a/n: good luck

     Zayn was a little early picking me up. I hadn't expected him to be, so I was not ready yet. Pulling the front door open, he looked handsome in his suit, brown eyes focusing on me for a long few moments. I quickly welcomed him in, asking him if I could offer him water.

"I'm great, but thank you."

"No worries," I nodded. "I still have a few things to do if you want to make yourself comfortable on the sofa."

He agreed. It wasn't long until I was back in my bedroom, putting on jewelry. It was followed by putting on some shoes, as well as tugging on some velvet gloves that matched the strapless dress I was wearing. A part of me was still a little nervous that the slit in the dress was a little revealing, but I decided it was just for the evening and there was nothing to really worry about.

Walking back out to the living room, Zayn was watching television, though he must have heard my footsteps because he was quickly standing up, raising his eyebrows. I watched as he glanced me up and down, brown eyes lingering on my body before his eyes met mine.

"Damn, Harry's a bitch for saying we can't hookup."

"True. I say we riot when we see him," I smiled.

"He won't like that," Zayn laughed. "I've known the guy for years so I definitely say we don't and say we did."

It made me laugh, Zayn's nervousness amusing to me. After I had grabbed my small purse, the two of us made our way out of the house. I locked the door behind us, Zayn making sure to get the door to the car. It was a kind gesture, and I sat into his vehicle, realizing that he also had an older car, but it wasn't as nice as Harry's was. It was clearly somewhat of an antique, but there was something about Harry's vehicle that was more striking, noticeable, and classic.

"So, I've never been to a formal one of these, have you?" Zayn asked.

"A formal party?" I asked.

"No," he chuckled. "A Dawn FM event. I went bowling once with Harry at an event, but this is high class."

"Oh! No, this is my first event ever with Dawn FM."

"Perfect."

The two of us were quiet on the way to the party, and I found myself wondering how the evening would turn out. I was excited to finally get the chance to see Cherry again, but I was also a little nervous as well. I mean, she had told Harry about my activities the previous weekend, and I had walked in on her naked on top of Harry, but I hoped that had passed and she wouldn't be weirded out.

Once we arrived at Mr. Watson's home, there were a lot more cars than I had expected. Zayn parked, allowing me to get out of the car up by the front so I wouldn't have to walk as far before he went and actually found a spot to park the car. It wasn't long until he was jogging up to where I was standing, a small smile on his face as he held his arm out to me. I wrapped my arms around his, the two of us heading up the pathway toward the front door.

"You don't think I look like I'm trying too hard, do you?"

"Not at all," he assured. " The women here look rather dressed up from the couple I saw getting out of cars. You just look hotter."

"Stop," I laughed. "Harry is going to hate us."

"Good, I hope he does. We get along so well, he is terrible for making you off limits. It makes me want you more."

I could feel it as well. There was something about not being able to have Zayn that made me wish I could be with him even more than if he was just my date for the evening. When we made it into the house, I was surprised by how luxurious the home was. Of course, I shouldn't have expected anything less from the man who was running the station, but it was still shocking to see such a large house. Even Jackie's wasn't this size, and hers had been incredibly large.

"Holy shit," Zayn said. "I've been to my share of fancy houses, but this is insane. I need this man's contact information. He might want a car."

It made me laugh, Zayn and I making our way through the crowd of people. He grabbed the two of us champagne from a waiter walking by, handing me a flute while he took one as well. I finished my glass much faster than he did, taking another from a waiter that passed by. It was followed by Zayn and I making our way into the living room, Mr. Watson standing by the fireplace with a very pretty woman that I would have expected to be his wife. He was speaking to a few other people, but when he noticed me, he quickly excused himself, pulling his wife along with him.

"My money maker!" Mr. Watson greeted. "Miss Holmes, how are you?"

"I'm well, how are you?"

"Doing great! Oh, this is my lovely wife Darlene. Honey, this is Miss Holmes."

"He talks so much about you that I think you two are sleeping together," Darlene stated. "But, you're quite young. I wouldn't think you'd want to sleep with this old man."

