Partners In Crime

Chapter 9: Flashback Part 3

-Holmes Chapel, London

11.50 P.M.

Harry and Nicole sat beside the bed, on the floor. The cold wind from the open window made Nicole shiver. Harry saw it, took off his jacket and placed it on her shoulders.

“Thank you, Haz.”

“Anything for you, babe.”

They went back to absolute silence again.

“I wonder what’s going to be left of me after this.” Nicole started. “Maybe they’ll sentence me for a year. I did murder someone after all. Murderer Nicole Palmer, it even rhymes! Maybe what happened today was destined. Well, Haz, I can’t possibly find a job after all this anymore, I’ll be an ex-convict and I’m a woman too! People might think I went crazy and killed a man. You’ll have to take good care of me! Imagine if I got married to you and no one would attend our wedding ceremony because they all hate me. Gemma, Anne, Des…maybe they’ll come. They love you so much, Haz. What if we have kids? Will they hate me? Will the kids in their school bully them if they knew that their mother was a murderer?”

Harry broke her talk with a sudden kiss. It was hungrier, longer and more passionate than the one they had when she decided to give herself in. Harry pulled back and looked down. He gave one last look at Nicole and stood up.

“Harry? What…” Nicole watched as he moved around the room curiously.

He took a piece of cloth and started wiping everything there.

It clicked in her mind of what he was doing.

“It’s the only way.” Harry muttered.

“No….No! It can’t be the only way! You can’t! Stop it!” Nicole rushed forward to snatch the cloth from Harry but he stepped further away from her.

“You already said, my mom and da-ad love me,” he choked at the thought of his dad. “They’ll get a lawyer for me, they’ll bail me out, there’s absolutely no reason why I would have done it, the judge would let me go. Everything will be fine.”

Lies.

They were all lies.

His mother’s passed out. Gemma can’t receive another blow like this, not when he promised he would come back. His dad…

It would be the end of him.

He took another long look at the girl in front of him. How she was trembling in fear, for him, perhaps? He would do anything for her.

Harry Styles would do anything for Nicole Palmer.

Even if it was murder.

“Are you sure? Harry, please, don’t leave me.” Nicole hugged him tightly.

“I won’t, I promise.”

All lies.

He was a certified liar.

“Nic, you have got to promise me one thing.” He took her face in his hands, forcing her to look at him.

“Anything.”

“If-If I go to prison…”

“You won’t.” Nicole tensed at the word.

“Just if. If I go to prison,” which is highly likely. “I want you to forget about me.”

Nicole could only stare at him.

“What? Why? I can’t!”

“You’re going to have to. Forget about me, move on. Hate me, ignore me, do what you have to, just please, forget me.” It hurt as he said it. He had to. She would never be able to go on without him. If people knew that she was with a convict, she won’t even have a career at all. He needs her to be protected. If she forgets him, she can find another man who would love him and protect him from situations like these.