Renleigh Kensington
My brother six feet under? A nice thought. Especially after he left me with Styles and made me give him a lift home.
And trust me, he had a home.
It was gorgeous.
But even before I got to see it, I had an hour-long drive with him next to me. And he didn't bloody know how to shut his trap. He just went on and on about whatever the hell was on his mind. My brain was fucking dead after my day at work and so I couldn't even hear half of the things that left his mouth.
"I wasn't meant to go out tonight," he sighed when the only thing heard in the car was the motor as I went – a little – over the speed limit. I looked over at him for a short glance just to see him manspreading with his hands on his thighs and his eyes focused on the road ahead of us. He got rid of his coat before he got in the car and his shirt was rather undone.
"Why did you?" I asked, bored. Talking was not something I wanted to do so late, especially not with him, but at that point, it was whatever.
"Peer pressure, you know," he said quietly. "It was good though. I like getting drunk."
"You sound like a teenager," I laughed which made him snap his head towards me. He did it so quick and hard that it could have flew off of his neck. "What?"
"Nothing... you just laughed."
"Why is that so surprising? I do normal things like that," he hummed as if he didn't believe me. "You know what else I do?"
"Um... run a business?"
"Well, yeah," I nodded as my hands slid up to the top of the steering wheel and my feet pressed down on the brake. "But I also breathe."
Both of us quieted down and I knew it wasn't funny. But I was funny. That thing I said in particular, wasn't. It happened.
"Kensington?"
"Styles."
"That wasn't funny," he told me as he laughed out loud. "You're cute."
"I know."
"Oh," he said quietly. In reality, there was no clue in my mind as to how to deal with compliments. Agreeing always seemed to work, however.
"Isn't it crazy how you went from telling me I'm annoying to cute?" I brought up the recent events. Talking about crazy, the fact that we acted like nothing happened in Italy could have been described exactly the same. "I love a nice character development."
"I... I didn't mean it," he admitted and sounded genuine. This time around, I was the one who hummed in response. Anger usually spoke for me too, therefore I didn't blame him. I couldn't, if I did the same. Plus, his comment didn't bother me at all. As I have told him many times, there were worse names people labelled me as. "It was just... I don't know. I thought you'd enjoy not working? I know I do."
"See, that might be where we are different. I don't enjoy doing nothing," I admitted what I thought was already pretty self-explanatory.
"That's silly... everyone loves doing nothing."
"Not me, I'm afraid," I sighed. "It makes me feel lazy and like I could be doing so much more. Even at night sometimes, when I wake up to get a drink or go the toilet, I stay up for the rest of the night to sort out my stuff."
"You're an owl... you shouldn't be one. You need rest," he told me. His drunk self was so much more relaxed and his guard was completely down. I knew I could have asked him for his card details or his future plans for his company and he would have told me all that I wanted to know. "Do you want to stay over? My bed is comfy."
"No. I need to pick Brandon up and get as far away from you as... possible. Fucking hell. Are we kidding?" I mumbled the last part as my eyes took in the scene before me. There had to have been an accident a few cars ahead because the traffic was going slow and the whole motorway was rather lit up. I thought taking this route would be easier and quicker but everything just became more difficult.
"Oh, no. Someone died?" Harry asked as he leaned further in his seat and placed his arms on the car. I watched as his shirt pulled up a little on his back but not enough to show his skin. The material became tight around his shoulder and bicep and it showed off just how nice his body was under his clothes.
When men worked out but didn't overwork themselves and their muscles were only really on show when they did something – like lift their arms or something with their hands – was really fucking nice. Weirdly, it made me think of how safe their arms must be, soft yet still kind of like a protective place to be. Haven't been in a relationship in like... pretty much ever since I started my company and so sometimes, I did miss – almost craved – to be with someone.
"Right. Well, I'm running low on diesel so we'll need to make a stop at the nearest station," I let him know, not that he was bothered at all. Slowly, I changed lanes because there was literally one exit and I didn't want to miss it. The way seemed like it was getting cleared anyway so I decided it was best to wait it out.
"I'm gonna go get food if anything's open," Harry let me know as I pulled up to the petrol station. I nodded as he made his way towards the lit up shop and my eyes focused on the little screen that shows how much stuff went into my car and how much it was going to be.
Kind of hated having nice cars like this when it came to filling them up. I always spent over a hundred pounds on just diesel and it ate my ass away. However, that just motivated me to work more and harder. I had things to keep up and without my job, none of those things would have been under my possession.
After I paid the hundred and twenty-one pounds – which made me cry a little on the inside –, I drove over to the car park and decided to find Harry. He said he went to get food which made me realise I hadn't had much to eat that day. Other than five coffees and two bottles of water, I only snacked on some grapes and whatever cream cheese bagel was forced into me by Danielle.
There was not much open. Other than a Subway – that was close to closing for the night – there was a Costa but it was a machine where you just pressed what you wanted and paid in coins for the drink. A sigh left my lips at little to no options at all and decided to get a white hot-chocolate in the end. I thought maybe, tonight, I would sleep.
With the drink in my hand, finally, Harry was spotted. He sat on one of the tables, right in the middle, as he munched away on his Subway sandwich. He had a drink as well, it seemed. And crisps and a cookie. He went all bloody out.
"See you found what you came for," I commented as I sat down across from him. The smell of his food made my mouth water and stomach crawl in a knot from hunger. Quickly, my hand lifted the cup that held my hot drink and I took a sip.
