Actions always count more than a thousand words and it's been settled that the right words failed to come out of y/n's mouth so she came to terms with the fact that she might have another chance to make amends if she did something instead of saying it. The best idea she had was to scurry into the kitchen bright and early to occupy the chef's place for breakfast. Armed with what she'd learned from Pearl and whatever was in the fridge and pantry, y/n had prepared a hefty spread of food ready by the time Harrison asked the chef for it.
She pushed the loaded trolley out of the kitchen, her heels marking her every step as usual while her heart thudded harshly against her ribcage the closer she got to the man's office. But, why though? It was just Harrison. Second-guessing and overthinking began to invade her mind and she almost stopped a few feet away from the dark wooden door. That was until one of the kitchen porters walked past her and opened the door for her, announcing the food arrival to get permission to enter the room.
The girl took in a deep breath when the man opened the door wider for her, Harrison wasn't at his desk and as soon as y/n was inside the room the porter closed the door, leaving her alone with Harrison. This time she knew about the nook behind the door so she turned when she stopped the trolley by his desk. He was leaning against one of the wall cases with his eyes fixed on a black binder, "Lay everything down, Noel. I'll be out in a minute." He said without tearing his sight from the paper. She nodded to herself and began to unload the plates on his already clear desk, "What are you doing?" His voice caused her to suck in a breath in surprise, a glass of freshly squeezed orange juice in her hand as she turned to face him.
He was standing still halfway towards the desk, looking at her with a quizzical expression, one brow lifted and head slightly tilted to the side. Y/n's eyes scanned the man in front of her, giving her the chance to really look at him. His glasses propped perfectly on the bridge of his nose, his hair slicked back and properly fixed, it looked professionally done, she noticed that it was shorter than the day before. The black rolled up neck top he was wearing marking a huge difference in his appearance from the usual white button-ups he always wore. Black fitted trousers and black boots made him blend in with his security.
"Truce." She said simply when she finished eyeing him up, extending her arm forward offering the glass to him.
"Uh?" The blonde looked down at the glass then back at her, his confusion still lingering.
"A peace offering. Truce." Her arm was still extended and she was getting impatient the longer he took to grab the juice.
"You brought my food in as a peace offer?" Harrison furrowed his brows a bit, taking the remaining steps towards y/n and grabbing the glass from her hand. His eyes boring into hers.
"No. I made your food as a peace offer." She corrected and Harrison's brows shoot up, surprise evident in his subtle reaction. "Tom wants us to get along. I'm willing to put our troubles aside for him."
"Oh, so this is for Tom?"
"For us." She admitted before she could stop herself, her eyes widened subtly when she realised what she just said, "The three of us. For the business to run smoothly." The girl desperately tried to fix it. Why was she suddenly not good with words was a whole mystery to her, and the more he held her gaze the more awkward she felt, so she turned to grab the trolley and exit the room.
"You're not gonna stay?" He asked, walking closer to his desk.
"That's the plan."
"'M not gonna finish all of this myself." He looked at the spread then back at her. The girl diverted her gaze from his to the side then to her hands gripping the handle of the trolley, her thumb tapped the metal bar anxiously. "C'mon, princess. Take a seat." He offered, pulling at his chair with his free hand and pointing at the empty chairs in front of the desk with the one that still held the glass she handed him. She thought about it, long and hard, harder than the situation required. "Truce?" He said, still standing beside the chair. Y/n nodded her head, her eyes stuck on his. "Sit then."
Her lips twitched to a pout as her jaw clenched and relaxed when she swallowed, her hands let go of the trolley to step closer to the chair in front of him. Y/n didn't speak for a while, shyly reaching for pieces of food to eat, watching him closely, intrigued by the way he would react to her cooking. She tried to bite back the proud smirk that tugged at her lips when he took a mouthful of the fluffy omelette and nodded his head approvingly. It took them a good while to downsize the spread to a few pieces on each plate, they had resorted to sharing the juice and the coffee, if that wasn't bonding then y/n didn't know what could possibly be.
"I can't eat more." Harrison sighed, leaning back on his chair with his hand rubbing his stomach. "That was really good. Where did you learn to cook?" He asked softly, the way he was looking at her waiting for her answer with a set of sparkly eyes made her look down at the almost empty plates.
"With Pearl." She said simply, not wanting to elaborate on the reason. He knew enough of her past already for her to let him in on more details.
