AN: Buckle up for an extra long chapter for extra drama. Btw I imagine Harry has an Italian accent and that he doesn't really have his regular tattoos like he does in real life but other darker ones. (No hate to his butterfly dat still cutee)
The gray little boy with green eyes attempted to take a bite out of the hard, uncooked pasta shell we had gathered from the kitchen, bringing his teeth down with a loud crack before he dropped it and held his jaw with wide, teary eyes.
"You're not supposed to eat it when it's not cooked you silly." My small eight year old voice corrected with a light laugh, the hard pasta shells splayed out across my stiff mattress between me and my friend as I cupped his face while he pouted, not knowing they'd be so difficult to chew.
"Now don't cry." I spoke in a small,
comforting hush, running my thumb over his round, flushed, cheeks when he began to sniff, rubbing at his vibrant watering eyes before I pulled back with a knowing smile.
"Look at me, at the count of three," I began to sing the simple, catchy tune, covering my eyes with my hands before bringing them down to raise three fingers, the motions going with the song I had made a while ago to calm the little boy as he blinked at me with small smile.
"It's your very best friend, guess who, it's me," I continued, tipping my head from side to side slightly making the boy giggle, the entertained, dimpled, grin on his face a rare sight to see as I did a little dance.
"Don't you cry I'll always be here,
Even when you're alone I'll always be near." Bringing our hands together I intwined our fingers between us, making the boy lean forward and rest his forehead against mine with closed eyes and a relaxed expression that mirrored mine.
I framed his face with my hands again -a habit that I had gotten used to and that he secretly enjoyed, leaning into my touch as his emerald eyes fluttered open to lock gazes.
"Wherever you go, I will find you." I promised, still singing in the same melody as he stared at me, not understanding the English words that left my lips but knowing that these were words of love and sanctuary before he opened his mouth.
"Because I know you're my best friend too." He finished the song in his hoarse, little unused voice, his accent thick and a few words mispronounced but I smiled with pride nonetheless at the fact that he memorized it, nodding my head before he wrapped his arms around my body and hugged me.
I inhaled slowly, trying to collect myself as I rubbed his back before he pulled back to look at me.
"Love." He emphasized, trying to correctly pronounce the foreign word before he broke away, mumbling something under his own language in frustration with a shake of his head.
"Love." The little boy repeated in embarrassment, a small blush appearing over his cheeks as I giggled, my eight year old heart feeling giddy with joy as I bashfully looked down, playing with one of the pasta shells.
"I love you too." I confessed, glancing up with wide eyes to meet his gaze before we both quickly looked away with flushed faces.
"Uh, I- um. Look, we can make these into macaroni necklaces." I stuttered out, flustered as I held the two strings and hard pastas between us.
He nodded his head in a timid manner, his bangs falling over his forehead while he began collecting the little pasta shells for his own necklace.
I turned my attention to the thin string in my hand, focusing on it in deep concentration, making the world around me blur and melt together in the surroundings as I raised the macaroni to it.
Except, it wasn't a macaroni I was holding anymore.
I ravelled the flower and tied it along the thread, ravelling it with the flimsy stem before I felt his touch on my bare back, Harry's fingers gently grazing over my spine from behind me, goosebumps immediatly ghosting over my body as I turned my head.
Glancing over my shoulder I found Harry awake, half his flawless face pressed against my pillow, brown hair up in different directions.
The dark tattoos that spiraled over his chest and neck apparent under the morning sunlight as a small, slightly goofy, dimpled grin dawned upon his face, slowly blinking up at me with those gentle green eyes as he rubbed his knuckles tenderly against my back to get my attention.
"Morning." I greeted him in a soft voice, the covers draped against my bare body as I realized I had been day dreaming while making my flower crowns I had woken up to create on the bed, wondering how my mind had created such vivid images when I thought about the little boy.
The dreams seemed to be getting realer and realer each day.
"Morning." Harry's raspy voice said back, rubbing at his eye and continuing to smile at me before he leaned forward, placing a tender kiss over my back as I made a show of shivering, obviously feeding his ego as he chuckled at my over dramatic reaction.
He leaned back against the mattress when I turned to him, hugging the duvet to my chest as I brought one of the small flowers over his face, making his eyes flutter close as I twirled it, letting the soft petals caress his skin as I giggled at how compliant and still he was being before I kissed his nose.