Zayn snickered, my eyes widening. I could tell Darlene thought her words were funny, but Mr. Watson just brushed her off while I quickly assured her that I had a lot of respect for her and her husband. And, while she didn't need to know, I was quick to explain that I was very religious and felt that I would be breaking a commandment if I were to be the other woman. It appeared to ease her nerves even more, Darlene smiling at me.

"Good. I know he wouldn't cheat, he just talks about you so much it's hard not to get a little bit jealous. Maybe he just looks at you as the daughter we never had. We have all boys, two of which are in college, and one who's finishing high school."

"That's awesome!" I told her. "I bet those boys love college and your youngest is excited to finish high school. I'm going into my last semester of college in August."

"If I let her leave," Mr. Watson told me.

"Right, of course," I laughed, glancing at Zayn. "By the way, this is my friend Zayn."

"Hi," Zayn greeted, shaking each of their hands. "It's a pleasure.

"You're one of Mr. Styles' friends, right?" Mr. Watson asked Zayn. "I think I've seen you at a gathering before."

"Oh, yeah," Zayn nodded. "I think I went to some bowling thing you guys had a while ago. You guys needed an extra player or something."

"Right, right," Mr. Watson nodded. "Well, we have some other people to greet. I'm glad I got to introduce you to my wife, Miss Holmes!"

"Yes, I'm glad I got to meet you, dear," Darlene told me, shaking my hand.

We said our goodbyes before parting ways. I decided that I wanted a drink to ease the nerves I was having, Zayn and I heading over to the bar. However, as we were waiting to be served, I felt arms wrap around me from the side. At first, I was super confused, but when I glanced over I quickly began to hug the person back.

"Maggie!" she squealed.

"Oh, hi," I greeted.

"What's up? Oh, you look so pretty. How are you?"

"She's high," Harry stated.

"Oh," I laughed, my eyes meeting his. "I was wondering why she was overly chipper. Are you high?"

"I'm going to answer for him," Cherry stated. "He usually wants to get high with me, but said he didn't want to tonight. What a weirdo. You're a weirdo, babes."

At first, I didn't really think anything of it. But, I recalled the other night when he told me that he didn't get high if he was seeing me. A part of me was confused, and I wondered if that was the reason. Had he purposely turned it down simply because he knew he was going to see me? My mind was moving quickly, and I could tell Harry noticed, the curly-haired personality staring right at me before he glanced down at Cherry.

"I'm not weird. It's a work event."

"You've gotten high before them in the past," she told him, pressing her hand against his chest. "What's so different?"

I was sure she didn't see it. There was no way. If I wasn't looking at Harry myself, I would have missed it. However, I saw his eyes quickly glance in my direction before he looked back down at her. And it was how I knew my previous thoughts had been true. He hadn't gotten high because he was going to see me, but why? What was the reason?

"I have a lot of listeners now, I don't want people to think I don't take my job seriously, babes," Harry told her.

My mind was still on the fact that he didn't want to get high because he knew he would be seeing me. It was incredibly odd to think, and I wondered what had allowed him to make such a conscious decision not to get high because of it. Trying to focus on something else, I was about to say something when Cherry began speaking.

"Whatever, Harry. Anyway, Maggie, I'm sorry you had to see me naked last week or whatever. We should've locked the door."

"You saw them getting busy?" Zayn asked quickly.

"Yeah," I stated, my face flushing. "But it's totally okay."

"Is it though?" she asked.

I didn't know what she was trying to get at by pressing the matter. Did she want me to continue to have that image in my head? I would have been perfectly fine if we didn't even bring it up to begin with, to be honest. But she was the one that had even mentioned it to me as if it was something that she wanted to talk about. I had absolutely no idea what was going on here. It was odd to me, and even when I glanced at Zayn he seemed a little bit confused as well.

"I mean, what am I going to say, no?" I laughed. "I walked in on you guys and there is nothing I can really do to take that back, you know?"

She stared at me for a long moment. I wondered what was going on in her mind. What was possessing her to say all of this to me all of a sudden. Not to mention that even if I didn't want the image burned into my mind, there really was nothing I could do to get it to leave my thoughts either. I had been good about blocking it out for the most part until she brought it up actually. Though, her words that followed just made me even more confused.

"You thought I looked good, right?" she asked. "Or were you trying to look at him beneath me?"

"Cherry, what?" Harry asked. "What are you doing? You're being weird."

