Burn

“Basically, if my father had to choose between defending someone who was proven to commit murder, and myself, he would chose the murderer.” Rae blinked in surprise as Harry attempted to describe the hateful relationship between he and his father. So far, Rae understood that at a young age, Harry’s father did not agree with Harry’s rebellious attitude. His way to fix that, was constant verbal abuse, and punishment. But never physical. “Don’t look so surprised, Rae. Our dads are two very different people. Your dad loves you.”

“I’m sure your dad loves you to,” she countered, sitting behind the counter at work. It was a slow day, and Harry had stopped in to have lunch with her. He gave her a very doubtful look as he bit into his sandwich. “In a weird, savage way, granted. But every parent loves their child. Some just… don’t deserve too.”

Chewing his food, he smiled at her slightly. It was clear she said something that he hadn’t thought of, which made her glad. Rae had come to find that the only form of advice Harry would even considered, was the kind that wasn’t cliché. “That’s a new way to put it. How do you come up with all these little tidbits?”

“Oh,” she said excitedly, rubbing her hands together to explain. He sat up, interested to hear her secret. “There’s this really complex thing, it puts together words and phrases and uses highly effective logic to come up with that. It’s called a brain.”

Harry glared at her and she popped a crisp into her mouth with a satisfying crunch. Rae never got tired of giving him sarcastic remarks. Harry never seemed to expect them from her, but he always had enough wit in him to fire some back.

When they finished lunch, Harry told her to call him when she got off. She promised she would and grin as he leaned down, placing a firm kiss on her lips. The heat was still on them even when he pulled away. The lightest kisses reminded her every time that whatever they had was like fire.

The rest of the day passed easily, as she helped a few customers and sold albums. By the time she was off, she was heading to her Aunt’s house, her little cousin demanding that she spend some time with her. After swinging by and picking her up, they head towards the house, Rae shooting a text to Harry saying she was on family duty.

At home, Trystan, Rae and Lilly sat on the couch watching movies. When Rae heard the front door open, she turned in surprise. Harry had never said anything back to her, and she thought maybe he hadn’t gotten the message. That was until he walked in carrying a large pizza and two liters of soda, grinning as the smell wafted around the room.

“Hullo,” he said cheerily, setting it all down on the coffee table. He leaned over and pressed a kiss to Rae’s lips. Lilly was interested in Harry as he gave her a grin, crouching down and sticking out his hand. “Hi, I’m Harry.”

Lilly grinned at him and shook his hand. “Lilly.”

“Lilly? What a pretty name that is, and for a pretty girl.”

Lilly blushed a deep red, obviously taken by Harry instantly. Rae was utterly speechless as he offered the five year old pizza and went to get her a glass and filled it with soda. In fact, both Rae and Trystan sat with their mouths hanging open, shocked at what they were seeing.

“Why is your mouth open?” Lilly asked Rae in a silly voice, biting into a piece of pizza. Rae shook her head and looked at Harry, who sat on the floor, cocking his head to the side with a giant, cheesy grin on his face.

“No reason,” she answered quickly, shaking her head and sliding down to the floor, taking a slice for herself. Trystan followed suit in absolute silence, stunned. “Just happy Harry brought some food, love.”

“Me too.”

For the next two ours, Rae marveled as Harry acted like a perfect older sibling, playing with Rae and listening to all her stories as she sat next to him. She was amazed, even when he sat down to color with her when she pulled out her coloring book and crayons. It was the cutest, and hottest thing she had ever seen.

When it was time to take Lilly home, Harry tagged along, scooping the six year old up into his arms as she yawned, laying her head on his shoulder. She was tired, and rightly so. She chatted with Harry in that little voice of her all night long.

By the time they had reached the house, she was asleep in the back seat, her small head rolling to the side. Rae smiled with love at the little girl and took her gently from the back seat, carrying her towards the house. But not before Harry placed a kiss on the sleeping child’s forehead, looking at her the way everyone ended up looking at Lilly; like she was the best thing in the world.