As I was raising my head up he cupped the side of my face, bringing my lips down onto his in a sweet kiss before I pulled away, resting my chest against his as he peered up at me, studying my face and tucking a strand of stray hair behind my ear before his smile slowly faded.
I frowned at the sudden change in his expression, my cheek resting against his palm.
"What's wrong?" I asked, placing my hand over his forehead to playfully smooth the crease there as he blinked a few times, as if coming out of a haze before he slowly shook his head.
"It's nothing neonata." Harry reassured in a low, slightly distracted tone, taking the small flower from my hand and bringing it to my face, twirling it over my nose like I had done to him before as I let out a small laugh, moving and sitting back up again.
"What are you doing." He asked, stretching his muscular arms before placing his chin over my shoulder, peering down at the circular thread of flowers I was making in my hands.
"I'm making flower crowns for Candy, Maggie, and Cherry to give later- they're really nice strippers." I informed when Harry sent me a confused look, raising a brow and opening his mouth before closing it and rolling his eyes, not bothering to ask as he leaned against me, watching the movement of my fingers while hugging me from behind.
"I also made you a flower crown." I said with excitement, hopping up and down on the bed as Harry blinked at me with a blank expression when I held up the lavender petal crown for him.
"I'm not wearing this." He bluntly rejected it with a scoff, studying it in his grasp with obvious disdain before he placed it back onto the sheets as I frowned.
His tatted muscular arms wrapped around my neck, dragging me back down on the bed as my lips grazed his skin, the both of us falling on our sides with him spooning me.
"So this is how it feels." Harry sighed against my neck, the soft rhythm of his heart beating against my back as I relaxed against him.
"This is how it feels to want to hold someone... even afterwards." He mused, kissing my hair as I turned to him with a look.
The small frown on my face didn't go without notice from him as he propped himself up a little to peer down at me before pinching my nose.
"What." He questioned in his husky voice, a hint of a smile on his face as I raised his flower crown in between us, pressing the flower against his pierced lips while I stared at him expectantly.
I broke out in a grin when he sighed in defeat, grabbing the flower crown and situating it over his messy hair, lowering his hands and raising his brows in an 'are you happy' manner.
"You look so pretty..." I awe'd, placing my hand over my heart and admiring him as he just stared at me with an impatient expression.
"Can you wear it around my house-"
"I'm going to take a shower." He quickly dismissed himself, casually nudging my chin in a playful manner as he rose from the bed, taking it off and tossing the accessory to me.
I watched him walk stark naked in all his toned, tattood glory to my bathroom while I blew out a breath, looking back down at my rejected flower crown.
"I guess I can just give it to Spencer." I spoke my thoughts out loud, jumping in surprise when Harry stormed back into my room at lightning speed with a towel around his waist, quickly grabbing his flower crown from the mattress and stubbornly putting it on top of his tossled bed hair.
I couldn't help but beam up at him as he avoided my gaze, awkwardly clearing his throat and readjusting his crown before puffing out his chest and walking back to my bathroom.
Biting my lip to keep from smiling, I gathered the rest of the flower accessories together on the wrinkled sheets, laughing to myself when I looked down at Spencer's own yellow flower crown before quickly changing as I heard the shower turn on.
My whole body was clothed in black as I grabbed my bag with all the things I needed for today, leaving my bedroom with Harry still in the shower as I shrugged on a thick black coat, going over to my front door and opening it only to step back in surprise when Spencer fell to my floor since he was sitting against the door.
His head made a sort of plonk sound as he didn't make any move to get up from my ground, cradling an empty bottle of whiskey in his arms as he blankly stared ahead of him with blood shot eyes.
"Spencer, how long have you been out here?" I asked in shock, crouching down and trying to smooth his ruffled dirty blonde hair as he blinked a couple of times before looking up at me like a kicked puppy.
"All night. I left to give you guys privacy, came back at like, around 12 to greet you guys Happy New Years but you two were too busy fornicating to hear me knocking on the door." He explained, ending his sentence with a small whine as he pressed his cheek against the cool glass of the alcohol bottle in his arms.
"Either that or Harry was murdering you with the way you were screaming." Spencer glanced up at me, giving me an observational once over with no judgement in his gaze whatsoever.
"You don't look murdered." He noted, making me laugh lightly before I studied him, suddenly feeling bad about how he was left all alone for the holiday.
