The Contract // H.S.

Chapter Thirty-Eight //

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Chloe
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"Why are you here, Harry?"

I know why he's here. 

He's here because his jealousy sprouted wings and carried him to New York City, I don't know if his intention was to break up with me, or just confront me and talk about the pictures like we just finished doing. 

I didn't kiss Hunter. I would have, but he pulled away at the last possible second. 

"Chloe," I could see the attraction to me in his pupils, widened by the electricity between us. I know I have to reciprocate a kiss but I can't say I'm totally mad about it. It makes me feel awful, but since the attraction I feel for Harry is so confusing to me--not knowing what is real and what feelings I'm forcing myself to feel for him--this organic attraction to Hunter is refreshing and just feels.. real. 

His fingers tangled in my hair, the amazing scent of his cologne hanging in the air between us. He looks down slightly to me, moving his hand up from the ends of my hair to trail along the side of my neck, stopping at my jawline to cradle my face in his massive hand. Our faces crept closer together, and I was ready for this kiss. I was looking forward to it. I pushed the guilt down even further into my mind, closing my eyes and parting my lips slightly as my lips barely ghosted the edge of Hunter's bottom lip. 

"We can't, Chloe..." Hunter pulled away suddenly, and a relief washed through me as I let out the breath I'd been holding in. 

"Yeah, no, I mean... you're right," I said, looking down towards the ground and pushing a strand of hair out of my face. 

Hunter lifted my chin to his gaze with his fingers before speaking, "I would love to kiss you, I've wanted to from the moment I met you. But you're with someone else, Chloe. I have done some shit things in my life and I don't want to be that person anymore."

"I get it, Hunter. I'm with someone else, I don't know what I was thinking... " 

Hunter chews on his bottom lip for a second before pulling me in for a hug instead. His tight grip on me is comforting, and he smells fantastic. 

"Stay in touch, okay? If you're ever in a different uhm," he stuttered as he begins to release me from his embrace, searching for the right words, "situation... You know, uh, single..." He laughs quietly to himself, shaking his head a bit. It made me laugh too, the awkwardness of this situation. 

"I will," I tell him earnestly, wondering if maybe that time might come sooner than I think. 

"I have two choices here," Harry said from a couple feet away from me on the sofa. The tequila relaxed me enough that after our initial discussion I wasn't as stressed about this becoming a break up conversation, so I had taken off my shoes and had my feet resting in Harry's lap as I lean back against the arm of the couch. 

The skin around Harry's eye crinkles a bit as his mouth widens into that lopsided grin that I think is so sexy. "I can tell you the truth, or I can fib a little in the hopes that you won't get upset." I quirk my eyebrow up at him, oh well this should be interesting. 

Harry shakes his head, one of his hands that are resting on my ankles in his lap come up to scratch his forehead before turning his face to me again. 

"Okay, truth it is then. I uhm..." he trails off, not wanting to say what I know he is about to say. 

"...saw the pictures, and got jealous?" I finish for him, smirking a little bit at what I know is his reason. I've learned that Harry is an extremely jealous person, to the point of the jealousy becoming dominance. I can't say that I find this unattractive. Some weird part of me is insanely turned on by his need to feel like I'm his and no one else's. A little flush of heat travels over my body when Harry's eyes darken a bit at my finishing his sentence. My thighs automatically clinch together, and I'm feeling a bit annoyed that I can't control this part of myself when I'm around him.