Brutality | Harry Styles

Chapter 18

Melody had grown tired. Her head still throbbed where it had made contact with the officer's face and her cheek twitched with pain whenever she shifted her facial expression even just a little. She wasn't as hot anymore, but her hair was stuck to the back of her neck with dried sweat. How long had it been? An hour? Two?

One officer was seated in front of Melody, a mere three feet away, his legs spread and his arm draped over the back of his chair. The other cop was plopped on the counter. Their dull banter couldn't hold Melody's attention or interest.

Her phone buzzed in her back pocket and made her start. She had forgotten it was even there. It vibrated in a constant pattern, thrumming against the metal of the chair. The officers turned their attention to her.

"What's that?" one of them asked.

Melody swallowed thickly as the buzzing subsided. Then it started back up again, like an urgent prodding, a vie for her attention. The cop in the chair stood and trailed around her until he could fish the phone from her back pocket. He let out a hearty chuckle as he read Harry's name on the screen.

"He's probably on his way here already," he said.

Melody sat up straighter, struggling against her restraints. She barely had a moment to process things as the door swung open and Harry stumbled inside, out of breath. His angry eyes only glossed over Melody briefly. Everyone seemed caught off-guard.

"There you are," said the officer on the countertop when he had gathered himself. He hopped down from his perch and strolled into the center of the room. "Been looking for you for ages."

"Wha's goin' on?" Harry asked. Despite his efforts to conceal it, Melody could hear the strain in his voice.

"Keep getting yourself into trouble, don't you?" the officer said as he took another step forward. "Owe some money, right?"

"Haven' finished my sales," Harry muttered. His eyes flicked across the room to Melody again. "Wha's she doin' here?"

"Well, we had to make sure you showed up, didn't we?" said the other cop from behind Melody as he closed a fist around her hair. She gasped as her head was yanked back. "Pretty little thing, too."

"Yeh think some girl means somethin' t'me?"

Melody closed her eyes against the bright lights above her. She felt her stomach churn at Harry's words. Maybe he was only saying it, maybe it wasn't the truth, but it was every nagging worry that she had felt since the first time Harry had kissed her—that she was meaningless to him, that she was just any girl, that he only let her around to amuse him.

"Nice try, buddy. You think she's a secret or something? How do you think we found out where you live?"

Melody felt a guilty pang in her gut. Had she really caused so much trouble for Harry?

"She's been at your matches, at Brute's, guys at the gym have seen her with you. Chad's seen her down that alley a couple of times."

Harry clenched his jaw and Melody, from her blind position, heard a hard smack that made her jump. Her eyes flew open, but she couldn't free herself from the grip on her hair enough to look.

"Hey!" the officer behind her shouted. She felt a press of cold metal against her temple that made her still. "Stop."

Harry, who had given the cop before him a good few punches, stood still, tensed. A gun was perched against the side of Melody's head. He found that his throat had gone dry.

The cop that Harry had hit was plugging a bloody nose. He grunted and swiped at his nostrils with his sleeve and then swung a hard hook into Harry's jaw. Harry stumbled backward and then dropped to his knees as the cop pushed him down.