"This is so fucking nice," he moaned as he took another bite of the sandwich. The lettuce fell out of it and so did the onion but he quickly picked them up from the paper it was wrapped in and ate it. When he noticed my gaze on him and his actions, he grinned with his eyes closed and chewed on the bite. "I'm getting so full. I have nachos on the way... you can take them."
"No, I'm good," I declined. I never accepted anything from anyone. I didn't want to owe them. No matter what we were on about.
"Well, it's yours anyway. It's really nice," he told me as he took another bite and once he swallowed it, he drank as well. "I had it before. It's good."
I didn't say anything I just continued to sip on my hot chocolate. The employee did come out a few minutes after and gave Harry his nachos which he then softly pushed in front of me. The smell of it crawled up my nose and made my stomach growl. The mouth watering smell of beef and cheese mixed and the salsa looked amazing on it for it to be from Subway. There were also Jalapenos on it and if anyone knew me they knew I loved Jalapenos.
"It's yours. You have it," I sighed as I leaned back on the chair. Harry chuckled under his breath as he grabbed his drink again and took a sip through the straw.
"Darling, your eyes almost fell out of their socket as you looked at it," he stated and suddenly, embarrassment filled me. "Have it."
He didn't pay any more attention to the conversation after that which was nice. I didn't like it when people forced me to eat and then stared at me with every bite. He didn't even force me. He offered. That honestly made all the difference because I actually did take it after I murmured a light thank you.
Once we were done eating, Harry went to the toilet as well – it very much felt like I looked after a child – and then we could finally get back on the road. The rest of the journey was pretty smooth, not much talking. That was actually because Harry was out like a light. Thankfully, his address was in the GPS so I didn't need specific directions from him.
"Hey," I pushed his shoulder a little which was essentially all it took for him to wake up. His whole body jolted at the sudden touch and he sat up so quick, it made me bite in my lower lip to keep my laughter in.
"What's wrong? Is everything ok?" he asked in a worried tone. His vocal chords were thickly coated with sleep which made him sound very hoarse and his words resonated all throughout the car. His voice came from his chest, it felt like it at least, and for that short moment, I didn't mind listening to it. It was definitely different from the usual sound I heard coming from him.
"You just need to show your card to the man to let us in," I informed him as we stopped at the gates.
"Yeah. Um..." he tapped his thighs as he felt for whatever he needed. Once he pulled out the card, he leaned down and across my lap until he could see the man and showed it to him. "Sorry. I didn't mean to fall asleep on you."
"You're alright," I mumbled. My feet pressed down on the pedal once the gates opened and we quickly made our way up the slightly steep hill. "Where should I stop?"
"Just go," he yawned into his hands and I just did as was told. "Ok-ok, calm down a little... yeah, that's my place."
Slowly, I stopped the car and I heard Harry undo his belt at the same time.
The place was white and he had no big front yard or anything. There was two small set of stairs that took him to the front door, lit up with grass on the side. The fence didn't seem too safe, then again, we had to be let in through security before I was allowed to drive up the street. The garage was right next to the path. It was a two-level house. Very modern. Very... glass-y. He had a lot of smaller, thin trees around the place which made it look even more like it was out of a magazine or something.
"So. You're home," I said as I made sure we wouldn't roll back down the slightly steep road.
"Yeah," he chuckled. "Thank you for dropping me off and everything... I know you didn't really want to and stuff."
"It's alright," I shrugged. "However, I have other things to tend to so..."
"Oh, right, yeah, sorry," he said in his deep voice, hurriedly. "Um, thank you for dropping... I said that already. Ok. Um. See you... when I see you?"
"Yeah, I suppose," he nodded and then got out of the car. My eyes followed him as he walked past my car and he turned back around and waved with a small smile before he got in.
I was half way to my brother's workplace when my eyes glanced up in the rear-view mirror and I noticed something right in the back. It was a coat hung on the plastic part in the middle and almost slipped off between the two front seats. The lights were red so I turned backwards and grabbed it quickly. At first, I thought it may have had been mine then the sudden scent hit my nose and the material of the coat was also something I knew I didn't own.
"Oh, for fuck's sake," I mumbled as I realised it was Harry's. As I remembered back to him getting out of the car, I did notice he didn't have it on. When the cars ahead began to move, I chucked the item in the seat beside me and sped off.
When I got back to the club, my brother was already outside. He had a cig in his hand which made me want to whack him in the head. I didn't like the fact that he smoked and I told him every time in a way to make him feel guilty about it so he would stop. But it didn't work just yet.
"You are not getting in my car, smelling like that," I told him as I got out with Harry's coat in my hands. I opened the front of the car and folded the item nicely before I placed it in there. "I told you I don't like that shit."
"I smoked it already. I thought you were gonna be longer," he told me as he fished for excuses. I rolled my eyes and he just shrugged. "I'll get you an air freshener."
"You mean a car freshener."
"That," he nodded. "Maybe I can get you one customised in a shape of a dick to match your personality."
"You are disgusting."
"I'll get it done for Chrimbo," he laughed loudly as he walked over to the passenger side of the car and got in. A sigh escaped my lips as I followed suit and gave up on the fight for the night.
It was a long day.
• • •
a.n.
the darling part,,, yes .
we also hit 3k reads which is mind blowing as this is my first story to get this much love and support from the start in forever so thank u so much n pls don't go anywhere ok i have summ good stuff coming up for u lot hehehe
also i know there are no houses like that in england at least i've never seen anything like it so just go w it ok? thank u xo