Aspiring Nobody

Chapter 8 Tell it like it is

ERIN'S POV

Within the hour, I am standing in Styles' living room, my eyes darting from the black sofa to the glossy floorboards. This house is amazing. I'm used to basic housing: three bedrooms, one toilet, nothing fancy. As Styles pulls back the floor to ceiling white drapes, light floods the room, and my breath catches at the dazzling ocean view.

It's beautiful!

Styles steps through the balcony door, and I follow behind, sucking in the salty air and the visual beauty that is Sydney harbor. "This view is," I throw my arms out at my sides and smile, "incredible! You must spend all your free time out here?"

He snickers. "Not at all."

"Really." As I turn to face him, he turns to face me. But it's not the sharp angles of his square shaped face that hold my gaze, it's the sudden warmth in his eyes. Yes, warmth, something I have not seen in them before. He has smiled once or twice, but there was never any warmth or kindness in it. This is the first sincere smile I've seen grace his face. "I could never tire of looking at it," I say.

He turns to stare at the harbor again, "with time you would."

"No." I shake my head. "I wouldn't?"

"No, perhaps you wouldn't."

While he's staring at the harbor, I'm staring at the straight line of his nose and firm jawline. "Thing is," he continues, "when you live your life in a city like this one, beautiful things are an everyday occurrence. Too much of a good thing can become bland after a while. Like this view." He snorts. "The only beauty I notice these days is the kind that winds me and leaves me thinking about it long after it's gone."

"Like what?" I ask curiously.

He turns to look at me and grins. "It's not the kind of thing I can really explain."

"What an interesting way of telling her you think she's beautiful, Styles." The sound of a female's voices startles both Styles and myself as we spin around to see a blonde woman standing at the balcony door. It takes me a moment to recognize her as the girl Styles had sex with the first day I came here to work.

STYLES' POV

I spin around to see Lana standing at the balcony door glaring at me. "Not that she's smart enough to catch on. Are you sleeping with her too, Styles, or working your way to it?"

"How the fuck did you get inside my house?"

"Front door wasn't locked. I thought I'd surprise you, but you surprised me instead. I guess she's the reason you cancelled on me?"

"Who the hell do you think you are coming into my house uninvited and questioning my actions? I'm single, unlike you, and I'll fuck who ever I want. "

Lana makes a harsh rumbling noise before she catapults herself at Erin, grabbing two handfuls of her hair and thrusting her head about.

"Whoa, whoa!" I jump right in, grabbing her hands and trying to free them from the tangled hair in her hands. "Let her go, damnit!"

Lana lets her go, and Erin jumps away, throwing her hands out in front of her in case of another attack. "Stay away from me, you crazy nut." Erin screams.

"I'll show you how crazy I am, bitch!" Lana attempts to attack her again, but this time I grab Lana around the waist and toss her over my shoulder. She thrashes in my arms, but I storm from the balcony and head for the hall while she screams abuse at me.

I stop at the front door, pull it open, and then toss her outside. "You and I were only ever fucking, not having a relationship. And we're not even doing that anymore. It's done. So go back to your boyfriend and pretend you never met me, because if you even breath on her or me again, I'll wring you neck! Understand? Now get the fuck away from my house!"

I slam the door and then lock it before storming back along the hall. What the hell got into Lana? Her and I may have fucked a few times but it was only ever casual. I'm not interested in anything more than sex. She knows that. She agreed to that. That's why it hasn't been an issue, until now. I come to a holt at the balcony door when I see Erin whimpering and holding a bundle of hair in her hand. My gut twists. "Hey." I step off the balcony. My first thought is to comfort her. So I wrap an arm around her shoulders and pull her in against me. Her frail body trembles. "I'm so sorry for what she did."

I try to untangle Erin's hair until I see how much is falling out. "She broke the necklace that belonged to my father." Erin tells me as she opens her hand and reveals a broken gold chain.

"Shit. I'm sorry. I'll pay to get it fixed. Don't worry. He'll never know."

I rub her arm and she kind of falls into me, resting her head on my shoulder. "Your girlfriend is horrible."

"She's not my girlfriend. But you're right, she is horrible. If I'd known she was capable of this, I never would have let her through my door."

I push Erin's hair back at the temple to see a red scratch along her hairline. I rub her cheek with my thumb. "I feel shit knowing she hurt you."

Erin snivels. "Do you think it's safe for me to work with you now?"

"You're safe," I say. "She won't touch you again, trust me."

"That's easy for you to say, you're not the one who was just attacked." Erin shivers. "If she could have nailed me to the wall, she would have."

"No one's getting nailed to a wall, especially you."

Erin looks up at me, her blue eyes rimmed red and glossy. "You're gonna protect me, are you?"

"I won't let her touch you again. Put it that way."