It was 6:33 pm when Harry walked out of Tomlinson's delivery entrance to hail a cab. He knew the exact time because he'd been fiddling with the modified version of one of the latest versions of iPhone prototype Jenna in Design had thrust upon him earlier, which he barely cares about anyway.
"With all the top qualities software... encrusted with Tomlinson diamonds, of course!" the woman had enthused.
"How much is it worth?" Harry had breathed, fingering the stone-studded back of the mobile.
"This one is only a prototype. The stones are CZs instead of real diamonds. It's for a man who has everything."
Now Harry grimaced as he swiped through the device. Was he officially a man who has everything?
Well, you do have Zayn Malik. Most people will kill for that.
He nearly dropped the phone when someone suddenly grabbed his arm.
"Xander! What are you-" He snapped his mouth shut at the dark anger contorting Xander's face.
"I've been hearing things, Harry. Interesting things about you and Zayn Malik."
He glanced about, alerting Harry the fact that the alley was deserted. Harry was alone with Xander in a darkened alleyway, away from prying eyes. Harry swallowed his apprehension and hoisted his bag back on his right shoulder.
"What things?"
A sharp wind blew past, and Xander shoved his hands in his pockets. "How you and Zayn are getting along a little too well."
"So?" Harry blinked. "The papers are full of that stuff, doesn't mean they're right."
"Oh, I know the difference between fact and fiction." He gave Harry a devious grin, full of wicked intent. "I have proof."
Harry's mouth went dry, "What proof?"
"Does Wednesday night, executive elevators, ring any bells?"
Harry's heart swelled up, pounding in the back of his throat. Through the shock, he saw Xander smile. "Funny, I'd never peg Malik for a ten-minute guy. But then, I have intimate-" his eyes swept Harry's body appraisingly "-knowledge of you. He probably couldn't control himself."
Shock yielded quickly into anger. "What do you want?"
"You focusing on our deal," Xander snapped. "Malik has been meeting secretly with the board and the Tomlinsons. The bastard's trying to get proof so he can fire me. And if he does, I'll bring you down, Harry. Don't doubt that. All it takes is one phone call and you'll have a dozen reporters on your doorstep."
"I already have," Harry snapped, his heart skipping a beat. "What else can you say that hasn't already hit the papers?"
Xander rocked back on his heels, a triumphant gleam in his eyes. "Oh, I think the public would be interested to hear all about our 'relationship', especially now that you and Malik are bedmates."
The sound of the rough knuckle meeting Xander's face echoed in the cold air. The imprint of Harry's hand slowly reddening before Harry's disgusted eyes, his shock only confirming what Xander already knew. Xander barked out a triumphant laugh, a horrible "gotcha!" sound at Harry's look of horror.
"It's funny- you getting cosy with the guy who's blocking your transfer."
Xander's verbal bomb exploded deep inside Harry. As he numbly shook his head, Xander shrugged. "When I asked Lottie for an update, she said Zayn Malik put a hold on your transfer indefinitely."
"I don't believe you!"
"Go ask him. Oh, and that slap will cost you, babe. You and your boyfriend. Ten thousand to start. Or I'll release the tape to the papers."
The press. Oh my...
The pieces suddenly fell into place with a resounding click. "You!" Harry said. "You're the press leak."
Xander gave him a slow, controlled clap. "Well done, Harry. My own secretary to first to figure it out. Pity you can't do anything about it."
"Why, Xander? You have a good job, an excellent job. What on earth made you betray the Tomlinsons' trust?"
Xander gave Harry a scattering look. "Johannah Tomlinson thought she was so bloody untouchable with her boardroom politics and holier-than-thou kids. The woman had a string of men yet she had the nerve to include a morality clause then lecture me on personal ethics, to reprimand me for sleeping with her staff. It was none of her bloody business."
So you leaked stories to the press to get back at her. The plane crash. Charlotte's wedding..."
"Yep. And soon the details of Harry and Zayn's little affair." His eyes gleamed. "It'll be the lead on every news channel in the country, possibly even the world."
"Unless Zayn pays up."
"Unless he pays up. And you, babe," he added, his expression turning triumphant, twisting his features into a snarl, "are my leverage."
****
Zayn knew the moment Harry turned up on his doorstep that something was wrong.
"Why are you blocking my transfer?" he gritted out as he strode inside.
Zayn closed the door with a gentle click then pointed the remote to the TV. The split screens flickered off.
"Who told you?"
"Xander."
"Ah."
"So? Is it true?"
"Yes."
Harry shot Zayn a look of venom laced with haughty pride. "Why? Why would you do that?"
"Why are you suddenly concerned about what that man says?"
"Because I've just spent ten minutes listening to his demands. And don't change the subject. Why-"
"What demands?"
"He has a security tape of us in the elevator."
"I see."
The lines of Zayn's face tightened and Harry breathed in quick, sharp. "He's also the press leak."
