Chapter 30
Grace’s POV
It scared me when Harry told me that his father had escaped from jail.
“Wait how does someone even escape from jail?”
“It happens all the time. He was able to get out and there was a car waiting on him…one of his mates. They gunned down a cop.”
My mouth fell open, memories of a revolver pressed to my head coming back to me.
“It’s okay. The police are looking for him and there’s a patrol car outside of the house. Everything’s going to be fine.”
I nodded and we dropped the subject, neither one of us too keen on the subject of Harry’s father.
……………
*Two months later*
The holidays came and went in a flash and I couldn’t believe that the school year was over half way over. Christmas break was amazing and I was able to spend more time with Harry. We were doing so amazing and I’d never been happier with my life. I wanted to stay this way forever and I knew that Harry did too. I had been saving money like crazy, knowing that we would be tight when we got to New York. My parents were going to cover the rent on our apartment and even though that bothered Harry badly, he agreed. I wasn’t sure what exactly Harry was going to do and when I asked him, he told me that he would find a job. He wasn’t going to go to college even though he was extremely smart. I wanted him to want this and not just be going for me but I couldn’t imagine life without him. One day, I told him that he could go to England and that we would work it out but that caused a fight all its own. He was mad at me for two days and eventually I asked him why it upset him that I asked that. He replied by telling me that living without me would be so unbearable that he was afraid he would go back to the person he used to be and that the idea of being that person scared him. I was of course emotional by his confession and I said something I never thought I would say, ever.
“I’ll go to England with you. I will. If you want me to, I’ll go with you.”
His eyes widened and he turned to me with furrowed eyebrows, not believing what I just said.
“Grace, don’t say that. We are going to New York together and that’s final.”
I think he was just surprised that I actually offered. He knew I wanted to go to NYU but I felt the need to let him know how much he meant to me. If he would’ve agreed, I would’ve gone with him to England. I would’ve for him.
So now both of us were saving money like crazy. Harry even picked up another job doing yard work and I barely saw him throughout the week. My parents told me they would help Harry and me financially and cover whatever we needed but Harry and I wanted to pay for as much as we could. Liam was thinking about getting an apartment in the same building as Harry and I. We were planning on signing up for most of the same classes considering we were both going to be English majors. I still hadn’t gotten a letter from Columbia but I had already decided to go to NYU. Two days ago, Sammy had told me that she applied to Columbia. I had screamed for nearly five minutes.
“Wait, why did you apply to Columbia? Columbia is in New York.”
“I know. I just did it on a whim. I don’t know if I’ll even get accepted or will even be able to afford it if I do but…I wanted to just see. If not, I’ll just go to college here.”
“Sammy I’m scared of moving all the way to New York. I don’t even know how Harry and I are going to make this work. It’s so stressful to think about moving to a huge city where we won’t know anyone. I’m so nervous.”
Sammy laughed and shook her head.
“Grace you are going to have Harry and Liam. You’re going to be great.”
“I know I will be. You know how much I worry.”
“Yeah, I know.”
……………
Now, I laid back on my bed, thinking about everything. It was two in the morning but I couldn’t sleep. I tried, but I couldn’t. I closed my eyes but jerked them open when I heard a noise coming from my balcony outside. I tried to calm down because my door was locked but I couldn’t help assuming the worst. Something clanked against the medal rails and I tried to be rational, knowing it was probably just a branch or the wind. But then something hit the glass and I jumped out of bed. I was about to run into the hallway when I noticed a silhouette just outside the French doors. It was Harry. I knew it. I sighed and walked over to my door, unlocking it.
“Harry! You scared me.”
“I’m sorry baby. What are you doing up? Why aren’t you sleeping?”
“I couldn’t. I was trying to but I just couldn’t.” I explained.
“Oh. Well I…”
“You told me you would never climb my balcony.” I interrupted him.
“I guess I lied.”
“Why are you here?”
“I needed to see you. I uh couldn’t sleep. I had to tell you.”
“Tell me what Harry?”
His green eyes regarded me with a look of uncertainty and hesitation as he sat down at the foot of my bed.
“It’s about New York.”
“Yeah?” I asked.
“Well I have some pretty good news. Gem’s boyfriend, Ashton bought this café slash bakery in New York. He owns it.”
“Okay.”
“Well it’s actually doing really well. It’s close to NYU, right in Greenwich Village and is really getting good business and bringing in some big bucks.”
“So are Ashton and Gem going to move to New York?” I asked.
I was still confused and wanted Harry to get to whatever point he was trying to make.
“No. Ashton called me today and Grace; he wants me to run it.”
“What?”
