WILD // (Harry Styles)

T W E N T Y F O U R

CHAPTER 24

CLAIRE

Michael's lips part as his jaw drops. He inhales heavily, his trembling hand covering his mouth. With a failing breath, I get to my feet. I put my hand on the handle, terrified of what I'll find on the other side of it. I look back on Michael, and he curls his body up, putting his arms round his folded legs. He moves to the corner of the room, and I open the door.

My view is limited to the the space between the kitchen counters and the fridge, so I move slowly towards the source of the sound. With each step, I see more. I only see a hand, their body hidden behind the wall on the left. The hand is clenching it's hand around a gun, pointing it directly in front of them.

They fire it again, and my body jumps with fear. I feel my eyes widen as I move forward to see who is holding it. With shivering steps, I get close enough to see his brown hair and his green eyes.

Harry.

He sees me, with a glare of rage in his eyes like I've never seen before. I gasp loudly and my heart panics when I realize what he shot. Who he shot.

I turn my head, scared of what I'll see. But there is nothing there. The only thing I see is bullet holes in the grey, metal elevator doors.

"He... got away," he exhales sharply with side eyes, and I understand what happened. Zayn got in the elevator, and the doors closed before he was able to shoot. My fingers twitch and fury boils in me when I think of what would have happened if he managed to shoot before they closed. I walk up to Harry with a wrenched stare in my eyes, and I use my flat palms to hit his chest, pushing him backwards.

"You could've killed him!" I cry, hitting his chest with every word. A look of confusion grows in him, but I'm just too angry and scared to react to it.

"I love him! And you could've killed him!" I scream, and his lips part, his eyes growing dark.

"Claire..." Michael sharply exhales when he enters the room, and they lock eyes.

"What the hell!" I push him again when he looks away. My heart beats a hundred times a second, as I cry when the image of Zayn being shot flashes in my mind. It's horrifying.

"The pizza," Michael freezes, and I see Harry's body stiffen by the word. They both look back on the table, where the two pizza's lie. There are three plates, with each their slice on it. But only one of them has a piece bitten out of it.

Mine.

HARRY

He drugged her.

As my eyes lock on the slice, the realization of the situation seeps into my mind. He was here in the apartment, again. He actually got into the apartment a second time. And fed Claire with drugs.

Why else would she act like this? She doesn't love Zayn. The only way those words would escape her mouth, is if she was drugged with the same drug he fed her during her abduction.

Her eyes twitch with anger, her palms curling up to fists as I turn my head towards hers again. In her mind right now, I am the man who tried killing the person she loves. I tried to kill Zayn. And with each passing second, he is getting further away. He is probably already in the lobby, and it is too late for me to call the police.

I don't know what to do. My body is frozen in time as I stare into Claire's eyes. It boils in me when I think of the fact that right now, in this moment in time... She loves Zayn.

Zayn. The one who assaulted her body, the one who threatened her, the one who abducted her, the one who tried to kill her... She loves him. She doesn't love me.