Deception - H.S

Chapter 16

I've been on the verge of death far too many times to stay mentally calm, not to mention the shooting at the concert that I almost slipped my mind because of everything that has been going on. I saw a sniper and the amount of adrenaline rushing through me at the moment, along with trying to get Ayla out of there made me maintain my composure but the moment I got back to our apartment, I broke down. Ayla stayed throughout but wasn't able to stop it until it was over, no one can stop it, she knew it was going to happen the second she saw the sniper, I saw the apologetic look in her eyes when our frantic eyes met in that moment.

If the boys were the target and I'm associated with them, that is going to put a target on my back as well because I will have to be around them. Then there is Harry, who I'm sure is a psychopath with murderous tendencies only for me. I will have to talk to Niall about the shooting at the concert at least, considering I can't talk about Harry's attempts to kill me.

I've thought about this so much but cannot find a reason for him to do this to me. Being around him is stressful, he would do anything to the person trying to hurt me but when it is him threatening me, it's like he is a different person. His eyes get dark, those bright green eyes that warm up the room disappear only to reveal absolute coldness. The fear of what he would threaten me with is a constant tangible force that blankets me and refuses to let go.

The hate he feels for me must be enormous for him to almost push me off a rooftop and besides what I think is a sexual tension between us, I think I'm starting to hate him too.

I find myself almost blurting everything out to Niall but stop myself for the sake of his career, I cannot imagine how that conversation would go if I told Niall the truth, instead, I think I should gain the courage to stand up for myself in front of Harry. I'm sure I can stop him if I look more confident with what I am saying, it will be a big task for me since my confidence level is as close to zero as it gets.

He gave me the green light to take my bandage off and I was more than happy to do so. It was getting annoying constantly having that thing on my hand. It was bothersome while I showered too, Harry replaced it after showers because he needed to check if my hand was healing properly. Now, the cuts are all dried up and except for the large on in the middle, they are open. I have to put a big band-aid on the bigger one for a couple of more days according to Dr. Styles.

There's a knock on the door, "Hey, Francis is here, come down when you're ready, okay?" Niall peeks his head inside and I give him a nod. Francis is Deception's manager, he needed to see me to go over some things and make everything official.

I make my way down to see the man that told me where the boys were when we went to meet Niall at first. I thought he was the manager because of how he talked about them, it was funny. He is tall and well built with blue eyes. "You must be Hope, nice to meet you." He holds out his hand for me and I shake his hand. "Nice to meet you too." I smile politely. Social situations scare me, talking is like giving an exam and if I start talking, I'm for sure going to fail it.

"Okay, so if the boys think you are good and are okay to work with you then I don't have a problem. I do let them control things like this only because they are the artists, but I still do have the final say in almost all decisions. We are glad that we found a new drummer in time and didn't have to postpone the tour." He goes straight to the topic to brief me and I occasionally nod to show I'm playing attention.

"The tour will last about six months but it could be more if the boys decide to do extra shows. Sometimes they decide to add another show in a place so we end up staying for longer and I don't regret a bit of adding an extra show, it's never been a problem yet. I have paper work for you and contracts to sign" He hands me a folder with a stack of papers, "You have all of tomorrow to go over it and let me know if you have any problems. Is that okay?"