a/n: hello! surprise chapter! :) i am eager to begin the next book, and write the ending for this one, so i wanted to kick start on writing! hope this chapter is enjoyable for you all. have a beautiful rest of your day and happy reading, dani xo.
c h a p t e r t w e n t y e i g h t
The peak of the morning Switzerland sun crept through the crack of the folded curtains to the tangled mess of legs and toes. Sheets tossed under their resting bodies, conforming to the mattress beneath them. His arm was lazily hung over her bare shoulder, mouth open with rugged snores departing from it. Her ear pressed to his inked chest using his steady heart rate to whisk the need to wake out of her system. She didn't want to remove herself from him and his embrace. It was full of warmth, and absence from it would only bring her addiction to him closer.
Her eyelids divided, fluttering to adjust under the sun's beams. The intense color of her eyes resolved to a light, chestnut brown. She kept still; her movements were either fragmented by his slight shifting or the utterance of a sound from him. Instead, her head stirred to face his expression heavy with slumber induced features.
Then, in a matter of seconds, the memory of last night rushed in ripples through her mind. It was breathtaking, and as she thought about it, the turbulence of her heart picked up with great speed. The sides of her mouth wrinkled, pulling apart to form a slothful smile towards her sleeping lover. She had noticed his tousled curls, messily flopped over his forehead without any sort of organization. His jawline relaxed as it was usually clenched majority of the day.
She treasured the little things he possessed that had the capacity and power to swoon her with love. Carefully, her fingertips raised to glaze upon his lips. Plump, and faintly pink as she remembered from the night before.
In a swift motion, his lips wrapped around one of her fingers nearly causing her to scream. She only gasped, feeling half of her finger constricted by his jaw muscles.
He released, a chuckle mixing within his vocal cords. "Next time, they are mine," He idly murmured, his voice groggy from sleep.
"You scared me," She pointed out, leaning her upper body on the support of her elbow. Her disheveled head of hair was the apple of his eye. Harry's fingers reached to pat down on the ringlets, chuckling at her pouting expression when he did.
"I apologize baby girl," He whispered, lifting his free hand to level his head under him. "I couldn't resist."
There was an aching in her lower half, more like a pinging pain. Her thighs felt rumbled in the inner section, and whenever she moved them only a little, the pain returned. She wondered about the cause of it, and if Harry would understand. Despite him being of a different gender.
"My thighs hurt. That's normal, right?"
"Yes, it is. It was your first time, but it will wear off."
"Will I be able to walk and stuff?" She questioned, rotating her frame to dangle her calves off the edge of the bedding. Her palms gripped onto the mattress, hopeful that her legs would register and the aching would subside.
"Hopefully, but let me help you." She could feel the bed raise from his weight leaving the mattress, and pattering footsteps until they halted in front of her seated position. His hand wrapped around her palm, using the other hand to support her lower back region. His help was sufficient enough for her to make it to the bathroom. She didn't exactly want to be in that destination, but Harry was her help.
"I'll run a bath for you. To relax and soothe your muscles, yeah?" Harry's lower half was clothed in boxers, and her eyes glued to his tiny bum sauntering around the bathroom to prepare her bath. She couldn't help but giggle at the sight.
Harry's hands were fast at work; he turned on the European style bathtub with golden feet to prop it off the tiled flooring. The water rushed to fill the closed off container, his eyes immediately spotting the bath bombs situated on the side of the tub. He dropped it inside, then hopped on the surface of the sink across from where his nude girlfriend sat.
Her body was imperfectly perfect, flawed in just the right places to have his heart captured. His jade orbs studied the wavelets of her tummy, how delicate her skin looked from his position. Her ankles pointed inwards like a toddler awaiting her mother. She looked fragile, lip sinking because of her teeth's pressure to the skin he couldn't help but kiss. She had held him hostage, and he loved every minute of the visual torture.
"What?" She giggled after noticing his surveillance.
"Nothing," He replied with a uplifting chuckle sprawling from his lips as he slide his jaw to and fro.
"Okay, weirdo," Her head tilted to the side to allow the hair strands that tickled her neck to fall off her shoulder. "Are you getting in with me?"
"Well," he leapt off the heightened surface to caper over to the nearly full bathtub before turning his eyes to her, "if you insist."
Once they were comfortable inside of the scorching, but relieving water, the silence casted over them. Her back was against his chest, the height of the liquid covering the image of her breasts. His roaming hands had found their place in the center of her belly, quilting over it. Her eyes were screwed shut, relaxation washing the pain to the shore.
"What do you have in mind to do today?" Harry would like to spend the day inside the hotel with her. He read the plentiful amount of amenities the establishment had, including a sauna that was 'worth every penny' as the receptionist said. It was contradictory to the chilling weather outside which he hated to some degree. The one advantage was he could hold Vegas' hand with her cute, adorable mittens on while walking.
"Not sure. How about staying in?"
Perfect, Harry thought.
"Sure, whatever you would like baby girl," He placed an airy kiss to her temple. He observed how her hair was dampening against his chest, and he wondered something. . . "If I may ask, does your hair always curl up when water hits it?"
