Complicity [h.s]

15

surprise update!! It's a short one!

Harry Styles

Barely a quarter past one I'm hurrying down concrete steps and bashing through the door of Dez's empty bar. I'm quick to see Liam, Louis, and Niall sitting at the counter, laughing at one another. Dez and Scarlett are nowhere in sight.

"Where's Dez?" I announce while weaving through the tables.

The three of them turn their heads back to see the serious look on my face. Liam furrows.

"In the back."

"What's your issue?" Niall adds.

I storm past the bar and towards the back room, crashing through the swinging door and coming faced with the blue-lit environment. Dez stands with her back to me, organizing the papers on her desk.

"I haven't refilled the first aid kit yet." She mumbles. "If that's what you're looking for."

"Do you have something you want to tell me?" I tighten my fists down by my side, adrenaline pumping through me.

She stands up straight and turns around to look at me across the room, confusion taking over from my question. She glances me up and down, seeing how serious I am.

"Why are you all tense?"

"Cut the shit. I know you've been hiding something from me. You and Scarlett both." I tighten my jaw.

Her eyes widen, "What are you talking about? Hiding what?"

"What's going on?" Niall says as the door swings open again, the three guys coming in after overhearing.

"I don't know, ask Dez."

"I literally have no idea what he's talking about!"

"Turns out she's known about Aven." I start walking forward. "Scarlett too."

"What!" Liam exclaims.

Dez's face drops. "No, I haven't!"

"Well, it seems she knows you guys." I continue.

"Dez...how do you know Aven?" Niall asks somewhere in the room.

Her eyes flick to each of us, shaking her head frantically like she's either confused or caught in a lie. "I don't! I've never met Aven. I don't even know what she looks like!"

"Then why did she tell me your names!" I step right up to her so our bodies almost meet. She looks up at me with a stare like I've lost my mind, never seeing me like this before.

"If I somehow knew Aven, why would I hide that from you?"

"Woah," I hear Scarlett enter from the laundromat stairway, walking in right on time to see this heated discussion. "What's going on here?"

"Maybe because you're both working for Malikai!" I keep my eyes on Dez's.

"Who's Malikai now!" She shakes her head.

"You need to tell me the truth, Dez!"

"I am telling you the truth! Scarlett—" she turns her head to Scarlett on my right. "Have we ever met the Aven Harry's talked about?"

She creases her pierced brows, "You're wife? No."

"Then how the fuck would she know your names!" I shout.

"Okay—Styles..." Liam grabs my shoulders from behind me. "Back off a bit and calm down."

"No!" I jerk his hands off me. "They're both lying!" I step back against Dez so she presses to the desk and my chest touches hers. "For months you watched me do everything I could to find her!—"