Hidden. (by seasidestyles-original copy)

thirty two

As I unlock the door to my apartment, Harry steps out of his. He wears a dark brown leather jacket and holds his phone in his hand, his expression serious.

"Hi," I greet him, setting down my groceries just inside my apartment before turning back to talk to him.

He nods to me absently, still looking at his phone. "Hey."

"Where are you off to?"

He locks his phone and looks at me. "Running some errands."

He's a good liar.

"Sounds fun," I say. I peek at the time on my phone. 2:36. "Thanks for organizing my apartment, by the way," I say. "You didn't have to do that."

"It was no problem," he says, shrugging.

"Well...thanks anyway."

Harry's eyes dart around and he chews on his lip. I've never seen him look so anxious.

"So how's accounting going?" I ask.

"Same as always," he replies. "It's math, nothing really changes."

"Right," I nod. "Doesn't it get boring, doing math all the time? I mean, I know I'd get bored."

"I don't know, I like it."

"Yeah, I guess. I've always been better at literature myself--"

"Hmm." Harry looks at me impatiently.

"Ever since high school, you know? No, scratch that, since middle school--"

"Yeah, listen, Rose, I really have to go--"

"Right, sorry. Have fun!" I internally curse as he nods to me and walks down the hall into the elevator. I check the time. 2:42. Well, I kept him for eight minutes.

I wait another two minutes down the stairs to the lobby. I look through a crack in the door of the stairwell and watch as Harry steps out of the elevator, eyes cast down. He exits the building and I quickly hurry after him.

I expect him to get into his car, but he walks right past the parking lot and out into the street, looking both ways quickly before crossing. I fall back into a crowd of people, keeping an eye on his back.

I know I'm risking so much by following Harry again, but I consider myself part of whatever it is he does now. I've had two run-ins with these people, and I want to know what the hell they do.

Harry turns a corner. I follow him down three more blocks until he ducks into a narrow sidestreet.

I watch him from behind a dumpster as he walks up to a great door in the side of a tall, brick building. He takes a yellow piece of paper out of his pocket and I squint to see what he's doing.

He reaches out to a keypad next to the door and punches in a number. I squint, memorizing the sequence he punches in. I watch carefully as he puts the yellow paper back into his pocket and the door clicks open.

I know I have to act fast.

As soon as the door shuts, I hurry up to the keypad.

I reach out and hit the four numbers I watched Harry enter.

7-3-9-1

There's a hiss and the door clicks open. Relief floods through me as I slip inside, the door falling shut behind me.

A long corridor stretches ahead of me. A number of doors line it, but I catch a glimpse of Harry's dark jacket at the end.

I make my way down the hall, trying to make my steps as soft as possible. Adrenaline pumps through my veins as I round the corner and instantly duck behind the nearest wall.

The hallway opens into a large room. A circular table sits in the middle, with chairs all around it. I recognize quite a few people sitting at the table and swallow.

Alec, the scarred man, sits at the head of the table, a mean frown set on his lips. Next to him is Louis and Niall, my two attackers that still spook me. Leigh-Anne, the girl from when Harry took me to play poker, sits next to Niall. I almost gasp at the others I see.

Zayn sits across from Louis, picking at his fingernails. He looks bored as he waits for whatever is supposed to happen to commense.

Liam, the boy I saw not even an hour ago, sits next to Zayn. His face is blank as he stares off into space.

I move into the room, ducking behind multiple tall potted plants in the corner. I can tell that they're fake plants, and they seem oddly out of space here. I have a perfect view of the room from my station behind the foliage.

I peer through the fronds and watch as Harry takes a seat at the table. His jaw is clenched and he looks down at the table.

"What took you so long?" Alec snaps, breaking the silence.

Harry's head shoots up. "Traffic," he lies easily.

"Right," Alec says, the jagged scars on his face gleaming in the dim light. "Let's get down to business, shall we?"

Everyone sits up in their seats.

"Malik, I believe you have information." Alec looks to Zayn.

Zayn sits up a bit. "Nothing was found in the unit," he states. "No evidence, at least. And trust me, we sifted through quite well." He chuckles a bit. Unit...does he mean...?

"Of course nothing was found," Harry says. "There was nothing to be found!" His cheeks flush.

"Piss off, Styles," Alec snaps. "We'll get to you in a minute."

Harry frowns but doesn't say anything.

Alec looks back at Zayn. "You found no documents of any kind?"

Zayn shakes his head. "If there's any written information or documents, they're not in her apartment."

I stifle a gasp. Zayn was the one who broke into my apartment?

"Interesting, very interesting," Alec muses, folding his hands in his lap.

There's a short silence. Harry chews on his lips so much I think he might chew right through it. I feel so nosy and out of place, but my desire to understand what's going on overpowers my conscience.

"Anyone else have any information before we discuss Styles?" Alec asks.

No one says anything.

"All right," Alec sags. He pulls a pack of cigarettes from his blazer and lights one, placing it between his lips. "Styles," he says in a way that sends chills down my spine. "Anything you'd like to share?"

Harry sits up, leaning on the table. "Yeah, damn right I do," he sneers. "What the hell was that back there? Ransacking the goddamn apartment?"

My heart pounds.

"You don't understand the threat the girl poses to this corporation," Alec says, taking a drag of his cigarette.

"She poses no threat," Harry says. "The only reason why she knows shit about this corporation is because you sent idiot One and idiot Two after her when she was walking home!" Harry shouts, gesturing to Louis and Niall.

"This is a very confidential...enterprise," Alec says, choosing his words carefully. "And we don't need little miss love interest learning vital information."

Everyone laughs and hoots, and Harry's cheeks turn red with anger.

"She's anything but a love interest," he spits.

"Oh?" Alec says. "Describe your relationship, then. Why do you take her home after work? Why do you always seem to be around her?"

Harry's jaw clenches again. My heart beats loudly as everyone awaits his reply.

"She's not a love interest," he sneers at last.

Alec smirks. "Then why should we leave her alone?"

"Because she has nothing to do with any of this," Harry says.

Alec laughs dryly. "Amusing, very amusing," he says. He leans forward. "You don't know where she is, do you, Styles?"