“Yeah he wants me to manage it. It sounds like an amazing little place. It’s called Fromage and is really huge. Grace, it’s only like two minutes away from the campus and college kids are really eating it up.”
“Harry, that’s amazing.”
“There’s more.”
I raised my eyebrows and Harry took my hand in his. He seemed so excited about this and it had been a long time since I’d seen him actually looking forward to something besides sex or food.
“Grace, the café is under an apartment, two bedrooms and two bathrooms. Ashton owns the apartment too but he wants us to live there rent free as long as we help with the upkeep, maintenance, and utility bills, nothing else.”
“What?”
I shook my head. This was all a ton of information for two in the morning.
“So you would be getting paid to manage this place and we would be living rent free?”
“Yes baby. Ashton wants to help us.”
“You never seemed too buddy buddy with him.”
“Well he’s pretty cool. We’ll have a lease and everything even though we won’t be paying rent. The lease will be for two years. That way we will be ensured that the apartment is ours for those two years but Ashton said we could back out of it at any time with no obligations. We can also extend after two years. It’s all in writing.”
“Will we be able to see it before we decide?”
“Of course. You are already going to tour the school with Liam so I was thinking that I would come with you and we would go see it then.”
I nodded.
“So why does Ashton want to do this?”
“Well, he has a temporary manager but this temporary guy is looking to move to Colorado where his wife is and he’s agreed to run the place until the end of August. Ashton is going to fly over to the café as soon as we move and go over some things with me. Supposedly he has great employees who know what they’re doing. I would be in charge of like paying bills, managing employee type things like hiring, and making orders. He was talking money and Grace, I would be making some bank.”
“It all sounds amazing Harry…almost too good to be true.”
“Yeah I know but I think it’s legit Grace. He’s proposing to my sister. He called me last night and wanted to get my approval.”
“I see. That’s why you like him.” I teased, pecking his cheek.
“Shut up.” He said before bringing his lips down to mine.
The kiss immediately heated something deep inside me and within moments, I was desperately pulling him down onto the bed with me.
“I was praying I would get to do this tonight.” He admitted, pulling out a condom from his jean pocket.
I giggled against his lips and he forcefully stuck his tongue in my mouth, cupping my cheeks tenderly. We hadn’t had sex in a couple of days and honestly, for Harry and I, that was a long time. I wanted him desperately and I knew he wanted me just as bad. As Harry hovered over me, he put all of his weight on his arms and not me. He tugged my t-shirt over my head, revealing my naked body. His fingers hooked into my sweatpants, pulling my underwear down with them as he whispered something about me being beautiful. My hands reached up to the hem of his shirt and he aided me in pulling it off. He kicked off his boots and his jeans and boxers were removed within a matter of seconds. I pulled him down on top of me, this time taking control and invading his mouth with my tongue. He let out a groan and he grabbed my breast in his large hand, rubbing his thumb over my nipple.
“Harry.” I breathed.
“I love you baby.”
“I love you too.”
I cried out as two of his fingers entered me with no warning.
“So wet.” He mumbled, pumping his fingers in and out.
“You are so ready for me, aren’t you?”
I stayed quiet but I knew how much he hated when I did that. He always told me that he wanted to hear me. I nodded and he frowned.
“Tell me.” he demanded.
“I’m so ready for you Harry.” I practically cried, begging for him to hurry up.
“Oh baby. Don’t let anybody hear you, okay?”
I nodded and bit my lip as he rolled the condom onto his thick shaft. I covered my mouth as he slid into me, knowing that I would cry out. I practically screamed his name into my mouth as he began to move. His head dipped down and littered kisses and love bites all over my neck. He was always leaving me hickeys that I had to cover up but I didn’t mind.
“Everybody knows you’re mine.”
“Yes. I’m yours.”
“Say it.” He hissed.
“I’m yours Harry. Nobody can have me except you.”
“Fuck.” He cursed as I swiveled back and forth.
His hipbones were thwacking against mine with every thrust and I pressed my hands against his lower back as we quickly moved together.
“Grace. Grace. God, I love you.”
“I l-love you.” I whimpered, knowing I was getting close to letting go.
“You’re my soul mate.” He breathed and my eyes widened, jaw dropping, and legs trembling.
………………
You’re my soul mate. The words coming out of his mouth were unlike anything I’d ever heard. They were so intimate and meaningful, so un-Harry like. As we laid together in my bed, I smiled and couldn’t stop.
“I love you Grace. You are my everything.”
“I feel the same Harry. I love you.”
“I remember the first time I saw you in homeroom. You were so adorable, absolutely fucking breathtaking. I didn’t know I was going to fall in love with you but, I felt something click. My heart raced and I was all nervous and then Calum spilled those nachos all over me.”
