Him.

Chapter Thirteen

Chapter Thirteen

 I woke up in the middle of the night due to a rather gentle snore down my left ear. I blinked a few times, trying to remember where I was and then it dawned on me. I felt behind me with my hand to find a muscly and warm body there. The snoring that Harry had no control over suddenly stopped and his hand reached for mine. “Oi” he whispered. I smiled. Even after being abruptly woken by his snoring, I couldn’t be happier to hear his raspy tone.

 I snuggled backwards so that I was tightly wrapped in Harry’s arms. “You fidget too much” he groaned. “Sorry” I said with a smile. The clock on the bedside table read “04:26am” but I was suddenly feeling wide awake and in no mood at all to sleep. I turned over so I was now facing Harry and felt in front of me for his face. A groan left Harry’s lips as he was clearly not amused at me feeling over his face when he was trying to sleep.

 He grabbed both of my hands in one of his and kissed the back of them sweetly. He then tugged them down so my palms were on his chest and he held them there so I couldn’t move. I tried my best to wriggle away but his strength overpowered mine and I could now do nothing but lay in silence.

 I began to hum my favourite song, which clearly aggravated Harry even more. “Bella!” he shouted. I stopped immediately, not wanting to raise his temper. I think he got the idea that I was frightened as he let go of my wrists and pulled me closer into his warm embrace. He kissed the top of my forehead and said “I take it we’re not sleeping anymore” I couldn’t help but smile through the darkness. He always did what I wanted, and that really did mean a lot to me.

 I bolted upright and leant for the lamp on the bedside table. As I flicked it on, light flooded the room and strained both mine and Harry’s eyes. “Hey!” he mumbled as he rubbed his eyes in an attempt to adjust them to their new surroundings. I turned around and kissed him on the cheek. He smiled, his dimples once again making an appearance. I thought it was cute so I poked one of them. He laughed and batted my hand away from his face.

 I lay down again so Harry and I were practically touching noses. We lay in silence before Harry said “you really are beautiful, you know?” I blushed. No one had ever said this to me before and the thought of someone like Harry thinking I was in the least bit attractive really boosted my self-esteem. I thanked him before replying “you’re not so bad yourself” with a wink in which he deeply laughed.

 I pointed to all of his tattoos. Pointing to the heart on his arm I asked him “what does this one mean?” he looked at the ink on his arm and replied “I wear my heart on my sleeve” which made me coo in excitement as I knew Harry was one for being awfully romantic when he wanted to be. “What about this one?” I asked, pointing to the rather large butterfly that covered most of his abdomen. “I get butterflies in my stomach” he replied “like every time I see you” I blushed almost to a scarlet colour at the gesture that Harry had given me. I kissed him on the cheek which also made him smile.

 “Harry?” I questioned. He nodded, too tired to utter a reply. I didn’t know where to start. Do I ask him about Grace? Or about the gun? Or what he actually did to that boy who attacked me? I decided to swerve all of the above topics and asked “have you ever been in love?” His eyes shot open, the dazzling green gaze meeting mine. His face looked puzzled. He had clearly never been asked this question before. I stared back at him, hoping to urge the answer from him but we remained in silence for a good two minutes. I took his large hand in both of mine and rubbed over his knuckles with my fingers.

 “No” he suddenly spoke, “but I’d love to be” This idea really spun around in my head. Did Harry mean that he wanted to be in love with me? Or was there someone else that he wasn’t telling me about? Maybe Grace who had been mentioned before was who he wanted to fall in love with, but my attacker took her away? I couldn’t quite cope with thinking about it until he asked “what about you?” I shook my head “I’ve never been in a relationship before” Harry appeared to be quite shocked but he kissed my cheek softly and said “any guy would be lucky to have you” which made my stomach flutter.

 “Harry?” I asked again. This time, his eyes were wide open and he uttered, “yes?” I decided to pluck up the courage and ask “Who’s Grace then?” His face instantly drained of all colour and he looked panicked. I didn’t know whether to continue asking or whether to just drop the conversation all together. “How do you know about Gracie?” he said. “The guy who attacked me, remember? He said that he would take me away, like he did with Grace?” I told Harry. His face instantly dropped and his head bowed. The dark brown curls flopped over his eyes and he brought a finger up to the corner of his eye, in an attempt to stop himself from crying.

 I took my hand and ran it through his curls, tracing patterns through his messy hair. His gaze met mine again. “My sister.” He urged. My eyes widened, not quite sure what Harry was about to tell me, but I made sure I was listening carefully and showing him that I was there for him.

 I nodded as he stared at me. “Jack dated my sister for a year and a half. They were happy together and that’s what I loved about their relationship. They did everything together and he made her feel so special.” I smiled at Harry as this reminded me of us two and how I hoped our relationship would eventually blossom. “But when she went to college, he turned into an abusive arsehole.” I stopped smiling instantly, realising just how nasty this story was going to turn. “He used to beat her, and I mean, literally beat the shit out of her. She’d come home with slashes across her neck like yours and bruises all down her arms and legs. Something snapped and he turned bad.” At this point, I realised that this ‘Jack’ was my attacker.

 “One day, he came over to our house to get Gracie and take her away for the weekend, but because she wasn’t ready when he got there, he beat her. I heard her screams from downstairs and I went up to see what was happening. He slammed her head against the wall in her bedroom and was kneeing her in the back. I couldn’t help myself. I lunged for him and just beat him. I couldn’t stop. I just kept pounding and pounding into him until he was literally on the verge of dying. That’s when Gracie jumped on me and stopped me. Her face was plastered with fright and the image has stuck with me ever since. She finished packing her bag and her and Jack never came back.” Tears were now filling in Harry’s eyes.

 I didn’t know what to do so I grabbed him and wrapped my arms so tightly around him. I could hear him weep beneath my hold as I tried to comfort him. I never realised that it would have made him come to this. I kissed him on the top of his head and cupped his chin. I smiled at him and said “don’t worry, we’ll get him baby” This made Harry smile as he wiped the tears away from his eyes. “I just wanted to keep her safe” he cried “like I want to keep you safe. I don’t even know where she is now, but I know for a fact that he’s not taking you away from me. I promise you.”

 He turned me over so my back was once again pressed again his front and he leant forward to turn the lamp off again. “I really like you Bella, really.” He whispered into my ear before lulling off into another deep sleep. Thoughts raced through my mind and my stomach continued to dance for the rest of the night.