Prince in the City [Harry Styles AU]

Chapter 34

Chapter 34

City Girl's POV:

My father was on the other side of the door. All I had to do was step through it. Feet frozen to the floor, nervously swallowing even through a dry throat, and fingers wringing together continuously. I couldn't move. I didn't want to. But I had to, because I was in the one place I didn't think I'd ever be, and I couldn't turn back now. Not with Xavier all of a sudden gripping my hand tightly. The guards were waiting for us to step through the door, to see the inmate that was waiting for us on the other side, but the nerves and anger and even some fright that was settled within me was preventing me from taking another step forward.

How the hell did I end up here?

*****

The day had been going well and as routinely as it possibly could. It was a few days after Zoe's wedding—she and Carlos were spending their honeymoon in Italy and making us jealous by sending tons of pictures—and I had obviously returned to work. Things were great; my best friend was married, work was as good as ever, and I was still basking in the aftermath of Harry and I finally dropping the love bomb on each other. I was happy and content with how things were, and certainly wasn't expecting it to be unhinged so quickly.

When I had arrived home for work, I found that my couch was being occupied by my mother, who was watching a rerun of Criminal Minds. She shut the TV off immediately, though, when I shut the door behind me and stood up to face me, a worried expression on her face that I immediately recognized. "What's wrong?" I questioned, a frown scrunching my eyebrows as I set my purse down on the couch once I was near my mother.

Mama took a breath, as if preparing herself to say the words she needed to, which would make her concerned features make sense. The distressed expression she wore spiked my own worry, dozens of thoughts running through my mind as to what could have happened that made her seem so anxious. "It's your father," she answered.

The tension in my shoulders immediately dissipated as they slumped at her words, quite a bit of the the worry being replaced by mild annoyance. Really, I didn't have time being worried about my father—or spare a thought towards him. Mama knew this, but at the same time, the genuine concern that was painted across her face made me think that this wasn't like every other conversation the two of us had about my dad.

Still, I couldn't help but distastefully respond, "Seriously, Mama? I told you, I don't—"

"He's been hurt, Vera," Mama interrupted me, the serious tone in her voice shutting me up immediately. There was a look in her eye, akin to dread, and I clamped my mouth shut as my brows scrunched together once more. Taking note of my confused expression, she released a breath before continuing. "In the yard today he, uh, got confronted by some other inmates and things got bad. He's been stabbed."

My eyes widened at that, unexpectedly feeling my heart stop for a moment as Mama's words registered in my mind. Stabbed? That sounded like some bad, cliche joke that I would've laughed at if it weren't for the utterly fretting expression Mama wore. Before I could say anything, she said, "The man who did it has been put into solitary but your father's in the prison infirmary." She paused, the worried frown on her face deepening and it made me realize just how much Mama still cared for my dad. I don't know why or how, but she did, and I wondered just how hard it is for her to know that he's been hurt. "It's pretty bad. The guy got a few hits in so your dad's gonna be in the infirmary for a while. But he's allowed visitors. We need to go see him."

Gaze darting to meet Mama's, I stared at her for a few moments, unblinking as I tried to make sense of a situation I was totally unprepared for. My dad, who I hadn't spoken to in years, was in the infirmary because some other inmate had actually stabbed him. Sounds like a bad prison movie, honestly.