"Babes, I'm just wondering. I see the way she looks at you."

"What are you talking about?" I asked. "I'm incredibly religious, I wouldn't even think about doing anything with your boyfriend. Plus, he's just my friend."

"Religious," Cherry scoffed. "But you are always on your knees, right?"

"Hey," Zayn started.

"If you continue, we're going to leave," Harry stated.

My face was burning with her words. I was so embarrassed. It was fine when people knew that I was the way Cherry was describing me as, but the thought of her saying it in a way that was degrading was humiliating to me. Especially since she had encouraged me to be that way not too long ago. I went out with her. We had hung out. We had fun together. Why was she acting like she hated me now?

"Leave why?" Cherry questioned Harry, placing her hands on his chest. "Because I'm making fun of the girl you're fucking, Harry? Is that it? You want her happy because you enjoy fucking her more?"

"Dammit, Cherry," Harry groaned. "You can't be serious right now."

"Cherry," Zayn even tried. "Maggie doesn't seem like that type of person."

"I would never do that," I told her. "I haven't even—it's not even any of your business but I can assure you nothing is going on between Harry and I in the slightest."

"Sure. All the late nights talking at your place," she grumbled. "He doesn't want to fuck me in his office anymore because he is worried you'll walk in again. He doesn't even fuck me as often. Getting up to answer the phone when he is literally in the middle of fucking me isn't weird to anyone else?"

"You're done," Harry told her. "I don't know why you're just now bringing it to my attention that you're worried I've been cheating on you with someone. And it makes no sense considering you're seeing like three other guys, but whatever, Cherry. Let's just go get some food or something, you're not going to stand here and accuse and belittle Magdalina for things that she hasn't done, especially not in front of people."

She looked irritated, but he dragged her away. Zayn and I looked at each other, the both of us confused. I had no idea where all of her rage had stemmed from, but I simply hoped that it was simply because she was high and that wasn't actually the way that she felt about me. After all, I would never do anything to harm her relationship with Harry, and I thought that she knew that.

We ordered drinks at the bar. I asked for a vodka-cranberry while he got a whiskey sour. We shifted to the side, my eyes searching the room briefly to see that Harry and Cherry had found some food to snack on. Zayn raised his eyebrows, the two of us appearing to feel as overwhelmed as one another with how boisterous Cherry was this evening. Once we both got our drinks, I sipped on mine, knowing I needed to be a little more aware of what I was doing since Zayn was my date.

"Okay, so listen. I actually knew that was exactly how she was feeling," Zayn stated.

"Tell me more."

He chuckled. The two of us made our way toward one of the floor to ceiling windows. There was a small seat near one of them that wasn't occupied, so I sat down, Zayn sitting in the seat right beside me. We were quiet for a few moments, both of us taking the area in briefly before he began to speak.

"Well, I heard from someone who isn't Harry that Cherry is incredibly jealous of you. And that isn't me trying to start more stuff of course, I just figured you should know since I heard you two went out together one time."

"Why is she jealous of me?"

It was a serious question. I had no clue as to why she would be jealous of me in the slightest. I mean, she had admitted she thought I was sleeping with Harry, but I felt like there had to be more to it . She was prettier, she had a cool name, her style was so effortlessly perfect. It was like she was everything that I was, but better. I didn't know what it was about me that could make her jealous. Plus, she had literally opened up to me about her relationship with Harry and I didn't think that was something a jealous person would do.

"Something to do with how well you know Harry. I don't know, one of her friends was my waitress the other day and we recognized each other because we have mutual friends and she just was ranting about what Cherry was saying. I guess she thinks you are trying to steal him or something with your good looks."

"Steal him?" I laughed. "Is she crazy? I'm almost positive I told her I'm not like that. Plus, I think that she's prettier than me so that doesn't make sense."

Zayn shrugged. "I don't know why she thinks you would steal him. Also, I personally think you're prettier, but that could just be me."

His words made my cheeks flush almost immediately. I found myself sipping my drink quickly, hoping that we would not focus too much on the fact that he found me pretty. Of course, it was obvious that Zayn and I were into each other, but I was also nervous when he flat out said certain things like that to me. I blamed it on the fact that it showed he might have been genuinely interested in me and not simply interested in the two of us getting to know each other well briefly before he went on to find other people.

