Never - A Haylor Fanfic [discontinued]

Chapter 14 - Wrong car...

       

I shake the hose again frustratedly, annoyed that it keeps clogging even though I literally just bought it the other day. Grunting in annoyance, I dump the hose and settle for a tacky watering can strewn on the grass beside me. I'm just about to grumble to myself about how pathetic, meaningless and seriously anticlimactic my big move to New York has been, when a growing purring engine disrupts my thoughts.

Looking up through my blonde bangs, I stare curiously as a slick black car slides into the road in front of me, drawing to a smooth stop just before Harry's house. I squint my eyes at the tinted windows, trying to make out whether or not it's the guy I've been trying desperately to corner since the other day. It just seems as if he's going out of his way to avoid me now, well, more than he usually is, and it's so irritating that he can't seem to accept that we were actually getting along.

Making a spontaneous decision, I drop the watering can, splattering water all over my Keds in the process, and jog speedily across the road. A cool fall breeze sweeps over the neighborhood in that moment, and I begin to regret the short white crop top and ripped denim shorts I decided to throw on this morning.

I slow to a stop as I reach the car, my eyes suddenly widening as the occupants of the car clamber out. My eyes settle on the tallest of three extremely official-looking men, taking in his gelled back blonde quiff, black tux and tie and glinting leather shoes. Sunglasses adorn all six of their eyes, making them look even more intimidating and out of place in broad daylight in an easy-going New York neighborhood on a Sunday morning.

Frowning as I realize it isn't the man I was intending to talk to, I turn around to return to my gardening when the tall, blonde man I was observing earlier notices me standing there, a degrading smirk overtaking his thin lips.

"Well, hello there, beauty."

He catcalls in a smooth Texan accent. I take a deep breath and turn back around slowly, suddenly the advice on how you're not supposed to talk to strangers resurfacing at the greedy smirk he sends my way.

"Oof, you're a pretty little thing aren't you..."

One of the other men, this one with jet black gelled hair, slams the car door, before noticing me as well and echoing his colleague's last words hungrily. My natural I-don't-know-you-but-I'm-meant-to-be nice-to-strangers smile falters slightly at the realisation that, even though we stand in the middle of a street in broad daylight, I am still horrifically outnumbered, the only female here and kind of cornered by these three men who have clearly expressed no decent intentions with simply the way they addressed me and the way the blonde one is scanning at me up and down and chewing his gum slowly and obnoxiously. Ew, a gum chewer too.

I blanch as he steps towards me, a little gasp escaping my lips.

"Oh look, gorgeous here can't stop staring at me."

His bony fingers fasten on my left hip, and I suddenly curse myself for not walking away earlier when I had such a clear exit. The final member of the group, who I realise looks nearly identical to the man who now has a grip on my side, grins lazily at me, a crazy look in his eyes as if it simply amuses him how useless and inexperienced I am at standing up for myself.

My side starts to sting deeply, not really from the man's strength but simply from the growing temperature of my entire body whenever I'm nervous or scared.

I try to tug away, turning my eyes from the depthless black of the man's sunglasses which I've been staring at so ferociously. At that moment a door slams, and all the men turn towards the source of the noise. I take advantage of the blonde's distracted state and roughly yank myself his grip, stumbling backwards slightly and clutching my hand to my racing heart.

Harry saunters out of his house, a massive trash bag clutched in his right hand and a distant expression on his face, until his eyes look up to meet the scene in front of him. The man who once held a strong, unwanted grip on me stares emotionlessly at Harry, and I can tell his eyebrows are raised even behind his sunglasses as he crosses his arms on his chest. The other two men follow suit, lining up to form a triangle formation beside their expensive car, and conveniently blocking me from view.

I make the quick assumption that Harry hasn't seen me yet, and bend down slightly, resting on the hood of the mens' car, and letting my left hand instinctively feel around the sore mark the man left. I sigh through my teeth bitterly, before the alarming sound of glass breaking echoes down the street, making me whip around to the four men once again.

All I notice, however, is that Harry has dropped his bag of trash, presumably what caused the crashing noise, on the pavement beside him, and has his eyes narrowed at the three men warily.

We suddenly lock eyes, and his face doesn't seem to change when he sees me staring back, but I see his posture straighten and his neck tense slightly, as if he's registering the situation and his instincts are setting in. I gulp, flitting my eyes to stare at anything over than his bright emerald ones.

I consider running back over the street and into my house and then locking all the doors for the rest of eternity, but an annoying part of me knows very well that that will mean I never know why these men randomly showed up on my street, what they actually want here, and what they could possibly have to do with Harry.

"You touch her, Derek, and I'll burn you to a crisp, and force your two little minions to watch. Clear?"

I gasp. My throat makes a little squealing noise, trying to cope with the fluttering of my heart, the widening of my eyes, and my tightening grip on the car behind me. Harry's voice was about an octave lower than usual, raspy and purely chilling to hear. His endearing accent sounds heavier than usual, and you'd think I could come up with a billion reasons for that any normal day, but unfortunately my brain just turned to mush.

A smile plays at the corner of my mouth as Derek's arms fall at his sides.

A little less cocky now, aren't we?- I think, before quickly ridding my brain of the statement, as the man's smart put-down wasn't exactly my doing, simply because I was too frozen to the spot to defend myself. Plus I sounded like I liked that a guy who doesn't even like me chose to defend me in front of a bunch of other men. As if he was my boyfriend of something.

I try to press my lips together to suppress a childish smile as the man turns around, his mouth opening as if he desperately wanted to have the last word, before abruptly shutting. He grunts in irritation as his two other colleagues begin to climb Harry's porch steps, followed by a stupidly huffy leader.