"What the fuck happened?" Harry snaps, but out of anger; he's worried, sympathetic.It takes everything inside of me not to break down and cry right there on the spot. I don't want to freak Harry out without giving him an explanation first. I also want Harry to explain to me how he knows Dennis and what went (or is going) on between the two of them besides the incident at the bar. Hopefully it's something fixable, because I want Harry in my life, just without all the baggage.
"Dennis happened, Harry. Again." My voice quivers at the end, tears threatening to spill down my cheeks.

"Jesus fucking Christ." He strides over to where I stand, but before he can't hold me and caress my wounded jaw, I take a step back.

"Ember... You know I didn't do this. I tried my best to protect you. Hell, I-"

"You knew him. Before what happened at the bar. How?" I cut him off mid-sentence.

"What?"

I shut my eyes tight and clench my jaw. Now isn't the time to play dumb with me. I need some answers, and I need them now. Releasing my jaw, I speak again, slower this time, so that Harry knows how serious I am.

"Tell me the truth. How did you know Dennis." I don't ask this time. I demand.

"Em, really, I-"

"Tell me."
Harry sighs and walks to the couch, forcefully dropping himself down onto it. I follow suit and carefully sit on a chair near him, keeping my distance for now. Harry looks lost, and broken. He sits at the edge of the couch with his elbows on his knees, the palms on his hands covering his eyes, and his fingers twisted in his hair.
"Dennis runs a gang in England," he starts. "a huge one; the Vipers. Mainly in London, but its stretches out further than that. A lot of his gang were from Holmes Chapel, where I grew up. A lot of teenagers were a part of the gang at my high school. Including me."

I know Harry was apart of a gang; that doesn't shock me. But the fact that he basically worked for Dennis, that cruel, malevolent, creature with no soul, made me wonder if I ever even knew Harry at all. Or just not the other side of him.

"I was practically his right hand man when I graduated. He had me doing everything out in Cheshire, from drug deals to recruits... I loved it. It made me feel apart of something when I had nothing else."

"You had Louis." I reminded him.

"I was broken, Ember; not in my right mind. I didn't know that I had Louis. I didn't think I deserved him after all the things that I'd done. Anyways, I didn't a lot of bad, bad things. Things I don't want to talk or even think about. But when Louis asked if I wanted to leave with him, to get out of there... I said yes."

"So Dennis was mad that you left?" I questioned. Who cares if Harry wanted to leave? Couldn't Dennis just find some other bastard to push around?

"Well, yes, but not exactly. It wasn't like Louis was just going to pay for my transportation all the way to Washington and my funds for college, and I sure as hell didn't have the money, so I did what I thought I had to do in order to get the money. I stole it all from Dennis."

Now that was something to be pissed about.

"I stole 2 million dollars worth of drugs from Dennis' stash, sold it all, and left before he could find me. That was it."

"Oh, god..." I breathed. Harry is in deeper shit than I ever thought.

"You're mad." Harry states. His eyes look glassy, but I pray to God that he doesn't cry. That would set me-
I let it out. The dams have broken and tears stream out like a fucking waterfall.

"Ember, no. Don't cry, babe, c'mon, its going to be alright. I can fix this." Harry's voice shakes as he attempts at comforting me. He tries pulling me up out of my chair, and I let him, because all I want right now is to be held. Harry sits on the couch and pulls me into his lap, kissing my head and shushing me to stop crying, while gently rubbing my arms with his hands. I know that my tears are washing away the makeup covering the ugly bruise on my jaw; a reminder of what Dennis did earlier.

"I love you, Ember Veal, and I will do everything in my power to keep you safe. Do you understand?" Harry says lovingly, but firmly.

I nod but continue to let out my sorrows onto Harry's shirt. The crying distracts me from thinking about what's going to happen next between us, so I don't even try to make it stop.

I sob, and sob, and sob, until the hurt is no more.

Notes

Here you go! I know I promised longer chapters, but I'm working on it. Slowly but surely!

PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE comment rate and subscribe! It's means so much!

-Daisy