"Anyway, I don't know very much," Zayn laughed, sipping his drink. "I just know girls can be mean, so I wanted to let you know."

It was kind of him. I glanced around, watching different people I knew from work interacting with one another. It was a little weird to see everyone so dressed up, especially since I was used to most of them coming in business casual. However, I could see Harry and Cherry were still getting food, the two of them laughing together now. It made me wonder how the attitude could change so quickly, but I also wondered if this was the kind of stuff that Harry wanted to do with her more often. Events where he got to take her out and show her off. At least, that was what I was thinking until Cherry leaned up to kiss him. I watched for longer than I meant to, but it was just distracting in the sense that no one else was making out at the party. And before long, the two were disappearing down a hallway and I could all but expect them to get busy.

"You think they're going to fuck?" Zayn asked.

"Absolutely. Hopefully she stops worrying about me trying to steal her man, all things considered."

It made him chuckle. We decided to get up and walk around to mingle. I found Grenadine after about thirty minutes and decided that I wanted to stick around her and chit-chat since she was one of the more familiar faces from the station. I was still new, so while I was used to seeing some of these people in the break room, I wasn't all that used to who most of them were. And, by the time it was around nine, Zayn said he needed to find a bathroom. I nodded, watching as he disappeared into the crowd and I found myself getting another drink since I had nursed this glass as much as I could but it was now watered down.

Once I had ordered, I waited for the drink, glancing down at my hands. They were gloved, of course, but I thought that the velvet looked cool in the warm lighting. After my drink was made, I decided that I wanted to head outside. It was rather warm inside, and thankfully, the temperature outside was cooler in comparison. Mr. Watson had a beautiful garden, and a pool toward the side of his house. I was most focused on the walk to the garden, but I stopped when I heard someone clear their throat from behind me. There were multiple people out here, but most were still milling about inside. However, when I realized who exactly was coming to stand near me, I felt my nerves begin to bubble over again.

"I thought you said you were bringing a date."

"I did," I nodded, being sure to keep space between us. "He had to run to the bathroom."

"Makes sense."

"Did you get the chance to bring someone, Mr. Beck?"

"Call me Dylan."

"I don't think we're on those terms," I told him, glancing his way. "Do you?"

"I'd like to be."

I rolled my eyes. "You're too old for my taste. Plus, you keep making advances at work. It is highly unprofessional the way you go about it."

He shrugged. I knew he didn't care. It was so obvious that he didn't. If anything, he probably liked the chase. The way that I was playing hard to get. It wasn't my intention to play into his game, but I knew that I didn't like him. There was something about the way he looked at me that gave me the creeps. I wasn't willing to even give him the chance. Maybe if he hadn't come off so strong, there would have been something to work with. Now? I didn't think there ever could be.

"Why don't we start over then?" he tried.

"I know you're interested in me," I stated. "I don't think trying to start over is going to change the way that I feel about you."

He sighed, looking not only irritated, but displeased. After a few moments, I went to walk away when he grabbed my wrist. It put me in an uncomfortable position again. Why was he so obsessed with trying to get to know me? It made zero sense to me. Breathing in deeply, I went to pull away when his free arm wrapped around my waist, dark eyes glancing over me.

"Just one chance?" he asked. "Come on, I know you're single. We could keep it casual, or I could make it more serious."

"You didn't listen to me the first time. I am not interested. Now get your hands off of me!"

He didn't listen. Even when I tried to shimmy my way out from his grasp, it didn't work. I glanced around, and of course everyone was turning a blind eye to the current situation that was taking place. It was like because he was a radio host, they didn't want to cause any issues between them and him. They didn't care what he did. He was above them, and the last thing they wanted was to be fired for getting into business that wasn't theirs. It infuriated me that men could get away with such shitty things. Grunting softly, I tried to push him away, my eyes widening when he grabbed a handful of my ass.

"Oh, you have got to be joking!" I yelled.

"Come on, ease up," Mr. Beck was saying. "It's a party."

"So because it's a party you can just grab my ass? I don't think that's how that works."

