Empire of Deception (Harry Styles AU)

Chapter 39

I can't remember the last time I felt like this. I can't remember the last time a sip of alcohol didn't feel like lead meant to hold me down, but instead some sort of concoction that makes me feel lighter, like I am up high floating on nothing. I feel no pain and like absolutely nothing can touch me. I'm suddenly 17 again and sneaking liquor from Carlisle Malik's cabinet before speeding off into the darkness, bound for the field where Zayn and I would spend endless nights just talking about the universe whilst completely shit-faced. I feel like I did before I found out alcohol can also be a placeholder and an anchor to help you out when times get tough. I forgot that I used to drink for fun—not because I depended on it. I am so fucking happy. My grin is so wide I think it's starting to challenge Christopher's own giant one.

I laugh at the irony of it. All those years avoiding Jarwin like he was the plague, only to find myself here in his company, both of us pissed drunk. The weirdest part of it all? He's not that bad. Then again, he's not himself, but still. I don't mind him.

I blink and suddenly there is a girl on Christopher's lap, laughing along with him. The thought of him with a female is something so foreign to me. I scramble through all my memories of him and I can honestly say that I don't remember him ever having a girlfriend growing up. He always kept to himself. I glance up at the room where Alexander and Emerson sit—probably discussing plans of world domination—and I wonder if that was Christopher's choice to always be alone. Did he choose to sit away from everyone, to constantly be an outcast in the name of corporate London, or was it all perpetrated by his surname. He was a Jarwin. He was ranks above everyone else. He has cold blood in his veins and the mark of the devil on his shirt. Maybe he was brought up like this. People fear what they don't know, or in this case, who they don't know.

My eyes start to feel heavy as the neon lights get brighter, practically blinding me. I feel the hot exhale of someone by my ear and am startled to see that is a girl. She's calling me a cutie and I'm focusing in on her pretty eyes and lips and I don't fight her hands when they touch my face. She's asking me to dance and I feel myself wanting to but something holds me back. I know I can't.

"Styles," I hear Victoria growl. I look up and squint, barely making out her thin frame which looms over my sitting body. "Sorry honey," she mock-apologizes to the gal, "He's got a girlfriend." I hear the girl huff before getting up off of the couch and disappearing into the giant mob of dancers.

"You're upset," I slur, words slipping out of my mouth.

"I'm not upset," she replies. I barely catch it. My eyes are starting to close.

"Christ, Toph!" she curses, "How much did you give him?!" she cries out.

Christopher starts to laugh before I feel her pulling me up onto my feet. I almost topple over but she holds me steady. "There are cameras everywhere," she whispers into my ear. Her words are clear and sharp and I hear them with utter clarity. "People know we are in here, and although the inside cameras are under contract, the outside ones aren't, do you understand? You are going to walk out of here on your own two feet, otherwise you are going to be on the front page of every single fucking newspaper in England. You're night is over, come on, I'm taking you home."

She holds me hand and pulls me through the club. I am so disoriented that I can barely even figure out that we are heading towards the front door. In the distance I see the bouncer and that is when she lets go of my hands and gives me a stern look. It takes everything I have to not fall over. Instead, I follow her lead. I keep my head down as she asks security to fetch her my car. I have no idea when she had gotten ahold of my keys.

"Get in," she commands, opening the door for me. I get into the passenger seat as she slides into the drivers. She starts inputting information into the GPS system and somehow I see that she is looking for my address. I'm shaking my head, mumbling a no. My fingers try to slap her's away from the screen which makes her really angry.