His arms strain and Harry's hands grab his hips to cause jerking movements everytime he rocksforward. Louis' eyes widen with realisation.
He's faking.
*NARRATOR'S POV*
The picture wasn't perfect. It didn't make sense and a lot of what Harry did made little sense.Louis drew in shaky little breaths to keep oxygen flowing to his brain when all he wanted was timeto think about why Harry is risking Edward noticing his disobedience.Was it for Louis' gratification?
Was it just because he didn't find Louis worthy of taking hisvirginity?Louis allows himself to be violated in this way because it's the better bargain. Edward stood not twofeet away and one slip-up would mean him noticing Harry's misconduct, so Louis takes theinexplicable risk to curl his leg around Harry's hip.
There's a moment where Harry's eyes turn a little darker, a little more fierce and his frown turnsugly. He's uncomfortable with the contact but he takes enough time to realise the consequences hepushed Louis away. His eyes locked with Louis, their bodies sweating and rubbing against eachother like real time lovers.Harry gripped Louis' thigh with deep enough force from his nails digging into the soft tan, thatLouis belted out a scream he couldn't control.
The sting was painful and surely bleedingfrom the relentless press of Harry's finger buds between the split skin slits.With a heart rapidly pounding against the narrow cage of his chest cavity, Louis began to feel hisindividual ribs aching from the pressure of a heavier weight on him. He scratches Harry's waist andscrapes off a skin layer to make the flesh underneath swell in red welts.
A heavy and hung length rubbed against Louis', the friction betraying Louis' frantic and shakennature. The fear seems to subside in favour of filling blood where it shouldn't be, and Louis feelshimself grow stiffer. This development causes a stutter in Harry's thrusting, slowing down to stareinto Louis' conflicted orbs of blue wonder.
Louis does Harry a favour and arches his back when the older male's stronger and lesscompassionate hips collide with his. It's more a favour for himself because this is an act they're intogether.
Harry continues his fervent grinding motions, slamming into the space between Louis'thighs and reddening it with the bite of muscle on softness.Harry got desperate about two minutes after his fingers started rubbing the very sensitive dip of skinwhere thigh met pelvis. It was pink and perfectly pale, a tempting bit of skin.
Louis jolted a littlefurther down the table at the contact and gasped a long, drawn out whimper. It would have been asound that any other partner in his bed would have succumbed to anything he wanted with.
Arms quivering and muscles tightening in the pit of his abdomen, Harry released a silent groan andpretended to pull out of Louis by dipping his hand between them. Louis widened his eyes at thefeeling of Harry taking this opportunity to feel him up. A body that's desolate and unaccustomed to a lover's soft touch bore down on Louis' more delicateform until the sexual aura was tangible enough to burn someone.
Harry came with a warm splatteron Louis' tummy, painting what he's claimed with his seed.The stickiness of their state only gets worse when Harry withdraws completely. For a split secondLouis actually considers not letting go of Harry just to keep his bare self covered withsomething as he feels his dignity melt away with the late hours.
Of course he doesn't actually have the guts to do more than feel himself deflate and let the moistureon his skin eat away at him until he's angry but distraught.With Harry gone Louis hopes for some minutes alone with himself but Edward's stayed behind evenafter Harry left the room like he was allergic to something in it.
He took several seconds brushingLouis' cheek with the backs of his knuckles, leaning in close with his expression unreadable.Louis felt he could do nothing more than lift his gaze from the floor to Edward, their faces so closetogether.
He took several loud breaths and hoped the drum beat he was hearing didn't belong to theheadache he was developing. Fear has become mild with him in this place now. Over the course of aweek, he's become desensitized.
"You did well, petal." Edward held Louis' jaw too tightly and his voice was screwed a little tight."I'm impatient to have my turn."Just when Louis thinks he's about to get kissed by a mouth full of shark teeth, Edward straightensup and leaves with no more words.
It takes a while after the door's slammed shut and for Louis'overhead light bulb to flicker out of life before he's curled up on his desk with only a hoodie on. Hecries into his palms as the heavy curtain lifts from his mind and he fully comprehends what'shappened to him.His sobs wrack his body until he's shaking, shivering from the cold and trying to sit up.
His thighsare burning up with the cuts that Harry put there, only to later dig his fingers in so the skin spliteven more. Blood dripped out from the four puncture wounds in single files, pooling on his desk'soak.Louis wipes his face and jumps down from the table, overstating his strength and stumbling withthe rush of blood to his head.
