hope you like the chapter x
im loving all your theories, so please keep em coming!
*contains drug abuse and sexual content
When Cielo and Harry get inside, she can swear to hear her heart crazily beating in her chest. At first impact, it looks like a cheap club like all the others she's been to, but she knows there's so much more behind. Harry immediately takes Cielo's hand when he sees the scared expression on her face. There are a lot of gross, old men dancing and grinding on girls way younger than them and Cielo immediately feels a sense on nausea hitting her up.
"Stay focused." Harry whispers to her, looking around the crowd for the owners. Cielo nods her head, not really knowing what to do. It doesn't take too much to locate them, they're near the bar with three girls.
"There. The bar. The two guys with the three girls. They're talking to the fat one." Cielo slowly looks where he told her, without seeming to interested or without staring. There are two guys, quite short, dark hair and eyes. They look like brothers, they probably are.
"Do you wanna approach them?" Cielo quickly nods and takes his hand starting to walk toward the bar. One of the two guys immediately looks at her when they're near enough. She can feel his hungry eyes crossing her body and she immediately wants to throw up, but when he looks at Harry and recognizes him his eyes immediately light up.
"My friend!" He screams, capturing his brother's attention too. His reaction is the same when he recognizes Harry. He quickly walks toward Harry and gives him a hug, while Harry falsely gives back. "It has been so long!"
"Yeah... I've been out of state for the past years." Harry says with a smile. "It's good to be back!" Harry lies, greeting right after his brother too.
"Who's the beauty with you?" Alonso eyes quickly go on Cielo, who just looks at them with a smile.
"Oh... she doesn't speak or understand English." Harry rolls his eyes pointing at Cielo by his side. "I think my dad bought her off at some auction, or something. I borrowed her for the night." Alonso and Miguel laugh at his words.
"What are you looking for tonight, Harry?" Miguel, the older one, asks him. Harry wishes he knew but he really doesn't.
"We wanted to have some fun in three, if you know what I mean. To celebrate the fact that I'm back in town." They both quickly nod at his words.
"You can choose everyone you see around. You want us to send her to the usual hotel?" Harry nods, with a smile and starts looking around. He feels disgusted just thinking about the possibility. He doesn't know how he managed to do that in the past, but he could never do it now.
"I want some fresh meat. Just send me the newest add, not too old." Harry winks at them and they grin knowing perfectly that he's asking for someone underage. If they want to get some informations they need to ask to someone who's not already integrated. "We'll start going then." He says right after, circulating Cielo's back with his arm.
"I'll see you soon, right?" Alonso asks and Harry nods with a smile, telling them goodbye before heading off. When they're in the car Cielo feels like breathing again.
"Have you recognized any of them?" Harry asks her. Cielo quickly shakes her head.
"What do we do now?"
"We go waiting for the girl at the hotel and see if we can get any information out of her."
When they arrive to the hotel, Harry pays for a room and tells the concierge about the girl who's coming and to let her in.
"What if she tells them and we're dead?" Cielo asks him, while she paces back and forth around the room. Harry sits on the bed, trying to keep calm.
"I'll pay her, I doubt she will." Cielo feels so stressed for this wait, she can't not move around.
"Your girl is quite suspicious. I didn't tell you but she kept asking me questions." Cielo tries to change the subject, hoping she'll get less anxious in this way.
"Yeah, I think she's mad at me for canceling on her." Harry shrugs his shoulders. A sad smile appears on his face thinking about how she didn't even answer him today. He can't blame her and he feels awful for lying.
"I'm sorry for causing you problems..." Cielo sighs. "So you two are dating now, right?" Harry nods at her words. Cielo feels a bit disappointed by the information, but she keeps telling herself that she doesn't have to. A knock on the door immediately takes her back to reality. Harry quickly stands up and goes to open the door. In front of them there's basically a kid and Cielo immediately feels like crying. Her eyes are dark and curled up, her face is full of makeup but it doesn't make her look older at all. She has barely any curves, but her body is covered with a tiny piece of violet fabric that should be considered a dress. Harry let's her in and closes the door behind them. Her eyes are teary, exposing her fragility and her absolute terror.
