Tangled Yarns

14: Hurdle Stitch

Once on the elevator, Harry is focused on his phone, texting someone, and Elena feels a bit abandoned, especially after the insanity with Lady Melisande. Maybe she'd imagined the incident on the balcony? But when she looks down at her bare hands, she remembers that she'd been wearing gloves -- gloves that Gemma, Harry's sister -- had given her. And now she's not wearing them. So it must have happened.

But for all of the attention Harry is paying her in the lift, she might as well have taken her gloves off and waved them around her head like a strumpet in front of the Earl and Viscount. Protectively, Elena leans against the wall, arms folded across her chest as she watches Harry on his phone. It's been awhile since she's given someone a hand job, but she was fairly certain that Harry hadn't had any complaints in the previous ten minutes when his head was tilted back as he tucked loose curls behind his left ear and grunted in pleasure as he gave himself completely to her, spilling his seed into her glove.

But whatever, she thinks defensively. At least she'd gotten to give him pleasure once. And now she supposed they were going to go back to the whole "friends" thing. Her defense mechanisms have kicked in, and she's prepared to be completely silent the entire drive back to Holmes Chapel. Why had she gone so far? What had she been thinking? And now Harry won't even look at her. He's too busy texting.

With a deep sigh, Elena concludes that the event is passed, over, and done. What must he think of her? Would they even be able to get back to that comfortable space they were in as friends before the balcony moment happened? And how were they going to address the venom that Mel had spit out?

When the lift arrives at the main floor, Elena is prepared to step off as soon as the doors open, but they don't open. The elevator continues to descend, and Elena is confused. "Harry?" she asks tentatively. She assumes he's been so focused on his phone that he pressed the wrong button without realizing they weren't on the main floor. She prepares to push the button again, but when the lift stops in the basement, Harry grabs her hand, pulling her behind him. What the hell?

She considers digging in her heels and stopping the whole procession, but she's distracted by the softness of his hand on hers. Rapidly, Harry navigates the two of them through the hotel's kitchen, down a long corridor filled with lockers for employees, and a break room where the smell of cigarettes wafts out. Reaching an exterior door, he pushes it open, blatantly ignoring the "Alarm Will Sound" notice on it. The air outside is chilly, and Elena starts to shake in anger, frustration, and cold as they make their way silently up the concrete steps.

Once at the top, Elena, trembling, yanks her hand from Harry's grasp. "What the fuck, Harry?" she asks, "One minute we're in the party, and the next we're out here by the dumpsters?"

His eyes have darkened as he turns around to face her, miffed at her words, until he sees her shivering. Pulling off his tailcoat, he wraps it around her shoulders as the pink Rolls pulls up next to them. Harry doesn't hesitate for a moment or wait for the driver, he simply pops open the back door and waves his hand for her to get in. Confused and angry, Elena climbs in the back seat, wrapping his coat around her snugly as she curls up in the corner like a wounded animal.

Climbing in behind her, Harry pulls the door closed and then speaks to the driver, "Thanks." With a press of a button, Harry watches as the privacy panel between the front and back seats rises.

Twisting his body, he faces Elena, tucking one leg under him casually, but he's clearly angry. "Now, let's get one thing very, very clear. We were NOT just upstairs at a party. We were upstairs on a balcony where you finally made my dreams of the last week or so come true. Do you know how many times I have wanted to have your hands on me? And for you to think that I would let you do THAT and then just take you home without a word?! I was arranging for the car to be brought around so we wouldn't have to exit through the fans in the front again. I thought we knew each other better than that. Plus I was trying to find someone to fill in as Lady Melisande's date so she might be just a little less pissed off at us for leaving."