No Control | Holding Me Ransom (Book 2)

76 - The Words You Whispered I Will Always Believe

January 2016

More pictures surfaced the following day of Harry and Kendall messing around on the boat (albeit nowhere near as incriminating as the previous ones), and this time I looked at them with their friendship in the forefront of my mind, and they looked very different. While the rest of the world went crazy over the idea that the two of them were in a relationship, I smiled to myself, happy in the knowledge that I was the one in a relationship with Harry Styles, and revelled in the idea of outsmarting the media for the majority of the last ten months.

Things for Kendall, however, were not going so well. Since the "kissing" pictures there had been an almighty row between her and her boyfriend Jordan, and according to Harry she was on the verge of leaving the yacht early to sort things out with him. I felt sorry for her, as I believed she hadn't deliberately caused trouble between me and Harry, and I certainly didn't wish her any ill feeling. Therefore it came as no surprise when I spoke to Harry on Saturday that she had packed up her things and was on her way back to LA.

"I can't help feeling that this whole week has been overshadowed by the shit storm surrounding me and Kendall," he confessed to me on the phone, as I sat in the airport with my friends waiting for our flight back to Heathrow. "I'm so happy about my new management, and what it means for the future, but the excitement has been dulled by all of this hysteria."

Harry had decided that once he was out of contract with Modest he would be signing with Jeff's new company Full Stop Management, and for the best part of his first year he would be Jeff's only client with Irving as a silent adviser if needed. Jeff was supportive of Harry's desire to remain close to London, and the two of them (and Irving) had already discussed film roles coming up in the next few months.

"I know," I sighed. "The world is going to be watching the pair of you for quite a while yet."

"Yup," he said, bitterly. "Well the world will be disappointed."

~~~~

I spent Sunday doing my washing and ironing and getting ready to go back to work the following day. Harry texted me once he had boarded his plane to Manchester, but even if he hadn't have told me I would have known anyway, thanks to more pictures and videos of him all over social media, sitting in first class and pulling a pillow across his face to hide from the fan taking the photo. Twitter was in uproar, defending Harry's privacy and demanding the culprit delete the tweets (even though the pictures had been saved and regurgitated by the majority of the update accounts. I still didn't follow any of them but I was checking them regularly now that Harry and I were back together and serious).

I got a text from him mid morning on Monday to say that he had landed so I rang him on my lunch break, by which time he had arrived back at his mum's and was looking forward to a couple of quiet days before returning to London on Wednesday. I went straight to Harry's after work on Wednesday, feeling strangely aware that this would soon be my new commute. The tube links were not as convenient from my office to Hampstead, and Harry's house was at least a twenty minute walk from both Golders Green and Hampstead tube station, meaning it would make more sense for me to drive to work and use the office car park.

I used the remote to open the gates to Harry's house as I approached, feeling very self conscious, and drove straight onto the parking deck before blipping the remote to close the gates behind me. As I got out of the car I heard the front door opening, and I turned to see Harry illuminated in the doorway against the black of the evening, wearing a navy and white striped apron, holding a wooden spoon in his hand.

"Kinky," I teased, locking my car and hurrying up to the front door and into the house out of the cold. "Are you going to spank me?"

He raised one eyebrow and smirked. "Would you like me to?"