The Artist [h.s.]

one

Harry was broken. His art suffered, but his heart suffered even more. What made it worse was the fact that she had left him almost two years ago.

After she left, he took the first flight home only to see that all of her things were gone. It was like she had never even been there at all.

But, she couldn't take the memories with her, he still had those. Every laugh, every smile, every frown, and every tear. All of it.

He trashed the place to find something, anything that would give him a reason for why she left him.

She said yes. Why would she say yes if she was only going to leave him right after?

Harry had pulled on his hair and thrown things around, ruining the place that he loved because the woman he loved had left him.

For months, he tried to find her. He'd called her phone countless times and practically lived at her shop, just waiting for her to come back so that he could understand and maybe get her back.

The number was out of use only a few days into his heartbreak and Carter hadn't come back. Pandora had no idea where she was, she hadn't told her anything since the day before that night and she was just as upset as he was at her disappearance.

He didn't sleep at night and all of his money and energy went to finding her. She had shops everywhere now so it was far less easy than it was back when they had first met.

It didn't help that he still had to paint. It was his calling and he couldn't step away, even if he just wanted to give up on everything.

His masterpieces went from beautiful and happy, to gray and depressed. Everyone noticed, but his works were still top quality and he was still getting paid and being asked to attend shows.

He lost all interest when people started asking about where his beautiful fiancée was and talking about how adorable it was when he asked her to marry him.

The shows and the gallery's missed his breathing presence, but his art lived for him.

Aurora learned of the split eventually and tried to weasel her way back into his life, but he pushed her efforts aside until she finally left him alone.

Currently, he was flying back to England for the holidays. Carter had a shop there too and he planned on continuing his search there.

In the recent months, his fervor to find her had died down, but he wasn't going to give up. She wasn't going to walk out of his life forever.

. . .

Carter threw her head back and sighed at the familiar sensation building in the pit of her stomach. She rocked her hips against Jacob's a little more forcefully than she had been doing, her eyes fluttering shut as she grew closer and closer to that mind-blowing feeling and Jacob's fingers dug into her hips.

His hips bucked up against hers harshly and a breathy moan left her parted lips.

"Harry..."

Suddenly everything stopped.

Carter looked at Jacob with wide eyes and he stared back with a look that was closer to a frown than it was a glare.

"You said his name again."

His hands left her waist and fell to his sides, defeated.

Her eyes were glossy and her lips were trembling, "I didn't mean too. I don't know why it happened this time."

She didn't bother apologizing because she had done it so much that the words meant practically nothing anymore and they both knew it.

Jacob sighed and she removed herself from him only to sit beside him with her back resting against the wall.