After Rae’s aunt took the sleeping child back, Rae skipped over to the car, where Harry remained seated, leaning with his hands behind his head. Getting in, Rae turned to face him, giving him an incredulous look. “You were absolutely brilliant with her.”

“I love kids,” he shrugged, smiling as Rae shook her head, starting to drive back home. “They remind me of the happiness I had before I grew up. You know?”

“I do,” she agreed her voice going very soft. Almost by itself, her hand went to the necklace that had once belonged to her mother. When she was young, everything had been so easy. Her mom had always known what to do.

“If I could bring back your mom, I would,” Harry said quietly, looking at her. She glanced at him, not sure what to say. But she knew she didn’t have to say anything, because he was looking at her with a soft, knowing smile. “I know that’s what you wish for, all the time.”

“Yeah, it is.” She ran a hand through her hair, turning onto a street. The music played softly in the back round, a Coldplay song. “What do you wish for?”

“A lot of things. But I think what I wish for most, is that I hadn’t made some of the choices I had.”

“Like?”

He thought for a long time, brushing his curls from his face with his hand. Rae loved the way his shoulders flexed when he made that particular movement. “Like getting involved with the wrong people just to piss off my dad. Yeah, my dad’s a fucking prick, and yeah, I’m okay with who I am today, but it kind of sucked sometimes along the way.”

“Yeah?”

He nodded. “Like having to go to court,” he explained slowly. Rae’s ears pricked, knowing he did not like touching this subject, since their fight. “I now have to either screw Leon and his brother, or save them.”

“Screw them.”

Harry sighed, shaking his head. Rae got a sinking feeling that he wasn’t exactly going to do the right thing. Though she wanted to lecture him, she kept her mouth shut. She knew that she wouldn’t want to be lectured on something either. This was one of those things that he had to do on his own.

“You don’t understand,” he mumbled, more to himself than to her. “It’s difficult.”

Rae nodded as she pulled in her drive and put the car in park. She reached over and touched his hand lightly. He pulled away slightly. Though Harry could be extremely touchy sometimes, and very romantic, sometimes he forgot how to be. She didn’t mind. “I don’t understand,” she agreed. “But I’ll try and respect whatever decision you make, okay?”

He nodded and turned to look at her. Something in his gaze made her heart pick up speed. “This is so different to me, you know. Being in a… relationship. It’s all very strange, sometimes.”

Rae chuckled and shrugged her shoulders, trying to take the inexperience and push it away. “You’re doing okay so far, I think.”

“Yeah?”

She nodded and smile. “Yeah.”

Inside of the home, Harry and Rae lay on the couch talking about pointless things, watching a movie they had never seen fold out in front of them. Harry was telling her a story from when he was younger and he went fishing with his cousins. His cousin was now sick with cancer, but he often visited him.

The way Harry talked about his cousin Joseph made Rae smile. It was the first person he had ever talked about in a friendly manner with such vigor. Of course Harry loved Louis and Niall, but he never talked about them with this type of admiration. Rae got the sense that Joseph was a pure soul, from Harry’s description.

Harry lay stretched out on the couch, his head laying in Rae’s lap as she had her eyes fixed on the television. Her hand was running through his curls as he fell silent. Trystan was already sound asleep in on of the chair, her mouth a bit slack as she breathed. Rae realized that Harry was asleep as well, soft sounds of slumber escaping his lips.

“Of course.”

As Rae sat quietly on her own, watching the movie, she heard Harry’s phone buzz on the table. Leaning over, she saw Leon’s name flash across the screen, and saw the words, words that sent shivers up her spine and made her sit a little straighter. “317 Park Ave. It’s a lovely house.”

317 Park Ave was Rae’s home. She was being watched.

Quickly and without disturbing him, she opened the phone, deleting the text message and sat it down on the table. Looking at the sleeping boy in her lap, she prayed that he would never know what Leon had just said. Because she very well knew that if he had seen it, he would kill him.

And she couldn’t let that happen.