He looked pissed. It was like he didn't appreciate what I was saying to him almost as much as I didn't appreciate him grabbing my entire ass. Glaring at the man in front of me, I tried to push his hands away, but it still wasn't working. I had no out. And yet, I found myself somewhat distracted when I heard yelling not that far away.

"... will break up, Harry! If you go over there, that's it! We are through!"

Glancing over toward the garden, I could see Cherry from here. Harry looked like he was irritated, tugging at his hair as him and Cherry were talking. Or, he must have been simply talking but she was surely yelling. I knew I was not the only one that heard because even Mr. Beck looked over at the two of them arguing. Which, realistically, I had no idea why she would be yelling at him. Though, my attention was quickly shifted when I felt him grab at me again before locking his arm around me so he could carry me.

"Fuck you," I cursed, struggling to get out of his grasp even when I tried to deadweight him. "What is your issue?"

"My issue is that I don't want you to get away from me the way that you're trying to do right now. Come on, how bad can it be? You just let me take care of you a bit, and all I ask is a little head in return."

"You're disgusting," I told him.

Of course, if this was Zayn talking, I might have been interested. However, this was a creepy older man who didn't want to take no for an answer—who had compared me to dead girls not once, but twice. The same man who told me that I looked like his ex-wife and he hoped she ended up on the killer's list. He was just creepy.

Now, there were maybe one or two older men who I had been interested in over the past six months, but the way Mr. Beck was coming on was just gross. It was like he thought I owed this to him. Grumbling, I tried again to get out of his hold. It was not working, and he was walking around the pool to a place not many people could see. I was terrified, trying to get out of his hold but it truly was not working.

"You don't have to do this," I was saying to him quickly. "We don't have to—"

"It could have been so much easier," he stated, setting me down, but I was cornered. "You could've been comfortable inside, but now we're out here."

I whined softly when he pressed me up against one of the rock walls. While I had been in a situation like this once before, this felt worse. A drunken man who was getting handsy was a little different than a sober man getting handsy. My breathing was labored, and I squeezed my eyes shut for a second when I felt one of his legs move up between my thighs. Instantly, I was shoving my hands against his chest, hitting him harder than I would have ever intended, but I wanted his grimy hands off of me. It was clear he was absolutely furious with the efforts though, Mr. Beck grabbing my shoulders and slamming me back into the wall. It would have been fine, but I slammed my head into solid concrete also, tears instantly starting.

"What the fuck!" I yelled.

"Just cooperate! How fucking hard is it?" he yelled right back.

There was shouting somewhere else, but I was crying too much to even pay attention. If I wasn't scared before, I was now. My head hurt, I felt dizzy, and this disgusting man in front of me was trying to have his way with me—whatever way that may have been. I felt helpless in this situation, my body locking up completely when I felt him grab my ass again and try to kiss at my neck. Or, he was doing all of that until there were arms around him and suddenly it was followed by a big splash into the pool. I saw Zayn now across the way, the man quickly running toward me while I saw Harry come up out of the water but Mr. Beck did not. Or, he didn't until Harry let him.

"... so fucking miserable you need to try and force a girl to be with you," Harry said darkly before shoving Mr. Beck's head back under the water.

I was staring, watching as he held the man under the surface of the pool for longer than I thought someone could last. Mr. Beck was flailing in the pool, causing a bunch of water to splash, but Harry was still holding him under, continuing to torture the man. I didn't understand what he was doing. Why would he do that? It wasn't going to help anything. Yet, I watched as Harry pulled Mr. Beck back up.

"You're probably the fucking creep who keeps killing all those young girls. Why are you so interested in her all of a sudden? Is she the next kill? You fucking psycho."

And again, he was shoving the guy under the water without any second thoughts. Even if Mr. Beck had been the one to harass me, I did not think what Harry was doing was okay either. He was practically drowning the man, Zayn appearing incredibly worried when he finally made his way to me. His eyes were focused on me, but when he glanced over his shoulder at Harry shoving Mr. Beck under the water again, Zayn looked stressed.

"Oh my fucking God, not again," Zayn cursed, tugging his jacket off and tossing it to me. "Harry!"

But the curly-haired personality wasn't listening. If Mr. Beck hadn't come up yet, it could only mean one thing. I knew that he probably only had a little oxygen left and it was Harry's doing, my fingers trying to wipe at my eyes to rid the tears but they kept on coming. I was so confused, Zayn patting the top of my head.