Harry waited for rage to explode, but all he got was a raised eyebrow. Zayn said, "That I suspected."
Harry blinked. "You did?"
Zayn nodded. "I've had him under surveillance. And I've been meeting with the board outside Tomlinsons'. It's amazing what people will let slip when they're relaxed." He reached for the phone and dialled.
"What are you going to do?"
"Get him arrested."
After a few minutes, he hung up and swung to face Harry with a considering look. "Is that all?" he asked softly.
Harry blanched. "Why?"
"Because a tape of us does not make a huge scandal, considering we're now engaged. What else does he have on you?"
Harry tried to swallow past the lump on his throat. "Does it matter?"
"It matters."
Harry closed his eyes briefly then opened them again, meeting Zayn's steely gaze without flinching. "What I was working for Xander I slept with him, okay? I breached my morality contract. A dumb, stupid thing to do. Then I put in for the temporary PR job and thought he'd let me go but..." Harry trailed off in the face of Zayn's silence. "You knew, didn't you?"
"Xander enlightened me about your relationship when I fired him yesterday."
"He-" Harry swallowed a thick wad of disgust in his throat. "Did he also tell you he was blackmailing me to spy on you?"
"No." It wasn't the matter-of-fact way Zayn had said that one small word; it was the flash of suspicion crossing his face. "Did you tell him anything?"
Harry's heart plunged. "If I said no would you believe me?"
Doubt was quickly replaced by a cold, remote expression, so eerily familiar that it cut Harry more surely than Xander's threats ever could. "So why bother asking? You've already made up your mind."
Zayn's uncertainty in Harry's innocence wounded Harry to the core. Hadn't Harry gone against every deeply held belief he had and said yes to a marriage, even when he knew it'd only end in failure a year from now? Didn't Zayn realise how much it had taken for Harry to say yes?
You love him.
At that tiny spark of realisation, Harry's whole body leapt with joy. But just as quickly, pain sent it crashing to the ground. No, Harry couldn't, he wouldn't. How could he fall in love with a man who would never return it? A man who thought marriage was just another requirement to tick off on his to-do list, who had brokered it to save a company?
A company you love, Harry's conscience niggled. A company where you felt you belonged, working with people whom you've come to like and respect. But all that didn't mean squat, not when Zayn was standing right there, waiting for Harry to say something, as if daring him to prove his wild claims.
Slowly Harry withdrew the mobile phone from his coat and gently placed it on the kitchen bench. "I'm not lying, Zayn. Here's your proof."
Harry's dignified exit was foiled when Zayn grabbed his arm before he could reach the door.
With a sharp hiss, he twisted, only to still at the serious look in Zayn's eyes. "Stay. Let me hear this first."
"I'll be out on the balcony." Craving the cold, sharp bite of air, Harry opened the sweeping glass doors and walked outside. Behind him, in the hollow silence, he could hear his tinny voice as Zayn played back the recording of him and Xander in the alleyway.
Ten minutes later, Zayn had managed to put a lid on his simmering anger as he crossed the threshold to the balcony. The sight of Harry framed against the darkening storm clouds stopped him short. Harry was propped against the railing, his forehead resting on his arms as they hung limply over the edge. It was the stance of someone close to defeat, to complete and utter exhaustion.
In the blink of an eye, Zayn's anger dissipated, whatever details he'd been about to demand escaping his lips in a small sigh.
"Why didn't you come to me with this?"
Harry raised his head abruptly but didn't turn around. "It was personal. What we have is purely business."
A band of something he couldn't define tightened around Zayn's chest.
Harry turned then, crossing his arms. "So you believe me."
Lord, he unmanned Zayn with his searching eyes. Zayn swallowed. "Yes."
The intensity of Harry's relief surprised Zayn. Yet it also revealed that Harry needed Zayn to believe he was innocent, that his trust meant something to him.
Zayn had never thought that one person's opinion could count for so much, could affect him so profoundly. And in that moment, pleasure swamped him.
"Xander said you were refusing to approve my transfer."
Harry's soft statement, devoid of accusation, sent a shot of guilt along Zayn's spine. "You've heard the expression, Keep your friends close, your enemies closer?"
"Zayn. I'm not-"
"I sensed something going on between you and Xander, something you were hiding." Zayn dragged a hand through his hair then rubbed the back of his neck, pausing to warily eye Harry. After a brief hesitation, he said, "I promised to the Tomlinsons I'd find their leak."
Guilt tore at Harry's conscience. Zayn was so used to running his own show that explaining himself was obviously foreign to him. It showed in every line of his scowl to the harsh gruffness of his voice.
"I'm sorry," Harry said, "but I needed to save my job. For my family." Harry stared across in the darkness, at the dancing lights of London. "I know it's no excuse but-"
Zayn covered Harry's cold hands in his. To his amazement, the simple touch exuded comfort.
"You're a strong person, Harry," Zayn said at length.