"Hmm... " The blonde man nodded, pressing his lips in a tight line for a couple of seconds then released them, "You're really close to her, aren't you?" He tried to make her talk more, not only because he was still intrigued by her but for her to feel a little more at ease with him.
"Are you filing a report on my life or something?" She narrowed her eyes at him, not trusting why he had to ask such personal questions whenever she sat with him for more than twenty minutes.
"Uh no—"
"Then why'd you ask so many fucking questions?" She grumbled, completely forgetting what she had said earlier about making peace with him. It just irritated her that he wanted to dig into her life, he was nothing special to her, he hadn't earned the blind trust badge just yet and she doubted he ever will.
Harrison's left brow rose and he locked his jaw. A deep breath filled his lungs as he tried his best not to snap the way she had done. "So much for making peace, eh?" He mumbled, getting up from his seat and walking back towards the small storage resuming his previous occupation on the big files leaving her on the desk. The girl's heart began to pound when he reminded her of the truce she had just offered, her palms began to sweat when she saw him get up and walk away from her peripheral view, could anything else she did right at that moment not go well? Frustration filled her body and she cursed under her breath, rolling her eyes so far into her skull that it almost hurt to bring them back.
She got up and turned around to look for him, not finding him immediately. Y/n tangled her arms across her middle and walked towards the corner of the room to catch him thumbing through the same binder he had on his hands when she first came in. "I'm sorry. I just hate talking about me." She tried to sound calm but she failed, her tone coming out abrasive. His head lifted from the pages, his gorgeous eyes scanning her face for a few long seconds before he let out a sigh, as if frustrated.
"Right. Won't ask anything, then." He said simply, returning his gaze to the binder. She couldn't decipher the tone of his voice, he sounded bored, uninterested almost. Her teeth nibbled at the skin inside her lip as her fingers dug into her bicep.
"Is there something I can help you with?" She was determined to not let this peace trade fail. She couldn't fail, not in front of him.
"Hmm, don't think so."
"Osterfield, c'mon. For Tom." She threw Tom's name out in hopes for the blonde to soften a little. He remained silent but seemed to be thinking about it, taking too long for y/n's liking. He turned towards the tall shelf and searched over the spine of the hundreds of tagged binders, stretching to reach one on the very top level pressed by a good few on each side of it.
"Do some digging on this guy. He worked for a partner named Dexter King, he's working with someone else now. I want you to find out who." He ordered, and y/n felt her throat begin to close with fury at the way he just bossed her but before she could even take a breath to give him a piece of her mind he beat her to speak, "Can you do that for me, princess?" He asked, and the way the sentence came out of his pink lips made her throat completely close but with the opposite feeling of fury, her cheeks were beginning to tinge with crimson so she took the binder from him and turned around away from his intense stare.
"I'll see what I can do." She forced herself to say through the knot in her vocal cords. Her heart attempting to climb its way up her larynx, she was worried that if she dared to cough to get rid of the knot, the organ would easily jump right out of her mouth and fall at her feet ridiculously enough.
"Thank you, angel." Harrison thanked her lovingly, his voice coated with sticky, sickly honey that sped up the process of blushing. Y/n felt the need to hit him for faking he liked her so well that had an effect on her. Her fingers drained of blood circulation as she gripped the binder tightly in order to suppress the urge to punch him. The girl hummed and pressed her lips together in a thin line before she turned to leave.
"I'll send someone to clean up." She informed and walked out of the man's office in a hurry. The dumb feeling in her stomach came back and it bothered her to no end, the things she tolerated for Tom were a lot but this was a bit too much and he wasn't even here, the only thing he had said before leaving was "Don't kill each other." and she was feeling the contrary and that bugged her more than if she felt like she wanted to smash the man's head in. From her annoyed state, she delayed on noticing the relentless ringing of her phone, Tom's name took over the screen and her thumb easily swiped over the green button lifting the device to her ear. "You owe me big time, Thomas." She couldn't help but open the conversation with a reproach.
"Hi, Tom! It's been so long, I miss you. How have you been? When are you coming home?" Tom said ironically, causing the girl to sigh and reconsider her opening sentence.
"Shut up." She grumbled, but the small smile that tugged at her lips was impossible to fight. "When are you coming home?" Y/n had made it to the top of the stairs where she stopped, looking down at the empty living room downstairs.
