STRIP

48.

Clementine Adams

Yesterday was hard.

Watching Harry go through a bad day with no way to fix it was difficult. He started to feel better throughout the day, although I don't know if he was faking it or was genuinely doing better. I know he wanted to hide his emotions from Iris, he didn't want to ruin her last day of school.

He gave her a bright smile the second she got in the car, she was cheering about how good summer was going to be. She decided she really wanted to start improving her confidence and working on her anxiety. She made herself a few goals, Harry couldn't contain his smile as she was talking about working up the courage to sleepover with her friends, making things official between her and Sophie, and even considering going to drivers training. Harry continued to tell her how proud he was but emphasized not pushing herself to do things she didn't want to do. He loves her so much.

Her first plans to work on herself, having her friends sleepover while Harry and I aren't home. She has always been fine having sleepovers knowing Harry is just in the next room over, so it's going to be a big test falling asleep without Harry being there. I know she trusts me, she's made that clear, but hearing her say only feels completely comfortable with Niall, Harry, and I, made my heart burst. She fell asleep on the couch and in bed with me when Harry was gone at work last weekend, but I thought maybe she was just extremely tired. I didn't know it was because she felt safe with me.

After lunch, taking Iris out shopping for summer clothes, and ordering take out for dinner, I could tell Harry still wasn't feeling his greatest when he came into the bedroom where I was changing, a frown plastered across his face as he walked up to me, no words coming out of his mouth. He grabbed my hand and pulled me into the bathroom with him, undressing me and himself before climbing into the bathtub.

We barely spoke the entire time, I knew he just needed to feel comfort in any form as he wrapped his arms around me and pulled me into his chest, resting his head against my shoulder. After about thirty minutes of silence with us laying in the bath, I turned around to see his eyes closed. He was so tired, physically and mentally.

When I finally woke him up and got us out of the tub, he decided to call Jack. I told him to wait until the morning but he insisted, saying if it was going to be a bad day, it might as well be a bad night too.

When he called Jack, he told him he wanted to come in later and close, using the excuse of Iris having her friends over and wanting them to be settled in before we came in. Harry wasn't thrilled when Jack easily agreed, saying 'it'll be nice getting home before three in the morning.' Harry expected some type of fight, even if it was him trying to tell Harry he didn't mind working the late hours, but nothing. Other than paperwork, we had no solid evidence of what Jack was doing with the club. We had nothing to prove Jack's involvement, and Harry is worried if he brought up the paperwork to Jack, he'd have a perfectly scripted explanation for why the numbers have gone up so much and why strippers aren't being paid.

We looked over the paperwork together again, trying to find any explanation like people being paid in cash, but couldn't find any expenses being taken out that would suggest that. He tried to find a trend in numbers, but every single number on the sheet was different. Not one person was paying the same amount, and not one person was making the same income. 

Harry then got worked up about Iris and her friends being home and Jack leaving the club early, knowing Iris was home without him there. Then he called Quinn, asking Quinn to leave the same time Jack did, making sure he actually went home and not to Harry's apartment. I think that eased his mind a little more, being able to trust Quinn with something so serious to him. Iris's safety is such a priority in his life. It was easy to tell how upset Harry was about not being close with Quinn. Quinn meant so much for Harry in college and felt betrayed when he didn't speak to him for two years. I know it was hard to be able to communicate and work with him again but I think Harry is on a road to forgiveness and acceptance of the past. He can't change things that happened between him and Quinn but just from their phone calls and text messages he's shown me or let me listen in on, I can tell having Quinn back in his life is benefitting him.