Strung (Rock & Romance I.)

Chapter 33. - Left

A/N: I'm baaack! If you are not a fan of Harmonized (you're wrong then, because you should be!) please accept my sincerest thanks for understanding why I stayed away from writing for a few weeks. It meant a lot to get to spend time with our families since they live literally across the world from us.

And as a reminder (if you ARE a Harmonized fan) that this story plays nearly a year before that one. Enjoy! xx

***

*London*

*Now*

Holy. Shit.

Holyshitholyshitholyshit! Fucking hell, London! What. Were. You. Thinking?!

I pushed through the crowd, and unlike the first time around, now every eye in the room seemed to be trained on me. I practically felt the heads turn as I passed by, and the gossip that began as soon as I was out of earshot.

"Excuse me!" I murmured under my breath as I weaved between the groups of people, having a good time and enjoying the party that I was damn proud of. I didn't stick around to see if my dinner decorations would be enjoyed by the famous crowd, or to hear the rest of the album that still played over the loudspeakers.

In fact, I didn't look back at all.

I heard a couple people calling my name and I realized it a heartbeat too late that they were paparazzi. "Shit!" I cursed, holding up my little clutch to cover my face from the flashing cameras.

'You and Lukas go years back then?' 'How long have you known about the songs?' 'Have you been hiding your relationship all this time?' 'London, how did you manage to orchestrate this coincidental reunion?!'

That one made me turn my head - and as soon as I did, I knew I've made a terrible mistake.

The guy behind the camera came alive, fueled by my reaction. He continued to throw unfair questions at me as he stepped into my personal space, pushing his device right up my nostrils. "Please step away..." I breathed, suddenly feeling overwhelmed.

There were too many of them and only one of me.

My head swam, my heartbeat picking up as my fight or flight instincts kicked in. Except, I was unable to do either. I was surrounded, seeing no way out. At least a dozen men were taking pictures of me from all angles, the flashes of the cameras blinding me to the point where I completely lost my sense of direction.

I began to sweat and hyperventilate.

"Please!" I thought I said, but the sound came from too far away. I couldn't breathe. I couldn't see. I couldn't move.

Tears stained my cheeks, coming out faster when I realized that my meltdown would be documented by all these cameras - and that there was absolutely nothing I could do about it.

"Back the fuck off!" A deep, booming voice came from behind me. He only had to say it once, and it had the effect of a bomb dropped in the middle of the group. The men surrounding me disintegrated, scattering in twenty different directions.

The flashes stopped, and I blinked back my tears until my vision cleared a bit to look up at the mountain of a man in front of me.

Ash Wolfhart stood there, in all his intimidating glory, eyeing me curiously. "For fuck's sake..." He groaned, and grabbed a hold of my wrist, before beginning to pull me away.

"Wait, I-" I snapped my mouth shut when I noticed the sleek, black sports car waiting at the corner. Ash walked us right up to it before releasing me. He rounded the car, and without waiting for me to fully get in and shut the door, he sped away.