"Just one second," he stated as he pulled his wallet and keys out, tossing them to me as well. "I just ... one second."

The dark-haired man jumped into the pool, shoving Harry in the water. It caused another big splash, Mr. Beck getting up and gasping for air. Harry and Zayn were now fighting with one another, and I didn't even know what kind of chaotic mess this was, but I was incredibly upset. There were a bunch of people outside now, and finally Harry was shoving Zayn away, swimming out of the pool before he got out and quickly walked over to me.

Harry was drenched in water, his hair dripping wet. I had seen it wet after a shower at my house before, but I had never seen it this soaked. He even shook his head a few times to try and rid his hair of water, my body shifting back slightly when he crouched down in front of me. I was trying to wipe tears away from my eyes, Harry glancing over me twice.

"Hi," he said softly, my body pulling away from him when he tried to touch my face. "No, no, no, it's okay."

I squeezed my eyes shut. I didn't want to look at him as I cried. It was embarrassing, and I was scared, and I hated feeling completely helpless. I felt his hand on my face, the touch freezing cold. Though, it only lasted a second before I heard Harry curse loudly, his hand being withdrawn from my face. Opening my eyes quickly, I noticed Mr. Beck standing while Harry was lying on his side, holding what looked to be his ribs. Though, I nearly screamed when the older man straddled Harry, throwing a punch.

"Hey! Hey!" I heard a voice shout. "Are you guys serious? At my house?"

"Fuck you," Harry muttered to the man on top of him.

Or, Mr. Beck was until Harry slammed his fist into the man's jaw. It had caught Mr. Beck off guard enough that Harry had enough time to flip them. Now the curly-haired radio personality was on top, throwing another punch that landed. It reminded me of the last time I had seen him in this position–when we had been at the bar and he had punched a guy for talking to me. I had never seen any fights before Harry, and now here he was, beating up another guy who was making advances on me.

Swallowing hard, I was surprised when I saw Mr. Beck was bleeding but Harry wasn't phased. If anything, he kept going. He continued to punch Mr. Beck. I was breathing deeply, my eyes wide as I stared at the situation unfolding. Harry was caught off guard when Mr. Beck punched straight into Harry's chest, my eyes wide when Harry gripped at his chest before Mr. Beck regained the top position. He was dripping blood, the gross older man beginning to punch Harry in the face. And then another, and another, until Harry finally put his arms up to block the punches that were rolling in. Mr. Beck was hitting Harry's wrist now over and over again, and I knew it had to hurt.

I wanted to try and help in some way, but I was horrified with what was happening in front of me right now. Truly, I could not get over that this was the second time I had seen a fight with my own eyes, and it somehow always had to do with Harry trying to save me from men that were absolute perverts. I didn't know why this was always happening, but suddenly two men were pulling Mr. Beck off of Harry, the curly-haired man continuing to lie there even though his nose and jaw were bleeding very clearly.

"Harry?" I asked, shifting so that I could look at him but my head was aching. "Hey. Hey, what's wrong?"

It made him chuckle.

"You're laughing?" I asked. "You just got punched a bunch and you're laughing?"

He continued to stare up at the sky, a small smile on his face. I had no idea what was wrong with him–why was any of this funny? I was absolutely shaken up by what I had just watched unfold in front of me, and when I asked if anything was wrong all he could do was laugh. It made absolutely no sense.

"It's just funny," he stated, the smile fading from his face as he continued to stare up at the sky now. "You just watched me get hit and you asked what was wrong, you know?"

"Oh," I said softly.

"Plus, Cherry broke up with me," he stated.

My eyebrows pulled in quickly. She had broken up with him? But why? I had no idea why she would do that, but then I wondered if it went back to earlier. Had she done it because she thought I really was sleeping with Harry? I knew that I wasn't, but did she realize that? My mind was moving a million miles a second, and I knew the overthinking side of my mind was alive and well.

"Why? What happened? Why would she break up with you?"

"It was you or her," he said softly, still not glancing my way but continuing to stare up at the sky as he laid there bleeding. "And I told her I'd always pick you."