Show Me Where it Hurts

I watched the clock all night at my parents’ house. Harry hadn’t called since he walked out of the house that morning. With every second that the small hand ticked, I grew more and more anxious. I didn’t even remember how or when Noah and Ivy had been put to bed. My parents had probably done it, obviously knowing that something was wrong, and that I was too zombie-like to even understand it myself.

All I had said was that there had been trouble with Will again, and I saw all of their faces fall. If Frankie had been there, I know he would have raced out the door, and boy, he could fight. Selfishly, I wished Frankie had gone and paid Will a visit instead. Harry just had so much riding on the smallest of mistakes he made.

I heard a car pull into the front drive and knew automatically that it must have been him. It was past two in the morning, and everyone was asleep, though I knew it wouldn’t belong before Noah woke up and I begged that my parents would see to him.

I could hardly contain myself. I swung the door open with as much force as I could without making any noise. Harry just looked at me, his eyes dark.

He paced over to me, and slid in the doorway beside me without a word. It was then I saw that the silk threads of his Burberry jacket were stained in a sort of claret colour. I felt my heart drop. I looked up at his face and saw dried blood around his nose. My mouth fell open in shock, but his expression stayed stern. Even as I lifted my fingers to touch where the blood was, he caught it and instead, guided me into the kitchen and out into the back room, furthest to where the bedrooms were.

“Your face, Harry, what-“ I was exasperated. So full of concern for my husband but so bloody angry that he could be so stupid as to get into a fight with a psycho when the whole world knew who he was.
“It’s fine,” He said, irritated that I was about to make a fuss. “He looked a lot worse.”
“Harry!” I hissed, trying not to release tears of anger. “You have two children! What am I supposed to do when they put you in jail?”
Harry’s expression was stony. “I didn’t have a choice. He’s a psychopath, Annie. He started talking about the kids. He knew their routine. He knew everything about them. Ivy’s ballet, he even knew how much Noah weighed when he was born.” Harry’s jaw was so tight I thought he’d lock it. The whites of his knuckles threatened the skin on the back of his hands.
“But.. how?” I shook my head. “That’s insane, it’s-“
“It’s not impossible, if you’re that obsessed.” He shook his head. “My fans knew my blood group, for fucks sake. Plus, he’s a journalist now. They hack phones, they have insiders that can pick out any piece of information they can."

I took a second to digest all his information, feeling my stomach hurl at the thought of it. Privacy had never been great, being with Harry, but his fans were harmless. They just wanted to know anything about the boys that could make them feel closer to them. But Will was malicious, he had become unattached from all kinds of sanity.

“He’s a journalist,” I breathed, taking the seat behind me for support. “And you just beat the shit out of him?”
“I know.” He said, resting his hand on his hip, turning away from me.
“He’s going to bleed you dry for this, Harry.” I warned.
“I know that, Annie.” He shook his head, and threw his jacket off, against the wall. He paced up and down the floor in front of me. He paused, bringing his eyes to meet mine. “They’re probably going to come for me, Annie, the police. It’s best if I go back to the house.”
“No! What?! No! You’re not leaving me.” I hissed. “I need you.”
“Please, Annie, listen to me.” He said, and he crouched down in front of me taking both of my small hands in his. “I can’t be here, getting arrested when the kids are asleep upstairs. I don’t want them knowing about any of this. We’ll fix it. We haven’t done anything wrong. I hit him.. a few times..” He paused, looking down at his knuckles but quickly covering them up before he could. “That was just self defence, Annie. He hates me, he wanted to kill me. I thought it was you he was obsessed with. But it’s not. It’s me. He wants to see me suffer.”
“You took me away from him.” I mumbled.
“Exactly, that’s how he sees it. If I had never have told you he’d cheated all those years ago then.. well, he might have gotten away with it.” Harry looked up at me, combing the loose strands of hairs behind my ears. “It’s going to be fine. But either way. We know he’s going to call the police. We know that. I need to go home because it’s the first place they’ll look.”
“Jesus fucking Christ.” I said, bending over in frustration. I held my forehead in the palm of my hand and shook my head over and over. “I don’t even know when I’m going to see my husband again.”
“Annie, I really, really need you to stop being weak. You can’t let the kids know that anything is wrong. Please. I need you to hold this together. Please, Bug.” He pawed at my cheeks and cupped them in his hands. I looked straight at him. I nodded dumbly.
“Let me clean you up,” I said, standing from the chair and moving closer to him.
“Annie, I don’t have time.” He said. “I don’t have time, okay?” He placed a kiss on my lips, and then another, and then another one. “I’m fine, angel, it’s just a bit of blood. You know I can’t fight."

He still managed an irritating little smirk and I couldn’t return it, but it still made my head glow a little more. He moved back over to his coat and picked it up. “If you can, wash this. It’s his blood, not mine. Don’t really want the police finding that.”

I grimaced as I took the jacket, holding it by a thread away from me. Harry pulled me into him and kissed my hair. “I love you, Annie, you know that. Never got into a fight with a psychopath for any other girl."

I heard a small laugh and I looked up and nodded at him, it was the best I could do. He nodded in response and turned, walking towards the door. I followed him like a puppy and watched as he made his way to the car, turning just before he got into it to blow a kiss, with a sad, scared expression on his face.

For all of our problems I don’t think we ever thought things could get this serious. I don’t think we ever thought we’d have police involved or real-life stalkers. Seeing Harry made me only more terrified. I was scared enough when I realised Will was after me, but what I knew now made me even more terrified. He was after Harry, and I couldn’t lose him.

Notes

:O it’s getting really gritty. Love it! :) Please comment, rate and subscribe! x