Just like how Harry and I were before.
"Come on, get up. I have to leave before Harry gets out of the shower. You can tag along." I offered, rising to my feet and grabbing his toned arm, tugging on it as he whined in protest.
"No...." He complained, hiding his face against the floor making me frown before I went back to kneeling besides him.
"Spencer don't push my buttons." I warningly teased, knowing I was on a tight schedule as it was as he raised his head to look up at me.
"You're not even wearing buttons, except this one..." He slurred, poking my chest causing me to immediatly block his hand away with a look.
"That's my nipple." I whispered, the hair standing on the back of my neck at the touch as I swatted him with a stern expression.
Spencer blinked.
"Oh." He commented, not really caring and resting his head back against my floor.
After a few seconds he snapped his head up again with alarm.
"Oh! Oh shit! Oh shit don't tell Harry!" He panicked, grabbing me in a hug for protection causing me to yelp and fall back.
"Don't tell Harry! Can't breathe! Lacking oxygen!" Spencer pressed his face against my stomach, beginning to make gagging sounds as I grabbed his shoulders, gently pushing him off with a raise of my brow.
"What are you doing silly?" I asked, letting out a small laugh at his ridiculous behavior.
"Practicing for when Harry finds out and chokes the life out of me." He grinned, seeming to calm under my gaze before I grabbed his large hand, bringing the both of us back up from the floor until we were standing.
"Come on." I scrunched my nose at him, grabbing my keys and dragging him out of my flat, closing the door behind us before I quickly lead us to the elevator.
**
We were currently parked outside of After Dark at six o'clock in the morning, my lips pressed firmly together as I checked the time on my dashboard again Spencer leaned his tired face against the glass window of the passenger side, cradling the whiskey bottle before taking a slow swig, emphasizing his sharp jawline and the bob of his adams apple.
I slumped in my chair before reaching over and grabbing the bottle.
Spencer screamed.
"Spencer." I scolded, making a face and slapping my hands over my ears at the high pitched shrieking he was causing before I yanked the bottle away from him and getting out of the car.
"You're mean! Anděl would never treat me like this! She's sweet and pretty and kind!" He yelled at me through the open window of my car, mentioning his girl who left him a couple years ago that he had been complaining about in his drunken state as I walked over to his side, tapping the window motioning him to lower it.
With a disgruntled expression he hesitantly followed, pouting and narrowing his brown eyes at me as I rested my face against the opening of the car window.
"After I'm done here I promise I'll take you and Harry out for some nice breakfast okay? Or I'll make something if you'd like. You're not alone." I comforted him in an understanding tone, knowing he was still recovering from a hangover as he simply looked down at his lap, nodding his head making me smile as I turned to leave.
He suddenly grabbed the fabric of my coat, stopping my movements as I snapped my head back to him in confusion, his hand holding on to the arm of my clothes before he raised his head up to look at me.
"I lied." Spencer told me in a soft voice, keeping me there as I blinked at him.
"You remind me of her... of Anděl." He simply elaborated, my skin prickling at her name.
That name was very pretty.
He let me go, rolling the window up without another word as I watched him in my car, leaning back in his seat and closing his eyes.
With one last lingering stare I hesitantly left, walking towards the strip club and entering it.
"You!" A large man immediatly charged into me, grabbing my arm as I stumbled a little before looking up at him, realizing it was Chris.
"Oh, hello." I greeted with a friendly smile as he scoffed, taking a drag of his cigar before leading me through the almost empty club, the strip house probably more crowded at night like it was yesterday before he dragged me to the side.
It was six in the morning after all.
"Thanks to you my girls are broken!" He complained, letting me go with a frustrated look as I tilted my head to the side in confusion.
"Just look." Chris growled, pointing over at a familiar figure in the dark, causing me to blink until I realized it was Cherry's small frame over a customer on the sofa, her body on him although there was no grinding or hip swaying.
She was hugging him.
"We call it the little lamb move!" Candy came up from behind me, placing her hands over my shoulders making me smile at her presence before we watched Cherry's client blink ahead of him in confusion.
"None of the strippers are actually stripping! They're just hugging the customers now. Not to mention you and that Italian guy fucked up my door!" Chris fumed in outrage before the man that Cherry was hugging walked over, with Cherry still clinging on to him like a baby koala.
