The first week or so after that incident, y/n avoided going to the blonde's house or interacting with him in any way, so she wasn't making calls or even sending emails. If Tom wanted something from him he had to call in himself or drop by on his own, not that he minded doing it all by himself but he was used to having her with him always. The following couple of weeks she dropped it all, she was barely helping him and Tom was starting to ask why but the girl wouldn't tell him.
It wasn't resentment. Well, it was not all resentment, she wanted to preserve her dignity. But it was unavoidable when Tom, so kindly, invited Harrison along for dinner at one of Tom's favourite restaurants with his family. He never gave her any heads up about the blonde joining them for the evening so when she saw him standing beside Tom as she chatted away with Harry she felt almost betrayed by her best friend. "You alright, y/n?" Harry furrowed his brows at her expression, her jaw clenched as she sent a glare in Tom's way.
"Yeah, I'm fine." She said flatly, pushing her hair over her shoulder and turning to look out the big windows to the city lights.
"What? You gonna say you fancy Harrison?" The ginger boy teased, chuckling when she balled her fist and hit him on the thigh.
"Piss off." She mumbled so Tom's parents wouldn't hear her, she wrinkled her nose and adjusted the straps of her dress. To the girl's dismay, everyone received him with open arms and even more unfortunate he sat down right across from her, next to Tom. She didn't speak much during the actual dinner, she couldn't even enjoy her food, she just tossed it side to side on her plate.
"And you, darling?" Nikki's voice brought her back from her dissociation.
"Mmh?" She raised her brows and leaned a bit over the table to hear the woman better.
"When are you going to bring a nice man home? You're beautiful and in the perfect age for romance." Tom's mum gushed, sparking just a little more frustration inside the girl.
"Oh god, no. There's no such thing as a nice man." Her comment made the Holland men protest and she rolled her eyes playfully. "Let's be honest, Nikki. This life won't attract a nice man even if there were any."
"Oh darling, don't say that. You're such a lovely girl, any man would be lucky to have you."
"Yeah, mate. You gonna get laid soon, I sense it." Tom chimed in making his brothers laugh, his mother scolded him but chuckled a little. Y/n nodded at her friend with a grin on her face.
"C'mon, mum. She doesn't need a nice man, she just needs a good shag then she can carry on taking over London." Harry blurted out.
"Harry!" The woman gasped at her son's comment.
"I mean, he's not wrong." The girl shrugged and bursted out laughing, leaning on Harry's shoulder. "But no more taking over London for me." She brought her glass of water closer to her.
"What? Why?" Harry looked at her confused, not only Harry but the whole table, except Harrison, he looked at her expecting to be thrown under the bus in front of the whole Holland family.
"Yeah, haven't you heard?" The girl chuckled dryly at Harrison's expression. "I ain't shit in this business." She sipped her iced water and arched a brow in Harrison's direction.
"Since fucking when?" Harry's voice rang loud in her ear.
"Language, kids." Tom's dad reminded them.
"It's been like three or four weeks actually, Tom has been running the mob on his own." She shrugged one shoulder. "He's doing a pretty good job. Nothing's gone to shit so, he can handle it."
"She literally abandoned me and I can't figure out why." Tom flipped her off receiving a wink back from the girl. "I asked her for help the other day because something was going wrong on Harrison's side and she fucking ignored me."
"He knows what he's doing, why would he need help?" Y/n mocked, tilting her head and a slight smirk tugged at her bright red lips when she saw Harrison's jaw clenched and his hand over the table clutching the napkin tightly.
"Because we're a team, y/n. You fucking abandoned us." Tom was getting a bit irritated.
"I didn't abandon anyone. I'm not part of the alliance because my name is not on the contract you and that prick signed, so don't come at me with that team bullshit now, Tom." She shot back, just as irritated as he was. The table was now silent, everyone was looking back and forth between her and Tom. Y/n got up and threw the napkin on her chair, before walking out to the terrace of the place for some fresh air.
"'M sorry, mate. I don't know what's wrong with her." Tom apologised to Harrison. The blonde just nodded and looked up to the glass door that allowed sight to the terrace where the girl stood, arms wrapped around herself while staring blankly ahead.
"It's freezing out there, 'm gonna go." Harry got up and grabbed his suit jacket from the back of his chair walking away from the table.
"Someone told her she wasn't needed in here, Tom. Tell me it wasn't you." Dom said firmly.
"I would never, dad. I don't know what happened. She won't tell me." Tom looked up at her, now wrapped in Harry's jacket, "But we need her back soon or this whole circus' gonna go to shit." The brunette sighed heavily and gulped the last sips of his whisky.