"Yes, it does. Remember that selfie I sent you when curly hair?" She asked, twiddling with his fingers under the bubbly water.
"Yeah. How could I forget? It's still my lockscreen."
"Well, that's how my hair is," She laughed at his honesty. Her fingers released his to scoop up water, pattering it to her hair repeatedly. "When it dries, it'll be a curly Afro."
He was enchanted by her. He had never dealt with a woman without any worry of his concern of her natural state. Of course there were times she did not want to remove the chemicals from her skin, but in due time, she was content around him to purge it.
"I can't wait to see."
"That's all you will see today. I don't feel like doing anything with my hair. Especially now that we are staying in."
"Do you think our children will have curly hair like yours?" He was constantly a visionary when their future was concerned. Although every circumstance around him had terrorized several opportunities to be together, there was hope deeply embedded within him enough to remain resilient.
Much like him, she loved to imagine the what ifs of their relationship. Whether it come to past or not.
"I would hope so. Your hair might be the texture of their hair," She mentioned.
"What about baby names?"
"Hmm, possibly Oliver for a boy, and Ryan for a girl. I also like the name Faye for a girl too," Her wet finger emerged from the water to tap her indented chin. He assumed that she was deep in thought, but he wouldn't mind to name the children any of the ones she suggested. Oliver was suitable for a son, and Ryan was a name he envisioned for a strong woman, much like the woman before him.
Their conversations withered into different topics, ranging from Harry's abnormal obsession of collecting rings to the translucent screening on the window where anyone could lurk on their bathing session. Vegas conducted most of the complaining, bickering about her privacy rights but Harry put up a fight for her not to worry over trivial things. Both understood that he would be the only one to truly see every part of her body.
The skin of their complex fingertips began to wrinkle, shape shifting into raisins, and it was utilized as a reason to get out of the tub. Vegas reached to grasp at a white, cotton towel folded previously before she yanked it from the rack. With the assistance of her lover, she stepped out to wrap the material around her body to dry her moist skin.
The ability to walk had gotten better as the steps continued to the bedroom, where she sat on the mess of the crinkled sheets. Like she predicted, the strands of her once straightened locks were corked into spiral curls. It spiraled out of her control, but for duration of the day, she would not mind.
"Can I borrow one of your shirts?" Her voice raised to a slightly higher pitch in order to reach Harry. He informed her that he needed to wash his hair after claiming that it was 'too dirty for his liking'. The trickling shower water that pattered to the tile could be heard from where she was, but he should be able to hear her at some level.
"You say something?" He temporarily cut off the water, opening the glass doors that secluded the shower off on its own.
"I said, can I borrow one of your shirts?"
"Of course baby girl. What's mine is yours," Harry responded from underneath the sound of the returning water source to his hair.
With the background noise of his preluded vocal cords stretching with a tune, Vegas traversed to the location of their suitcases in the nearby corner. Her digits wrapped around the zipper of his solid, jet black luggage to see the folded shades of clothing: jeans and shirts that she could easily picture him wearing without hesitation or further thought.
His musk scent filled her nostrils to the brim as she raised a long-sleeve tee from the clothing collection. She lifted the material, pulling her head through the hole while her arms assembled through the sleeves to allow the shirt to drape over her torso. She dived into her duffle bag for a pair of undergarments, selecting a lace fabric from the assorted lot. When the garment was on her hips, she crawled onto the bed and snuggled into the comforter clothed in their scents combined.
With a click of the tv remote, the flat screen above the window flashed to a news station channel. Vegas was never interested in the horrible news of today, but there was something odd that caught her eye. Her finger sunk into the volume's button, the news reporter's voice suffocating her within the room.
"Hello. My name is Bridget Lancaster, and thank you for joining us today on European International News. We have breaking news regarding the Queen of England," She reported, "Influenced by the terminal disease of stage three breast cancer, the queen has fallen ill. Sources say she is under critical condition in London General Hospital. Her daily duties can not be fulfilled because of her weakness, and her nephew, Harry Edward Styles, Duke of Holmes Chapel, is nowhere to be found."
"What are you watch-"
"The parliament has issued a nationwide search for the Duke, providing a reward for anyone who has seen or heard from the man. Some claim that he might be with a former lover, Vegas Adele Blacke, a editor for Horan Publications. If you have any information, please contact your local police station-"
Her finger jolted to shut off the source of the darkening mood. She was afraid to confront Harry about what she had heard, despite him already being in the room. Her ears perked up at the shuffling of the suitcases, but she blocked out the noise to concentrate on what exactly she should say.
"Harry, I'm worried," Vegas finally broke in, sliding her calves under to prop herself up, "your aunt is really sick and we just left her."
"It was the only way we could be together, Vegas. I didn't know she was as sick as the reports claim. She always was hidden about her illness," He argued, forcefully tugging the crisp, white tee over his wet hair. Droplets of excess water spilled under the pool of his locks, but was ignored by him to focus his thoughts.
"I think we should head back. The kingdom needs you," She suggested. The uncertainty and the cruelty of their selfish actions pierced her organ, pouring a hefty amount of guilt to her figure. "We can wait."