“Don’t forget the janitors closet.” I said, smiling.
“Oh yes. That had to be the best part of the day.”
I nodded, agreeing with him.
“But my point is, I think I loved you even then. You were so adorable and I couldn’t stop staring at you. I had to stop myself from punching Liam every five seconds. I was so fucking jealous of him, the way he knew you, those stupid crosswords you two would do together…still fucking do together.”
“You don’t have to be jealous of those things Harry.”
“I’m not anymore. I think that might just be because I can fuck you anytime I want and he can’t.” he smirked.
“Isn’t that what’s important, that you have me intimately?”
“Yes. I mean, that’s the most important part but I want all of you. That’s really fucking stupid but I want you when you wake up in the morning. I want you throughout the day and all the way into night. Not just sexually. I want all of your attention. I don’t even like when you smile at him.”
“That’s crazy Harry.”
“I know but I’ve finally found someone who cares about me. That’s so selfish, I know.”
I frowned and turned his face to look at me.
“You already have all of me. You do. Just because I smile at Liam doesn’t mean that you don’t have me. Harry, I don’t want you to feel this way all of our lives because it will eat at you forever. Liam is always going to be my friend.”
He tried to speak but I held my hand up.
“And…things are just going to happen. Say while we’re in New York, we go to a bar and some guy hits on me. What are you going to do?”
“Beat the shit out of him.”
“Why Harry? I obviously have no interest in anyone but you so why would you do that?”
“I don’t know. I feel like it’s my job to.”
“No. It’s your job to love me.”
“Well I’m good at that part. There’s no problem there because I love you more than anything. I’ll try to take it down a notch…a few notches.” He said, nodding.
“Thank you.”
“I’d do anything to make you happy Grace. Anything.”
“Me too.”
Harry’s POV
I was naturally a jealous person when it came to Grace and other guys. I didn’t even want them looking at her and if she smiled back, it pissed me off for days. I was trying to see that she only loved me. Deep down I knew it and I tried to let things go about Liam. He was obviously always going to be in her life and I was beginning to except that. He actually wasn’t so bad but I knew Grace had feelings for him and that’s what pissed me off. Yeah they had kissed and I was mad but I knew her feelings for him were only friendly and that she loved me.
Nobody had ever touched her in the way I had. Nobody had ever been inside her like I had. That almost made up for all of my insecurities. Almost.
“Are you nervous about moving across the country?” Grace asked, snuggling into my body.
I wrapped my arms tightly around her, knowing she was cold.
“Um…no. Not really.” I answered.
I knew that Grace and I would be fine in New York. I looked forward to having our own place together, somewhere we could be alone.
“I am a little nervous.”
“Well you’re going to have me.” I said, leaving out Liam completely.
I knew that they would be going to school together, taking the same classes but he wouldn’t be sinking into her at night. I would. Damn, I am such a jealous mother fu…
“I’m just nervous because I’ll be in school and you’ll be working and well…I’m worried about us Harry. So many things have come between us and I don’t want that happening again.”
I knew exactly what she meant. She didn’t want me breaking up with her and leaving her alone in a huge city where she would be stressed out. I knew this is what she meant but I also knew that this wasn’t going to happen. No way was I breaking up with her.
“Grace, I am never going to hurt you again. I swear.”
She looked up at me hesitantly and my eyes regarded her with certainty.
“I believe you. I know you won’t. You know how I worry.”
“I can’t promise that we won’t fight because we will, and do often, but I will never break up with you again. That was the dumbest thing I’ve ever done and I know what life’s like without you.”
“I love you. I even love you when you’re mad at me.”
“I know you do. I love you when I’m mad at you. I shouldn’t ever get mad at you. It’s not your fault you’re a sexy little shit and every guy on the planet wants to have his way with you.”
She giggled, pressing her face into my chest.
“Like girls don’t want the same with you. You are gorgeous Harry. It’s sinful how gorgeous you are.”
“Shut up.” I told her even though she was making me smile.
I stared up at her ceiling. I had put dumb glow in the dark plastic stars up there about a week ago. We were in some general store and she told me how she always wanted those when she was a little kid but never had them. While she wasn’t looking, I bought the damn things for a dollar and stuck them up on her ceiling. She had been so happy and I only did it so I could see her smile. That night I fucked her and made the dumb fucking comment that I was fucking her to ‘the stars and back’.
I smiled to myself, looking up at the dumb things as she kissed my neck. Minutes later, she fell asleep and I kissed her lips before trying to find sleep myself. I dreamed of a time when she would really be mine. I hated the idea but I could see it happening. I’d do it for her and because I loved the thought of her being Lilian Grace Styles.