red herring [h.s.]

23. (*)

Another long one hahaha couldn't find a way to split it in two! sorry for the people who prefer shorter chapters!!

Harry.

"So what's the name?" Jackson asked as he tucked his gun in the back of his belt and put his coat over it to conceal it. Theo was next to him also putting a coat on while I leaned against the doorpost of my apartment, "Jack Whitlock."

They both nodded, "We kill him?"

I puckered my lips in thought, "No. Rough him up, put him in the hospital. He's married, maybe has kids, so no killing. Besides, if he's dead I'm not sure if Stella gets to keep her job."

"Okay." Jackson nodded and I ran a hand through my hair, "Make it look like a mugging, maybe. That way she won't get suspicious."

"And why aren't you doing this? Isn't this a personal vendetta?" Jackson – the idiot who couldn't follow a simple instruction of following Stella on the street – dared to ask and I shot him a glare, "Because this is street work. And I can't show up to her doorstep tomorrow with bloodied knuckles. Just fucking do as I ask you, okay?"

"Fine." Jackson grumbled. He knew well enough that if he completed this task decently, he'd get in my good graces again. I was the closest connection to Matt so if they were in my good graces, they knew I'd report that back to him. Which was in their favour. Much like I had done with Dylan, who did outstanding work for me.

I could hardly keep myself under control when Stella explained what her boss had put her through today. The guy had given me bad vibes from the first time I saw him. Me and Stella were nothing back then and even though I had seen how his eyes lingered on her cleavage or her ass, I didn't really care. But now I did. And him blatantly asking her out over and over again while she was too polite to punch him in the face, yet still denied him each time, didn't sit well with me.

She had looked so angry upon arriving at her apartment. I had never seen her like that. I didn't even know she was capable of that. I knew that verbally, she held her own. But he was in a position of power and he was a grown man who could easily pin her down if they were on their own in that bookshop. And I didn't trust it.

So when Stella left for Danbury's to teach for the afternoon, I called up a few guys to do the dirty work for me and get Jack Whitlock out of the way. That way at least Stella could go to work without feeling so shitty about herself or fearing for her safety. No one should feel intimidated in their work place.

"Get it done, brief me when it's over." That was my final instruction before I shut my door and they were out in the hallway and I was in my apartment.

***

It was New Year's eve. And I was in a shitty mood already. Liam and Niall were in my apartment and Niall was sifting through my shit as he stumbled upon a picture. A picture that Stella had developed while she was in DC and had booked a dark room for a few hours.

He was in cackles when he held up the picture, me sitting in her desk chair with my palm pressed to my hard dick which was contained by my briefs. I snatched the pictures out of his hand before he could see any more, specifically the ones I had taken of Stella, the one where she was giving me a blowjob and the one where I had photographed her while holding that vibrator between her legs.

Niall was a literal child as he couldn't stop laughing for an hour, calling me Model Harry over and over again while I tried to ignore him. I tucked the pictures away again and slammed the drawer of my desk shut, "Fucking stay out of my shit!" I barked at Niall who was doubled over on the couch, "I'm gonna send it to Vogue."