"Wait? Are you serious?" Harry snapped his head, eyebrows contracting together like two opposite magnets.
"Yes."
"Vegas! You don't get to choose whether or not we can simply wait. In that kingdom, we don't have a chance for a family or marriage. I am engaged to a disgusting excuse of a woman and you want to go back there?! Where she will be all over me, and you know how that makes you feel, jealous." His voice was laced with pounds of sarcasm. Sarcasm that served a clean slap to Vegas' smooth cheek without a notice.
"You have some nerve mouthing about jealousy! How were you when I was with Luca? Not to mention that I haven't officially broke up with him. You sent a spy, a spy, to monitor my activity with him for nearly three weeks!" She retorted, her frame had marched in front of his shocked figure. The muscles of his arm contorted and defined as his finger crumbled together to form a fist.
"Oh please, he didn't have a chance with you anyway," He snorted.
"How do you know that?!" Her voice raised to an unknown level that Harry hasn't heard before within the duration of their complication known as a relationship.
"I know because you are mine! You will always be mine and no one will ever, never, take you away from me. Do you understand that I will marry you, we will be together? I don't want to go back to that miserable kingdom because the chances of us being together lowers dramatically. You are the love of my life and I do not want to spend a second away from you. Do you understand, Vegas?" The end of his confession was hushed. His feet inched a few steps closer to her motionless body, comprised of still limbs and a gentle wash of features.
The space of his palm attached to her bicep, tightening the grip where his point could be communicated. His uneasiness was framed in his clouded, emerald jewels where his eyes connected with hers.
"Do you understand, baby girl? Do you?"
Vegas' emotions were not in the correct situation. She felt cornered between her overbearing, intense affection for him, and the calling of Aunt Marie's need. She did understand his monologue, loud and clear to be exact, but why couldn't she fully accept their position of being away from the kingdom?
"We still need to go back."
That was the final straw for him. His grip loosened, head leaned back with the astonishment of her words. He collected himself together, rotating his torso to turn away from her in a quicken motion but he glared over his broad shoulder. His lips tugged in a firm line, piercing pupils that were darkened around the outside of the irises with a rich, forest green. His hooded eyelids lowered to where he narrowed his vision to her as her skin went cold. He frightened her, the harden features stabbing her pounding organ against the wall of her ribcage.
Without a single word, he marched to the bathroom. The separation between the couple was completed with a slam of the door as her shoulders flinched from the loud, surprising sound. She was alone.
x
Grumbles of frustration left his tongue throughout the day. Anger towards her for her negligence to notice the degree in which he wished to be with her. Their needs before hers, even if they ridicule her for the unchangeable complexion of her skin. How could she be so selfless?
He parked himself on the surface of the toilet seat with his lengthy digits to run through the spaces between his roots. The grip was malicious to the condition of his hair, but he remained unaffected by the damage. He was hurt. He dedicated at least three hours of his time to separate from her, and he questioned if he was actually ready to ever discuss things with her for the rest of the evening.
An abrupt knock astounded the couple from their separate position from one another. Harry's eyes flickered to the bathroom's door, while she wandered aimlessly to the sounding portal. She aligned her pupil with the peephole to see men dressed in Switzerland police uniforms. Her eyes widened with shock, surprise over how someone had already compromised their location.
Her trembling palms clasp to the door knob, igniting the gears of the door to turn. The men outside the door noticed her appearance, dressed in a mere shirt that was swallowing of her figure. Their throats cleared to assume their authority, delegating their English together to communicate properly with her.
"Hello ma'am. We are looking for the Duke of Holmes Chapel, Harry Edward Styles. Are you housing him here?" The first officer questioned as the second decided to invade her personal space bubble to scoop out the hotel room for clues of his existence. He spotted the black luggage, interjecting himself through the door's hinges to continue his search.
"I may be a tourist, but do you have a search warrant?" She insisted to know, seeing the man patter his filthy shoes over the carpet.
"That's only if you own the place, ma'am. Is someone else here?" The second officer asked, his boots to trudge towards the closet door.
"Why do you ask?"
"There is male luggage in the corner there. Someone provided a picture of you and the Duke out and about around Lugano." She was stuck. If she were to avoid the obvious angered boyfriend that was inside of the bathroom, the possibility of her being arrested increased. She didn't look appealing in their Switzerland jail clothing either.
"I'm here," Harry emerged from the room, hands raised to surrender his will. "She didn't do anything so do not hurt her."
"Harry-"
"No. If you want me to go so bad, I'll go. Goodbye Vegas," The police officers escorted him out of the room to the narrow hallways. Her feet moved her to watch, tears collecting at her bottom lashes. They threatened to trickle before they did, sliding down the curve of her swollen cheeks.
He was gone, and she couldn't possibly think of a way to get him back.
x x x
surprise! bit of a cliffhanger, but don't you worry your little hearts. i might update later today if you all want?
comment if you do, and vote as well my loves.
do you think Vegas will do something in the next chapter? will she ever get him back? comment your opinions!
you guys are honestly the best readers, and i would like to continue writing more of course. you give the motivation to push through my writer's block.
well, until later!
happy reading,
dani xo.