A Love Like Ours

Chapter 30

"Harry?" she called, and I hurried from the bathroom in my hotel room out to the bedroom, already alarmed by the sound of her voice.

"What's wrong?" I asked when I found her sitting on the made bed, her long jean-clad legs extended, the sleeves of her sweater pulled down around her fingers as she handed me her phone.

"I think you should see this," she said, her voice soft, her eyes wary. "Emily just sent it to me."

I felt a sinking in my gut.

"She couldn't wait until we get there?" I tried to joke, but I took the phone from her anyway.

Mads didn't answer. And there, splashed across the screen, were pictures of us from New Year's Eve—which wouldn't have been such a bad thing, if they weren't paired with the title of the article.

Is Harry Styles Engaged or What?

There we were. Mads in that dress. Me in my suit. Smiling at each other like we were the only two people in the room. My hands around her waist, hers looped around my neck. And circled in red for everyone reading the article to see was the bare finger of Madelyn's left hand, a question mark drawn beside it.

I didn't even have to read the words to know what they said. What everyone was speculating about. Pictured just beneath the New Year's Eve photos were snapshots of Madelyn and I together in L.A., while she was wearing a big sparkly engagement ring on her finger. And now, we were still together—and given the fact that there were also pictures of us kissing at the same New Year's Eve party, we were clearly very together—but that ring was conspicuously gone.

Skimming the rest of the article, nothing really jumped out at me until the last couple of sentences: So, the question is, did Harry, in fact, pop the question? Or did he break up an engagement to win the girl back? We'll let you know more as this story unfolds.

Mads was already talking before I had the chance to look up, "What are we going to do?"

There was fear in her eyes. Fear and worry.

I glanced down at the phone again before handing it back to her. "Nothing."

"What?" she asked, her brows furrowing. "What do you mean nothing? We can't just let them—"

"Shhh," I said, sitting beside her on the bed and reaching for her hands. "It's alright, Mads."

"It is?" she asked, still more alarmed by this whole situation than I wanted her to be. "Because the world could very well think that you broke up an engagement to be with me again, Harry, and considering that this was all my—"

"Don't say it," I said quickly, clenching my jaw as I watched her take deep breaths, as I watched her stare at me like I was crazy.

She let out a long breath, like some of the fight was going out of her. "It's the truth," she said, more softly, but no less firmly. "If I hadn't gone to L.A., if I'd just told you the truth right from the get-go—"

"Then we might not be where we are now," I said, squeezing her hand as I said it. That was true, too. She stayed quiet. "C'mon, Mads. Don't let this get to you. It's just another... thing they're saying. More speculation to keep themselves busy. What's the harm in that?"

"Harry... people think you broke up my engagement to another man."

I knew she was trying to convey the gravity of the situation, but I couldn't help but crack a smile. "Well... I sort of did, didn't I?"

She whacked me on the arm with a pillow before I could get too cocky about it, and between laughing at my own joke and being thrilled that it had gotten her to smile, I sorely wanted to shove her back on the bed and climb over her.