Truth Sets You Free

Chapter 16

"How much am I going to have to beg to get you to change your mind?"

"You can beg as much as your little heart desires, I'm not changing my mind, Harry." I say firmly over the phone as I sit in the backroom during my break at work. Harry's doing everything he can to get me to stay at his place tonight, but there's honestly no point in doing that. "You aren't even going to be home until later, and I'll most likely be asleep, so what difference does it make if I'm there or not."

"You know that this is about more than getting to sleep next to you, Bella." He says with a certain edge to his voice, and I know exactly why.

"I know, and I know that this is about you worrying about me getting home. But guess what, you don't have to worry about that anymore because I'm not walking home like I used to."

"Bella—"

I ignore his interruption and continue to make my point. "You see, this creepy, clingy, stalker guy left this car in my parking garage and basically wouldn't leave me alone until I agreed to accept it. So I have a brand new car that can take me safely to and from work, meaning that you have no reason to worry." I hear him sigh on the other end, and I smile victoriously. "Choose your battles, Styles."

"Well played, Peters." He fires back, earning a laugh from me. At least he seems to be in a good mood. Maybe it has something to do with the fact that he finally got his phone replaced. I'm still not really sure how he broke the other one, but we went out and bought him a new one a few days ago. "Although, now I'm going to be worrying about this creepy, clingy, stalker guy." His voice chimes through the speaker again, and I let out another chuckle.

"You should be. He's super scary and intimidating."

"Scary and intimidating?" He asks in amusement.

"Definitely...but in a mysterious, sexy way."

"Mysterious and sexy?"

"Yep, but you wanna hear a little secret." I egg him on even more. He hums softly in response as I lower my voice to a whisper. "He's kind of a douchebag."

"Well, then you should probably stay away from him." He says as we both laugh together. A comfortable silence fills the air before Harry speaks again. "But seriously baby, if you aren't staying at my place tonight, can you at least text me when you get to yours?"

"Of course, Harry." I say with a nod, knowing that I would want him to do the same. This is the first time in awhile that we won't be sleeping together, but it's for a good reason. "Have fun tonight."

"I'll try." He says, and I laugh. "I love you, Bella."

"I love you, too." I say happily before hanging up my phone.

Harry's going out with Scott's groomsmen tonight. It's his first time meeting them, and Scott organized an entire night of parties and clubs. I want Harry to go relax and have a good time. There have been so many things stressing him out lately. Things that he really shouldn't have to even be thinking about.

That's why I decided to just lay low at my apartment. That way, he can go out and stay out for as long as he wants without having to worry about getting back to me.

I know that part of him was probably wishing I would ask him not to go. He really doesn't want to go out with them because apparently, the rest of Scott's groomsmen know each other from college. Harry's worried about being the odd one out.

But deep down, he knows that he's doing it for his best friend, so he caved and told them he would be there. I just hope he has a good time.

The door to the backroom opens, interrupting my thoughts, as Stacey barges in looking extremely overwhelmed. I've come to learn that that's just the way that she normally looks, so I can never tell if there's actually a problem or not.