"Hola..." Cielo says, sitting down on the bed. She takes a deep breath, trying to think carefully about whatever she's going to tell her. "No queremos hacer nada, está bien por ti?" The girl's face lights up with confusion and relief. The girl quickly nods her head. We don't want to do anything, is it ok for you?
"Pero tengo que pedirte algo. No podes decir a nadie de lo que vamos a decir, está bien?" She nods her head again. But I have to ask you something. You can't tell anyone what we're going to say, alright?
"Conoces esta mujer?" Cielo looks into her bag and takes out the same picture she showed to Harry. She points at her mother and shows it to her. The girl carefully looks at it, before shaking her head. Do you know this woman?
"Pero conozco a ellos." She points at the two men next to her, her voice is scared just like her eyes. "Este hombre me llevó aquí, lejos de mí mamá." She sobs, tears staring to slow down her face quick enough and making Cielo's heart ache for her. "Y esto es amigo de Miguel y Alonso." She points at the dead man this time. She's on the right track. But I know them. This man took me here, away from my mom. And he's friend with Alonso y Miguel.
"What is she saying?" Harry asks her. Cielo dries her tears and goes back to look at him.
"She doesn't know my mom but she was taken away from home by this guy and she said the dead one was friend with the owners of the club." At his words, Harry quickly searches into his pocket and takes out his wallet. He takes out all the money he has and gives it to Cielo.
"Make her buy a plane ticket to go back home." He urges, feeling absolutely sick at just hearing her story by Cielo. He'll never forgive himself if she takes back this kid to them. He doesn't care about the consequences.
"They'll find her if she goes back home." Cielo's feels as helpless as him, but she's just as intentioned to bring this kid somewhere else.
"Muchas gracias por tu ayudo. No te quiero llevar desde ellos de nuevo." Fear quickly appears in her eyes at her words. Thank you for your help. I don't want to take you back to these guys.
"No, ellos van a matar mí familia si no voy. Por favor," she begs her, fully sobbing now. Cielo feels even more helpless now. Maybe that's what kept her mother there too, because they threatened to kill her grandma and her. No, they're gonna kill my family if I don't go back. Please.
*
None of them dares to say anything in the ride back to the dorms. Harry feels absolutely sick, he kept protesting on how they had to call the police or take her somewhere else, while the girl kept telling to Cielo on how she wanted to go back there for her family. At the end, they respected the girl's decision, but they were both going home heart broken.
"Once we find out about your mom I'm gonna tell about that shithole to the FBI, or the CIA... or whoever, I don't care." Harry tells her, once they park the car and they get both out of it. Cielo feels exhausted. It's past 5 AM. They had to spend more time with the girl in order to make the two pieces of shit believe they actually had done something. Harry had let the kid order whatever she wanted off the menu and let her watch whatever she wanted on TV. For a night, she was really the kid she deserved to be, as if her childhood hadn't been taken away from her. Cielo doesn't protest at his words, this time. She just stays silent, at least until she sees Harry crying, leaning against his car. She quickly goes to him, trying to comfort him.
"Hey, what's wrong?" She rubs his back, trying to swallow the knot in her throat. Harry looks at her, trying to stop his tears from falling.
"I hurt girls like her. I keep thinking about it and I feel sick. Every time I looked at her tonight I wanted to... I don't know, I felt like going crazy." Cielo wraps her arms around him and holds him. She can understand what he's going through. There are so many mistakes someone commits when he's young that come back to haunt you, and in his case, tonight just brought everything back.
"You're not that person anymore, Harry. You're beautiful and you're trying to help them." Harry dries his tears and quickly nods, trying to believe her words as much as he can. He's really trying to redeem himself through it. He starts walking with her again, taking his phone from his pocket and turning it on. There are several missed calls from Scarlett and one text. When he opens it and read her words, he stops mid tracks, just like his heart in his chest. He feels like hyperventilating at her last words.
"What's up?" Cielo asks him, turning around and looking at him.
"I have to go!" He quickly says, starting running in the opposite direction. He thinks he knows what friend she's talking about in the text. He doesn't know if he's either shaking from rage, worry or the needing to see her, but maybe it's for all of them. He starts beating his fist against Calvin's door, without really bothering about waking the others up. Calvin doesn't take too much to open, in his pajamas and still half asleep. Harry pushes him inside, making his fist colliding with his face.
