Hope in Disguise

It felt like I had just fallen asleep when there was a knock at the door and Harry stuck his head in.

“Do you mind if we fix your hair now?” Harry asked, “Lou just showed up.”

“Sure,” I stretched and rolled out of bed.

I walked out of my room and saw that Harry and Louis were huddled talking to each other quickly and quietly. I approached them and they abruptly stopped talking and Harry gave me a small smile.

“Ready?” he asked and I nodded my head.

“What do you want me to do Haz?” a woman with blonde hair asked as I heard little footsteps running into the hallway.

“Haz!” the little girl exclaimed but she stopped abruptly when she saw me and gave me a confused look.

I smiled lightly at the little girl and got down on her level.

“Hi there sweetheart,” I smiled, “My name is Scarlett.”

“Scarwett,” the little girl tried to say my name and I smiled and nodded my head.

She squealed with excitement and rushed over to me and hugged my legs.

“Lux,” she smiled up at me and put her arms up.

I picked her up and placed her on my hip and she grinned widely at me. I then looked up to see Lou and Harry look at me with eyes wide.

“What?” I asked quietly as Lux played with my hair.

“She’s never opened up to a stranger that quickly,” Lou said shocked.

“People tell me I have a kid’s sixth sense that tells them I’m safe,” I said, “I was a very popular babysitter before things happened.”

Lou just nodded her head and grinned at me.

“We’re dying your hair dark brown,” she said, “And I think I have blue contacts for you somewhere.”

I nodded my head and I was about to set Lux down on the ground but she clutched onto me tightly.

“Is it alright if she sits on my lap?” I asked and Lou nodded her head at me.

“I’ve done hair plenty of times with her on people’s laps,” Lou said and I followed her with Harry and Louis hot on our heels.

I walked into the kitchen and smiled when I saw Perrie and Eleanor already getting things set up for us. They grinned even more when they saw Lux babbling a mile a minute to me about herself. I nodded my head and she said she wanted down so she could show me the toy that Harry had bought her for her birthday. The minute she was out of the kitchen, Harry made a comment.

“Well since it looks like I’m not the cool godfather anymore I’m going to let you girls have girl time,” he said, “Don’t worry Scar. If I trust them then you can trust them too.”

I just nodded my head and Harry looked like he wanted to either do or say something more but he decided on giving me a small smile and a head nod and then disappeared out of the kitchen and I turned to look at the girls who were just as confused as I was.

“I’m not even going to ask then,” I said shaking my head and sitting down in the chair in front of Lou.

Lux then exclaimed about forgetting a doll in the living room and rushed off and I looked at the girls.

“Well that was interesting,” Eleanor said sitting down at the kitchen table.

“He looked like he wanted to do more,” Perrie added and I nodded my head.

“Good to know that I’m not the only person who thought it was weird,” I replied.

“Do you mind if we cut your hair a bit?” Lou asked.

“I don’t want my hair cut,” I said, “Just dye it.”

“Okay,” she said and nodded her head.

“Can I ask a weird question?” I asked.

“Go for it,” Eleanor said.

“How come Harry’s taking me in?” I asked, “I’ve never met a gang member to ever trust someone who just leaves after being in a gang for a year. When was the last time Harry was truly genuine to a girl other than you all?”

I watched as Perrie and Eleanor looked at each other and then they looked Lou who sighed and I could tell she was choosing her words wisely. That meant only one thing in the gang world, it wasn’t a pretty story at all.

“Three years ago. He dated a girl that reminds me quite a bit of you,” Lou stated, “She broke his heart. They were together for two years and one morning last year she just packed up a bag and left. Ever since Harry’s been having one night stands and not giving two shits about anyone but the gang and protecting his heart.”

“Okay,” I said putting the information back in my mind as I finished putting the contacts in my eyes, “How come I remind you of her?”

“I think it’s because of how you hold yourself,” Lou said, “You show others that you seem confident.”

If you only knew what went on inside my head, I thought to myself.

“Oh,” I said.

“So why don’t you tell us something about yourself Scar?” Eleanor asked.

Before I could answer by dancing around the question, the doorbell rang and we all stopped what we were doing. I knew that no one just rang the doorbell around this part of town and I watched as the girls tensed immediately before hearing the footsteps upstairs.

“Do you have a gun anywhere in here?” I whispered as we heard footsteps rushing down the stairs.

“Under the sink,” Eleanor whispered and I made my way to the sink and grabbed the gun.

“I have to go get Lux,” Lou exclaimed and I stopped her.

“I’ll go get her,” I replied and Lou looked at me like I was crazy.

“I have the contacts in already,” I said, “You three go to where you’re supposed to.”

“Mum!” I heard Lux’s voice exclaim and I heard Harry open the door.

“Lux!” I exclaimed and Lux ran into my arms and I saw Liam and the lads looked at me.

Harry kind of glared at me but I just shrugged my shoulders. Lux ran into my arms and I was thankful I put the gun in the back of my pants.

“What do you want Ashton?” I heard Harry bark.

“Have you heard?” the voice of guy I thought my father killed.

“Heard what that Cowell’s daughter is in town?” Harry asked, “I know. I have guys looking for her everywhere. You know the amount of money he’s asking for her?”

“Tell me about it,” Ashton said as Harry let them in.

“Mum,” Lux whimpered and I kissed Lux’s temple.

“I know love bug. Let’s go bring you to her,” I said quietly.

