Prince and the Pauper

Chapter Fourteen

"I'm so screwed. Do you hear me, Bash? Screwed. Indefinitely, irrevocably, inevitably dead." I  babbled, pacing up and down his small bedroom. The minute Harry had hung up it felt like every drop of alcohol I had consumed was a figment of my imagination. Now I was completely sobered up on anxiety, and an achingly strong slither of anticipation was igniting every fibre of my body. Harry was on his way here, angry, jealous, and from the tone of his husky tone, maybe even slightly aroused. I blew out a shaky breath, running my fingers through my tangled hair, whilst Bash simply lay back on his bed, propped up on his elbows and watched me squirm.
"Sounds like you're about to get  screwed." Bash hinted. I daggered him with a pointed glare and he raised his hands in surrender. I had no idea how to act, or what I was going to do when Harry arrived. I had been tempted to run off before he arrived, but that would mean inevitably having to turn up to work, where he would have had more time to let his anger stew. Facing him now was my best option, but nonetheless frightening.
"What do I do?"
"Just follow his lead, he seems like the dominant type-"
"Not what I meant!"  I hissed. I bit away at my nails, and was just about to yell at Bash for landing me in this mess, when a loud, determined banging sounded through the walls.
"I'm dead." I whimpered, my eyes widening slightly.
"Was nice knowing you, love." Bash joked, but I didn't dear laugh. Partially because I wasn't so sure his joke about Harry throttling me was exactly facetious.
"Stay in here." I ordered Bash when he went to get up and go answer the door. "If he sees you, we're both dead. One fatality is better than two." I reasoned, biting my lip and opening his bedroom door to the foyer. To my devastation, Bash followed me out, and headed to the door.
"Bash!" I growled, trying to pull him back. Bash was still wasted, and Harry seeing him was only going to worsen the situation. If that was even possible.
"Chill, Dev." Bash rolled his eyes, as if I was being dramatic. The walls were shaking from how ferociously Harry was banging on the door, and I swallowed thickly, bracing myself for what would surely be the most intense showdown of my life. 
"Mr Styles!" Bash beamed upon opening the door, blasting out his name like it was the punch line to a joke. "What a lovely surprise-"
"Cut the BS Sebastian." Harry snapped. A loud gasp spilled from my lips at his venomous tone, and my heart leaped into my throat as his eyes snapped from Bash to me. The intensity in his stare stole all my breath, like I had plunged into Atlantic ocean.
"Devonne."  Harry's voice was sharp, blunt, and very, very gruff. "Outside, now." 
"Hold up a minute." Bash spoke up, all of a sudden very serious. "She's done nothing wrong. She works for you, but outside the office, her life is her life. She can drink if she wants to, and she can hang  out with me if she wants to. Her obligations to you end at five."
"Really? Harry asked rhetorically. "Because it was under my strong  impression that Devonne sees me as a lot more than her boss." Harry's vision returned to me, and his eyes shone so brightly, embers of gold outlining his emerald gems. I forced a deep breath. Yup, he was definitely aroused. That made two of us.
"Funny, she was just telling me otherwise." The tension between the two was so intense I felt like I couldn't possibly move any closer without the force between them pushing me back. Their posture was rigid, shoulders squared, and chests rising and falling heavily. Harry had a remarkably bigger build then Bash, and they both knew it. Where Bash was lean, Harry was chiselled. Hard -edged. Damn near perfection. His muscles bulged through his dress shirt, his tie loosened around his neck. His curls were dishevelled like he had been plunging his long fingers through them repeatedly.
"Harry." I surprised myself by speaking up. All eyes were on me, and I forced myself to walk forward. "I'll go with you." Bash looked at my incredulously.
"Devonne?" He questioned, looking at my like I had two heads.
"It's fine. I'll see you later, alright?" He slowly nodded, and pecked my cheek before I walked out the door. Sober Bash would have put up more of a fight, but he was far from the state of being able to fight it out with Harry. The second the door swung closed, Harry's long arms wrapped themselves around me and crushed our bodies together. Our bodies were touching everywhere, and it stole my breath. He backed me up against the wall, where he pressed himself against me. Feeling his hard and rigid body against me had my eyes squeezed closed, lips parted slightly. I know understand the expression 'between a rock and a hard place' perfectly well.
