The Au Pair (H.S.) [COMPLETE]

{forty-one}

Harry couldn't even look at the pool house. He couldn't even look in the direction of the pool house without feeling the twisting in his gut and the pain in his heart over Niko. Too much happened in that place for him to ever disassociate her with it. It was like a symbol of them just sitting there, taunting him with its existence and memories.

Harry's brain never shut off. Every time he saw her, it replayed flashbacks of them together. But he knew it was his punishment, his repentance. It was what he deserved for everything he'd done. Like so many have said before — karma's a bitch. But yet, there were very few things on the planet that could keep him from Niko if she were to change her mind about them.

By the time they were thrown together in the front seat of the Range Rover on the way to Disneyland, seven days had passed since she ended things between them. Seven days since she panicked about falling asleep with him in his bedroom. Seven agonizing, marathon days.

As they sat stuck in traffic on the way to the happiest place on earth, Harry tried his best to disengage himself from reality. He tried daydreaming. He tried thinking of songs to sing in his head. He even tried thinking about what life was like before Julia. But the second Niko moved the slightest bit in her seat next to him, he was pulled straight back to her wispy blonde hair, perfectly tanned skin and intoxicating scent. She made his blood itch, wanting and needing her so badly.

Harry's eyes kept flicking back and forth from the road to her long, slender, bare legs as the sun shone perfectly down on them. He wanted to reach out to touch her, to affectionately place his hand on her knee.

If it was a week prior and they were driving around LA on one of their many outings while Jackson was off at soccer camp, Harry wouldn't hesitate to touch her. When it was just the two of them there really was never a time they weren't touching. He longed for those days, for that relief.

"Daddy, can we listen to One Direction?" Avery's tiny voice pulled him out of his head.

Harry cringed immediately, knowing it was probably the last thing Niko wanted at the moment.

"Yeah! Can we? Please?" Jackson chimed in excitedly.

"Can we listen to something else?" Harry asked, looking at them through the lens of his Ray-bans in the rear-view mirror.

"Nooo!" Both of them whined.

"Daddy! I want to listen to your band," Avery insisted.

It was a mistake to look back at her through the rear-view mirror, because when he did, all he saw was her bottom lip puffed out with big sad eyes. He was a sucker for that face. And he was certain that, at the age of five, Avery knew it and used it to her advantage.

"Sorry," Harry quietly apologized to Niko, hoping she wouldn't be too entirely uncomfortable.

"Mm," she hummed, sending him an awkward smile.