"That's why I'm calling actually." Tom's voice sounded apologetic already and he hadn't even said anything really. "Uh, I talked to Anderson earlier," He paused, Anderson was the manager of one of Tom's clubs in Scotland. "And things are looking a little murky over there so, I gotta fly there as soon as I'm finished here." He finished explaining.
"But it won't take long, will it? You'll be home soon." Her eyes landed on a pair of green ones that were staring back at her from the very bottom of the stairs.
"I hope so, yeah." Her friend said, "How are things over there? Have you killed him yet?"
"Just waiting for the right moment to do so." She mumbled, tearing her gaze from James' and turning to walk towards her bedroom. Tom's chuckles filled her ear and she smiled a little wider at the sound. "Seriously, I don't know why he's your best friend." She kept nagging.
"You'll get it soon. Blink twice and you'll be caught in his charm." The brunette half-joked
"Charm? Yeah, right." The girl rolled her eyes at Tom's word of choice for Harrison. What was charming about him? The way he could pretend to be okay with her presence? The way he pretended to care for what she had to say all of the sudden? All that was new behaviour but he didn't fool her. Maybe confuse her but not fool her. At least is what she'd like to think.
"You just wait, mate." Tom snickered, clearing his throat after to carry on with another conversation. He filled her in with everything that had happened so far on his trip, transferring a few files to her to double-check for him. "Just give them a check and tell me if you see anything wrong."
"Sure, just give me some time. I've got something to deal with first." She commented casually, her phone now on the desk as she typed the name on the binder on their intel program search.
"Did something happen?" The man's tone changed from a little tired and lazy to a slightly alarmed one.
"Uh, there was a little disturbance in Harrison's distillery the other night. I'm just looking into something." Her nails clicked against the keyboard as she absently answered Tom's question without thinking, her eyes scanning the screen as it started to load very little information about the man.
"Oh, so you're working together? That's really good news, y/n." She could hear the grin in his voice and she furrowed her brows at her phone.
"No. I'm not working for him. I'm just looking into something." She said defensively, her eyes still glaring at the phone as if Tom could see her.
"Never said you were. I said working together."
"Whatever." She rolled her eyes, beginning to read the information when both of them fell silent. "Well, I won't take more of your time. Bye." She hung up on him before he could answer, not wanting him to start bugging her about it. Her glassy eyes read carefully all the information, her nails annoyingly tapping on the desk. The more she read the less she understood, but maybe it was the fact that she didn't really know what the whole story was. Yes, Harrison said the man used to work for one of his partners but the information she was reading was only about the man's time with Dexter King and really nothing else. Y/n resorted to calling up and personally asking to have the man looked at with Tom's Scandinavian security partners.
In the meantime she focused on the files Tom had sent her, approving some and marking others down for a deeper look at. A knock on the door prompted her to tear her burning eyes from the computer screen, she tiredly pushed herself off the chair by supporting her palms on the desk and padded to the door. Her face was almost levelled with Noel's chest so she was forced to look up to find his face. "Yes?" She raised her brow expectantly.
"Boss asks if Miss would like to join him for lunch." He said politely, a faint smile tugging at his lips when she furrowed her brows slightly diverting her eyes to the side down the hallway. She tapped her bare foot on the carpet before nodding her head yes, for Tom she said in her mind. Noel stepped to the side opening his arm to the side, gesturing for her to come out.
"Just let me get my shoes." Y/n sighed going back to her desk, leaving the door open while she quickly put her heels back on. She thought he would guide her to the dining room but Noel turned left instead of right, walking towards Harrison's office causing confusion to rise in the girl making her fall a couple of steps behind as she looked to the right then to the left again where Noel had stopped midway and was looking at her.
"This way, Miss." He tilted his head towards the hallway with a small, friendly smile on his face. Y/n took big steps to be by his side and finished the walk to the room together, waiting for Noel to open the door for her as he announced her. Harrison was at his desk this time, he wasn't wearing his glasses anymore and the long sleeves of his top were bunched up around his elbows. His hair still looked perfect, it seemed like the longer it was the more he played with it because the way she had seen it styled that morning remained immaculate. "Food will arrive shortly." Noel said, bringing her back to real-time prompting her to walk closer to the desk and plop down on the one chair she seemed to have been occupying more often than she fancied.