He whines from his side banging into his filing cabinet and pullshimself upright so he can clean up in the bathroom.He's done. He's done wanting answers because this is why they favoured him, why he wascalled petal and not Louis. They just wanted his body to toss between them and he's sick of puttinghimself in the perfect position between them. All it did was get him sexually assaulted.
He was acomplete idiot, with all his qualifications and intellect, to think that five years changed people sostuck in their ideology.After cleaning himself with disinfectant and a scrubbing tool that scraped off layers of skin until itwas raw, Louis redressed gingerly and got out of the Madhouse without looking back.
* * * * *
The next day Louis had his mother to pick up from the train station. He woke up an hour ahead ofthat after his nightmare about being held down by two disinterested but very prepared psychopathskept him damp with sweat. His shower lasted thirty minutes and he ate breakfast at a snail's pace.
"You okay, Lou?" Niall asked when he noticed his friend was stirring something in an empty bowl.
Louis snapped out of his horrid memories and blinked at his best friend. "What?"
"There's nothin' in there." Niall took said white porcelain bowl and poured his own breakfast into it."Did something happen?"Niall's not the most sly or discreet person Louis knows.
"I'm fine, Ni. Middle promise."Middle promise is a thing he and Niall made up when they were together in university. Everyoneused pinky promise but they swore with their middle fingers locked together.
"There's a thing tonight." Niall starts off after accepting Louis' answer.
"You'll um, have to elaborate, Ni." Louis picks his black Nike jacket out of the closet.
Niall followed him to the door, angel face on full-mode as he watched Louis put his keys and walletin his pockets. "A new club is opening in town. Small and everyone wants in."
"Where are you going with this?" Louis sighs, shoving his hands in his pockets and involuntarilyrubbing his tummy with his thumbs through the fabric.No amount of contact with it will ever remove the burn of having been touched there by HarryStyles.
"Come with me." Niall is begging, it's easy to tell with his enlargened crystal eyes and pouted lips.
"Yeah, okay." Louis nods once or twice, he's not sure. "What time?"
"Seven." Niall turns around and goes deeper into the apartment. "Try not to kill your mother."
It's not Louis' fault that he smiles at hearing that. "Yeah."
On the twenty minute drive to Middleston's only train station, Louis puts the radio on as loud as hecan to drown out his thoughts. Unfortunately it still feels silent, still feels empty and he ends upthinking about how to handle last night.
He's a psychology student and he can't handlehimself.He's not about to dig deeper, if he's sure of anything. He has to go back to the Madhouse tomorrowor sometime after that so he can't hide. The Styles brothers will be released into the custody of thestate tomorrow and Louis has no way to knowing what to do.
Nick's murder case has been inconclusive and made cold in just a day. Louis couldn't go in thereshouting Harry's name because Middleston is an old town and the people in it were older. They'dcall him crazy and lock him up in the same place as the culprits.
He's going to take this a day at a time and go with Niall to his club rave tonight to get his mind offeverything. A one night stand should do him some good when it comes to forgetting what Harry did,where Harry lingered most.His fingers tighten around the steering wheel, the noise from his crinkly jacket filling the car alongwith some idiot shouting a rap from his radio speakers.
Louis groans and switches the whole thingoff, nearly swerving off the road in his urgency.The train station manager knows him and spends twelve minutes chatting to Louis in the chillymorning breeze with leaves brushing their shoes and the horns of incoming vessels surroundingthem.
"So it's true then, huh?" Old man Neville takes a puff of his cigarette.
"What?" Louis keeps his hands in his pockets curled around his keys.
"Your neck." Neville nodded in its general direction. "One of the Styles really did go at you?"Both of them actually.
"He got his punishment for it."Louis tightens his scarf around his neck, feeling the itch of his bandage getting too tight and bitinghis lip instead of loosening the knot.
He had to keep from scratching the side of his leg where thefour untidy red slits on his skin is open and exposed to the fabric of his jeggings.The train from an upstate county rolls in just seventeen minutes after the big black overhead clockstrikes ten. It's one of their minor delays compared to the two-day delay of 1975. Louis bids Nevilleadieu and watches the old retiree go back to his little cubicle by the tracks.
She appears from one of the exit platforms on the far end of the track. Louis takes a moment to sighand jog over the distance so he can help her with the three bags she's carrying. He feels the stretchand burn in his thighs, the unkind whip of cold air on his neck.
"Hey, Lou." She's pulling him into a hug before he can politely decline.