Harry and y/n made it back inside ten minutes later, the boy's cheeks and nose pink from the cold breeze outside. Y/n went straight to Nikki and leaned to murmur an apology in her ear then she moved to hug Paddy and Sam as a goodbye. "'M taking her home. Sam, can you ride with mum and dad?" He asked his brother who nodded in confirmation, he bid his parents goodbye and followed her up to the lifts.
"Promise you'll talk to her." Nikki sighed, reaching over the table to hold her son's hand.
"Yeah, I will." He nodded. "Let's go, man." Tom got up ushering his friend.
"It was nice seeing you again, Harrison. Say hi to your mother for us."
"Of course, ma'am." The blonde hugged her and shook Dom's hand before following Tom out of the restaurant.
Once outside Harrison felt the need to say something about what had happened but Tom beat him to it, "What the fuck am I suppose to do?" He didn't ask Harrison directly, he just threw the question out into the universe. "She just..." He ran his hands through his hair, "I don't know who the fuck told her about the contract not having her name. She's always been my right hand in everything, that piece of paper means nothing to me." Tom ranted, he was so frustrated. "This is really going to crash down if she doesn't come back, you already lost your shipments and we can't figure out who the fuck caused that."
"I'm gonna figure it out." Harrison responded. Hearing Tom imply that she was the only one who could debunk the reason and who messed with his business made him feel a little irate. Tom looked at him, trying to decipher the meaning behind his tone but Harrison stood tall and dead behind the eye.
"I'm going home, see you 'round." Tom walked towards the car not waiting for John to open the door for him, he got it himself and climbed inside leaving Harrison standing alone by the entrance of the tall building.
Harry had dropped her at her flat, he kept pestering her the whole way there to tell him who had said that to her but she refused to say anything, not to protect Harrison but because it wasn't worth it, she had let out a petty comment that escalated to an argument with Tom at the family dinner and it just wasn't worth it.
She dropped the subject, tried her best to look past it to protect Tom and at least, his side of the business because at least everything on his side was still intact and she wasn't going to let it sink. When she was back in almost full swing the tension between her and Harrison grew and the amount of time she was spending at his house was becoming a bit overwhelming, yes she'll try to go home at the end of the day but sometimes it was impossible, the exhaustion getting to her and knocking her out in the first available bedroom she found at his house. It wasn't hard to find one, the house was massive and it was always alone.
The day before had been hectic and she just needed to let out a little steam so early in the morning she made her way to Harrison's gym on the very back of the house, a big enough room that contained several gym equipment and a section for boxing. Getting to warming up immediately having the back garden and pool as a view through the glass that made two of the room's walls, allowing so much light to filter in. She stopped for a minute to take a few deep breaths and walked around the room, stopping in front of the punching bag that hung from the ceiling, balling her small hand into a fist and lightly punching it. "Easy there, Miss. Don't want to mess up your knuckles." A raspy voice echoed in the empty room. The tall, tattooed man that had caught her eye at the poker night was approaching her with rather confident strides.
"Hmm." She shrugged, turning her back on him and walking to the bench to grab her water bottle to refresh herself a little.
"Could teach you some moves if you want." He kept walking closer and closer to the girl.
"Don't need you to, I'm fine. But thanks for offering." She turned to see him smirking at her only a few steps away from where she stood.
"Why don't you teach me then?"
"I don't know. Can you take a punch?" She joked, crossing her arms resting her weight on one leg.
"I'll take anything you throw at me if I'm honest." He smiled sheepishly at her, he made her feel strange, like a weird sinking feeling in her stomach, not like butterflies and that pleasant fluttery feeling when you like someone. She didn't hate him, she actually found him quite appealing to the eye but she didn't feel sentimentally for him.
"Alright." She licked her teeth, thinking that a little fun never hurt anybody. "In your suit? That's giving me an advantage, though." She taunted when she saw him get rid of his jacket.
"Wasn't expecting to do anything like this on a Wednesday morning." He chuckled. Y/n hummed, moving past him and to the centre of the mat, putting her bare fists up to cover her face. "No tape?" James lifted his brows at her, the girl rolled her eyes lowering her hands and turning to walk away from him. She heard his footsteps get hurried and she felt his arms around her body, in a swift motion she hit his ribs with her elbows knocking enough air out of him to make him loosen the grip around her then took one of his arms and twisted it behind his back kicking the back of his knees causing him to fall flat on the mat, with the man's arm firmly held with her significantly smaller hand plus one knee on his back and the other pressed against the back of his neck, she smirked when he let out groan and grunt beneath her.
