos. My heart raced. The hallway I stood in was dark and empty. I gulped and walked to a wall. The tile floors peeled up at the corners, and it was obvious to me that this hallway was not of the original architecture. It looked like a maintenance hall. I kept my gun at my side and placed my other hand on the wall.
I felt conflicted. No way in hell would I leave and go back to the hotel. I knew Harry could handle it, but my gut jerked, and I knew I had to go back in.
I glanced down at my dress, and not a thread was out of place. I counted to three hundred to calm myself down. Once my heart had stopped racing, I gripped my gun with both hands.
My shoes created too much noise. I walked to the door and peeked through the small window in it. Most people had escaped, but there was still a lot going on. It had only been ten minutes since it began.
Before I could convince myself otherwise, I gripped the door handle and threw it open. No one looked my way; there wasn't a person within fifty meters of me. I threw the curtain over the door to shield it and walked away, keeping my gun low. My gaze scanned the scene ahead of me.
It took me a few moments to spot Harry. He was kneeling behind a fallen table.
There was a man approaching him from behind, but he didn't notice.
My actions were reckless, but I dashed forward, without thinking. I reached the man just as he grabbed Harry's shoulder. The handle of my gun smashed into the side of his face. He grunted, stepping back. In a moment of his weakness, I grabbed his arms and shoved him onto the ground. I held him there with my foot, tightly gripping his arms, and looked to Harry.
He looked shocked, then angry.
"Tilly, I told you to go."
I scoffed. "You can't tell me what I can and can't do, Styles. And where's my thank you for saving your ass?"
"I could've fucking handled it." He turned back to the scene ahead. We were shielded at the sidelines by fallen tables. No one else had approached us. "I need to get something."
The guy I was holding began to move, so I kicked his side. He grunted.
"What the hell is so important that you needed to come back into this absolute mess?" I said.
"I'll explain later, just knock that guy out and cover me."
I lifted the guy's head and hit him just so he passed out. Dropping his arms, I got off of him. Ahead of Harry and I, there were still hundreds of people. I saw some bodies, but it looked like the majority of the people left were from our company. The gang of people that had come in all wore bandanas. There weren't many of them left, and they all seemed to be occupied.
I leaned down just beside Harry. He pointed his hand towards the bar.
"See the papers?" he said. "Those fell out of my pocket. I'm going to run and grab them, then you have my back."
I sighed, nodding my head. "Let's go."
He darted forward first, and I followed as quickly as I could in my heels. No one noticed us until we had reached the bar. He dove behind, grabbing the papers and shoving them into his coat pocket. A man with a bandana covering his face stood at the other end of the bar. He held a gun out and shot at Harry.
We both ducked, and the bullet missed. The man prepared to take another shot, but I, without thinking about what I was about to do, aimed and shot the man in the arm. He cried out and fell to the ground.
Blood seeped from his arm, and I gasped. My legs locked up. Harry was prepared to run back, but I couldn't move.
"Tilly," he said. "Come on, we need to go."
My fingers gripped tightly around the gun. He placed his hands on my cheeks. We should've been paying attention to what was happening around us, but we weren't.
"Come on, baby, don't think about it right now." he said. I blinked, looking at him. My eyes were wide. My heart pounded. He gripped my trembling hand in his. "I know you can do this, love. Do this for me."
Squeezing my eyes shut, I let out a shaky breath.
"Go," I whispered. At my word, Harry shot forward, tugging me behind him. We ran, and bullets buzzed around us. People shouted; sharp noises pierced my ears. We didn't stop until we hit the door.
As soon as the door closed behind us, I let out a loud breath and squatted to the floor. Harry took the gun from my grasp and set it on the floor beside us. He leaned down to my level.
"You had to do it, Tilly." he said. "You know you did. He wasn't innocent, you defended yourself, and me."
"I shot someone." I said. I repeated it. I repeated it again. Harry wrapped an arm around my shoulder and pulled me into him.
"Come on, Till, we need to get out of here. You'll be okay. We'll be okay."
I felt numb. I allowed him to lead me through the exit to outside. Cars littered the grass field, presumably from guests that fled. Harry walked towards the closest one and, by a lucky shot, it was unlocked. I hobbled to the passenger side and slipped in while he messed with wires beneath the steering wheel. When it started up, he hit the pedal.