"What the fuck did you do to her?" He furiously screams at him, grabbing him by the t-shirt and lifting him up again. Calvin is fully awake now and aware of the situation.
"It wasn't me, Harry! It wasn't me, I swear!" He quickly screams, putting his hands in front of his face to get some kind of repair from his fists. Harry pushes him to the ground again, awaiting for him to tell him who it was. "It was Stephen. I stopped him and helped her." Harry feels like bursting into tears again, now. If he was here this wouldn't have happened.
"Where is she?" He roars against him, looking at him with pure disgust. He's never liked Scarlett for whatever reason, so he doesn't regret the punch in his face. He should've done it way before.
"I tried to take her back to her room but she met Connor and she left with him. I think they went to his room." Harry feels even more mad now, at the solely mention of his name. It drives him crazy that he was there for her when he wasn't and she's also spent the night with him. The worst scenarios of the two of them together take places in his mind. He leaves his room without saying anything at all and runs toward Connor's room. It's not far from Calvin's, so once he gets there he refrains himself from beating his fists against the door, remembering that Scarlett might be inside, he doesn't want to scare her more than she probably is. He knocks against it, waiting patiently for someone to open up. When Connor does he immediately pushes the door open and gets in. He pushes him to the side and immediately gets to Scarlett who's peacefully sleeping on his bed. He almost feels scared to break her by just touching her.
"Hey, baby..." he begs her, delicately caressing her cheek with his index. She immediately jumps, her eyes immediately wide open. When she recognizes him the first instinct is to be happy, but then she remembers about how he disappeared with her and she feels mad again. When he sees her broken lips, and her bruised up face he almost feels like crying again. His heart is rushing at the sight, both for rage and worry. "I'm so sorry... I swear there's nothing between me and Cielo." He takes her hand, not being able to refrain his tears anymore, he's fully sobbing for the first time in front of her now. Scarlett feels like crying too at the sight, but she doesn't believe him.
"Leave." She firmly says, pushing his hand away. She can see Harry's eyes full of disappointment now, he wasn't expecting her to push him away. He quickly shakes his head, trying to grab her hand again.
"I'm sorry if I wasn't here and I'm sorry for what that piece of shit did to you, please, come with me." He keeps begging and crying, kneeling down in front of the bed. Scarlett shakes her head, trying to hold back the tears from falling.
"You have to leave." She whispers, sniffing and imposing herself to look away from him. She'll end up going with him if she keeps looking at him like that. When he doesn't listen, Connor puts a hand on his shoulder.
"Mate, she said you have to leave. Don't make it harder." Harry quickly stands up, throwing immediately a fist to his face. He's wanted to do it for a long time so it makes him feel incredibly fine.
"How come every fucking time I turn around you're near my girlfriend, uh?" Harry screams at him, pushing him after the first fist. "And now you bring her to your room. What the fuck you think you're doing?" He roars against him, throwing another punch to his other cheek. Scarlett quickly jumps up from her bed, going up to Harry and putting herself between the two bodies to keep Harry away from Connor.
"Stop! Fucking stop!" She screams, throwing a punch against his chest. He rubs a hand on his forehead with desperation, feeling extremely hurt and tired by the whole situation. He hates himself for not being here to help and defend her, to keep her safe and now he has to look at her like that. He delicately caresses the bruised side of her face, taking a peck of her lips right after. She lets him, because she wants to feel his lips against hers and because she's as hurt as him in pushing him away as she's doing but she needs to do it, in order for him to be fully honest with her.
"Go, please..." She whispers, not being able to hold back her tears anymore and this time Harry decides to listen to her. There have been already too many men, in the past days, who haven't respected her, he doesn't want to be one of them.
"Are you ok?" Connor asks her, standing up and rubbing his sore jaw. Scarlett quickly nods and dries her tears.
"I should be the one asking you if you're ok..." She slightly giggles and he smiles at her. He quickly nods.
"I'm gonna go back to my room now. I won't fall asleep anymore, so..." She shrugs her shoulders and Connor quickly nods. She doesn't feel like staying with him after Harry's outburst.