"Yeah." He gives her an affectionless, one-armed pat on the shoulder blade before retractinghimself. "I booked you a hotel."
Her face appears to have fallen to a certain degree but she fights to keep that smile on her faceagainst the gravity of rejection. "I'm not staying with you?"
"No." He shrugs, only mildly apologetic. "There's no space at my place. The hotel is really close byand you have my number, should you need me."
The rest of the drive is silent and Louis opens zero frontiers for a conversation. He arrives at herhotel that's decent in duality and is costing him a decent amount of money, to help her out of his carwith her bags and check in.
"Here we are." He sets her bags down in her small, cosy room and is ready to leave. "Call me if youneed anything."
"Louis!" She calls after his retreating back with a heavy heart and unresolved issues lingering closeby. "Could we...grab lunch tomorrow? Maybe later today?"
"I have work today." He lies. All he really has to do is complete his assignment for uni beforedriving it to the post office, as well as begin the first page of his thesis on the criminal mind.
"Tomorrow? Yeah, okay."She seems satisfied to be getting any time with her unwilling son and nods with a tiny smile teasingher thin pink lips. "I'll call you?"
"Alright then." Louis doesn't know what to do so he smiles and waves with his hand on thedoorknob. "I'll see you."He's gone out into the empty hallway moving towards the elevators with his head feeling heavy onhis shoulders.
When he turned his attention, it felt like his head would snap right off his neck androll onto the floor. It was task to keep it held up.Back in his car, he evaluates himself and whether he feels guilty for the way he received his motheror not. No such feelings surface so he concludes that he's handled that decently. On the drive homehe picks up lunch from a drive thru just because he likes the long wait and occupied thoughts.
He listens to the hustle and bustle of the people ahead of him ordering and paying for their food. Hetries not to let his mind wander back to a day ago when he was sprawled out on a table at the mercyof someone a thousand time more ruthless than the average sociopath. He struggles with it andeventually comes back to that same event.
His body feels pent up and exhausted, built up to the worst case scenario. Someone unkind andunworthy has tainted more than just his body, and he's got no way of getting that feeling off him. Hecan barge into Harry's cell and demand to know why he's treated the way that he is. Unfortunately,these brothers are not average in intelligence or physique and could therefore be doing this justbecause they know he'll come back to them.
He plans to tighten up on their security around Harry and Edward until their release. The rulesstated that he couldn't extend their detainment twice and Nick's pointless murder is not pinned tothem so they'll be set free tomorrow. Louis hopes that their period of detention just meant that theywere deprived of all the good, intoxicating things in life. Their rehab will kick in - he hopes - andmaybe they'll leave him alone.
"Here's your meal." The girl behind the window with burning red hair in untidy tangles under aMcDonalds cap says to him. "Enjoy. Pay at the next window."
"Thanks." He pulls up at the next window and throws his scarf into the seat next to him beforehanding over the correct amount of cash.His knuckles turn from angry red to page white during the final leg of his journey.
He ignores thepinch of pain that presents and pulls into the reserved parking space tenants of his building have.Niall serves no purpose to Louis while he gets his paper done. He types out the final bit and prints itbefore slotting it into an A4 envelope and getting back in his car.
"You look good in that." Niall compliments his choice in black pants. "You should ear that."
"Yeah okay." Louis pulls a T-shirt on over his bum-hugging pants then a black sweater.
"Are you going for a twink kinda look?"
Louis glares at his best friend. "Twink?"
"A gay or effeminate man, or a young man regarded as an object of homosexual desire." Niall readsoff his phone. "Or you're a finger-shaped cream-filled cake. Basically the same thing."
Louis' scandalised face is a fair contender and he throws a belt in the direction of Niall while hepulls shoes over his feet.
* * * * *
"A beer at a new club?! Are you insane, Louis?" Niall yells over the heavy electric beat of thespeakers.
"I'd like to not get completely smashed tonight, Ni." Louis remains seated on the bar stool where hisfeet don't touch the ground and the alcoholic beverage in his hand makes him forget the mark on hisneck.
"Why the Hell not?" Niall puts on his best offended face. "I brought you with me to get smashed,Lou."
Louis laughs but shakes his head in rejection."I'm good, really. Go earn your hangover, bestfriend."
"Love you!" Niall plants a big kiss on Louis' cheek before squeezing through the mass of bodies atthe dance floor, heading for the centre of it all.Someone takes up the stool on Louis' left as soon as the old geyser previously in it evacuates thespace.
