BLACKHOUSE [H.S.]

Thirty-One

"Harry, you coming mate?" Louis asks, his hand resting on the knob of the back door as he turns to face us.

Harry is sitting at his usual seat in the back room, drawing on his iPad, while I mindlessly mop around him.

"I'm going to stay and work on this," he responds, glancing at Louis while pointing to his iPad with his pencil. "Thanks though."

I peer up at Louis as he glances between the two of us suspiciously, then quickly avert my gaze down to the floor. My stomach twists with nerves at the thought of Louis knowing what's going on between Harry and I. Not that there really is anything going on, we've just slept together a few times, but it's something I really don't want other people to know about. I don't want the judgment that would follow.

It's strange enough that Harry and I aren't at each other's throats constantly anymore, and I know for a fact that the rest of the guys have noticed that. I can see it in the way they look at us every time we're cordial with each other, like we're a pair of circus geeks. Even Cass has asked me about it, which means Niall has definitely been talking to her.

"Right, well," Louis clears his throat. "Have a good night, I'll see you both in a few days."

He sends us a short wave before he steps outside, and I breathe a sigh of relief when I hear the back door close.

Harry chuckles, and I shoot him a glare. "What are you laughing at?" I scoff, leaning on the mop handle.

"You're just terrible at being inconspicuous," he snickers, clicking his iPad off and rotating his seat to face me. "You need to relax."

I roll my eyes at him, and walk over to pick up the mop bucket to dump out the dirty water. "Excuse me for being nervous," I mutter.

I've been dreading this day since the first time Jay mentioned it. Tonight, I'm meeting with Sunny.

Alone.

Harry did some research on them, and it looks like they're a club promoter. They throw huge parties for celebrities in Hollywood, and my guess is they'll be using what they buy from us tonight as "party favors" for their guests. I figured meeting with anyone else would be better than Charles, but Harry told me I still need to be cautious. Anyone spending as much money on drugs as they are is not someone to be trusted.

I quickly finish the rest of my closing tasks while Harry watches me, a smirk painted on his lips. He even followed me to the front while I made sure everything was locked up; he didn't even say anything, he just watched me the whole time.

It would be so much easier to say it made me uncomfortable, but if anything, it gave me butterflies. I had to bite back the stupid smile that was threatening to grow on my face the entire time I felt his eyes on me.

What the hell happened to us?

"Are you almost done?" Harry groans, checking the time on his phone for what seems like the tenth time in the last twenty minutes. "We've got to go."