"Devonne." The rasping voice had my eyelids flying open, and the sight of the blazing eyes made my body ache. He looked wild, and it was a sight I could easily get used it. Hot shivers licked up my spine as he bowed his head and pressed his forehead to mine. His hot breath fanned my face, and the heat spread throughout my entirety.
"I don't..." I stammered, struggling for words, "I'm sorry, and I don't even know why." I laughed lightly, but out of nerves rather than humour.
"I went to your house to speak to you, but you weren't there. I know it sounds rash, but given the sketchy neighbourhood, and how you had said earlier you were just going to curl up in bed I panicked when you weren't there." His hands never left my waist, his fingers grasping onto me like he was afraid I would vanish into thin air at any given moment. "So I called you, but that wanker answered, and I was beyond furious."
"I-" He pressed his fingers to my lips to silence me.
"Not at you." He murmured quietly. "At myself. The thought of you being in any other mans house at this hour made me sick, because I let you slip through my fingers." His hands gripped my hips tighter, and I inhaled his minty scent as our bodies moulded into one. He held me so close I couldn't tell where my body ended and his began.
"You don't even know me." I tried reasoning. The attempt to argue my attraction to Harry was futile, and yet I had to try. For Geordie. I simply couldn't get into bed with the enemy. The only problem was now I wasn't so sure Harry was my enemy.
"I know you, angel." The nickname stole my next words, and his right hand came up to cup my cheek, his thumb stroking along my cheekbone. "I know you act like  nothing can hurt you, when really you have the most sensitive and tender heart I have ever known. I know you have fierce loyalty to your brother, and you're not afraid to defend those who dare cross you." His hand moved from my cheek, down my neck, softly gliding from one collarbone to the other, only to slide up the other side of my neck. His fingers curled under my chin and gently tilted it to the right, where his head ducked down to nuzzle the crook of my neck. His stubble tickled my sensitive skin, and his lips ghosted over where my jawline  connected to my neck. The sensation of his soft lips over my flesh had my hands grip the fabric of his dress shirt, twisting the material in my fingers. "I know the minute I first saw you in court and I watched you stand  by yourself and demand justice so adamantly that nobody else held as many morals as you did. When I first saw you pouring coffee at the diner, that no other woman had a smile that could captivate me in a way nobody else ever could." A strangled whisper of a moan tumbled from my mouth when his lips finally pressed against my neck. I felt him smile against my skin, and as if it was contagious, a smile curved upon my own lips. "I know the minute we first bumped into me that you were so breath-taking, I couldn't think straight. I know  that the minute you first met me, the real me, you started to drop your hate you held for me. More importantly," he kissed his way up my neck,  and then our stares locked when his lips came a few painful inches from mine, "you're only running because you didn't know you could feel something so strong for somebody before we met. The attraction, emotional, physical," his voice grew huskier, "is so strong that we'll sooner go mad before let it go." Then his mouth was on mine, hot and hard. I didn't know how to respond, a small voice in my head was telling me this was wrong, and yet another was screaming finally!  I answered his kiss just as passionately, and my fingers tangled themselves into his hair, tugging slightly. A guttural growl sounded from his throat, and then his body pressed into me even more. I was breathless, and I didn't know if it was from being stuck in-between the wall and Harry's hard body, or from the kissing. A moan was lost in our mouths, and Harry took it as a chance to nibble on my lower lip. Just when the pressure from lack of oxygen burned in my chest, did he pull back. Harry's lips were redder, and slightly swollen from our heavy make-out session, and the triumphant smirk on his face told me mine were the exact same.
"That was kiss." I shyly admitted, and Harry laughed softly.
"And that was in an open corridor. Imagine what I'm capable of behind closed doors." The suggestion had me blushing, and Harry made a sound of deep contentment at the mere thought. "C'mon." Harry whispered, his fingers intertwining with mine and pulled me into him. "I have something I need to show you. The reason I went looking for you in the first place."
"Oh, so you weren't just looking for a late night snog?" I joked, and Harry laughed.
"You, angel, are more to me than a snog." His words had my stomach fluttering, and despite the voice screaming in my mind that we had just made a giant mistake that would break my brothers heart when he woke up, I couldn't help but feel like for the first time in what felt like forever, I  finally had a reason to smile.