"I'm gonna accompany you."
While they walk together, toward her room, Connor keeps looking at her. Her stare is low and she seems absent and sad, as if her mind was somewhere else.
"Do you think he's cheating?" Scarlett quickly brings her stare on him at his words. She parts her lips to say something but no sound comes out. She doesn't know. She shrugs her shoulders and rubs her forehead in confusion. "If it makes you feel any better, I had never seen Styles crying in years of knowing him." He giggles, managing to make her laugh too. He doesn't know if she only laughs because she wants to be polite, or because she's actually amused. "It was worth the two punches!" He exclaims after, seeing again the scene in his head. "I think he cares, Scarlett." Scarlett sighs, exasperated by all her doubts and thoughts invading her mind at the moment. She doesn't know what to believe. She leans with her back against her door.
"You're quite something! Why do you do that?" She decides to ask. Connor furrows his eyebrows, not fully understanding her questions.
"What?"
"Helping him and being so incredibly good and with such a big heart, when it's quite evident that you like me." She shakes her head, not fully believing herself the words that leave her mouth, because she doesn't think she's ever met someone like him. She's not like him.
"I like you and you like him." He shrugs his shoulders. "I know when I have to take a step back." Scarlett thinks about it too. If the situation was exchanged, with her, Harry and Cielo; she would never let Cielo have him for any reason in the world. Not without a fight, at least. She wouldn't give up, like he did.
"I wish I liked you. Everything would be simpler." Scarlett murmurs and sighs.
"Like breathing." Scarlett nods her head at his words. For a moment, it almost seems like he lowers his head to meet hers, but when he sees the alarming look in her eyes he quickly steps back with a smile. She really doesn't want to turn down anyone else for tonight. After saying him goodnight, she gets inside.
When Avery gets up that morning, Scarlett has been awake for quite a long time. The first reaction, when she opens her eyes and sees her sat on her bed with her face all bruised up, is too scream. Cielo immediately jumps up, looking at Avery with fear in her eyes.
"What happened to your face?" She quickly asks, getting near her and examining it from a better point of view. Scarlett snorts. Cielo is looking at her too now, if she didn't feel guilty she would ask her too, but she just looks at her.
"I slapped a guy and he slapped me back. Nothing much to say." Scarlett stands up from the bed to take her brush and starts brushing her hair. She's already dressed and has done her makeup, so she's ready to go.
"Did you tell someone? Is he from the campus?" Cielo asks her worried, getting out of the bed too at this point. Scarlett glares at her for a second, before distorting her stare.
"No. I wanted to tell someone, but apparently everyone was studying. Until 5 AM." Cielo immediately regrets getting involved in it. That's probably why Harry ran away like that last night.
"Oh, honey..." Avery leans toward her and wraps her arms around her back. "I'll get ready super fast and we're gonna have breakfast. Wait for me." Scarlett nods, really wanting to be with someone she trusts — so not Cielo — this morning. Avery locks herself in the bathroom, leaving Cielo and Scarlett on her own.
"How does it feel going behind your friend's back with her boyfriend?" Scarlett doesn't look at her, she keeps looking at her blonde hair while she brushes them. Cielo immediately sighs. Maybe Harry already admitted they were together so she can't keep lying.
"There's nothing between us! I don't know how many more times I have to tell you." Scarlett quickly stands up, feeling immediately heated even by the only fact that she's speaking at her with that annoyed tone of voice.
"I would believe it, if maybe you two didn't sneak out all the time, making up absurd excuses. What the hell were you even doing with him dressed like that?" She wants to use a precise word for the way she was dressed, but she won't use it, because that's not what her parents taught and it would go against every value she's been raised with. She bites her tongue and glares at her.
"He's helping me with something. My m-" before she can end her sentence, Avery comes out of the bathroom. Cielo immediately takes advantage of the situation and goes inside at her place to definitely end the conversation. Scarlett keeps glaring at her, before deciding to leave with Avery.
