When I woke up the next morning, Harry was gone. Although our argument seemed to be reconciled, I had taken his bed and he had slept in the next room. Things were awkward.. unsure.. he just didn’t feel comfortable falling back into bed after what had happened. I didn’t blame him.

After an awkward showdown in which Harry had to tactfully ask his latest female guest to get up and leave at four in the morning, I was tired from lack of sleep. I panicked, wondering if Harry had gone to pay Will a visit. I didn’t have to worry for long. He came home a little after 9 a.m.

“Oh, hi.” He said, pulling his key out of the door and wiping his feet. He looked me up and down. “You’ve lost so much weight.”
“I’ve been going out of my mind with stress.” I said, quietly. “Where have you been?"

Harry looked away and pointed to the kitchen, signalling for me to take a seat. I did as I was told, waiting for an explanation. My heart was racing.

“I’ve been to see my management.” He said, placing his car keys and wallet on the table. He slowly took a seat, and only then met my eyes. “I’ve clarified everything. It wasn’t anyones management, Annie. It was TMZ.”
“The American channel?” I asked, confused. “Why?”
“To make news.”
“So why would they want to split us up?”
He let his head hang low. “You’ve seen the media buzz around me and Kendall?” He asked.

I nodded, gritting my teeth.

“Exactly that.” He shook his head. “She was tipped off.” He looked up and saw my confusion. "Our managers introduced us because they got a cut of the pay. Kendall knew about it. I guess it boosted her ratings."

I sat in shock, wondering if this was the true nature of human beings - to fuck each other over.

“Anyway. That’s the end of that. The story’s been leaked, and it will probably break in the next twelve hours. So we need to pack our bags.” He said, looking at me again. For the first time his expression softened. A smile played on his lips.
“Pack our bags?” I said, confusion in my voice.
“I booked us some tickets. I thought we could catch up.. in Barbados.” Harry stood up and shrugged off his coat. “That is, if you’ll still have me."

What was going on? I had been conscious no longer than twenty minutes, found out we had been set up by a media co-operation and a teen celebrity, booked a trip to Barbados, and now Harry was standing here, holding his arms out to me.

“Is this real?“ I said, slowly bringing myself up from the table.
He shook his head, a smile on his lips. “When I thought you’d cheated.. I thought being that depressed would be a phase. But it wasn’t. It lasted weeks. I could hardly play shows. We even had to cancel one.” He brought up a rough hand to caress my cheek. I blushed, remembering I had just woken up and not even had a shower yet, let alone wear make up. Harry leaned in, so our foreheads were touching. “That kind of pain.. us being apart. It can’t happen again. I’m so.. lame over you.” He laughed. “I’m obsessed with you, Annie."

My head was in a whirlwind as I stood on tip toes to meet his kiss. His hands slid down softly to cup my ass cheeks. I shuddered under his touch, just the very thought of how long I had wanted it.

“I love you, Harry. So..” my words struggled as he moved down to kiss my throat. “So much.”

He didn’t reply but I knew he had heard. He picked me up and wrapped me around his body, manoeuvring over to the countertops. I was visibly shaking. I felt like this was our first time all over again. His fingers danced along my thighs before picking me up again, not breaking a kiss as he struggled over to the stairs. We were halfway up when he put me down, and I could tell he was having trouble being soft and gentle, prolonging this anymore. I knew how badly he wanted me, because I wanted him just as much too.

My hands shook as I reached to his belt buckle, deciding I couldn’t stand foreplay. He gave a sigh of relief, thankful that I didn’t want to take any longer to be with him than necessary. His jeans weren’t even fully off when he roughly pushed up the hem of my t-shirt he had borrowed to me. He scraped his fingernails along my thighs at the speed he pulled my underwear down. He shifted his boxers and gently pushed me back. The stone steps were cold, hard, but I didn’t care. I needed him here, right now.

He pushed my thighs apart with a rough arm, and slid into me. I gave a hiss of pain. He adjusted to try and get as good a grip on me as possible given the awkward location of our intimacy. I clung onto his thighs, begging and needing for more than he could give.

“Annie, I need you.” Harry breathed, in between thrusts. There were a lot of meanings to those four words. I felt him plunge deeper and harder and I knew what he meant. I carefully balanced to wrap a leg around him. He groaned and brought his hand to rest on my throat, squeezing gently. His forehead came down to mine, and we kissed roughly, over and over.

I could hardly stand the pain of the steps digging into my back anymore when he reached his climax. My legs were shaking from the workout. Harry collapsed for a second but then brought his weight off of me, pulling up his jeans and pulling me up from the stairs. He brought me into an embrace, resting his head on my shoulder, and showing how truly vulnerable he was. I kissed the sweat from his forehead, never stopping running my fingers through his hair. I had dreamed of this moment. He was all mine, all over again.

---

Harry and I were smitten all over again. We couldn’t keep our hands off of each other, and our smiles didn’t even falter when the headlines broke and we were seen as the victims of a media scandal. Our phones didn’t stop ringing from the second we left to get to the airport. The stream of paparazzi that met us were terrifying. But it didn’t matter, none of it did.

“Why Barbados?” I asked, playing with the ends of the scarf Harry had wrapped in his hair. The plane journey was only half-way over, and I was already exhausted.

“I don’t know, it’s nice, isn’t it?” He asked, looking down at me.
“I’ve never been.” I smiled. “This is our first holiday together.”
“And last.” He joked. “This cost me a small fortune."

I felt a pang of guilt as I looked around the cabin of the private jet we had used. Harry tipped my face to his. “Hey, it’s a special occasion, alright? Don’t worry about the money, Annie.” He kissed my nose. I snuggled into his chest.

“Have you ever had sex on an airplane?” Harry asked, a few minutes later. I blushed furiously as Harry’s security guard pretended to stare out of the window. I hit him in the chest.
“No.”
“Good. I need the bathroom. Wanna come?” He smirked, obviously enjoying my awkwardness. I shifted in my seat, motioning to the bodyguard sat near us. Harry laughed. “Winston, you don’t mind if we take a toilet break, do you?”
“It’s all on you, Harry.” He said, not looking us in the eye. I yelped as Harry hoisted me up and led me into a back cabin. The last image I remembered was ‘Winston’ shaking his head.

---

Finally, after hours of travelling, we made it to the villa we would be staying in. It was more like a beach house, in a private area which meant no paps could get close enough for any good shots. It was serene. Crystal clear water met the midnight blue skies. It felt like heaven.

“I don’t want to ruin it, Harry.” I said, clutching onto him on our balcony, gazing out at the view. “But shouldn’t we talk about the headlines? I’ve had hundreds of calls from Journo’s alone..”
Harry placed his finger to my lips. “We’re on vacation, Annie. It’s done. It’s over. New start. We can’t waste any more time."
“But what about-“
“Fuck it, Annie, I don’t care. I don’t want revenge, I don’t want to fight about it, I want to bury it and just be with you."

I nodded, realising he was right. He planted one more kiss on my hair before pulling out his iPhone.

“How about our first instagram selfie? Are we there yet?”
I laughed. “I don’t know. I think you’re rushing it a little.”
“I know, I know. But I just so badly want everyone to see how ugly you are.” He grinned and it enveloped into a little, evil smirk. I punched him playfully and he held the phone at arms length. I covered my eyes, embarrassed at the thought of millions of people seeing such a candid moment. My smile was still clearly visible in the photo. Harry wore the cheesiest expression he could possibly do. I watched him post it.

“Let’s leave that to stew overnight.” He said. “I’m sure that will answer the critics."

Notes

More Bajan adventures to come! :-)