Illusion

t h i r t e e n

a.n. / GUYS I'M ALIVE!!! so i cannot apologize enough for being inactive, but honestly, being stuck with your writing just sucks and that's how i've been feeling for the past like year so i've just been avoiding it. although fan fiction has not been as big of a part in my life as it used to be, those of you who are still reading deserve updates, so i'm trying to figure this book out and finish it! this update is a little different and not what i was originally planning on writing so hopefully you like it :)

love you all x - rebekah

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Harry's POV

I'm lucky, is what they've been telling me. I should be serving time, but since I have all the cash in the world to pay my bail and my publicist has been working the guy at the front desk for the past three hours, I'm put in holding.

I sit there for what feels like forever, gingerly examining the nicks left from the glass on my knuckles because I'd rather feel their pain than think about everything else.

Everything else as in the fact that Marian is going to kill me for getting myself arrested, the pictures will be all over the internet, and more importantly, I slept with Zoe. I slept with Zoe and let Emery get away and now I'm in jail and she's god knows where hating me and the life that was supposed to be her dream.

At this moment, the door opens and an officer with a bald head and thick eyebrows looks at me for a small second and then away, pointing outside. "One call. Five minutes."

My hands shake as I dial the only number I still know by heart and I let out a shaky breath I didn't know I was holding in as the line feebly rings, over and over. There's a chance she won't pick up. And I brace myself for it.

"Hello?" The voice startles me half to death and I almost drop the receiver all together.

"Hello?" She repeats again, almost impatient, and I realize I've suddenly forgotten how to hold a phone conversation.

"Hey..." I begin, biting my lip. "...it's Harry..." I wait nervously, twisting my finger around the phone's cord over and over, until the officer shoots me a curt glare. A few beats pass and she hasn't said anything, so I clear my throat carefully.

"...you there?"

"I'm...I'm here..." her voice is different than I remember it, tired, deeper, worn.

"Okay, this is going to sound crazy...but I need your help, desperately." I pause again, waiting for her to hang up, but when she doesn't, I continue. "I'm in jail, and I need you to bail me out."

"You're in jail?" She whispers, disgust evident in her words.

"Yes, I'm in jail. I just need this one favor-"

"This one favor?" She cuts in, calmly, carefully, but I can feel the anger rising in her voice. "You've asked me a million favors, Harry. A million times I gave you exactly what you needed and you never came through on your end. I gave up trying, all those years ago, and I can't just agree to drop everything and do this for you. Not again."

"I know, and I'm sorry. I've been a dick to you, I know that, but please, Gemma, I need you-"

"I could be anywhere-"

"One minute." It's the officer's voice and my heart quickens.

"Gem-"

"Okay. I'll come." I know she's heard the officer and has and always will be too good of a person to leave me in jail, whether or not we've talked in years.

"Oh, thank God," I mutter.

She doesn't respond, but I can almost hear her suppressing a smile on the other end. "I'll be there in an hour."