"Your boyfriend is very energetic."Louis looks up at this new somebody who has neatly trimmed hair and a slight shadow on hisstrong jaw. His face was easily described as square and rigid, the face of a man with little time forhimself.
"My boyfriend is just really excited to be at a club when all he does every day is work."
The attractive man with an expensive suit chuckles. "Why do you say it like that?"
"He's not my boyfriend." Louis' amused smile stays hidden behind the rim of his beer bottle.
"No?" The smirk that creeps onto this stranger's face is both enthralling and dangerously desirable.Later that night with the hardworking man in his bed after two rounds of some of the best sex eitherhas had, Louis is asked about the multiple marks his body carries.
His name is Anthony and heespecially likes burying his face in Louis' soft tummy, frowning as he investigates the four cuts onLouis' thigh."What happened here?" He gave the small injuries many kisses that made Louis giggle.
"I told you where I work." Louis cards through the soft jet black hair on Anthony's head.Louis couldn't tell Anthony the truth.
It was his baggage and he couldn't imagine burdeningsomeone as gentle as Anthony with it. "Oh baby."
"Don't worry about me."
"Why shouldn't I?" Anthony's blue eyes that were closer to navy than crystal, burned into Louis'eyes. "Can I take you on a real date tomorrow?"
Huh? "A date?"
"A date." Anthony's amused smirk is a true contender for any alluring smirk Louis' seen. "Should Irun you through the concept?"
"No, no." Louis giggles and turns over onto his side when he's given enough space. "I'd love to goon a date with you."
Anthony's triumphant face is beautiful. He grins and the scattered faint freckles on his cheeks getcloser as he leans down to kiss Louis, smiles on both their faces.Louis wakes up the next day to an empty but warm bed. He stays buried in the sheets for a whilelonger, hiding his face in the pillow that smelt of Hugo Boss and expensive fabric.
He also smellsbacon wafting through the apartment, along with something made of sweet batter and eggs. Niallcan't cook for shit so it certainly isn't him.
"Morning." He walks into the kitchen wearing a shirt that isn't his and nothing else, yawning thesleep away.
"I love your new boyfriend!" Niall attacks him with a confession from the kitchen counter, Anthonychuckling behind it.
"That's too bad because he's just a homeless guy I felt sorry for last night."Niall's never looked so heartbroken, angry and disappointed all in one glance before. Louis' willingto bet his net worth that the last time he saw Niall look that way was approximately thirteen monthsago when one of Niall's dates ate the last of the Nutella.
* * * * *
Louis' always had dodgy connotations hooked to the asylum's fine establishment. He never feltespecially energetic or proud to arrive at his place of work, but he's also never beenungrateful.The building remains where it's been for over two hundred years now, appearing bigger and moremonstrous with the dull morning hues painting over it. Louis stays in his car, fingers wrappedaround the steering wheel as he takes calming breaths and tries not to frighten the truthful nunswalking out of the building.
He hops out when he's certain he's ready to face this new day. It already feels heavier outside, likeit's ready to tear him apart piece by piece the minute he walks into the Madhouse. Due to this, hetakes his time walking up the staircase of thirty-seven steps towards the set of double doors that feellike burning hot iron from Hell.
A paramedic races out through those very doors and Louis has to pause in his step to let him pass."Hurry up!" The same medic shouts to obviously someone inside the Madhouse.Two breaths later both doors fly open and a gurney is carried out.
Louis rushes to step aside,gasping when the face of one of their patients stares unblinkingly up at him. Their eyes are pale andtheir lips are blue, face shot dead with paralysis.Louis sprints up the rest of the stairs and down the hallway, searching for a face that can explain tohim why Sir Edmund Hollick is dead. Edmund is a thirty-something year old chap with a lot left tobe desired, he was dying of a tumour and diagnosed with creepy perversion. Louis only spoke withhim once and that was enough.
"Dr. Murs!" Louis spots his former mentor re-entering his office after sighing and regretfullyshaking his head."Louis. Hey." He walks in with Louis to their office, granting the latter a brief distraction to keephim from staring emptily at his work desk.
"What happened?" Louis is fit enough to not be out of breath yet. "To Edmund. What happened toEdmund?"
Dr. Murs falls into his creaky old swivelling chair, lacing his crow fingers together under his chin.He looked older than his actual age and more tired than is good for him. "I don't know."
