Black Temptation

Chapter 21

He doesn't dare to look at me, even when I scream his name. Avoiding my every advance, he turns the radio on low, to the same pop station.

"Why would you do that?!!"

He looks down, sucking in a portion of his lip. To my dismay, he stares right back up at the road. I huff and fall back into my seat annoyed.

"...I didn't hit him that hard." Harry almost whines.

"Why hit him at all?"

He pauses.

"You were angry, I wanted to know why. My anger may I have gotten the best of me, for a minute."I scrunch my eyes together. "Why care?"

He huffs, looking down at his fitted jeans. A small smirk pulls at his lips and I have a feeling I know what he's going to say.

"Would you rather I just not care? About your feelings, thoughts, hopes...you?"

His hands grab tighter on the steering wheel. Green eyes sparkle beyond mine and I can fill the inevitable pull on me. Reaching for my knee, I abstain from his contact and look out of the window. Seeing from my peripheral, he retracts his hand and his face falls into a displeased shape. He stares back onto the road.

"Like I said, I didn't extensively damage his face. He already looked like he got some previous beating, so I went easy on him."

Rolling my eyes, I whisper to myself,

"Probably Pierce..."

A sudden twist in direction sends my body into a panic as it hits the window. I grunt feverishly, trying to grab ahold of something. My vision is temporarily blurred as I cut it skinnier. We drift into a patch of asphalt, other cars honking as they pass up.

I clear the hair from my face, evening out my irregular panting. Vexed, I glare at Harry who's face is angered with eyes squinted and brow furrowed.

"What did you say?" He demands as he frowns upon me.

I look at him confused,

"What? Pierce? You almost caused the biggest wreck this week over a stupid name!?"

"How do you know him?"

His questions come like rapid fire out his dragon mouth. I shrug.

"I-I don't. He's some chick, Adele's, brother."

"Don't be friends with her."

I clench my fist, tired of his repetitive demanding comments.

"You see I introduced her as chick right? And you don't have the right to tell me who I can and can't be friends with. You seem to have forgotten you don't own me."

His body tenses up and I can see I've hit some underlying nerve. He shakes some hair in his hand, looking incredibly annoyed.

"You don't know Pierce like I know Pierce." His rough tone only makes me want to ask him even more.

"Oh really? How do you know Pierce?"

I listen closely, waiting for it to be another nursery rhyme lie.

"...He's a friend."

"Ugh! See, you always do that! Talk to me in riddles and now you want me to follow some orders without cause or reason? I keep telling you I'm not like those other girls that you can just manipulate. I'm sick of you treating me like that! Stop trying to control me!"

He abruptly takes off his seat belt and lunges towards my face. I flinch backwards but regain my composure and meet his pesky at its forefront.

"I'm not trying to control you," He growls. "I'm trying to protect you!"

"From what?!"

His breathing stings irregularly on my cheeks, his chest pulsates at the speed the cars move that surround us. I bite the inside of my lip from fear of his answer.

"From the world," He says, harshly pounding his fist into leather of the glove compartment, "dammit from me!"

I stare at this internal civil war, not knowing if I should or shouldn't say something.

"You say you're not like other girls and you're right, you're not, and that scares the hell out of me." Harry breathes.

I let my seat devour my entire backside. Closing my eyes, I exhale a breath I'd been brewing since the day we met.

"What are we doing?" I slightly shake my head and shrug. "I don't know I thing about you...who are you, really?"

My desperate tone should make it easy to apprehend that I'm full on oblivious to the intentions-real intentions-of this man I constantly let back in my life. Time and time again, I haven't gotten closer to the any objective I strived to make because of this guy.

Maybe I am, subconsciously, wanting to just be around him..

I shake at the thought. My counter subconscious doesn't speak, her argument decomposed and invalid.

"I've asked myself that same question, many times. But what I do know is that you asking all these questions, puts you in the middle of something you don't want to be in the middle of."

Well, Harry, something tells me I'm already in the middle. Like slice and dice. Motorboat middle.

"I'm dangerous. I corrupt. I tempt."

I tilt my head towards him, slightly smirking at this oh so true comment.

"I'm not so innocent myself. But I can tell you that I am not a child. I can handle whatever you give me. You just have to trust me to keep your secrets."

Suddenly, his eyes soften and my vital signs slowly start unthawing. From maddened black to the softest green I have ever laid my eyes on. He is a master of his tricks, he knows exactly what he is doing. And oh, does he do it well.

"Yes," I say calmly. He stares at me as if I'd called him Retrobusha. Turning my head, a small smile crawls onto my cheeks as his beauty captivates me-fully.

"Yes, you can corrupt me."