Malefactor [H.S.]

74

please read my note at the end, as it pertains to the next chapter!! unless you're reading this a decent amount of time after it's uploaded in which case it doesn't matter lol

I'm not good at keeping secrets. I'm really not. I made myself physically sick after robbing Luminary and started losing chunks of hair because of how stressed I was from both the guilt eating me alive and also having to look Zayn in the eye every day and him not knowing what I did—or at least so I thought. It took a huge toll on me mentally.

Now, I'm back in the same situation. Kind of. Not as severe, not even close, but still. I hate keeping secrets and that's exactly what I've been doing.

Okay, that's a bit dramatic on my end. It's only been maybe eight hours since we left Riley's house, which is where this all began. But keeping anything from Harry is apparently an impossible task, no matter how small. I care about him far too much to have any secrets between us.

Quite frankly, this is all Riley's fault if I'm really looking for someone to blame. She's the one who started all this bullshit because she's developed some unexplained problem with Harry. She's the reason I yelled at him in the car and ran up to our room to lock myself away the second we got home. In those eight hours, I spent a lot of them sitting in bed, staring at the ceiling or the wall or down at the congested streets of the city and replaying the confrontation Riley and I had while Harry was in the bathroom.

"You're not gonna leave, are you?" Riley asks. Her eyes shoot behind me for a moment, turning my upper half to look at Harry.

I'm fine, I have no problem staying, but I'm not so sure how he's feeling.

The second he and I make eye contact, he shoots to his feet and moves toward me. My insides jump as he wraps me up in a hug from behind.

"No, we'll stay." My voice is somewhere far away as I have trouble focusing on anything that isn't Harry. That same warmth that encapsulates my insides every time he's near grows tenfold the moment his lips press along my hairline. My hand rests atop his where it presses against my stomach.

He's so soft with me and I love it. That's it. That's definitely the only... thing I love.

But the good mood doesn't seem to stretch beyond him and me, because as Riley nods, "Okay, good," I can tell there's something bothering her. She isn't looking at me still, her eyes just past me as they rest on Harry. She has something she needs to say and she doesn't want him here for it.

Christ, please don't tell me this has anything to do with her cunt of an older sister.

Harry must pick up on her unease too because he's suddenly clearing his throat. "Can I use the bathroom?"

"It's in the hall you walk through to get here," she directs.

Mumbling thanks under his breath, his hand drags across my stomach as he pulls away and heads into the hallway. I shiver.

Even as the door creaks shut, she doesn't immediately say anything. Her hands rub against the back of her neck while gnawing on the inside of her cheek, two tell-tale signs that she's stressed.

Watching her stressed out subsequently stresses me out so much I blurt, "What happened? What's wrong?" She quirks an eyebrow at me in question. "Did Sophie say something about Harry?"

"No, I don't care about that. We both know how she is; none of that was exactly surprising."

I relax a little, my shoulders lowering from their raised position beside my ears. "Oh, okay. So what is it then? You look upset."