Louis gives him a blatant disbelieving glance, perching himself on a nearby rocky table afterdumping his bag on it.
"There was no blood." Dr. Murs says softly, hauntingly. "One of the Sisters phoned me and saidEdmund wasn't moving. I got here and the medic's declared him dead from a heart attack."
A heart attack? Louis' nose scrunches up to a wrinkly form while he considers this. A heart attackhas never been something that their patients ever suffered from, unless they were scared. Edmundwas too crazy to be concerned about worldly things so what was frightening enough to kill him?
"Are they opening a case?" Louis clears his throat and flexes his ankle that's gotten a little tightsince last night.
"If they do, it'll end up like Nick's."Louis bites his lip and thinks. He feels the irritating roughness of chapped lips and bits of dry flesh.In his uni days, he became good friends with one of the officers who came to investigate an oncampus major narcotics issue. Last Louis heard, Liam Payne was promoted to detective and boredat the office.
"Can we open a case?" Louis crosses his arms over his chest to block out the chill invading theconfines of his jacket.
"How?" Dr. Murs loved all his patients. He mourned any loss and too many were lost this yearwhich affected Louis as well.
"I can call in a friend." Louis offers, and he can see already that Dr. Murs is going to ask his wife tomake him another casserole. "He can come down here and work with our police department."
"Where's he from?" Dr. Murs asks, intrigued.
"Detroit." Louis licks his lips. "I'll give him on my break."
"Excellent. Uh- Take this-" The doctor scribbles down a note and hands it to Louis. "-to ReverendJames. Tell him to close off Edmund's cell."Although he was told the bare minimum of what to do, Louis got the hint and jogged out of the jointoffice into a ice cold hallway. Lonely people walked up and down, nurses and Sisters trying to gettheir jobs done so they can retire from this cursed institution.
Reverend James' office is two levels up and because of the absence of elevators, Louis had to take aspiral staircase that clung to an unstable tower wall. He was not fit enough to arrive at the stampeddoor without panting like a laboured dog.The Reverend is unhappy to comply but he does so anyway. Louis listens to him preach some minorpart of the Bible before thanking him and leaving with a signed acknowledgement of what he'spromised.
"You've got two meetings today." Dr. Murs did him the honour of fetching Louis' task files from thepigeon holes at the reception desk. "They're separated this time."Louis nearly drops his water bottle at the sound of that.
The last statement gets him close enough tothe realisation of who his two patients are today and of course it would be them. They'regetting released today and he needs to sign off on their sanity.
"Okay." He squeaks.The times of the meetings are 10h00 and 11h30. Morning meetings are not Louis' forte but bothStyles are scheduled for discharge at 14h00 so he has no choice. Dr. Murs has seen his notes, spentsome time being sympathetic along with half of Middleston. Louis still had to face this evil and hehad to face it today.
At 09h54 he stops scribbling points down for his thesis essay and grabs a black folder, pencil andtakes a large gulp of water. He puts a reminder on his iPhone to call Liam the detective as soon ashe's out of the first appointment - Harry.
Louis is not a coward but his hands can't stop shivering like a leaf in the wind when he's reachingout for the solitary compartment's door handle. The guards pretend not to notice and they allow himall the time he needs to unhook the door's lock.
"Wait here." Louis tells them both to stop them from following him into the cell. "I'll....scream if Ineed you."It isn't a joke but Bill looks amused anyway. Louis holds his bated breath and walks into the darkroom before slamming the door shut behind him.
It's dead silent inside after the door has settled on its ledge, the echo of cold metal shudderingdisappearing with the chirps of birds outside. Louis flips the light switch after feeling around thewall to his left for two seconds, eager to have light shed in this room of unsettling pitch blackness.He just manages to contain his deeply troubled gasp, one octave short of a shriek.
"Harry!" He can't help but screech and drop everything he's holding from sheer shock.
"Hey, petal." The man responds, utterly calm, with no shirt on and a steady frown present on hisfeatures.The walls have tallies all over them, varying from tiny to extra bold in size. Some strokes are darkerthan others and most are untidily scrawled onto the hard concrete.
The most striking fact is thatthey're all red and dripping, some crusted or dried in those blood rivers to the ground. They'rewithout a doubt written in blood, small quantities by the smell of pungent rust instead of gagworthy salt.
"Where were you yesterday?" Harry is seated on his thin mattress, one knee drawn up to his chestand the other bare foot on the ground.
"What is this?" Louis picks his things up off the dirty floor and leaves them on the table available tohim in the corner of the room.
