My hands folded together on my lap as I sat in the passenger seat. Harry wrapped his fingers around the steering wheel. It's been a while since I've seen this position. He -- like before -- had his left hand on the steering wheel, and the other rested on the gear stick. The bones of his jaw clenched tightly. His pale green eyes stared ahead in the road.
I looked out the window. The sights were beautiful. Everything about Florianopolis is so perfect. I inhaled deeply and turned to Harry to say, "This is so beautiful."
Harry nodded his head slowly. "I suppose." He never bothered to take his eyes away from the road.
A little scoff escaped my lips, the corners curving into a smile. "This is the part where you say like you."
He began to turn the wheel, rolling his eyes and shaking his head this time. "Be quiet."
We arrived somewhere down the street, and he parked the car behind a small store. I got out of the car just as he did. As expected, I followed him down the sidewalk with my eyes wandering the streets. I tried not to lag behind as much as I've done in the past.
Everyone that Harry and I walked by would peek a glance, or blatantly stare. I uncomfortable shifted my shoulders and hurried on the pace. Harry walked the sidewalks like it was nothing, a glare on his face. Whether it was from the burning sunlight or his anger, I'd never know. Maybe both.
A couple of men sat between two stores on turned over buckets or on the concrete. They were sitting down and chatting loudly, playing a game of cards. The group was about five men all shouting and throwing around money. A cigarette was in a man's mouth with dark black hair and dark skin, his eyes glancing up at me.
I was walking behind Harry when the man stopped the game of cards and smiled wickedly to himself. A breath hitched in my throat and I tried to walk past them with Harry right in front of me when the man stood and grabbed me.
At his touch, I squealed and heard him speak. His voice was gruff, but since I didn't speak Portuguese I had no idea what he was saying.
"Ey , menina bonita , vamos ter um pouco de diversão , não é?" He cackled harshly, my eyes widening with a closer examination of his face. A scar ran down from his left eyebrow to his mouth, his left eye now lazy and droopy because of it.
I twisted my hand in his grip, wincing before I heard Harry's voice.
"Deixar de ir la agora , ou eu atirar em você certo entre os olhos."
I gasped in both shock and terror. Harry's voice must've been a joke to the man because he snickered, and his buddies laughed behind him in amusement. But then, the men took a closer look at Harry and all the amusement ceased on his facial features.
The man's dark eyes widened in absolute horror. "A tatuagem de cobra! Você tem a tatuagem de cobra! Aqui , tem a garota , você homem horrível!"
Harry clenched his jaw and grabbed my wrist in his own hand. He pulled me away with him down further the street. My lips parted and I panted with astonishment.
"What did he say that made him so scared?" I asked him hurriedly, grabbing his own wrist and trying to tug off his hold on me. "What did you say to him?"
He continued walking, anger visible on his face. "He knows who I work for, is all."
"How?"
He groaned and entered a shop, inevitably pulling me inside as well. "Stop asking so many questions, Catalina. You know I detest that."
"I'm sorry. If it's not a big deal, just tell me." I persisted.
The store we had entered consisted of various computer parts and boxes of new ones with sale signs on them, probably in Portuguese. I sighed in relief when I realized it was air-conditioned. It became really hot out side, especially with that encounter.
Harry, however, began to walk towards the back of the store with me behind him. He glared at a box on a shelf, reading off the language I don't nearly understand but he apparently knows well enough to threaten a strange man.
With my curiosity eating me alive, I grabbed Harry's hand gently and peered up at him. Harry's jaw tensed and he gazed down at me, removing his hand from mine. "Please?"
"Why are you so curious?" He asked lowly, inhaling deeply. I shrugged my shoulders in response. "The tattoo on my neck," he explained. My eyes averted to the area he spoke of. "The cobra on my neck is the mafia's tattoo. Everyone that works for your father has one."
I frowned. "I've never seen it on another man be--"
"They tattooed it somewhere you can't see it. But they have it, trust me." Harry assured me hurriedly. "Now let's find a computer and leave. We can't be out in public too long. It's unnecessary and dangerous."
+
Working with Harry becomes tough when he puts it on himself to do most of the work. However, I get started by kicking off my shoes and starting to plug things in where they go. I go to pick up the instruction manual, but Harry rips it from my hand and tosses it behind him, staring down at the computer screen with focused eyes.
"Don't bother reading that shit," he murmured.
