The Beautiful Escape [ZARRY]

16

That wasn't to say there was anything pampered or soft about him- in fact, the opposite was true. Even in his present battered and bruised condition, it was obvious he was in peak physical condition, and he had the indefinable but definite air of a man who would be ruthless to achieve his own ends. 

Of course, looks weren't everything, and for all Zayn knew Harry might be afraid of the dark and give generously to charities. Either way, why would a man like him choose to spend any time, let alone Christmas, alone in a dump like...? It made no sense... unless he was hiding out, or running away...? Perhaps Doniya's suspicions weren't so crazy after all.

Maybe he was a mafia member. Or even crazier, a sex maniac, but in that case, Zayn was safe; this man doesn't come over as the type who goes for men or even guys who can be mistaken as women. And neither am I, Zayn told himself.

Zayn gave himself a mental shake and shrugged off the self-pitying direction of his reflections. Whilst there wasn't much point pretending that physically this man hadn't seriously unnerved Zayn, there was no point advertising the embarrassing fact- though no doubt he was used to women making fools of themselves over him. As the feeling was obviously one-sided, and they were going to stay strangers, there didn't seem much point getting bogged down with uncomfortable analysis.

"Well, obviously I don't know what the Hall is like inside at the moment, but I would have--"

Harry was not used to explaining his actions, and he decided it was time to call a halt to Zayn's unending speculation once and for all.

"You do surprise me," his acid drawl interrupted. "I was under the impression the locals keep fairly up-to-date with all the developments around here. I imagined I'd discovered the net-curtain-twitching capital of Yorkshire."

Zayn sucked in an angry breath and crunched his gears. The faintly amused arrogance in Harry's voice made him see red. Why not just call them nosy bumpkins with nothing better to do than gossip and be done with it? Zayn would've liked to bop him one on his superior nose. 

"You'll have to make deductions for me- I'm only home for the holiday, so I'm not completely up to speed yet."

That accounts for it, then."

Zayn's eyes began to sparkle dangerously; the man had a very nasty mouth and there were limits to how much Zayn was wiling to make adjustments for his delicate condition. 

"We're nosy?That's pretty rich coming from someone who was spying on me from up a tree!" Zayn hadn't been going to mention it because of his injuries, but he was asking for it.