"Where were you yesterday, petal?" Harry was glaring powerfully at Louis but it was alsosad and Louis couldn't for the life of him understand why.
"I-I...I was off work yesterday." Louis put on a frown of his own and stepped close enough to thewall with more tallies than the rest. "Answer my question. What's this?"Harry remained seated, eyes trained on Louis' body. "How many strokes are there?"
There had to be over a thousand, marking the pale green wall from vertex to vertice. "Too many."
"Two thousand two hundred, give or take." Harry's bed creaks as he pulls his legs under him in acriss-cross fashion. "One hundred and eighty for Wednesday. One thousand, four hundred and fortyfor yesterday. Five hundred and eighty for today."
Louis frowns as he tries to understand this wordless puzzle, extracting his phone from his pocket totake a picture of it. Harry doesn't object, or do much else but maintain his unhappy expression.
"What do you think it means?" Harry asks him, sounding like a malevolent hiss."I don't know." Louis says truthfully. "Whose blood is this, Harry?"
"You were off work yesterday?" Harry started to shake his head like he has told a lie and isnow fighting to defend it. "Edward said you weren't coming. I didn't believe him because whywould you- why would you do that? One stroke, one minute-"
He's started scaring Louis with the way his body rocked back and forth, shaking the whole bedcontraption and muttering away loudly. Louis pockets what he has in his hands and rushes to take aseat in front of Harry, kneeling with one knee on the filthy floor.
"Harry? Look at me, Harry." He's not sure about touching Harry right now so he tries speakingclearly in a voice that is probably used to tame wild horses.
Harry's eyes are as wild as said horses and he looks at Louis with stormy green marbles. He slowsdown. "My petal."
And then Harry's reaching for Louis and the boy doesn't think the look in Harry's eye means himany harm but that's what he thought before Wednesday too. He encircles Harry's wrist with his handand shakes his head.
"Who's blood is this?" Louis was desperate to know so he could at least rule out one mystery.
Harry meets Louis' eye, lips a little parted and gaze a little clouded over. He touches Louis' cheekwith his gentle fingertips. "Mine."
"Are you lying, Harry?" Louis had to check. He didn't see any visible injuries on Harry for all thisblood to come from somewhere.Harry shakes his head slowly and his fingers must touch something he isn't happy with because adisgruntled, scary sound rolls out of his chest. Louis feels the throb of a bruise being pressured onhis neck and he tries to pull away in time. That must be one of the new love-bites his body wasmarked with.
"Petal." Harry growled and it put permanent shivers in Louis' spine to run up and down,back and forth until there was nothing but the timeless drip of fear left behind. "You let someonetouch you."
When Louis tries to stand up, Harry holds his waist with a grip so tight it creates bruises. He pullsLouis down to him and keeps him pinned to his lap, petting over Louis' sides. Whenever Louisresisted, he squeezed too tightly and warned him with a glare.
"I waited for you." Harry inspected the neat red mark below Louis' jaw. "I waited for you and youlet some unworthy motherfucker touch you."
Louis had to get a word in edge wise. He took Harry's hands away from his bandaged neck and keptthem in his lap. "Listen to me, Harry."
Harry doesn't let Louis stop him when he leans in close to nuzzle the boy's neck. Louis smells ofwarm things, soft things and apples. He blankets over Harry's constantly aggravated, raw andunpleasant moods with this sweetness.
"You're leaving this place today, Harry." Louis shivered in the arms of his once upon a time attackerwho was breathing heavily into his neck and rubbing his back in an attempt to be comforting. "Youcan be nice and sweet, I know you can. Can you make me a promise, Harry?"
Harry's eyes are probably closed and his bulky arms constrict all the way around Louis' slenderhips. The curve of his bum is treated as nothing special and Harry hugs that area of him too. He'svery protective of his petal.
"Will you ever hurt someone again?" Louis asks in a low but shaky voice. He never thought in allhis years, that this is a place he'd end up."I'd hurt anyone for you, petal." He confesses groggily, clearly having no sleep or nutrition for toomany hours. "You and Edward."
"I don't want you to hurt anyone for me, Harry." Louis rushes his input."Why not?" Harry's voice has returned to the tone that Louis heard the first day he saw Harry. Coldand unkind.
"Because you can't take life, Harry." Louis puts it plainly, staring back at the set of emeraldsadmiring the blue fire in his eyes.
