in which joelle d'amore is completing her final semester of university in the grand city of los angeles, california. when she finds herself in the presence of harry styles, a piercing man with dangerous agendas, she is permeated with fear. she saw s...
TRIGGER WARNING: mentions of suicidal ideation and abuse.
Chapter 32
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He didn't talk to me the whole way back to our hotel room. For the rest of the night as well. It was clear that he wanted to be left alone. It was in his stance and in the way he wouldn't look at me.
I let him be since he was much calmer and less shaky than before. By the time I had gotten out of the shower, he was fast asleep and stripped out of the clothes I styled him in.
It was difficult for me to sleep. I tossed and turned all night over the thoughts that raced through my head. It wasn't until four, maybe five, in the morning until my body finally gave in and slept.
Three hours of sleep later, I wake up to an empty bed and a cold room. When I lift the duvet covers off of me, I shiver.
Where is he?
He's not in the room, not out on the balcony, or in the bathroom. After sticking to my morning routine, I step into the room again with the final realization that he's not here at all.
Panic engulfs me. I could feel my heart sink to my chest and my back becomes awash with feverish prickles at a sudden thought. He didn't leave me here alone in Las Vegas, did he? He's ditched me before.
I search for my phone, the one I had turned off and tucked away. I assume the battery is drained so I search for my charger as well.
He wouldn't abandon me in a different state.
I pause from rummaging through the bag of clothes when another untrusting thought comes to my mind. I stop what I'm doing. Barefoot, I pace across the floor towards the closet near the bathroom. Pushing the sliding door open, I drop onto my knees in front of the safe that holds my check.
6-6-6-9
I didn't pick the code. Harry did. Which is why the untrusting thought is in the back of my mind in the first place.
After unlocking the safe, an instant sigh of relief escapes me. Harry didn't take my check with him to hell knows where. Although the check is in my name, I assumed he had ways to cash it. I wrongfully assumed he had stripped me of nothing and took off, but it was my paranoia. I've learned not to trust anyone, but now I feel guilty.
He could be out getting coffee for all I know.
I close the safe and I make sure it's locked and secured before standing back up.
I sit by the desk near the hotel room and plug my charger into the nearest outlet after finding it. Once I plug in my phone, I wait for it to turn on. Sitting back in the rolling desk chair, my anxious heartbeat hasn't stopped thumping. My fingers fiddle along the glass tabletop, bouncing my leg at the same time because it's taking forever.