I had the nerve to laugh lightly at this. Harry glanced at me briefly with a slight curve at the corner of his mouth. At this, my stomach did flips and my heart beat sped up somewhat rapidly, all within that quick second we shared. I turned away before my cheeks could go red. Harry didn't know what his moods did to me.
The mess he made earlier was still on the floor. I sighed to myself and went into the kitchen to find something to clean it with. I found trash bags and a broom. Shortly after, I got to work. With my back to Harry, I bent over and picked up the bigger pieces. Harry really did tear this computer apart.
"Fuck," I heard Harry mutter. If it weren't for the complete silence, I would have missed him vocalize his annoyance. A slight frown appeared on my face and I quickly turned.
"What's wrong?"
Harry's eyes were focused on the screen, his lips pressed into a firm line. I squinted my eyes at him before he quickly snapped, "Nothing."
Ignoring whatever was wrong with him and the computer, I went back to cleaning up some of the bigger pieces. Once they were in the bag, I tossed the bag to the side and got down on my knees. With the broom and dustpan, I bent over and gathered the small pieces.
"Fuck, Catalina, can you not fucking bend over in those shorts?" Harry rasped out quite irritatingly.
My cheeks flushed bright pink and I soon realized I was wearing the pair of denim shorts my father used to scowl at me for because they were too short. With my heart logged in my throat, I awkwardly stood up and refused to look at him. He probably thinks I meant to start something; one of my tricks like the robe incident. But this was purely innocent.
Our silence prolonged for another five minutes as I finished cleaning up. All done, I walked over and stood behind Harry as he continued to click on various things on the bright screen.
"So what's first?" I asked him, almost eagerly, but I pushed away my stupidity and shoved it down my throat.
Harry typed a password into a program he had just installed into the computer with a flash drive. "I have to track the very last things done on the program. Whatever the source was doing on the program, we're about to find out."
I loved when he said we're. That meant he considers me apart of this investigation regardless how much it took to have him agree. I decided to stand beside him, pressing my hands against the desk and leaning forward, reading off the screen quietly to myself.
"So that would be where you'd find the information Liam and Zayn would send you?" I pointed somewhere to the screen, wondering if my suspicions were right. After receiving no answer, I turned my head to find Harry gazing over at me already. "What?" I questioned softly.
He stared for a few seconds before averting his eyes to the screen and his now husky tone rasped out, "Yes." Harry leaned back in his chair, and I managed to look away with a slight frown and focus on the screen once more.
"Okay," I sighed. "And what's been happening recently?"
"Just a couple of backgrounds on mafias that seem relevant is all." Harry grunted as he stretched his arms and folded his hands behind his head of curls. "For example, Hannah Diamond leads her guys all in search for profit. She does anything and everything illegal to get money."
I frowned. "Are you saying I'm worth money?"
"That might be the case, but we can't assume. There are many different possibilities."
"True," I hummed, staring at the screen. "What else have you fou---"
There was a large crash near the window that made me shriek and nearly trip over my own feet, however I didn't land on the floor, more like on Harry's lap.
"It was the window, Catalina," Harry murmured.
I stroked a strand of my blonde hair behind my ear, pressing my lips together as I blushed furiously. "Yeah..." I whispered, highly embarrassed. When I felt his hands grasp my hips, I shuddered and inhaled shakily.
However, he only did it to get me off of him. Or so I thought. When I decided to get off him before he shouts at me, his grasp tightened on my hips. I sat there stiffly, eyes falling wide with my lips parting. Harry shifted and sat up straighter, his lips brushed over the bare skin of my shoulder.
I felt his hot breath fan against my skin and I gulped. "Harry, what are you doing?" I asked softly.
He sighed, the air from his nose being felt across my skin that was filled with goosebumps. "I don't know," he muttered. I closed my eyes and inhaled deeply. Just feeling so close to him made my stomach flutter. My skin felt so heated with touch and the warmth that radiated off of him. "I think you should get off of me," he rasped quietly.
"Then let go of me," I whispered.
I heard and felt him sigh once again. "I should probably do that."
"Yeah..."
When he let go of my hips, I stood up and stood beside him. Even though I'd sit right back down and kiss his plump, pink lips. The thought of them gave me butterflies in my stomach, and I burned like a light bulb beside Harry.
He coughed and then rasped, "So there was?"
"Yeah, um...I...what else did you find?"
note// l-o-l. vote and comment.
goodnight ;)