"Can I get my money back?" The disappointed client asked before Cherry spotted me.
"Hiya new girl!" She eagerly greeted with a big smile, immediatly hopping of the man and embracing me in a hug as I giggled, hugging her back.
"Sorry bout what happened last night. I really thought you were one of us yah know?" Maggie suddenly approached us as Chris rubbed his face in annoyance, taking care of the unsatisfied client while we talked.
"It's fine, it was actually really fun. I made and brought these all for you." I genuinely admitted, taking out the flower crowns from my bad and giving one each to all three of them as they stared at it with wide, puzzled eyes, curiously turning it and studying it in their manicured hands.
Shoot, I forgot to give Spencer his.
"Jee, I've never seen this kind of sex toy before." Cherry observed, chewing her gum and sniffing the flowers on the crown as Maggie pursed her lips.
"It's a flower crown hun." Maggie informed, placing hers on her head and giving me a wink as I beamed at them while Cherry's lips formed an 'O' shape.
"Ha, you're slut is showing." Candy taunted, putting hers on as well while Cherry did the same until they were all wearing it before Cherry playfully shoved Candy.
"Oh shut it Candy! You're legs spread wider than mine and you know it." She pouted, making all three giggle as I watched them, bringing my shoulders up and my hand to my heart with a small smile.
So this was what it was like to have girl friends.
"Thank you little lamb!" They all said in unison, enveloping me in another group hug as I squealed a little in joy.
"I'm actually here to meet up with someone," I reminded them when we broke apart as Maggie rested her arm on my shoulder.
"Oh so that's why you're here so early, yeah. There's a guy who mentioned about you when he arrived. An old fart really, he's waiting in one of the private rooms." Candy enlightened me, pointing over to one of the dark velvet doors as I nodded, gripping onto my bag and walking over.
"If he tries anything just let us know little lamb! We're gonna be right out here waiting for you!" Maggie called out in support, making me smile and send them a thumbs up before I opened the door and went in.
Angelo was seated on the blood red king bed, checking the wine bottle that was probably in every room as I stood in front of him, patiently waiting and hugging my bag to my chest.
When he didn't make any move to acknowledge my presence I decided to speak up.
"I would like you to not press any punishments on Harry and leave him alone." I said in a stern voice, breaking the silence between us as Angelo finally lifted his head up to look at me, his beady eyes taking me in as he placed the bottle down.
"Figured that's what you called me up to meet you here for." He noted, giving me a look as I nodded.
"I want to ask you nicely," I began, keeping my voice even as he raised his brow at me.
"Please leave Harry and I alone. We no longer work for you and I love him." I claimed, meeting his hard gaze with my own as he chuckled.
"You two fuck and suddenly you're in love? You really want to risk your life to protect this man who wouldn't hesitate to shoot you if he was ordered too?" The cynical chuckle that left Angelo's lips didn't phase me as I held my ground.
"If you don't comply with my request and leave Harry alone then I'll have to approach this in a different way." I said, wanting to keep things clean and civilized as he smirked.
"What are you gonna do Malu, beg? Cry? Bake me a cake? You may be an assassin but you don't have the guts to do anything you're not ordered to do." He laughed, his voice taunting and irking me further making me take the thick, manila folder out from my bag.
"I'm going to blackmail you." I stated in a calm voice, letting the folder open as its contents fell to the floor, the papers and records flying around in the air before settling to the ground while Angelo paused, beady eyes going wide as he spotted a few pictures of him escape from the folder.
"These are all the records I kept of you over the years ever since I was employed under your name. That being said, I know that you sell all your client's secrets to their enemies and if word was ever out about that, you would be in very, deep trouble." I threatened, watching as Angelo froze at my words, his wide eyes solely on the evidence scattered over the floor before he fell to his knees, shakily grabbing a paper in his hand of all his emails and messages.
"I have more copies as well. I've been saving these for a rainy day." I informed, tossing the folder to the ground besides him as he slowly rose his head up to glare at me, gritting his teeth while his face reddened in anger.
"And one more thing." I added, quickly taking my gun out from my bag, keeping my eyes on Angelo the entire time as I aimed at the satin curtains at my side, firing three bullets before moving my arm a few inches to the right towards the closed armoire, shooting two times into the wood and then finally aiming at the bed behind a wide eyed Angelo, shooting the bed making him jump as the mattress stuffing flew in the air.