My head leaned against the window. I stared out the window. The chaos at the building disappeared behind us as Harry sped away. He drove down the winding hill, and it felt like forever before we were back inside the city. I wondered how the commotion hadn't raised attention, but didn't think too much.
At some point, Harry reached his hand over and grabbed my hand. He held mine, but I didn't hold his.
He pulled into a parking spot in a lot a block or so away from the hotel, so that no one would suspect him with the stolen car. I got out and dragged my feet against the sidewalk, dumbly staring at the hotel. He walked beside me.
I couldn't stop thinking about it. My face felt hot. I stopped walking when we were on the corner of the hotel's block. He looks back at me.
"Why the fuck did I join this company?" I said, staring at him. A lump was in my throat. "I'm a horrible person. How the hell was I able to do that to someone?"
"Tilly-"
"No, Harry, you saw what I did!" I said, throwing my hands up. My face twisted with anger. "What would my fucking father think?"
Harry didn't say anything, and I didn't know whether it was because he agreed with me or because he didn't want to anger me.
"I feel like a monster." I said, my voice low. "Why did I get into this? I was doing fine before-"
"You weren't doing fine." Harry said, narrowing his eyes. "You had a dead-weight boyfriend who treated you like shit. You couldn't stand up for yourself. Whether you'd like to admit or not, this company's changed you as a person for the better. The girl I met on the side of the road would've never fucking kicked someone's ass on instinct. Don't you dare say you were doing fine."
I narrowed my eyes. "Fuck you, Harry." I didn't mean what I said, but I was too angry to care. I turned and stomped towards the hotel, leaving Harry standing on the corner.
"Tilly," he shouted. "Where are you going?"
"Piss off, alright?" I shouted, over my shoulder. With my arms crossed over my chest, I stormed up the steps and through the revolving hotel door. Before he could follow me, I quickly walked to the hotel bar and sat at the end. I needed to be alone.
"Whiskey, top shelf," I said to the bartender. When he brought back a glass, I sucked it down in one gulp. My face pinched and I swore. I slid the glass back across the top. "Another, please."
Four glasses later, I no longer felt angry. I simmered down. Harry never came into the bar, so I assumed he was letting me have my space. I felt bad for what I said to him. He didn't deserve to be treated like that just because I wasn't happy with myself.
Eventually, by the time it was ten, I felt tired of sitting in this gown and I wanted to lie in bed. I wanted to make things right with Harry.
I paid the tab and left the bar, going straight to elevator to go up. When I reached the room, I realized I had forgotten my key. I huffed and leaned against the doorway. My hand reached out and I knocked on the door.
Harry was only wearing sweatpants and a t-shirt when I opened the door. He looked like he was expecting me.
"I'm sorry." I said. "Fuck, Harry, I'm sorry."
I stepped forwards and threw my arms around his neck. Immediately, he did the same. I didn't want to let go.
"I know," he said. "You didn't mean it."
"You're right," I said. "I really didn't."
I stepped back and told him I needed to change. When I went to my room, I tore the dress from my body and hung it in the closet. I threw on some pajama pants and a tank top. My face was wiped clean of makeup and I brushed my now-messy hair out.
Harry was lying on his bed, blankly staring at the television. When I came in, he switched it off and sat up. I took a seat next to him. We didn't say anything for a minute.
"Do you want to talk about it?" he said.
I shrugged. "I panicked, I guess. I got overwhelmed."
He leaned against the wooden headboard. "You did what you had to do, you know. It was either shoot or get shot. You had no choice."
"I realize that now." I said. "I was just shocked in the moment, and afterwards. I didn't know how to handle myself, so I took it out on you."
"Till, it's fine. I understand." he said. "I was an ass when you came running back in after me."
I laughed. He yawned and propped an arm behind his elbow.
"It's a wonder no one's gotten fed up with the two of us yet." I said.
He grinned. "Lucky we found each other, then, yeah? You put up with me, I put up with you. We make quite a pair, Matilda."
"Yeah," I said, quietly. "I guess you're right."
--
another new chapter because today's my birthday and i'm like #300 something on the fan fiction list and I'm at like 23,000 reads and thats so crazy!!
lots of stuff happening in this chapter, give me feedback on what you guys think!! enjoyed writing it. i've been in a writing mood lately
ok love u all so sososo sosososososoooo much
becca xx