Heartbeats || H.S. [ONGOING]

{eighteen}

"Will you please just talk to me, Niko?" Harry sighed as he pulled into his driveway after their long drive to New Jersey.

Niko hadn't said a word to him, even when he pleaded with her to talk to him. She wasn't crying. But she wasn't speaking. He knew she was upset, angry even. He just hoped that he could make it up to her.

He felt fucking terrible for everything that happened with Max. But what was he to do when the guy was banging on his window? He got out of the car to talk to him, hoping he could try to calm him down. But he should have known he was probably the last person who could be capable of something like that.

When Max swung on him, Harry's instincts kicked in and he fought back. It was wrong. But he wasn't just going to sit back and not defend himself.

"Niko..." He said softly as he reached over to place his hand on her thigh.

"Harry, I just... I just really need to think," she told him finally.

He felt an inkling of relief that she finally answered him, but it wasn't the answer he had been hoping for. He wanted to talk to her about what happened. He wanted to help her.

"Please, Niko. I'm sorry," he sighed.

"I know, Harry. I know. It's not your fault," she replied, finally looking over at him and it made him melt a bit to see her beautiful blue eyes on him again.

"He came down and started yelling at me. I only got out of the car to try to calm him down — which really was a lost cause. I don't know what I was thinking," Harry explained, shaking his head.

"Harry, I know. Okay. This isn't your fault. It's my fault. It's all on me," she said, hanging her head.

"Hey, hey, hey," Harry cooed, gently grabbing her chin to turn her face to him.

"Stop that right now. Niko, it's over okay. It's you and me. Just, please..." Harry said with a sigh. He hated that she was hurting. He hated it so much.

"It's not going to go away, Harry. I'm always going to feel this guilt. Max... he's not a bad guy. I shouldn't have..." Niko said, shaking her head as tears welled in her eyes.

"What we did was wrong, okay? We should have been more responsible. But we can't go back in time. We can just learn how to move on," Harry told her as he placed his hand on her forearm.

"Just give me time!" Niko growled, quickly pulling away from him.

"Okay! Okay, I will. Please, Niko. I just want to be here for you," Harry said desperately.

"I know, Harry. I'm sorry," she sighed, feeling bad for lashing out on him.

Her mind was racing. She didn't know how to feel anything but guilt... over everything. Even over what they did to Julia. Everything was just piled on. And they had no one to blame but themselves. Everything they did was wrong.

"Can we go inside, please?" He asked carefully and she nodded her head.

"We need to clean up your face," Niko said quietly, looking over at him, her eyes focusing on his battered lip.

"Is it that bad?" Harry asked, looking in the rearview mirror.

His nose had dried blood all around it and his lip had a serious gash in it, the blood smeared down his chin. Niko felt terrible. She was responsible for it after all.

"Come on," she sighed, opening the passenger door.

Niko followed Harry into his ridiculously massive house and they made their way up to the master bathroom where he took out a washcloth to wipe away the blood.