Sold // Harry Styles

Chapter 39

We finally make it to the hotel where Alice, Jonah, and the gang are waiting for us. My toes tap anxiously in my shoes, eyes flickering side to side, searching for the little, silver car filled with five kids. I can barely unbuckle my seatbelt with my jittery fingers. They keep fumbling around the small button before Harry reaches over, silencing my small, awkward movements. His eyes are warm and sincere as he stares at me.

"Hey," he whispers, keeping his long fingers on the top of my hand. "I won't let anyone hurt you. You don't have to be afraid."

I bite my lip, nodding my head gently with a small smile. "Okay."

He unclasps my seatbelt and scurries over to open the door for me.

"They're waiting for us in the restaurant of the hotel. They all made it here yesterday," Harry says as we walk through the automatic revolving doors.

I hum at his response, keeping my focus trained on not getting my clothes or hair stuck in the revolving door. It's happened to me before, and I'd rather not have everyone crowd around me as the manager of the hotel and several other bystanders help me get out of it. And I definitely don't want Harry to witness that either. Something tells me that he'd never let me live that one down if it were to happen again.

Alice waves her hand in the air, grinning as wide as ever while Jonah has his arm wrapped around the back of Alice's chair, laughing at whatever Louis just said. As we walk up to the table, Harry pulls out my seat before sitting down beside me. He keeps his hand placed on my knee, trying to coax my jumpy nerves as everyone shares their small 'hello's with us.

"So what was with those people in the car?" Liam asks once we're settled.

"I don't know," Harry says. "It was weird. They were following us for the longest time and I had to drive like a maniac in order to lose them."

Niall nods his head at Harry's reply, tracing the top of his cup with his index finger. "Same thing happened to me. I'm not sure who they were, but if we don't get the police involved soon, bad things are going to start happening."

He brings the beer to his lips, raising his eyebrows at Harry as he takes a drink. Harry sighs beside me, rubbing his temples in frustration.

"I know that," he groans, pinching the bridge of his nose. He scrunches his face up as he thinks about Niall's comment, letting angry puffs of air out of his nose every so often. I lace my fingers in his, trying to calm him down like he always seems to do for me. He sits up a little straighter as soon as I touch him, before immediately slumping back over again. "I don't know..." he trails off, looking around the table before his eyes land on Liam. "Don't you think it'd be a good idea if we helped some more slaves escape and get them on our side before we run to the police? I mean, we look just as bad as A.J right now. I think we should at least have a little support from the slaves."

Everyone around the table nods their heads slightly, silently agreeing to Harry's proposal. I nod my head too, even though my opinion really doesn't matter in this discussion. I figure that if it looks like I'm paying attention now, I can doze off later.

"Harry's right," Liam says. "I think in order for us to have a successful plan, we need to have more people on our side."

A shiver runs through my body as all the possible outcomes of this plan fill my mind. It can either go really well, or really bad. I know they'll be extra cautious, but helping slaves escape from their purchasers is a risky thing to do and I'm scared to see how it'll turn out. I bite my lip, preventing my opinion to fly past my lips.

"What would we do with the slaves once we help them escape?" Niall asks. "It's not like we can just send them back to their families. You can't not expect one of them to tell their parents or spouse or whomever about the gang. They're going to tell as soon as they can. And their parents will be asking questions about their disappearance. There's no doubt about it."