Truth Sets You Free

Chapter 11

He's standing in the doorway with his arms straight at his sides. His fists are clenched tightly, and he's extremely out of breath. It almost looks like he ran here, but the car sitting by the curb suggests otherwise.

"Harry, what are you doing here?" I repeat because he didn't answer me the first time.

"Are you okay?" He responds, and I frown. Why wouldn't I be okay? Besides the fact that he ignored me tonight. Is this him trying to apologize for that?

"Harry, what's going on?"

This time, instead of responding, he steps past me into the apartment. His eyes scan the room frantically like he's looking for something.

"Where's Jessica?" He asks, sticking his head into the empty kitchen.

"Asleep." I whisper even though he isn't. "Please tell me what's going on."

He continues to ignore me as he moves to the living room. I'm even more confused when he walks over to the closet in the corner. He pulls the door open, looks inside, and then steps out to shut the door.

"Harry." I snap, raising my voice. That actually seems to get his attention, and he turns on his heel to look at me. "What's wrong? Why are you here?"

"I needed to make sure you were okay." He finally answers me.

"And you couldn't have done that with a phone call?" I counter. I'm about to yell at him for not answering my text or call earlier, but he speaks up.

"I broke my phone."

"You what?" I frown, bringing my voice back down to a whisper as I remember where I am. Jessica and Ryan are sleeping right down the hall. Harry and I both need to quiet down.

He sighs, running his hands through his hair. "I broke it."

I stare at him for a moment before shaking my head. Maybe its because its late and I'm exhausted, but I have no idea what's going on.

"I'm so confused." I admit.

"Are you okay?" Harry asks again, this time very slowly and enunciating each word.

"Yes, Harry, why do you keep asking me that?"

He closes the space between us and pulls me into his arms, squeezing me tightly against him. I feel his face nuzzle into my hair as he takes a deep breath. It seems to calm him down when I return the gesture and hug him back.

HARRY

It feels so good to have her safe in my arms, but this won't last forever. I have to tell her what's going on. If I've learned anything from my relationship with Bella, it's that the best way to keep her safe is to tell her the truth.

At this point, all that matters to me is doing everything that I can to keep her safe. That means that she needs to know everything, no matter how angry she's going to be about it.

"Where are you sleeping?" I mumble, pulling back slightly so that she can look up at me.

She looks like she has a million questions, but instead of asking them, she steps back from my embrace and takes my hand. I follow her down the hallway and into a small bedroom. She closes the door behind us, and I walk over to sit on the bed, motioning for her to join me.

I take a deep breath, turning towards her and placing my hand on her leg.

"Bella." I start, clearing my throat. "I want you to know that I love you, and I want you to know that everything that I do, I do it because I love you."

She stays quiet but nods as I talk. God, I kind of wish she would say something, but I guess she's letting me do the talking. I need to just come out and say it instead of beating around the bush like this.