Paper Birds

Chapter Forty-Eight ; Reacquaintance

I woke up with a awful jolt.

I'm a horribly light sleeper. One time, when I was ten, Max was trying to sneak out to see his girlfriend in the middle of the night. His room is on the opposite side of the second floor in my old house, and I woke up the second I heard his footsteps in the hall. I didn't rat him out because he gave me twenty bucks to keep my mouth shut.

So you better believe that I woke up the second Harry started to hyperventilate. 

I was lying on top of him with my head laying against his bare chest, when at around three o' clock in the morning it seemed like he was choking on something. 

I shot up and rolled away from him, hoping I wasn't the cause of it, but he was still breathing heavily with his eyes closed. He thrashed around, body completely tense, grabbing at the sheets and starting to sweat.

"Harry?"

He groaned, digging his head in the pillow. His whole body was shaking.

"Harry!" I shook his shoulders radpidly. "Wake up!"

He didn't face me, but he grabbed my left hand and squeezed it. Hard. I grimaced, convinced he was going to break my hand but I didn't say a word. He gripped it harder and harder by the second. Eventually, I couldn't take it; a low whimper left my mouth, and that was what woke him up. He groaned again, his eyes fluttering open. When he saw his hand on mine, his eyes widened and he let go immediatly. I sighed in relief, trying to hard to seem like it hadn't hurt. I hadn't fully realized how strong he could be until that moment, and to be completely honest it was kind of scary. But intensely sexy at the same time.

Harry shot up from the bed, looking like he had just seen a ghost and clamped his hands on my shoulders, almost knocking me over. "Christ, Claire! Are you okay?"

I was now Christ Claire.

I nodded weakly, massaging my hand and wincing as I heard several knuckles crack. "Yeah, yeah, I'm fine."

He blinked, his hands falling from my shoulders. He rolled out of bed and frowned, pacing the room with his faces stuffed in his hands. He was muttering something I couldn't quite understand.

"Harry?"

His head jerked towards me, his expression leaving my breathless. His eyes were narrowed and stormy, not like the bright, open ones I was so used to seeing. "Get over here."

I squinted. "What?"

"Get. Over. Here."

I shot him a worried glance but did as I was told, though cautiously. I gasped when he shoved me up against the wall, digging his forhead into mine. "Tell me you love me."

My lips trembled. "What's going on-"

He gritted his teeth, pressing me into the wall so hard that I couldn't breath."Tell me you love me."

I opened my mouth but my voice faltered, partially because I wasn't used to having so little oxygen.

"Claire!" he yelled, gripping my elbows with the same amount of force he used to grip my hand.

"I love you," I sputtered, squeezing my eyes shut, my heart racing. "Harry, I love you." 

I opened one eye to see his reaction, cringing at whatever was happening right then. His mouth dropped open and his eyes formed circles. He backed away, shaking. "Oh my God."

I sank to the floor, biting back tears. I hoped that was the last time I would ever have to see him like that. My hand and arms were throbbing and already starting to become a sickening black and blue.