"Not out of choice."
Zayn's eyes met Harry's in gentle acknowledgement and Harry held his breath, one second, two, before voicing the question teetering on his tongue.
"Tell me about your mother."
Zayn abruptly broke eye contact. For one unbearable moment, Harry thought Zayn was going to shut him down.
Don't, don't, don't. Tell me because you want to, Zayn. Not because you have to.
When Zayn finally spoke, his voice was so low the air practically vibrated. "Tricia drifted with the seasonal work- fruit picking, mostly. Then cash-in-hand stuff like cleaning and bar work. I remembered being on the road a lot, different houses and rooms, lots of takeaway places.
"One time I asked why we always had to leave." He sucked in a slow breath as though the admission pained him. "I can still hear her voice, see the sadness in her eyes, almost as if she were ashamed. 'Because I'm afraid what will happen if we get caught,' she said. I assumed it was about her abusive boyfriend. We finally stopped running when I was ten. In a town they never fully accepted her." Zayn remained silent for the longest time, torn between the wisdom of keeping silent and the desperate need to finally have done with it. With clenched fists, he took the first terrifying step and advanced on.
"By the time she married, I was uncontrollable, on the path to a criminal record. Maybe she thought I needed a father figure- who knows. So she married an abusive drunk who spent all their money on cigarettes and liquor."
"So you left home."
Zayn nodded. "I was frustrated, angry kid, desperate for a place to belong. I felt... alone, like a stranger in a foreign country. Like I was destined for something else. No one understood that, least of all Tricia. We argued about me leaving. I didn't want to be her only reason for staying sober. And I couldn't save her unless she wanted to be saved. So I left.
"I ended up in London with three dollars to my name and a chip on my shoulder. After the small-town gossip, the city was a relief. A huge, concrete metropolis of anonymity. Without any money, I was taken in by Ryan's parents."
"Where you met Geneva," Harry added.
Zayn nodded. "We were together for six years, until the whole Shahid Financial thing. It took all my money to clear my name, and suddenly she didn't want to be with someone broke. Recovering from that betrayal was one of the hardest things I've ever done."
Harry's hand on Zayn's arm was soft, the touch reassuring. It unmanned him.
"Then came Perrie."
"Yes." His mouth twisted. "My assistant who lied and cheated."
"Did your mum know where you were after you left?"
Zayn swallowed and closed his eyes. "Not for eleven months."
"Zayn..."
Harry's sadness pierced Zayn's heart. "Believe me, it's not something I'm proud of."
"But you eventually made it up to her. That counts for something."
As Harry watched Zayn standing there, a solitary figure surrounded by wealth and success, struggling with his inner demons, Harry's sympathy took an abrupt detour, morphing into something warmer, deeper. Scarier. It bloomed slowly, cautiously in the corner of his heart he'd reminded himself never to surrender until he was positive he couldn't get hurt again.
But his emotions were far from listening to reason. His heartbeat quickened, his breath became shallow, his skin heated.
Here was a man who desperately needed to be loved. His eyes might radiate coldness, a calculating coldness that fooled most, but not Harry. In every stern line on his granite face, every steely tension in his muscles, Harry knew.
It would take a special person to break through that tightly leashed control. Harry knew what he was up against- the ghosts of women past had not been kind to Zayn Malik. They'd made him who he was- distrustful of emotion, determined not to take risks.
Harry nearly laughed out loud. Zayn's whole life was about taking risks... except when it involved love.
He sure was a long shot. But what did Harry had to lose?
His heart? No, Zayn already had that. But if Harry didn't at least try then he'd never know.
"I have something for you," Zayn said softly, shattering the silence.
Harry waited as Zayn dug around in his jacket pocket. When he produced a velvet box Harry felt the breath catch in his throat.
Harry took it, eased open the lid. And gasped.
Harry recognised the ring from the Tomlinsons' store- a simple square-cut sapphire on a plain gold band, surrounded by tiny diamonds.
When he finally met Zayn's eyes, the uncharacteristic uncertainty on Zayn's face stunned Harry.
"I know it's not exactly how you thought this moment would be, Harry, but-"
"It's perfect. How did you know?"
Zayn smiled an odd, almost gentle smile. "You stared at this ring for far too long."
Harry smiled back, and despite the reality of what he'd agreed to, emotion clogged his throat.
Zayn must have sensed that because, with a barely hidden flash of alarm, he removed the ring from the box, grasped Harry's hand and slipped it on.
A perfect fit.
Zayn's hand lingered on his, yet when Harry looked at him, he'd erected his wall so quickly Harry could almost see it going up brick by brick. And it was so expertly made that it made Harry want to weep. How could he ever break that thing down, when it had taken him years to construct and perfect it?
By showing Zayn with the only thing that felt true, that temporarily dismantled all his defences, all his barriers.
Harry took a deep, shuddering breath before he leaned in and kissed him.