𝐏𝐈𝐄𝐑𝐂𝐄𝐃 // 𝐇.𝐒.

51!

Chapter 51

I couldn't ask for a better night amidst all the chaos that chased us. In a lonely city where the hotels were technically motels, I didn't once feel unsafe. Harry had been with me the entire time and it was all I could ask for.

After a shower, I helped him shave his face. He was well capable of shaving his mustache and stubble off—but I wasn't capable of keeping my hands to myself. Any chance to feel him under my fingertips, I've been eager to take.

As much as I had craved for the sexual escapade and the addictive bubbly pleasure that came with it every time, I survived the night without it. Something about whispers against my neck and sleepy kisses underneath bedsheets was far more blissful.

The night couldn't last any longer, unfortunately. We've been on the road again since five in the morning. Eleven hours later, we made it to the city I grew up in.

It's as fast-paced as I remembered. Compared to Los Angeles, there are similarities in the way people maneuver to get home from their nine-to-five job. Though, the difference with these cities is I hate it here less.

"Are you sure you don't want to find a place to stay first? We've been driving for hours." Harry asks.

"I want to go to the hospital," I say, sticking to my decision even though Harry has been convincing me to rest.

He heaves a sigh in defeat, continuing to follow the directions I gave him. The closer we were getting, the more anxious I was becoming. My leg bounces in the passenger seat. Basically shaking the car, I stop when his hand finds my thigh.

"What's the plan?" He asks me.

"As of right now, the plan is to walk right into the hospital, ask for my mom, and just hope she isn't busy or hope she's willing to talk to me."

He hums beside me and then remains silent. I wouldn't know what to say either if I were him. Maybe he knows I'd rather not converse when my thoughts are too loud in my head.

The moment he pulls into the parking lot of the hospital I know too well, my heart has dropped to the pit of my stomach. Having not seen my parents in over two years—and hardly spoken to them—I want to desperately tell Harry to turn the car around. Knowing he would, I bite at my tongue.

I need answers.

"Wait," Harry whispers as he stationed the car. Unbuckling, he then says, "I know you're nervous so breathe before you get out of this car."

I nod at his suggestion, closing my eyes with my hands on my lap. I breathe in.

"Hold it."

I hold my breath, then release when he tells me to. "Thanks," I whisper, and with that, I climb out of the car. It helped for the most part.

As I flatten down my red summer dress that was purchased last night, I watch as Harry gets out of the car with the backpack full of money hanging over his shoulder. He then walks over to the back of the trunk and he carelessly tosses it in.

For a minute I worry over the chance of this car being broken into. It would be poor luck if someone were to find the only valuable thing we need to survive and take off with it. Though with the tough security I warned Harry about, we couldn't risk being searched or reported.

With Louis framing me for fraud, I just had to trust the world would be on our side for once.

Locking the car, Harry tucks the key into the front pocket of his black hoodie. He then begins to walk beside me as we make our way towards the main entrance.