"I definitely think you should tell someone. He should be expelled, Scarlett." Avery repeats her again, for the umpteenth time. They're at the canteen looking for a table, while they walk around with their breakfast. Scarlett tried to cover her bruises as much as she could, but she didn't do a really good job. She doesn't use a very heavy foundation, so she can't blame people for staring at her and whispering while she walks around. Before sitting down to the table Avery points at her she sees Harry getting inside and walking with a wide stride toward a precise point of the room. She looks in front of him, immediately seeing the guy who slapped her last night and she feels her heart stopping in her chest. She can hear him say something to him — or better, yelling — but she's too far to understand exactly what. Before anyone in the canteen can say or do anything, Harry jumps on him, making his fist collide with his face. Scarlett, like the rest of the room, gasp. She can see someone taking out their phones, while others just stand up to have a better view. There's a mix of expression around the room; shock, fear, confused and entertained by the whole scene. Harry's fist hits his face more than once, his friends just stay petrified without knowing what side they should be on. When Stephen manages to stand up he grabs Harry by the t-shirt and pushes him on the ground. He's way bigger than anyone in the room and Scarlett is surprised Harry managed to throw more than a punch to him. When Stephen grabs Harry again, ready to him him back, Scarlett quickly looks around looking for someone to stop them. When she sees Calvin and Poe making their way through the crowd to see what's going on she feels relieved in seeing how they both run and try to stop them. Both Connor and Poe are pushed to the ground by the huge man in front of them, but the distraction is enough for Harry to take a chair and hit him on the back with it.
"Make him stop! He's gonna get expelled." Cielo screams at her, grabbing her shoulder. Scarlett can see the same terrified expression in her eyes and she immediately feels like burning in jealousy again. When Scarlett brings her eyes back on them, Stephen is laying on the ground, and only then Harry lets the chair, he used to hit him more than once, to the ground with him. Before she can reach him and her brother, who's rubbing his sore bicep, they're approached by the security of the campus and taken away.
"What the hell did just happen?" Avery asks shocked to Scarlett. She doesn't know if she connected the dots, but she really doesn't feel like explaining everything to her.
"I have to go, sorry..." She absently says. She doesn't listen when she calls her name, she's already running toward the office of the principal. When she arrives, making her way through the curious crowd, she sees Poe outside and immediately approaches him.
"Poe, what happened?" Poe parts his lips when he sees her face.
"If you had told me he had done this to you I would've taken the other chair." Scarlett immediately feels like hyperventilating. She shouldn't have told Harry the way she did, by using it against him for his absence. Maybe he wouldn't have reacted the way he did.
"What happened?" She asks again, trying to hold her tears in her teary eyes.
"Me and Connor are fine. Stephen got expelled for what he did to you and Harry's been suspended for the whole week. And he can't take his exams during the first session." A sob escapes her lips when she hears about Harry. All of this is definitely her fault.
"Where is he?"
"He went home." Before he can say anything else, she turns around and starts walking away, without even giving him the time to say goodbye or ask her how she was.
"Give me the keys of your car." She turns around, stretching her open palm toward him. He rolls his eyes, before giving up and giving her the keys.
*
When Scarlett gets to his house she knocks more than once before he finally decides to open the door. When he sees her he seems quite surprised. He has dark circles under his eyes and a bruised cheek. His eyes are reddish and his pupils are huge, compared to usual.
"What are you doing here?" He warily asks, keeping his door closed behind him, without letting her in.
"I came to see you. We need to talk."
"It's not a good moment..." He sniffs, putting a hand in front of her chest to put her there.
"Are you with someone?" She immediately asks him, feeling her heart bursting into flames at the thought. Harry furrows his eyebrows and quickly shakes his head.
"No!" Scarlett pushes the door open and hits him with her shoulder to get in. She looks around his empty living room, but soon enough understands that the problem is not who he was trying to hide, but a what. On his crystal table there are two neat lines of a white powder, money and two small, transparent bags; an empty one and a full one. Scarlett doesn't even try to stop her tears from falling down now. She feels completely played, he doesn't do anything else but lying to her and she's dumb enough to never realize.
"Are you really clean, at least?" Harry giggles at her shoulders, shaking his head quite amused. She turns toward him, pushing her tears away from her cheeks.
