Almost Lover (Harry Styles) - Book 1

Chapter 37: "Keep going."

-Harry's POV-

I take a deep breath, trying to understand everything Poppy just told me.

If there's really that much more to this I don't know how I'll be able to handle it. But I know there's no turning back now, I have to know everything.

"Keep going."

"Harry are you sure?"

"Yes. Now keep going."

"Okay. She left Spain that same night and went back to New York to her parents estate. She told them what happened, expecting them of course to be like any normal parents and comfort her. But they didn't. They convinced her he was just drunk and it was a mistake. They told her he loved her and if she really loved him back them she would forgive him. Scott showed up the next morning on his hands and knees, begging her to come back to him. So she did."

"Why? Why the hell would she go back to him?"

"Because she loved him. By this time she was 23 and they had been together for seven years. And this was the first time he had ever done anything remotely like this."

"God, but still.."

"I'm not trying to justify it, but I understand her side of it. She went home with him and things were fine for awhile. He was as loving as always. But she didn't trust him, she knew he was hiding something. He always kept his desk at home locked so she couldn't see what was inside it. So one day after he left for the office she decided she was going to find out what exactly he was hiding in there. In the third drawer she broke open she found his secret. Picture after picture of Scott and her best friend Ally."

"You've got to be kidding me. Her best mate?"

"Yes. The pictures broke her heart. There was so many of them. Them in France, Amsterdam, London, numerous places. It was pretty apparent that she had been going with him on most of his business trips. Some of them where of them in Ava's own bed, Ally wearing her negligees. It was disgusting. Then she found the worst one. One of Scott and Ally at dinner with Ava's own parents. In the picture Scott and Ally were holding hands and he was kissing her cheek. Her parents knew. She starting packing a bag to leave but Scott came home before she was done. When he asked her where the hell she was going she threw the pictures on the floor in front of him, and walked out the front door. She didn't make it very far before he caught her and forced her back inside. He said he wasn't going to be humiliated by her leaving him. She spit in his face."

"Good. The rat bastard."

"No, not good. He beat the shit out of her that night. I won't tell you what all he did, but it was bad. Really bad. He left her on the floor that night and the maid found her the next morning. She was in the hospital for three days."

Tears are now streaming down my face. The image of Ava laying on the floor beaten is one I'll never forget.

"She was broken, physically and emotionally after that. Her parents spent days pressuring her to go back to him. They actually told her she deserved it, that is was her fault for pushing him. That he isn't normally like that so it must be her fault. She got to the point where she began to believe them. She confronted them about knowing and they said that was just a friendly dinner and they had no idea. Scott showed up at her parents house two days after she was released from the hospital. He was in tears. He gave her some sob story and told her he loved her more than anything. His passion for her was the problem and he couldn't control himself."

"Please tell me she didn't believe that shit." I spit.

"She did. She went home with him. He hit her continuously after that. He would always apologize. And her parents would always tell her it was because she deserved it. It was always the same. She would upset him, he would hit her, she would cry, he would lie and make up some excuse for it, and then he would comfort her. She said she got to the point where she knew that was the only string of events that would lead her to actually feeling like she was loved. Cause when he comforted her he was his old self, the boy who was so sweet and kind and caring. And she became satisfied with that life."

"I can't believe that." I shake my head, "Ava is to strong to put up with that."

"You're right. But Kelsey wasn't. She was sick Harry."

Poppy sighs, letting out a muffled sob, "She was 24 when she got pregnant. She was overjoyed, having always wanted to be a mother. By this time it had been awhile since Scott had hurt her. He seemed to be back to his old self. But she was afraid, she didn't know how he would react. So she didn't tell him. And for a little while, Maddie was all hers. But Scott soon found out."

"How?"

"He answered her cell one day, the OBGYN was calling to confirm her next appointment. He confronted her about it but didn't touch her. She said he was emotionless about it. A couple days later she was sick in bed and he brought her dinner to her. She thought it was so sweet of him and maybe things were really turning around now that Maddie was in the picture. She said she fell asleep really soon after dinner feeling strange."

Poppy stops and wipes her eyes, "She woke up the next morning and there was blood on the sheets. She had lost her."

I can't take this. I push the hair back off my face and wipe my eyes as well.

"Are you sure you want me to go on Harry?"

"Yeah... yes." My voice cracks.

"Scott barely spoke to her. He gave her no comfort, nothing. He just called his personal physician that morning to come check on her, pulled the sheets off the bed, and went back into his study. She fell into a deep depression after that. She found herself singing to her and then remembering she wasn't there anymore. Her heart broke over and over again. Scott then started cheating right in front of her, bringing a string of women home and taking them into her own bedroom. But she didn't care. She didn't care about anything. She dropped out of Juilliard and stopped playing. She stopped speaking to her parents. She didn't even leave their flat."

Poppy pauses and moves over to sit next to me. She takes my hand, holding it tightly. Tears are streaming down her face now.

"One night he brought Ally home. She said she was laying in guest room and she could hear them. It was then she decided she had had enough of her life."

"The song..." I say softly. "The song I first heard her sing. Everybody Hurts. Was about this wasn't it?"

"Yes. She said she laid there until Ally had left and she could hear Scott snoring. She got a knife from the kitchen and brought it back to her bedroom along with a sheet of paper and a pen. And then she wrote one goodbye letter."

"To Scott?" I choke out.

"No. To Maddie."

I can't stop the sobs escaping my mouth, joining Poppy's. She grips my hand even tighter.

"She finished her letter and took the knife to her wrist. She said she couldn't watch it so she looked away and when she did her eyes stopped at the mirror across the room. She saw herself sitting there and she dropped the knife onto the floor. She couldn't do it."

"What stopped her?"

"I don't know. She never told me. Whatever it was saved her life so I thank god for it."

"So she left and came to London?"

"No," Poppy shakes her head, "She went into Scott's room to confront him."

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