"I can." Harry bends Louis' neck at an angle that allows him to look at the bright red mark that'sbeen put there by someone else. "I'll find out who did this-" Harry touched it with his indexfinger. "-and I'll drive a hot poker through his stomach."
That's when Louis starts to squirm and push Harry away. One arm from the man is enough to stopall of Louis' strength from getting him away. The grip was inhuman, steel-harsh and impossible tododge. Louis began to struggle with the image of Anthony having a hot poker through him.
"It'll take longer to pierce his skin." Harry laughed. "It'll start clotting but there'll be too muchblood, too much damage. He'll bleed for a very long time, petal."
"Harry!" Louis got his chest free of Harry's hold but that was nothing against the rest of his captivebody."It'll be all your fault, petal." Harry touches Louis' chest, thumbing the boy's perfectly shaped collarbones.
"You could lock him up in a jewellery box and I'd still find him. Oh how silly you can be,petal."With a heart that's twice its regular size from the swell of trauma, Louis forces his way out ofHarry's hold.
He ends up with some more scratches on his hips and Harry following him to the door.Despite his speed, Harry pins him to the nearest wall easily."You won't tell anyone about our special night." Harry says it like a worldly truth, a universallyacclaimed theory. "You'll keep your best friend alive that way."
What?"The blond one?" Harry smiles the way Edward does but with the failing fluorescent bulbs abovetheir heads it looks more daunting. "Loud fellow with a gambling habit? If I know that even thoughI'm stuck in here-" Harry pries Louis' hands away from his waist so he can slip his rough handsunderneath his sweater. "-imagine what I'm capable of when I'm outside."
Louis' mind races at a thousand mile a minute rate. Niall's in danger and it's all his fault. Anthony'sdoomed and it's his fault. Louis had one option to keep them alive and he treasured his friend abovehimself so he'd do it for them.
"I won't hurt him." Harry continues, holding the bare skin of Louis' waist. "I won't touch a hair onyour mother's head. She's in town for a while, isn't she? I won't mutilate your beloved father or oldNeville at the train station."Harry says it all in a sing-song manner and it drives Louis up the wall with madness.
The hotfeeling startles his mind as it jumps around on a stick poking the corners of his head."I have a price, petal, for all this." Harry pulls the neck hole of Louis' sweater down to his nakedshoulder. "Belong to me."Harry's face is less than inches away from Louis'.
Their eyes take a long while to meet becauseLouis' are watery and stinging while Harry's are solid lava that burns anything on sight. Plump butcold lips graze Louis' cheek, making him swallow with enough gusto for it to hurt.
"I'll even strike a deal with you because after all this rehab, I feel enlightened."Harry picks Louis' legs up off the ground and plants them on his hips. He turns his head into Louis'neck and the boy let's his first tears roll down his face."I won't kill the bastard who touched you." Honest to whatever diety Louis once believed in, this isthe best news he's heard all day. "Answer me now and I won't touch anyone you love. Make mewait and he dies."
It's really not a difficult decision to make because Louis knows that going to the authorities withthis would do him a fat lot of nothing. The whole town knew about Harry and Edward Styles. Ittook two detectives' teams to bring them in and nobody survived but them. They'd all much rathersacrifice the boy from out of town than go through that again.
"Got an answer for me, petal?" Harry secures the opposite side of Louis' face, keeping him closeand in physical contact.Louis' lips quiver and the cold intake of air hurts his gritted teeth. He forces himself to stop crying,stop giving Harry the victory of knowing he's slowly tearing him up like tissue paper.
"Y-Yeah." Louis is nodding while Harry hoists him jerkily higher on his waist. He squeaks withfresh tears on his face when Harry's tentative grim expression becomes appeased.
"Yes you have an answer or yes is your answer?" Harry coaxes, needing to hear it in a sentence.
"Bo-Both." Louis swallows with a tight throat and feels the regret already welling in his chest.
"My petal." Harry's cursed and savage hands reach the back pockets of Louis' jeans. "Are theygoing to come in?"Louis throws his head back against the wall, staring at the bright light and hoping it will blind him.
"N-No."Harry slips his hands, both curious and large palms of calloused skin, between Louis' legs andsmirks at the boy's gasp. He rubs the tempting skin of Louis' thighs through the tight jean fabric,mindful of the bandage on Louis' neck while he hides his face there.
Louis shivered from the contact. He winced and whimpered like the touch made him feel dirty,horrible. Harry kept at it, completely entranced by the possibility of the sweetest skin he's everknown existing here on this beautiful boy.