“And who’s this beauty?” Ashton asked and I froze as I looked up to see Harry’s eyes narrow behind Ashton’s back and Ashton grinning at me.

“Loren Williams,” I said, “Nice to meet you.”

“You too beautiful,” he grinned taking a hand and kissing my knuckles, “Are you new to town?”

“You could say that,” I said looking to see that Harry was kind of panicking, “I’m here visiting my cousin.”

“And who is that?” he asked and I looked at Jax, who if you looked at us we did look like we could be related, nodding his head.

“Jax,” I said, “I’m his American cousin.”

“Really Jax. I never knew you had family in America,” he said and I smiled.

“Oh yeah, Jax pretends we don’t exist sometimes because my brother’s an ass most of the time,” I faked laughed, “I’m also a blonde at heart I’m just getting my hair dyed so we will look similar soon.”

I then pointed to my halfway done hair and Ashton smiled.

“I didn’t even notice,” Ashton flirted.

“Well aren’t you a charmer,” I fake smiled, “But I better get back to finish my hair, Lou wanted me to come get Lux. I’ll let you lads do whatever you lads do.”

“See you around Loren,” Ashton winked.

“Yeah,” I said and quickly left the hallway and rushed into the kitchen making sure the door shut.

I put Lux down as she ran over to Lou and I shuddered.

“I can’t believe I dated that,” I said quietly and the girls all looked at me.

“Ashton Riley?” Eleanor asked.

“Yeah,” I sighed, “Dumbest mistake I’ve ever made.”

The girls laughed and we finished my hair. We all were talking about things and once my hair was done the girls and I were on great terms and we all were laughing and joking around in the kitchen.

“You did not do that when you were younger,” Eleanor asked laughing.

“You have no idea how embarrassed I was the next day,” I chuckled when the door opened and Ashton, of course, waltzed into the kitchen.

“Hello ladies,” he said.

“Ashton,” we all said looking at each other.

“Your hair looks wonderful Loren,” he said and I gave a fake smile.

“Thanks Ashton,” I replied.

“Oi! Quit hitting on my cousin Ashton,” Jax said and we all looked at the kitchen doorway and I gave Jax a thankful glance, “She’s off limits.”

“Oh yeah by who?” Ashton asked.

“Me,” Harry stated and we all looked at Harry and I could feel my eyes widen slightly.

“How come she let me kiss her hand then?” Ashton challenged.

“Because she knows not to disrespect anyone in my house no matter how much a creep the person is,” Harry snapped, “Now quit hitting on my girl.”

“How long have you known each other?” Ashton challenged again.

“A few years,” I replied because I knew Ashton was looking at me, “Well more like we were friends longer since Harry had a girlfriend at the time we met. We only started dating like a year ago.”

“Oh yeah what’s his sister’s name?” Ashton asked.

I looked over at Harry and I remember hearing from my father before I ran off that Harry hated talking about his sister because of what happened to her. I noticed Harry’s fists clench and I turned to look at Ashton smirking thinking he found a flaw.

“We don’t talk about her,” I said glaring at Ashton, “And if you knew better you wouldn’t bring her up either.”

I could tell everyone was shocked but Ashton narrowed his eyes at me.

“And you said she knows how to respect people?” Ashton asked and I just shook my head.
“Sweetheart I’ve already thought of fifteen different ways I could disarm you with that gun in the back of your jeans,” I said, “My father was Italian and very active in the mafia. I’m not some innocent little girl.”

Ashton looked taken aback and I could tell Harry and the others were trying not to laugh. He then huffed and then smirked.

“Okay miss I’m not innocent,” he smirked, “If you can disarm me then I’ll believe you.”

“Okay,” I said standing up.

“You want to do it here?” he asked shocked.

“Now’s a good time than ever,” I replied.

“Fine,” he said.

“You know we should probably head outside just in case,” I said, “Don’t want to put a hole in Harry’s wall.”

“Okay,” he said and turned around to head outside and I quickly kicked his knees out from under him and grabbed his gun from the back of his pants.

“Rule number one,” I said, “Never turn your back on your enemy and two state if you pull out your other gun I will shoot without remorse.”

Everyone was now laughing and I heard Ashton grumbling. I let him up and I kept his gun as he got up and went to go stand next to Harry and I handed it back to him as Harry and pulled me into his side and kissed my temple.

“I knew my girl would make me proud,” he grinned down at me and I just rolled my eyes.

“He thinks he taught me that,” I said and everyone laughed.

“Well I’ll tell Luke you’re interested in hooking up to track her down,” Ashton said and Harry nodded his head.

“I’ll walk you out,” Jax said as he left and we waited for the front door to close.

“Go check,” Harry said to someone and he looked me over since we were still standing next to each other.

I was still trying to process everything since I had to start playing a part in a drop of a dime. Everyone was asking Harry questions and wondering why in the hell he did that and I was rubbing my temples together trying to figure things out.

“Will you all just shut the bloody hell up!” Harry boomed and everyone including me looked at him, “Are you okay?”

“I’m fine,” I said quietly, “Do you want to explain why you did that? You don’t seem. . .”

“How did you know about my sister?” Harry asked and I sighed ran a hand over my face.

I was now going to have to tell them the one secret that could either kill me or have them protect me. I was going to follow Dax’s advice and really and truly hoped that they would protect me.

“My father is Simon Cowell,” I said and closed my eyes, “And I’m the daughter he has the hit out for.”

Notes

Here's an update everyone! Again sorry for the delay school is really rigourous and I'm slowly going to updating more often soon hopefully!