Captive Of Lies Book 2(Imprisoned in my Heart trilogy...Larry)

Chapter 19

“There he is!”

“Harry Styles,” someone hissed excitedly.

“I heard he shot Jeb’s hat straight off his head the other day – with just one bullet. Didn’t even graze the top of Jeb’s head; just shot it clean off.”

“You heard right. I saw him do it.”

“Really? Christ. He’s amazing. No wonder Kylie thinks so much of him.”

“Bit moody, though, isn’t he? Temperamental.”

“What do you mean?”

“I heard that he rushes off crying if anyone mentions his boyfriend.”

“What, Louis?”

“Shhhhh!” came the hasty reply. “Yeah, him.”

“Weird. You think it’s true?”

“Who knows? He certainly rushes off pretty quick whenever anyone talks about him.”

Harry wasn’t sure whether to be irritated that he was the subject of gossip, annoyed that nobody seemed to have any reservations about discussing him so loudly, or pleased that they seemed both worried and impressed by his presence. He stalked down the corridor, hands in his pockets, listening to odd snatches of conversation as he passed by, and some of the whispers pleased him, but most of them made him angry, creasing his forehead as he stormed past the gossipers, feeling Louis’ jumper flap wildly in the breeze he left in his wake. What right did anyone have to judge them? He even heard somebody suggest that Louis had done a bunk and not had the guts to tell Harry – “and who could blame him? That guy is scary. He has a creepy look in his eyes. Probably a domestic abuser. This Louis guy was probably well shot of him. I’d run screaming from him if it were me.” Comments like that made Harry so furious that he was ready to slam the snide mutterer against the wall and rip him to pieces, but his protests stayed as angry snarls inside his mind, raging at the world. The people that mattered knew the truth, and that was what was really important. But he couldn’t help hating the fact that other people knew better, and worst of all, that they dared to state their judgment so boldly. It hurt – it really hurt. Harry had never thought he’d be one to take nasty comments to heart; he’d always been the thick-skinned one, always told Louis never to listen to crap like that. But now that the tables were turned, and he was on the receiving end of it all, and there was nobody to kiss his tears away and cover his ears and whisper to him to close his ears, he couldn’t seem to help listening to every harsh comment that was made – and sometimes he thought they might kill him.

Sometimes he almost thought that he preferred it that way. He’d rather die because of some bitter stories spread by critical strangers than have to live with them on his own.

He entered the weapon’s room to find a shaking Niall attempting to aim at a vaguely human-shaped outline that someone had helpfully drawn on the wall. It looked like someone had forced their friend to stand against the wall and drawn a wobbly line around them, but their artistic talent was clearly not as commendable as their enthusiasm. Niall’s hand trembled as he attempted to aim, but Harry could see that the bullet wasn’t even going to graze the side of the outline, and he would have been able to see that even if the other twelve most recent bullet holes hadn’t been Niall’s handiwork, and hadn’t also missed by such a huge margin. Sighing, a beautifully quiet noise that nobody heard, he crept up behind the blond boy, unnoticed by Niall, who was focusing on the target that he would miss, and Kylie, who was focusing on the spot on the wall that anyone else in the building would have been able to hit.

Harry reached out, and he easily slid the gun out of Niall’s hand. With a yelp, Niall staggered back, and the moment he was out of the way, Harry almost boredly turned to the side, aimed, and shot three times in rapid succession, the gun jerking in a familiar motion in his hand, almost relaxing him with how normal it was beginning to feel – which was quite worrying in itself – and he watched the bullets fly with a calm expression. The first bullet hit one of the googly eyes that someone had clumsily drawn on the figure, embedding itself dead in the centre of the scribbled pupil. The second burrowed straight into where the heart would have been if it had been a real person instead of a hastily drawn outline. The third went a little astray, skimming the very edge of the crotch of the outline so that it would have hit a very painful place if it had been a real person. Niall and Kylie both flinched, and Niall swore in shock as he jumped out of the way.