"You'll get used to it, petal." Harry whispered with dark seduction that trapped Louis in anotherworld. "You'll want it all the time soon."Louis' nails dug into Harry's bare back, above his shoulder blades and between the well roundedbones that jutted out through his skin. He clung to the man's person with such a deep grip that it toreskin and made it bleed.
Harry groaned and punished Louis by tangling his fingers in his hair,yanking until his head but bent backwards at a painful nearly U-angle.He said nothing to Louis and his teeth sank into the mark that was pre-existing on Louis' neck. Hebit and sucked painfully until the mark was redder, bloodier and much bigger.
Louis blinked awayhis tears and began to breathe in broken gasps, pants that didn't fill his lungs fully.Harry lifted him higher in a throw and caught him on the short trip down. He unbuttoned Louis'jeans but left it at that and crashed down on Louis' mouth with his invasive, hard lips. Beingmomentarily distracted, Harry put both palms on the wall and pushed his tongue past Louis' lips,dragging his nails over Louis' thighs that had dropped to the ground with force. His eyeswere closed and his lips took turns harshly sucking on either of Louis' grabbing the boy's thighs andhiking it up again.
"You kiss me, petal, or you kiss my brother." Harry withdrew with his hand curled around Louis'throat. "I assure you, he's not as kind as I am."After that, Louis let's Harry do what he wishes. He kisses back with the thought of his family andfriends alive with happiness while he lives this misery. It's alright if he can learn to accommodate ituntil there's a solution.
Harry drops Louis' legs to the ground and made a low, almost demonic growl from the pit of hischest while he forced Louis' jeans and boxer briefs away. Louis started tearing up again and feltcold from the loss of clothing.
A warm body closed around him and he felt even colder.Vivid red lines from three fingernails ran down Louis' thigh now and Harry picked him up again,connecting their lips with the taste of salty tears and saliva mixing between them. When Louispulled away for air, Harry chased after him. He grinded between Louis' legs, almost hurting the boyin his haste to get them both aroused enough.
Louis took longer after it dawned on him that Harrywasn't going to do him a favour this time.Louis got no prep and no time to adjust. Harry showed his anger concerned his petal being touchedby any other person but immediately bucking his hips against Louis'. He pushed in slowly thoughbut the glimmer of hope that presented was extinguished soon enough. Harry held Louis' waist andfolded his legs, their hips banging together with a sweaty slide.
Harry felt big when he was faking Louis' rape but now, nestled so deep that he barely had to moveto nail his prostrate, he was huge. Louis hated feeling this full, this dirty on the inside andout. He couldn't scream but he bit Harry's lip like it had no feeling and pulled his hair like the nervetips were numb.
The fucking didn't end until Harry knew Louis would come too. Voluntarily or not, Louis' bodycould get aroused. Harry pulled almost all the way out and slammed all the way in so it stung and he moaned into Louis' ear from the raining pleasure in his bones. He pistoned hiships in wild bucks, fucking the air out of Louis and his precome into him.
Louis made no sound. He accepted Harry's rough kisses and let his insides be pushed and nudgedby an angry throbbing erection wanting to burrow inside him. His nails left crimson marks onHarry's shoulders and back. Harry felt his orgasm approach with magical speed and stopped histhrusting suddenly.
"Shut up." He saw the look in Louis' eye, the urge to scream. He cleared the table of Louis' thingsand threw him on it. "You scream, petal, and I'll have to hurt you."No threat has been as vagrant as that one, and it got Louis to immediately close his mouth. His backslammed against ice steel and the base became sore with a collision of it on the hard edge.
Harrystepped between his legs and loomed over him, in his head protecting his petal from anyone else.He curled his hands around Louis' thighs and started up his pace again, this time going for hard anddeep.
Shallow thrusts forgotten, Harry pounded Louis into the table and kept all their sounds in bykissing him. His petal tasted like him now.Louis came first and his body sagged afterwards. He felt Harry's kisses on his neck and up to hislips. Harry's hips stuttered and he came after pulling out, landing his seed on Louis' thighs.
"My petal." Harry picked Louis up off the table again and held him against him, rubbing Louis'back and kissing his shoulder.So he didn't fall with the exhaustion his body was slowing giving in to, Louis wrapped his armsaround Harry's neck. His legs began to slip and Harry hiked them higher, ignoring the damp residuebetween them. Louis had to hold on for the sake of so many people.