Brutality | Harry Styles

Chapter 20

"Hey, baby, wake up."

Melody felt a hand slip up the back of her shirt, fingertips brushing gently over her skin. She hummed. Lips pressed to her shoulder, leaving long, lingering kisses. She let her eyes flutter open to find Harry crouched before her.

"Did you just call me 'baby'?"

Harry frowned and his fingers stilled against Melody's back. He grunted. "Gross."
Melody let out a loud laugh and shifted onto her side. Harry's hand slipped around to her hip.

"I kinda liked it," she informed him.

"Tha' sucks. 'S not happenin' again."

Melody laughed again. The sound might have made Harry smile normally, but he was too distracted by the ugly bruise that painted her cheek.

"Does it look that bad?" Melody asked. Her laughter faded when she noticed him staring.

Harry peeled his eyes away from the purple splotch. He kept silent because the look of the bruise really made him feel sick.

"Well, you don't look so pretty yourself," Melody said, reaching out to ghost her fingers beneath his black eye. She twisted some hair behind his ear. "Come up here."

Harry stood up as Melody scooted back across the mattress. He laid down beside her and let her attach herself to him, wrapping around his body like the growing roots of a tree. She smelled like his soap from the shower she had taken last night.

"You're dressed and everything," Melody said. "What time is it?"

"Almost eleven," Harry answered with a chuckle. He slipped his hand up the back of Melody's shirt—his shirt—again and pressed his cheek to her forehead.

"Jesus!" Melody jerked away from him. "Your face is freezing. Were you outside?"

"Yeah, went to talk t'Goodman."

Melody shrieked again as Harry buried his face into the crook of her neck. His skin felt almost icy against hers. She tried to pull back, but he anchored her to him, pressing frigid kisses to her throat.

"What did he say?" she asked breathlessly. Her fingers laced into his hair, though she shivered beneath him.

"Took me a li'l while but he agreed t'give me a match t'night."

Melody hummed. Harry had begun to warm up and his lips felt pleasant as they fluttered against her collarbone.

"You're gonna fight with a black eye?"

"Can still see outta it," he said, "this time, at least."

Harry kissed up to Melody's jaw and then across to her lips. She slipped her fingers between their mouths.

"No, no, I haven't brushed my teeth yet," she protested.

"Then keep your mouth closed," Harry said with a frown, swiping at her hand. He pressed a couple of gentle, lingering kisses to her tightly sealed lips.

Melody was truly surprised at how affectionate he was being. She didn't mind it at all, though. Much of the time she had to lay directly on top of him to keep him in place, or to lick at that one spot below his ear that she'd found, the one that made him pliable as clay. But he was all over her now, trailing his lips back down her chin and hooking his fingers into the flesh of her back.

"What's gotten into you?" Melody whispered, sliding her foot along the leg of his jeans.

"Mmm," Harry hummed. "Nothin'. Jus' like yeh in m'clothes, I think."

Melody smiled, burying a fist in the hair at the back of Harry's head and tugging him away from her neck. He groaned deep in his throat, licking at his lips.