"I am. Heroin is not really my thing, honey." Scarlett feels like passing out at his words. He simply surpasses her, without touching her or anything, and goes back to his table. He sits on the ground and snorts one of the two lines with a rolled banconote. He cleans his nose right after, pulling his neck backwards and laying his head on the couch.
"Why did you come?" Scarlett walks toward the couch, sitting on it and looking at him with her tears still streaming down, before answering him. "I thought we were over."
"You want us to be over?" She sobs, holding her knees to her chest and putting her feet on the couch.
"You should." Scarlett knows damn well he's right. She should've ran away from this house in the moment she saw cocaine on his damn table, but something is keeping her well anchored to this place, to him. To the mess of their relationship.
"I don't want to." She shakes her head, tears streaming down her face, while she shakes her head in a childish way. Harry bitterly laughs at her words.
"I'm not one of your cases to solve, Scar." Harry lowers his stare, feeling worse than he thought in confronting the reality. "You can't fix me."
"What are you even talking about?" She screams at him, feeling already exhausted by his umpteenth excuse to push her away.
"You think I don't notice? You're only interested because you see me as something to figure out." He stands up, towering over her and having his voice as high as hers. "Once you'll have me all figured out you'll throw me away. You'll find someone like Connor, because girls like you marry guys like him." His eyes are teary too now. She doesn't know if he's talking like that because of the coke or because he genuinely thinks it. "There's no future for us." Scarlett stands up from the couch too, feeling every kind of emotions in her chest. She can't believe he has really thought about them so deeply, about their future and possibilities. She doesn't even need to check inside of herself to know whatever he's right or not; she cares. She deeply cares already and she's fucking terrified. It might have started out of pure curiosity but now it's already so much more for her. She lays down, toward the table, pushing the last line of white powder in the air, to the ground. Harry parts his lips at her actions, quickly dragging her far away from the table from keeping her from doing other troubles.
"I care, fucking asshole." She screams at his face. "And you can't dump me, because I don't want to." She grabs his face in her hand, feeling the impulse to kiss him but she decides to resist.
"You're a fool." He breathes against her lips, shaking his head, not agreeing at all with her decision. When he tries to link their lips, she turns her head around. She pushes him away, taking the other small bag on his table and putting it inside her bag.
"Not until you close with this shit." She clearly says, looking at him in the eyes.
"It won't be easy." Harry snorts, seriously considering it for the first time. He doesn't do coke that often, not as often as his friends, he does when he hates himself more than usual, to forget who he is and everything around him.
"I'll be by your side." She tells him, grabbing his hand. Harry would like to be like these guys, the ones someone like her is supposed to marry and he's willing to try but he's not sure he can make it. "But not until you really prove to me that I can trust you." She adjusts her bag on her shoulder and walks toward the door to leave. Harry follows her, grabbing her by her forearm and pinning her against the door. He feels rage, the same rage she's feeling for this whole situation and toward each other but more than anything he wants to feel her, he wants the confirmation that it won't be the last time he sees her, that things won't change between them. He pushes his forehead against hers, the tips of their noses touching, her lips slightly apart. He won't kiss her if she doesn't want it too. When she doesn't move, he takes it as consent and connects their lips. She doesn't feel like resist him anymore, because she needs him as much as he does. She throws her bag to the ground, wrapping her arms around his neck, voraciously kissing him back. They're both aggressive with their touches, their movements. Their tongues fight for dominance and Scarlett feels the cut on her lips burning, she doesn't care. She almost enjoys the feeling. She feels burning in the same way behind his touch and she feels his skin burning behind her hands too. When she hears the sound of his zip and his hand going behind her skirt, to tug her panties to the side, she doesn't oppose resistance. She wraps one of her legs around his waist and soon enough she feels him sliding in. He doesn't tease her, he gets in with a quick push making the air stop in her lungs. She parts her lips without being able to produce any sound. One of his hand wraps around her waist, while the other is against her neck, not really tightening the hold around it, just keeping her to place. His movements inside of her are just as aggressive, the vulgar sound of his skin slapping against her is filling the room with both their desperate moans. He lays his forehead against hers, taking a peck of her red lips, his movements slowing down now. She pushes her neck backwards, arching her back and enjoying the aggression of him on her body. It wasn't supposed to end with him inside of her, but she's not regretting it at all.