Silence cursed the room, her entrance seemed to turn the air a little stuffy, not enough to suffocate them but sufficient to make them both shift in their seats a tad uncomfortable. Noel and an even younger man entered the room again, they carried trays with plates and glasses, setting them on the clean desk. Harrison was leaning back on his chair, occupied looking at his phone with a blank face, his fingers flying across the screen. She saw him clench his jaw briefly before he sighed, pressing the side button to lock the device, he put it down on the desk next to the intercom and straightened his back up.
He seemed a bit out of it for a few minutes as they started eating, the way he was just staring blankly at a focus point beside her while he absently chewed made her lean to the side to get off of his peripheral because it felt like he was staring at her and the sole thought of him staring at her made her feel so awkward it was causing her to lose her appetite. He must have seen her move because he blinked twice then shifted his eyes towards her, his jaw loosening and his blank expression changing. "How's the food?" He asked, his London street accent coming out thick throwing her off a bit, she's never heard him speak that way, he was always well articulated and his slightly posh accent always stood out.
"Bangin'." She taunted in her best South-West London accent, her brow lifted daringly at him as she brought her glass of water up to take a sip. Harrison tilted his head and he couldn't help but snicker at her response, he knew he had said the sentence a little too street but he didn't expect her to answer the same way, but she lived with Tom so it was understandable that she did.
"Have you talked to Tom?" He asked, letting the faint smile linger on his face as he focused fully on the girl in front of him. This time her hair was down unlike this morning that she had it thrown in a tight bun at the base of her neck. The loose waves that bent the ends of her hair looked as if she had put a lot of effort into the styling, but he was sure she just removed the elastic band that held her bun together earlier.
"Yeah, this morning actually." She nodded subtly, her gaze was fixed on her plate while she poked and pushed the food around it.
"Really? Is he coming back this weekend as he planned?"
"No." She murmured making Harrison's smile fade.
"Did something go wrong?"
"Not overseas, but something's up in Scotland so he's heading there as soon as he's done where he is right now." She explained, lifting her gaze when he laughed through his nose. "What?" Her brows furrowed at him and he pointed at his laptop, turning it a little for her to see. There was an email that read 'urgent' as the subject, she recognised Tom's email and waited for him to click on it. The man turned his laptop back to him as his eyes scanned the message.
"I'll be gone for a few more days. Take care of y/n or ima kill you." Harrison read out loud, he omitted the P.S Tom left at the bottom of the email and hid the window behind his opened files.
"Ugh. He's just so..." She rolled her eyes, annoyed that her best friend felt the need to send that message to Harrison, out of all the people that could 'take care' of her.
"Paranoid?" Harrison spoke, causing y/n to scoff then chuckle, a beautiful smile adorning her face as she looked up at him, she quickly pressed her lips together to try and contain the genuine gesture, his eyes fixed on her brought a pleasant warmth to her cheeks so she turned her gaze back to her plate.
"Yeah, paranoid." She nodded, a sigh left her lips as she raked her fingers through her hair, pushing it back out of her face.
"He's got a reason to be." He said, shifting on his seat, his right elbow resting on the table as he stared at her, his chin coming to rest between his thumb and index finger.
"And what would that be?" The girl scoffed, looking at him with a pair of daring eyes.
"Is you, he's paranoid about, angel." He answered quickly, tilting his head to the side when her eyes glided to the side, glancing past him and out of the window. "As much as you hate it, everyone around you is on guard. Ready to protect you."
"Everyone?" She inquired, arching a brow at him, her eyes squinting slightly. The faint smile that graced Harrison's face was irritably precious as if it was genuine. It was hard for her at times to pinpoint what was true about him and what he did, what parts was he pretending and which ones were sincere.
"Everyone." He confirmed smoothly, his seemingly kind eyes danced between her glassy and conflicted ones. It was hard to believe his words, but the longer she stared into his eyes the more she felt that awkwardness and doubt disappear. What would their relationship turn out to be if she trusted him? If she believed he was being honest? If she believed that he was on guard and ready to protect her when danger came her way, she'll lower her own guard. He was slowly demolishing her tough front and she was letting him do it. Maybe it was the way her stomach flipped, her heart rate picked up or the blush that made her face feel so warm whenever he was nice. Charming even. Either way, he was slowly inching closer to her and she had good moments of resistance but sometimes, he managed to break a little more of that wall she had trapped herself in.