I locked gazes with Angelo and as expected his bodyguards that were hidden from me in the room fell one by one, a slumped man falling through the curtains to the ground while blood seeped out from the crack of the armoire and underneath the bed.
"I assumed you would have had backup around just in case to keep me quiet." I shrugged when he gaped up at me at a total loss for words, opening and closing his mouth before he slowly inhaled, gripping the papers in his hold until they crinkled in his tight fists.
I'm a bit thankful that they had soundproof rooms in this strip house.
Loading my gun, I looked at Angelo with a dark glint in my usually joyful brown eyes.
"You're next if you ever hurt Harry." I promised him, watching him swallow, not saying a thing as he glared at me, his face straight but the fear clear in his eyes while his chest rose and fell in shallow breaths.
I then dropped my gun back into my shoulder bag, replacing it for a neat, silver small tin container that I held in my gloved hand while I walked over to Angelo, stepping over the mess of papers as he sent me an apprehensive look.
I gave him a friendly smile, the malice on my face completely gone as I carefully opened the container, revealing a perfect, delectable, sugar powdered lemon bar that I took into my grasp, handing it to a perplexed Angelo.
"Baked it myself, oh right. Silly me you want a napkin don't you." I paused, pointing at him and making sure while he blinked at me in response, still holding the dessert in his outstretched palm like a baffled statue while I fished for a tissue in my bag, finally finding one and handing it to him.
"Take it as my 'I'm sorry I blackmailed you and killed some of your agents' lemon bar. I know you're just doing your job and I would have made my regular muffin basket for you but since you want to hurt the man I love, I don't really like you." I truthfully confessed, giving Angelo a casual shrug before grinning and twiddling my fingers goodbye.
"Mkay, hope to never see you again." Saying my farewell I stepped over the papers and blood, casually humming that strange yet super song I day dreamed of this morning before I walked out of the room.
My three new friends immediatly surrounded me the moment I stepped out as the door closed behind us, checking my hair, face, and clothes.
"Her hair's not messed up." Candy narrowed her skeptical blue eyes at my wavy locks, picking at them while Cherry squished my cheeks together.
"Her face isn't flushed." Cherry noted in an observational tone as Maggie closed her eyes and let out a sigh of relief.
"Thank goodness, you didn't sleep with that old dust." She concluded, all three girls backing away with comforted looks as I smiled.
"No, no of course not." I denied with a shake of my head, trying not to make a face at the obsurd thought.
"Hey, you're little lamb!" A new female voice suddenly joined in as I spotted a tall, lanky, ivory colored, beautiful woman approach us, my gaze flickering over her face at how familiar she looked.
"Yup, the one and only." Cherry clapped with excitement as I smiled at her introduction.
"I came by late last night for my shift but I heard everything. I was hoping you'd pass by again soon, your friend left this." She informed, extending out her hand, her knuckles hiding the object she was giving me until I felt the slightly cold, smooth texture of it before she released it into my outstretched hand.
I looked down as she moved her hand away from it, right there sitting in my palm, like a dream come to life was the macaroni necklace.
Right there in my hand.
"Who, who left this again?" I questioned in a shakey voice, swallowing as I gingerly held the necklace like it would break and crumble into ashes at the slightest touch, the girls noticing my sudden increase in breathing as I blinked at the object.
"You know, that man you were hugging." The woman informed in an obvious tone as they all sent me a look while the whole room began to spin around me.
It wasn't a dream.
They were never dreams.
"They were memories..." I voiced my thoughts out loud in horror, blinking back tears and holding the necklace to my chest, my eyes darting everywhere but not clearly focusing before I felt someone's hand on my shoulder.
"Honey lamb you don't look so good, do you need to sit down?" Maggie's face suddenly came into view as I quickly shook my head, backing away while the others sent me worrying looks.
"No, I'm sorry I- I need to go." I breathed out in an unsteady exhale, slowly taking a few steps back as my head spun before I turned and quickly bolted out of the club, slamming the front doors open as they hit the walls of the building while I ran towards where I parked my car.
Or where it was supposed to be.
Panting heavily, my body seemed to freeze in a panic, losing all function at the heart stopping sight of the empty parking spot where my car was when I had left it.
Spencer had taken my car.
I groped my body, trying to feel for the hard, jingling metal of my keys only to find it gone from coat.
