No Control | Holding Me Ransom (Book 2)

92 - The Missing Piece

"While you were still in Cardiff, Adam caught up with James and said things had gone pear-shaped between you because you were still hung up on your ex," Callie explained. "He'd figured out it was Harry, and he also told James about what happened that night at the hotel, where you got really drunk and... wanted to sleep with him." (She cast an apologetic glance in Harry's direction. I didn't dare look at him.) "He wasn't bragging about it - he just said you were really eager to do it, and he stopped it from happening because he knew you were only doing it to try and forget your ex."

I cringed at the memory of throwing myself unashamedly at Adam after countless cocktails in the Mexican restaurant. The recollection was blurry, but unfortunately not blurry enough.

"I was so angry, Jess. I hated Harry for making you throw yourself at Adam. You don't sleep with people on a whim, and you're not easy. You're worth so much more than that, and I was furious that Harry had got you into such a state, yet again."

"I reacted badly to everything Harry said," I admitted, "but it was a lot to take in! It was a shock, finding out what really happened in New York. However, Harry didn't force me to behave that way with Adam that night, that was my choice."

"I'm not judging," she added, hastily. "I know what you went through - I supported you through it all. But hearing Adam's side of it was the final straw. So when Harry got in touch with me a few weeks later, I wasn't exactly in the mood to play nice."

"Wait - Harry got in touch with you?!" I squeaked, looking over at Harry whose expression still hadn't changed.

"Yeah," she said nervously. "He texted me and wanted to meet up. I refused, of course. I told him to fuck off. But he was persistent - you of all people know how persistent he is. I didn't know what to do at first, I didn't know what he wanted. I didn't want anything to do with him."

"How did he get your number?" I asked, and we both looked at Harry for the answer to this one.

He cleared his throat nervously. "I asked Grimmy to get it. I knew that he sort of knew Callie through a friend of a friend."

"Why?" I asked in disbelief. "Why on earth did you want to meet up with her?"

Harry's eyes softened as he looked at me.

"When I came to your flat the day I got home from tour, and you cooked me that lasagne, I joked about having a brew in your One Direction mug," he explained. "You told me you'd thrown all your memorabilia away - or rather, Callie had done it for you. I wanted to get it back for you. You sounded so regretful about binning it. I had this idea of surprising you with it, once we were on better terms, so I texted Callie and asked her to meet up with me so I could ask her if she really chucked it in the bin or if she kept it. I know how close you two are; I guessed she just might have hung onto it in case you changed your mind. But I hadn't bargained on her being such a control freak about it all."

"I refused to meet up with him, and eventually he asked me over text if I'd binned all your stuff," Callie continued. "I told him I hadn't, and he asked if he could have it. But I wasn't about to hand it all to him, only for him to break your heart all over again. I told him to stay away from you. He said he wasn't going to, and that he loved you, and he would do everything in his power to make it up to you and win you back."

I glanced at Harry for confirmation, and he nodded.

"He didn't like it that I didn't jump the moment he clicked his fingers -"

"That's not true!" Harry said angrily. "Don't twist it into something it wasn't!"

"I told him I didn't trust him as far as I could throw him, and I wasn't giving him anything until he'd proved he was trustworthy, and that he wasn't going to ruin your life again. He was pissed off when he realised I had the hoodie he'd given you. He said it was his, and he wanted it back. I told him he should have thought of that before he screwed a stick insect in New York."