where it ends || h.s. {COMPLETED}

Chapter 18

Maela's Point of view

"Uhh," I press, taking a lick of my ice cream and he mirrors me, rubbing his thumb over my knuckles in his lap.

"Baby girl, if you're ready to talk about what happened with Ms. Everes, then-" he starts but I shake my head.

"No, I rather not," I huff, licking my ice cream again. He puffs out a breath and leans back on the bench, crinkling his nose as he thinks. His forehead does the same and I almost have the urge to soothe them out, hating the stressed look on his face.

"Honestly, you're only gonna hurt more if you keep it in for too long Maela," he presses and although he is probably right, I frown at him.

"Harry, I can barely comprehend what happened, it's all so surreal," I mutter and he let's out a breath.

"I'm not going anywhere if that's what you think. I can't bare knowing that something is really bothering you, and I'm not just gonna sit here and wait for you to break some more," he says, nearly causing my heart to pause. My eyes are glued to him for a good moment, and I feel lost in his eyes as I do so. The fact that he's promoting his care for me is scary, but it's definitely something I need. I press my lips together and give him a slight nod.

"Okay, fine," I whisper and he let's out a sigh of relief, lowering his ice cream. "No, keep eating, it'll make this easier for me," I mutter, licking the a chocolate chip off of mine. I can see the twinkle of amusement on his face as he smirks, but I just roll my eyes. "So we left off on.." I trail and he takes a bite of his waffle before continuing for me.

"Ten grand."

I eye him warily. Just spit it out, get straight to the point Maela.

"She was willing to pay me to stay away from you," I breathe and Harry nearly chokes on his waffle as his hand tightly grips my hand on his lap. I squirm at the placement of my hand, but push it away quickly, scolding myself for having those thoughts right now.

"She what?" He nearly shrieks and I cringe at the change of tone in his voice.

"Yeah," I squeak, the anger in his eyes is evident as he lets go of my hand and runs his fingers through his hair, pulling on the ends.

"Let me get this straight, Ms. Everes, yes? Emailed you to offer lunch today and ended up giving you ten grand for you to stay away from me?" He roared and I pinch my eyes closed for a moment before tilting my head.

"I didn't take the money," I breathe and he rolls his eyes.

"No shit," he curses, and his words are really reflecting his age now because I know for sure he would never talk that way in his own office. I can honestly say I don't like the way he replied to me even though Harry swearing is pretty damn hot.

"Well okay then, so much for being there for me," I huff and he eyes me carefully.

"I'm sorry for caring-"

"Your 'caring' is pretty fucking pathetic if you're just going to reply with 'no shit', Harry," I murmur and his eyes are burning with anger but his jaw is clenched as he restrains himself. He darts his eyes away and pinches them shut. "You're obviously frustrated but you must be frustrated with the wrong damn thing. It's seems more like it's with me than it is with that fucking woman," I breathe hastily, but he looks at me, his eyes wide with something hidden behind them. I frown even more, anger coursing through me. The ice cream in my hand begins to melt slowly, but thankfully the napkin around the waffle catches the small rivers of watery cream.

It's a shame that this might get wasted.

"Mae, that couldn't be more farther than the damn truth," he mutters and I gulp slightly, then let out an annoyed sigh.