He pickpocketed me.
That... that...
That cotton headed ninny muffin!
My gaze fell to the macaroni necklace in my hand, my mind immediatly focusing on one boy and one boy only as I balled my hand around the accessory into a tight, shakey, fist.
I had to get to Harry.
Without wasting anymore time I ran back into the strip house, gripping tightly onto the doorframe as Candy, Maggie, Cherry, and the woman who had given me the necklace stared at me in wonder at my urgent state.
"I need fast transportation and I need it now please!"
**
By the time I all but crashed Maggie's old toyota she lent me as an apology for mistakening me as an employee in front of my building, it was too late.
Frantically fumbling with my apartment keys, I finally managed to open the door, my jaw dropping in horror at the sight of the chaotic mess that was my home.
Broken and damaged furniture lay across the floor, bullet holes and what looked like to be knife gashes marked my colored walls before I snapped back to reality at the sight of the smeared blood on my carpet.
I grabbed my gun before quietly placing my bag on the ground and closing the door behind me, my shoulders rising and falling with the uneven breath that seemed to effect my entire body as I cautiously traveled through my disfigured home, all my decorations and ornaments torn to pieces that I carefully stepped over as I entered the hallway.
Wanting nothing more than to run and check for Harry I remained quiet, weapon outstretched and senses on high alert when my steady, silent feet lead me to my room.
I stop in my tracks when I take in the blood chilling sight of Spencer, his back facing me as he loomed over an injured Harry, tied and slumped against the wall before Spencer raised the gun in his hand against Harry's head.
"No!" I screamed out in terror, pulling the trigger of my own weapon.
It happened in a blink, one second Spencer was right in the line of the bullet and the next the metal pellet struck the wall, going through nothing but air before Spencer's injured, beaten face was suddenly at my side in a flash.
"Bubbie, you're home early." He attempted to chuckle as I turned my gun to him, caught of guard when he quickly disarmed me at lightning speed, his arms and actions almost a blur as I was shoved against the wall.
Spencer could fight, he could fight better than anyone I had ever encountered but I noticed as I attacked him, he made no move to hit me, just quickly deflected my punches and kicks,
"I trusted you! You were my friend!" I yelled in betrayal, the frustration clear in my voice as his gaze softened while we circled each other, repeatedly dodging each swing and hit I attempted at him.
"You are my friend Malu- I'd never hurt you." He confessed, making me momentarily stunned at the sincerity in his voice and eyes before he grabbed me, pinning both my hands behind my back with his one large hand as he raised the gun in his free one, aiming it at an unconscious Harry making my eyes widen with fear.
"But he has to die." Spencer stated in a cold, menacing tone that I had never thought I'd hear from him before I quickly freed myself, stepping in front of the gun and blocking Harry, knowing I would just be defeated quickly if I attacked Spencer head on.
"You can't kill him! I won't let you." I told him in a desperate voice, my arms spread out like a shield as Spencer's eyes darkened, gritting his teeth at the sight of me in front of his end of the gun.
"Get out of the way Malu." He ordered harshly but I kept my feet planted onto the floor, my heart racing as his grip on the weapon tightened in anger.
"No." I calmly said, locking my gaze with his.
"I'm not shooting you." He claimed, seeming to have an internal battle with himself as I stood straighter.
"Then you're not shooting Harry-"
"You don't fucking understand! He took her away from me! He took everything away from me!" Spencer snapped, his voice overpowering and loud, almost making me flinch back at the intensity of the pain in his tone as his chest heaved and the gun in his hand shook.
"At least I let you two say goodbye. I let him spend his last moments with the woman he loves. He took my Anděl away from me and killed her!" He continued to accuse, tears actually falling down his cheeks as his unstable brown eyes met mine while I bit my lip to keep from crying myself, to keep from crying in fear and in sympathy.
"I'm sorry that happened to you, I truly am Spencer but please-"
"Do you even know who you're trying to protect! What type of monster that man you're willing to risk your life for is?" Spencer questioned with a shake in his voice as I maintained a collected expression.
Yes, this was the boy who I've been protecting my entire life.
"Spencer you're better than this, I know you are," I pleaded in a soft tone, my voice just above a whisper as he grabbed my arm, adruptly tugging me to him as he glared down at me.
