HIRED GUN // H.S AU

eighteen

AMARA

"Amara, it's not going to be easy from here," My mother muttered sternly. A normal mother would comfort their daughter, whisper reassuring words in my ear as they squeezed them in a hug. But my mother was different. She was raised to be strong, and to never show weakness. She expected me to be the same, but sometimes being weak is the only resort.

"Eve, please," my dad sighed as she got straight into business, "let her relax for a bit, she's gone through a lot."

"We all go through a lot, it's life," my mother defended herself, scoffing when we all just stared at her. It must've been too hard for her, because she walked out the door a second later.

"Dad?" I turned my head to the worry stricken man, my hand being grasped in his hand as he nodded for me to continue. "I'm going to have to run, won't I?"

"Yes," my dad had a sad expression as he spoke the word I hadn't wanted to hear. "Everyone knows who you are now, sweetie. Your face is plastered everywhere."

"What is going to happen," my voice broke, pushing my hair away from my eyes.

"Harry will be with you, he'll protect you while you're on the run. You will never stop, not until it's safe to do so. I can't tell you when that will be, but we need to keep you safe."

My head turned to look at Harry, his eyes already on me. His hands were intertwined in front of him, his elbows resting on his knees as he leaned towards me.

"I'll keep you safe, no matter what it takes," Harry's voice sounded solid, his eyes never leaving mine. I heard my dad excuse himself as I kept my focus on Harry, the sound of the door closing behind him making me jump out of my daze.

"I'm so sorry," Harry whispered, grabbing my hand in his. My head whipped to him after he apologised, wondering why he had.

"Why are you apologising? This is none of your fault," I squeezed his hand as he shook his head, clearly disagreeing with me.

"I let you go in the coffee shop alone, if I'd gone in a few seconds earlier, you wouldn't have been," Harry stopped speaking, not wanting to say the words aloud. I didn't want to hear them either, I didn't want this to be real. I hadn't fully processed it yet, and I knew it would hit me soon. But for now, I denied that it ever happened.

"It's not your fault," I insisted, intertwining our fingers. It was true, I didn't blame Harry. I didn't blame my parents for taking their time to find me, or for being bad people, either. I blamed myself, for being clueless and stupid.

"No person should go through what you did, and I wanted to tear Finn's fucking head off his neck when I saw what he'd done to you," Harry gritted his teeth, his eyes glazing over.

"You saw?" I pushed my body up by my hands, whining when pain shot through my body. I collapsed back onto the bed, thanking Harry when he stood up and changed settings on my bed to make it more like a seat.

"Amara, h-he, uh, he recorded it," Harry curled his fists, closing his eyes briefly. My body froze at his words, making the situation even worse than it was, which I didn't think was possible.

"Only the torturing, not the actual..." Harry drew his words out, scared to say the word.

"Sexual assault?" I said it for him, my voice breaking as realisation dawned on me. Harry nodded his head slowly, lifting his hand to ruffle his curls. My head moved to look straight, my eyes remaining on the wall for a few minutes. I felt emotions swirling around in me, none sticking out more than the others. Embarrassment, shame, fear, vulnerability. I felt them all, but my face remained stone hard, and I didn't allow any to show.

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"You're being discharged, you can leave with Harry now. Your first destination will be in Italy, you can only remain at a place for 2 weeks," my mother zipped up a carry bag filled with essentials for me as she spoke.

I'd been in the hospital for the whole week, and it was getting too risky to stay here. I had to have Harry by my side the whole time, or else I felt vulnerable and frozen, not being able to move, in fright of being captured. It was obvious to both my parents that Harry was the only one I truly felt safe with, and I overheard them chatting about it one day. My mother, of course, wasn't happy and believed I'd grown feelings for the man. My dad thought it was a good idea though, that I actually trusted another man after what happened.

I felt bad for Harry, he hadn't slept in a bed this whole week. He only had the little couch in the small hospital room to sleep in, and he only slept when I was awake and accompanied by my dad. He had to wake me up constantly throughout the night, because of the nightmares. I dreaded going to sleep, the actions of Finn repeated like a cycle every time I closed my eyes. It was at night when my true vulnerability came forward, and I allowed myself to break. In the day, I wore a mask, and didn't allow anybody to see how broken I really was.

Harry was the only one who knew how broken I was.

"Amara? You can't drift off, we have things to do, stop daydreaming," My mother scolded me as I snapped back to life, pushing my feet into my vans. It wasn't until now I realised Harry wasn't in the room, putting me in alert mode.

"Where's Harry?" I sputtered, feeling nervous without him. It wasn't too good that I'd grown this dependent on him, but he was the only thing keeping me from shutting down. I breathed out of my nose once Harry's figure was revealed behind the door my mother opened, her eyebrows shooting up at me. My shoulders relaxed as I walked towards him, his hands grabbing the bag from my mother.

"Contact me once you're in Italy," my mother directed her demand towards Harry, his head nodding curtly at her. I'd already said my goodbyes to them, so I followed behind Harry as he walked down the corridors of the hospital.