"That was not very honourable, was it now?"
"No. Just wanted to see if you were prepared for all threats." He struggled out, not even making an effort to move out of her lock.
"And?" She let go of him, kneeling beside him as he turned to lay on his back.
"I'll say you're pretty prepared." He chuckled, marking her snicker. "Fuckin'ell. I think you messed up my shoulder, pretty girl."
"Sorry. You had it coming, though."
"Didn't expect such a beautiful girl to be this deadly." He said sitting down, ending up levelled with her face.
"I'm not deadly." She looked at him with big sparkling eyes.
"I'd say you are," James retorted lowly, brushing a strand of hair out of her face, the girl tensed up at the audacity of the man, "and I'll let you kill me anytime." He flicked his green eyes down to her lips then back up to her eyes.
She held his gaze for a few seconds before clenching her jaw and straightening up, trying hard to compose herself from his comment, "I don't want to get you in trouble with your boss, so... You better go." Y/n cleared her throat as she stood up, walking towards the back of the gym where the weights were. She could feel his eyes bore in her back but she tried her hardest to ignore it. The footsteps fading out of the room made her relax instantly and she resumed her work out.
By the time she was stretching her sore muscles out Harrison walked in along with Tuwaine both dressed in gym gear. She let out a sigh and was grateful they came in at the time she was done and not minutes earlier to find her and James sat on the mat awfully close to each other. She got her last stretches out and turned to walk to the bench to retrieve her water bottle, unfortunately, placed between Harrison and Tuwaine. "Morning, miss." Tuwaine greeted the girl and made her smile, he always made her smile.
"Morning, Tuwaine. Told you to stop calling me that." She just acknowledged the bigger man as she reached between them for the bottle.
"Right. How was your session?"
"Good. Smashed it." She grinned before taking a sip of water.
"Yes, then!" He chuckled and put a hand up for her to give him a high five, and she did, her hand looked ridiculous on the man's massive one. "Was James bothering you earlier? Saw him coming in not long ago."
"Um... No, he wasn't. He just... He's quite nice." She smiled and wiped some sweat off of her forehead.
"Quite nice, huh?" Tuwaine taunted.
"Oh, C'mon." She chuckled and covered her face with the bottle, causing the man to laugh loudly. "Do you have access to the cameras?" She looked over to the corner of the room where a small bubble was stuck to the ceiling.
"Maybe."
She wrinkled her nose and snickered, "Have fun watching this morning's footage, then." She turned around and started walking towards the door.
"Did you kick his ass?" Tuwaine called out, his voice echoing in the room. The girl just turned around to look at him and shrugged, a devilish grin plastered on her face. Tuwaine bursted out laughing, "Ooh man, I hope she never leaves." He said when his laughter died down. "She's somethin' else I'm telling you." He sighed.
"Since when are you two such good friends, by the way?" Harrison furrowed his brows, the whole interaction left him a bit confused, she seemed so different, like she was at dinner before it all crashed down.
"We've been having lunch together since she came back, she's hilarious. And really smart. She's teaching me how to play chess." The man gushed, getting up to start his circuit.
"Is she, now?"
"Yeah. We should keep an eye out on James, though. He keeps approaching her and I'm not completely sold on him if I'm honest." Tuwaine moved to where the weights were and left Harrison sat on the bench on his own, Tuwaine wasn't the first of his men that told him they didn't trust James plus Tom had said that too. A sinking feeling settled on his stomach for the rest of the morning. Even watching the camera footage, it just seemed to get heavier.
On Friday night she was walking out to her car to finally go back home and hopefully not come back in a while. Pressing a button to unlock the vehicle she rummaged inside her bag looking for her phone, not paying much attention to her surroundings. A pair of inhumanly strong arms wrapped around her middle, trapping both her arms down. She got pushed against the back of her car hard enough to knock all the wind out of her lungs, she gasped and grunted trying to wriggle out of the grip but whoever had her in the lock wasn't budging. "Calm down, missy. I don't wanna hurt you." The nasal voice whispered in her ear and her eyes widened, it was Alex. She fought a bit more trying to get her legs to kick but he had her pressed against the booth of the car. She heard the man huff and move an arm away from her still pushing her harder surely bruising her ribs. Breathing was becoming harder then she felt the cold blade of a pocket knife against her jaw. "You're gonna be a nice girl and get in the car with me, understood?" He barely finished the sentence when the click of a gun was heard.