"I've spent my entire life trying to find and kill this man for taking the girl I love, so don't think for a second that I give a shit about being better." He growled out through clenched teeth, his sharp jaw clenched and eyes crazed for revenge as I peered up at him.
We stared at one another, his brown eyes piercing mine before a flicker of his old self appeared over his face just for a moment, his impulsive, violent, demeanor seeming to calm when he loosened his death like grip on my arm.
My heart seemed to slow a few paces when he finally lowered the gun, his arms going limp as he slowly backed away, his gaze fixed on the floor before he glanced back up at me.
"You remind me too much of her. I can't- I can't hurt you." He breathed out with a torn expression, now seeming angered with himself before he blinked at me.
"But I promise you. I didn't come here just to fail. The moment you leave that bastard's side," Spencer weakly nodded his head over at Harry behind me, making me subtly step forward to shield him better as I stared back at Spencer.
"He'll be dead." He claimed, his chilling threat hanging in the air like the smell of death itself before he slowly turned to the exit, limping out of the room, obviously injured as well as I watched him go, making sure to keep my untrusting gaze trained on the door even after I heard my front door close he was long gone.
After a few more moments I spun to face Harry, crouching down and worriedly cupping his bruised, cut face as the tears that I had been holding back finally escaped my watering eyes before untying him.
"Harry, Harry I need you to wake up for me, wake up for me please." I beckoned in an urgent tone, feeling a lump in my throat when his vibrant green eyes fluttered open, meeting my relieved brown ones as he attempted to get up, only for me to stop him.
"He-"
"I know," I hushed him, sweeping his brown hair away from his face as I bit my quivering lip, taking in his injuries while holding his large, bruised hand in mine.
"I know who you are." I told him, keeping one hand over his cheek, careful not to touch his fresh wounds as his eyes seemed to widen considerably at his statement, now fully alert with what was panic as he straightened.
"Y-you do." Harry stuttered out, worry overcoming his features.
"Yes, yes I do, look," I urged in a gentle voice, continuing to hold his hand while the other reached into the pocket of my coat as I retrieved the pasta necklace, placing it in between our palms and holding our hands over the trinket before placing a kiss over his hand.
"You left it at the club last night." I said, sending him an endearing smile as he broke our hands apart to study the necklace with furrowed brows.
"Neonata, this isn't mine." Harry's deep, rough voice broke my train of thought as I blinked at him.
"What- what do you mean?" I questioned, reaching out make his fingers trace of the hard pasta shells, as if that would have jogged his memory only for him to stare at it with blank, green eyes.
"I've never seen this before." He confessed in a serious tone, handing me back the necklace while my gaze flickered between the object in my palm and his grim face with a puzzled look.
"No that, that can't be. She told me, that woman she- she said the man I was hugging left it." I denied with a quick shake of my head, wondering if Harry had maybe hit his skull too hard while he was fighting with Spencer-
Spencer.
Spencer had come into the private room with Harry and I -and we were yelling with excitement at one another as the memory flashed in my head.
"Well I'm kind of pissed cause I've been looking and calling you!" He shot back in the same joyful voice before we hugged it out.
That's why that stunning, light skinned stripper looked so familiar.
I remember spotting her in the corner of the hallway outside over Spencer's shoulder since the busted door was on the ground.
She didn't see me hug Harry, she saw me hug Spencer.
The memories of all the hints that were right in front of me started to flash in my head, as if physically blinding me while the visions of Spencer came into my mind.
"My girl and I back then weren't supposed to be together before but we still made it work." He grinned at the memory, giving me a cheeky wink as I smiled at his playful attitude, his brown eyes gleaming at the mention of this woman.
"You're mean! Anděl would never treat me like this! She's sweet and pretty and kind!" His childish, drunken voice echoed.
"I lied." Spencer had told me in a soft voice, keeping me there as I blinked at him.
"You remind me of her... of Anděl."
That name, why did that name leave such an effect on me.
A child's voice quickly replaced Spencer's in my head, drowning all my thoughts.
"Anděl! Anděl!" The little boy's voice repeated.
He called me Anděl.
It wasn't a name, it was a nickname, a nickname he called me in his foreign language...
Now I remember, Spencer was from Czechoslovakia, a sovereign state in Central Europe who was transferred at the age of six, that's why I never understood him.
And then it hit me.
Angel, it meant angel.
Anděl was angel in Czech.