Eyes Wide Open

Chapter 24

Stepping into the restaurant, Jacqueline stops and looks around at the changes that's been made over the years. Stepping up beside her, Harry places his hand on her shoulder then leans down to whisper in her ear.
"Devon and Marco wanted to put our exuberant tips and Marco's security duty pay to good use." He says softly, causing goosebumps to pop up on her arms. "They shut this place down for about a month for the remodeling. I think it looks amazing." Harry says.

Jacqueline nods, tears coming to her eyes when she sees Marco enter the room. "Oh, Marco." She cries, running toward the taller man, jumping into his arms the last few feet. "I've missed you so much." Jacqueline cries, burying her head in his neck.

"Oh, my darling girl. I've missed you too." Marco says, holding Jacqueline's tiny frame to him. Placing her back on her feet, he holds her away from him. "Let me look at you." He says, looking her up and down, like a favorite uncle would. "Oh, you are more gorgeous now than you were before. I think I need my job back." Marco laughs.

"Hey, share." Devon says, stepping between them. "I want my turn." He says, kissing Marco's cheek, then grabbing Jacqueline into a bone crushing hug. "My dear, don't you ever disappear like that again. We missed you so very much." He says, kissing both her cheeks.

"I've missed you both too." Jacqueline says, wiping away her tears. "And I won't leave again unless it's due to my career, I promise." She says. "Now please feed us before Niall and Drew expire from hunger."

"Oh pooh, that boy, so dramatic. And who is this Drew?" Devon asks. Jacqueline makes quick introductions so Devon can go put their orders in and return to visit.

"Holy shit, that Marco dude is a certifiable giant." Drew says. "How do you know him so well?"

Not wanting to get to deep into the past, Harry and Jacqueline let Louis and Liam trade off telling the story.

"Wait, if you were in that much danger before, needing security at school, that five of you were actually living together?" Amber says with a worried look on her face. "Are you still in danger now? What if this idiot is still out there?"

"Oh come on mama, it's been five years." Jacqueline says, shaking her head. "I highly doubt whoever that was will resurrect old grievances." She says.

"So you guys never found out who it was and why they were doing this?" Deen asks, taking a sip of his water.

Harry shakes his head. "We thought we knew, but turns out it wasn't them. Either times." He says, then with a one shoulder shrug he continues. "After Jack left we never went back to school, didn't really care what was going on around us."

"Basically we were just going through the motions." Louis says. "We, as a band, were falling apart, arguing about everything, and we never did that before. So that's when we decided to go our separate ways. I don't think we even realized, at the time, the attacks against us had stopped." Louis says leaning back in his chair.

"So I was the primary target the whole time, Harry getting shot was all my fault." Jacqueline says, wondering what she'd done to cause someone to hate her that much.

"Baby, we've been over this. Me getting shot wasn't your fault." Harry says, not realizing he slipped back into using his old endearment for her. "Whoever rigged up your locker the way they did is at fault, end of story."

Jacqueline started to say more but changed her mind when she saw Devon, Marco and a few of their waitresses walking toward them with their food.

"Jackie, where are you guys staying? Do you still own that penthouse?" Liam asks.

Jacqueline shakes her head. "No, I sold it after my second year away from here, I sold everything." She says.

"Even your car? Oh man that sucks." Niall says.

"It's just a car Ni, I can buy another one." She laughs. "But anyway, we're going to stay at a hotel."

"You don't have to." Harry says quickly. "You can all stay with me, I have plenty of room."

"Where do you live?" Ken asks.

Harry glances at Jacqueline. "A beautiful house in a gated neighborhood about ten miles from here."

Jacqueline's jaw about drops as she looks up at Harry. "You bought it? Why?"

Harry shrugs, looking her in the eyes so she'd know he's not lying. "So you could find me when you finally decided to come home."

This time Jacqueline's jaw does drop, she then snaps it shut as she jumps up and explodes. "You son of a bitch." She growls, shocking them all. "You make sound like I went to the grocery store and was a little late. I heard you Harry, you said you wanted space, when it was you always waiting for me when I went to the bathroom, you were tired of my clingy ways, when you were the one always grabbing my hand or pulling me closer when we were watching TV."Jacqueline says, tears streaming down her cheeks. "You wanted to have sex, but you never asked me if I was ready for that part of the relationship. In fact Mr. Styles you never even asked me to be your fucking girlfriend, everyone just assumed that we were together and we never corrected them, it was you who told the nurse in the hospital I was your fiance. You did all this, and you were the who went to someone else, you were the one who needed space. Yeah I love you more my life, but I'll never hold someone who doesn't want me as much as I want them. So I bolted, I gave you the space you wanted."

"I lied." Harry says.

Jacqueline eyes widen, she then screams and slaps Harry harder than she's ever slapped anyone before. She then walks out of the restaurant.

Liam snorts, giving Harry a dirty look. "That went well." He says filled with sarcasm.