By Another Name

Chapter 21.

LOUIS

I was breathless . I didn't want to mess this up but clearly I had. Her honey brown eyes were dripping and all I wanted to do was kiss her and fuck her and own her and make her stay with me. I was raging and I didn't feel gentle, but I knew I had to be.

"I'm, I don't know what happened there," I say softly, not wanting to lie. She's still crying and in fact not just crying but sobbing. I am not used to this kind of emotion from a woman. Al is bottled up and while she's affectionate and loved up to me in private, she would never let me see her cry this way, if she even ever does.

"I," she begins, bringing her hands up to her face, pushing between us where there was no room. I tried to kiss her again and she just pulled back a bit farther. "I shouldn't have come here." Oh no no.

"Stay. Please. Harry's not normally...he just.." I am gutted, lost for what to say to make her see how much I want her with me, and how much I need to be seen through her eyes.

"I, Louis. I just wanted to touch you again. Can Denton take me back?" She pleads. Oh God, no. Really?

"Really?" I asked her. I grab her hands away from her face and touch her chin and I can't control myself, I kiss her roughly and press her against the back of the drivers seat with everything I have to make her stay. She resists at first and that slight moment when she gave in and craved me and answered my kiss with her whole self was more than I had ever felt in a kiss before. It occurred to me that Denton was standing in the doorway of the bus when I heard the floor creak.

"Denton, lad, get out," I spit over my shoulder.

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DENTON

I had 3, maybe 4, hours left working with this band. I could feel it, as sure as I felt the soreness in my jaw, and the bruises on my back where I hit the walls and cabinets of this bloody bus scrapping with an unexpectedly strong Harry Styles. I could try and salvage something of it, but I need to act fast.

"Jesus Christ, Louis! You've got to do this shoot. She'll be here when you get back, mate. I've probably lost my job, at least go get your bloody picture taken. It's your job." It was unlike Louis to be so unprofessional, and now I firmly realized that I had created a bloody mess when I sat these two together.

She had something, alright, that he did need. Whatever button she had pushed, it was pedal down and no control for him. That was clear. But this had become altogether unacceptable, and I could only hope that if I helped clean it up, maybe there was a chance that my job and my life could stay as they were.

Louis turned to look at me then, dropping one hand from around her. He looked me directly in the eye for what seemed like ages. He was assessing me...I have seen this look on him before. His chin was slightly lifted, eyes a bit squinted and his lips formed a small frown. He was deciding what was important to him, and if I was included in this list. I held my stare. "Right. Will you stay here with her then?" He asked me in a tone that seemed consigned to his fate. "Will you keep everyone off this bus until I get back?" He continued. "Will you?!"

"Yea," was all I could say. He didn't look back at her then, he just threw open the coach door and left. She slid down onto the ground, crouching and hugging her knees.

"Denton," she said. I flung the door shut and locked it. Then, I sat down close to her on the coach floor. Quiet set in, her breathing was evening out. I hadn't intended to make her unhappy, quite the opposite. I saw something that could answer a need that Louis had. So, I provided it. That was my job, really. I am sure it wasn't just about seeing her again. And I certainly wasn't thinking of making her cry. But she looked beautiful doing it, and vulnerable, and so different from when I was in high school with her in that shit town, and she had all the answers and was the source of all the comfort. Time seemed to slow, finally, from the frantic day and I found myself sighing and stretching out my legs.

I reached for her and she cuddled against me. It felt very familiar, and too good, being the source of comfort to her.

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HARRY

This has to be the most uncomfortable thing we've done to date. No one wants to be here, including the magazine paps. I've no knife to cut the tension in this room. Nothing is coming to my mind to break the ugly spell between us all.

We're to stand and pose knocking knickers when all I can do is think about how wonderfully close Louis and I had just been again, and how much I just want to get him alone and talk to him with sense and remind him of who he is, if there was any way. And how much I want to wring his fucking neck.

For his part, Louis is pulling faces as usual, and Zayn, master of the Blue Steel look, is making the photog drool. Only Niall looks obvious, as if he'd rather be someplace else. He has the most honest face of any person I know. It never takes time to read Niall, especially for all of us. He does not hide. He fidgets nervously with the hair above his ear, and smiles weakly when the photog says "Smiles now." This is punishing really. I need air and space and to be alone for a bit. Liam turns around, back to pap, and mouths to us, "Good God this is awful!" with a silly face that we all knew meant we need to loosen up. I try by pirouetting around backwards myself, and encouraging Liam to hop on my back.

Which he does, and we tumble into a mess laughing loudly, hoping to attract the attention of onlookers with cell phones. "Let me get at you, Payno" I tease him, pretending to fight. I hope at least this would erase our "fight" from earlier. I know the mag reps will post from their phones, so at least that could be beneficial.

In the end, the prep pics they show us look as they always do, right lovely. The two hours has been agonizing, and Louis, in fact, everyone literally sprints away as soon as things wrap up, and I am left with Leanna alone in the room.

"I really do need to speak with him," I say, quickly. My phone buzzed then, and Leanna just said, "Harry, alright?" she knew my tells, and one of them was speed talking. The text was from Aislinn.

"Harrah! I'm going to surprise Tuna. c u tomorrow night, after the show. I wanted 1 of u to know so I might ask after a driver n such. Can you help me out?"

Holy hell. "I really do need to speak with him immediately, Leanna," I say so fast it hurts.