Illegal Love

~ Chapter 23 ~

a/n: i am soooo sorry about not updating! i'm going to upload a few more chapters because i feel bad! thank you for all your amazing comments! :)

"Gabriella?" Mr. Tatum looks shocked to see me standing at his doorstep.  

I had crawled my way through almost the whole building until I ended up in the lobby. When I crawled out of the vent there, the person at the front desk immediately asked what was wrong with me and what was my room number. I told him I was lost and my number was 413. Then, he led me up to room 413 and here I am. 

"Hi, Mr. Tatum. Is it okay if I...um, stay with you for a while?" I ask, biting my lip. He looks at me weirdly for a second.  

"Only if you call me Channing instead of Mr. Tatum," he says and I giggle as he leads me inside. I'm surprised at how much he can change from inside the classroom to now. He's friendly now but avoids me at school. 

His apartment isn't nearly as clean and neat as Harry's. It has a completely different layout than his too.  

"I'm going to a party, later on tonight. You should go with me," Channing says. I'm not sure how comfortable I would feel at a party with him. Especially considering the fact that he's my teacher. I felt a little awkward now that I was in his home. With Harry it was different. Not like this at all. 

"I'm not really sure..." I say and he gives me a look. 

"Oh, c'mon, Gabriella. A girl like you shouldn't be holed up inside on a Friday night," Channing says with a warm glint in his eye. Something about him attracts me and I oblige.  

I go into his bathroom and change into a crop top and high waisted shorts. Good thing I brought my bag with me. I pull out my mascara and some gloss and touch up my lashes and lips.  

I walk out and Channing looks at me hungrily. He advances toward me. 

"Wow, you lo-" His voice is cut off by loud pounding on the door. Channing hurries to answer it and almost slams the door in the person's face, but their arm stops him.  

Harry walks in looking like he's going to ring my neck. "What the hell are you doing here?" He says through gritted teeth. His chest moves rapidly up and down and I can tell he's struggling to keep calm. 

"To get away from you and your stupid rules," I say, putting my hands on my hips. Channing looks extremely confused as to what's going on. 

"Those stupid rules are protecting you from what happened with Mr. Brady," he says coolly. I flinch, memories of that sick bastard crashing through my brain. He thought he knew just what to say to get me to want to go back with him. Think again, Styles. 

"You have no right to bring him up. How did you even find me here anyway?"  

"I asked the guy at the front desk in the lobby. He said you said you were lost and your room number was 413," he answers, glancing at Channing, evilly.  

"Why can't you just leave me alone?!" I say, feeling exasperated. As much as I love being around Harry, I need a break from him right now.  

"Why can't you just listen to me?" Harry counters, stepping forward. "If you don't come back to my apartment with me, I will...I will-" Channing holds out a hand to stop him from speaking. 

"Save it, Harry. Gabriella and I don't need to hear your bullshit. We have better things to do," he says and takes my hand. He leads me to the door and opens it for me. I take one last glance back at Harry. He no longer has an expression of anger on his face, but a look of shock and almost pain. For a split second, I feel awful and selfish. Harry is only protecting me and respecting my parents. I bet any other teacher would let me do whatever I wanted without a care in the world but not him. He actually cares about me and where I am and who I'm with. I should be thanking him for that instead of running away from it.