"How about you let go of her?" The new voice broke the concentration of the man that was holding her because he flinched and graced the underside of her jaw with the knife, causing the girl to growl and throw her head back, colliding with the man's face. His grip loosened and she was able to free herself from him.
An arm came around her waist, pulling her away from Alex and behind their back, she clung to the person's jacket to steady herself as she was about to lose her balance. "You have no idea what you're in for, you fucking bastard." The man who was shielding her growled stepping closer to Alex and swinging his fist at him, squaring him up on the jaw throwing his head violently to the side making him fall on the ground completely knocked out. "Are you alright, pretty—." James cut himself off when he saw the blood running down her neck, "Fuck, you're bleeding. C'mere." He held her by the waist and started to walk towards the house, almost dragging her. "Guys, I need help!" He shouted as soon as they entered.
"What is it?" One of his coworkers replied, not so impressed.
"It's fucking Alex. Go get 'im." James ordered, guiding y/n to the kitchen, the other man saw the blood on her and his eyes widened. "Dude! Go fucking get 'im he's outside!" James shouted, breaking her from the slight shock and back to reality. "Don't move, pretty girl. I'll be right back." He sat her down on a stool by the kitchen island and disappeared. The adrenaline was still cruising through her body because she couldn't feel the cut on her jaw, there was a ringing in her ears and her heart was pounding in her temples.
She could hear someone shouting for help outside and the footsteps of several people coming down from somewhere else to his aid but she couldn't see anything but the huge piece of art that covered the wall she was facing. She felt James come back and step in front of her cradling her cheek with one big hand and the other pressed something wet against her jaw. The stinging made her flinch away and look up at him with big glossy eyes. "It's okay, pretty. You're okay." He spoke softly, caressing her cheekbone with his thumb. She clutched the front of his jacket tightly, not knowing what to do yet, trying to keep her tough façade up.
"The fuck is happening in here!?" Harrison's voice roared throughout the house, and she whimpered lowly when James moved away from her to get a new gauze to clean her up. With James' built body out of the way Harrison was able to see into the kitchen, the island to be more specific, and saw her sitting still and a bit spaced out with blood stains on her neck and top then he turned to the limp body by the entrance of his home.
"He attacked her." James informed, turning his body so he could look at his boss, a clean gauze in his hand ready to press it against the girl's wound.
"The fuck you mean he attacked her?" Harrison moved closer to the kitchen. James carefully took the girl's face in his hands and gently turned her so Harrison could see. The blonde's moves came to a stop inhaling sharply through his nose, his hands now balled in tight fists.
"I'm fine." She whispered, "Don't kill 'im." She wrapped her hands around James' wrists.
"What was that?" He cooed at her, caressing her hair and resting one of his hands on the back of her neck.
"He's the one responsible for the lost shipments. Don't kill 'im."
"Boss! Miss says he messed up the shipments and to not kill 'im yet." James informed, never looking away from her as if to confirm the message. The muffled voices of the other men by the foyer got mixed with the ringing in her ears, the adrenaline starting to wear out, the back of her head hurting even more than the gash on her jaw. Her eyes started to grow drowsy and dry, the man noticed so he wetted another gauze with alcohol and put it under her nose, she whimpered and flinched away, scrunching up her pretty face. He moved away again, opening the fridge and getting a can of Sprite out. "C'mon, pretty girl. Have some sugar." He took her hand and placed the open can in it.
"I wanna go home." She said after having a sip of the fizzy drink. Harrison was next to her now trying to get a better look at the cut under her jaw but she furrowed her brows and pushed him away with her forearm against his chest.
"You need to stay so we can interrogate him when he wakes up." His voice was calm, nothing like it always sounded when it was directed at her.
"I don't wanna spend another second in this house. I wanna go home. Now." She gritted her teeth glaring at him.
"Miss, you've probably got a concussion. Might not need stitches but you can't drive with a concussion." James reasoned with her.
"I don't wanna be in here." She looked up at the green-eyed man placing her free hand on top of his chest, using her charm to make him do what she wanted.
"Miss..." The man sighed, brushing her hair out of her face.
Harrison looked between them, both lost in each other's eyes as if that was enough to understand what the other was thinking. "I'll have Tuwaine take you home then." The blonde allowed, his voice taut. "Need to go to the doctor to get yo—."
"I said I'm fucking fine!" The girl growled and handed the can to James and jumped off the stool, the dizziness that hit her was uncommon and she shut her eyes for a few seconds feeling a pair of hands on her waist that steadied her. When she opened her eyes again she was expecting a certain pair of green eyes to greet her but they weren't green, they were icy blue.