Deception - H.S

Chapter 36

Hope Whitlock

Another night spent without sleep and now the only way I can make through today is with a lot of coffee. At this point, I wasn't drinking it because I like the taste of it but because it is quite literally a necessity for me these days.

I need coffee.

I am meeting Jace in the afternoon, we are not doing anything too exciting, just going out for lunch and to talk, I need someone else to talk to except for the four people I live with.

My eye bags are worse than before and the dark circles are very prominent. I don't bother covering them up just yet but put in a little effort to hide the hickeys on my neck and chest since I am wearing a t-shirt that is exposing more marks than the hoodie I was wearing yesterday. After I have done an adequate job, I go downstairs to finally make some coffee.

The fear of facing anyone in this house is almost nonexistent now, that doesn't mean I am fine, I am still in shock but too tired to act how I feel. When I go downstairs, Niall and Liam are watching something on the TV and Harry is standing outside smoking. I don't bother announcing myself or engaging in any sort of small talk, I want to keep my distance and stay as quiet as I can until calling the cops.

I pour myself some more coffee, standing between the two islands and watching whatever is on the TV for a little bit before I close myself in my room again to dress up and leave this chaos for a bit. The vibe is so eerie and unsettling, everyone is trying to pretend like things were normal when they clearly were not, at least not with me. The lack of disturbance in their lives was shocking to me, how were they so composed? 

Harry comes back inside, doing something on the counter on the opposite end of the island behind me that I am unaware of since my back is facing him. I was silently praying he doesn't approach me, unsure of what or how to react.

If someone asked me how I felt at this instant, I wouldn't have the answer to it. To truly process the events that have occurred since the night before we arrived here, I need rest, something that I unfortunately, haven't been able to get. Soon I am going to get whiney and frustrated, get irritated at small things and have outbursts of anger at minuscule things due to the lack of sleep. It is awful that there is nothing that I can do to change this, I want to sleep, I really do but every time I close my eyes, the fear of another vivid dream and what happened the last time I slept sweep into my mind and I do everything I can to force myself awake.

It was getting annoying as to how much I thought about sleep.

My trail of thoughts is interrupted when I am gripped by the hips and flipped around so my back is against the edge of the island. I gasp at the transition and meet Harry's blown pupils that are dilated to the extent that his green irises are barely visible.

"Harry, what are you-"

"You're wearing my shirt." He interrupts my question, pressing his hips to mine while tugging onto the sides of the t-shirt that I am wearing and didn't realize belonged to him.

"I'm sorry, I will return it soon, I didn't realize-" He interrupts me again but not with his words this time, his hands fall to my thighs, slowly moving up over the fabric of my shorts until they meet the bare skin of my waist, giving it a squeeze before rubbing his large hands up and down my sides. The cold touch of his rings with his warm hands feels soothing, it felt like I could fall asleep this instant.

I snap out of this trance he always manages to put me into, like he said, he is good at manipulation, but is it really manipulation if he wasn't talking and my body was just reacting to him?

"You are high. It is 9 fucking am." I whisper to him, not wanting to draw any attention from Niall or Liam.

"Yes, I am, and you are wearing my shirt..." His eyes are fixated on my lips as he speaks.