HOV - Extra II
Read HOV here and HOV - Extra I | ~4.1k words
From me/Warnings: protective Harry. Nothing else. A little angsty and pugnacious.
Summary: Harry would do literally ANYTHING to protect her from the woes of a corporate, misogynistic job.
She waited inside the car, knowing it was going to be a fight. She knew that Harry would be pissed.
“Do y’know how stupid I looked?” He snapped.
She rolled her eyes. “I didn’t intend for you—”
“Do y’know how excited I was t’work with you? I told everyone ‘bout it. I said y’listen to cool music and we never run out of things t’talk ‘bout. That y’were going t’do an incredible job. And you just said no and didn’t tell me?”
She sighed, tired of thinking about the argument that was going to take up most of their commute. Tired of not being good enough. Tired of having to defend herself to people like Jason and even tired of having to explain that to Harry. “I don’t want people to get any ideas.”
“I’m sorry? Do you know something I don’t know? Given the stares y’get when we eat lunch together from everyone else in the department, I would say they haven’t a clue that we’re together.” She looked at her lap silently. Harry’s gaze was hot on the side of her face. “Y’seriously have nothing t’say?”
“I didn’t want to turn it down.”
“Well fuck, baby, y’didn’t have to?” He grumbled bitterly. “Will you fucking talk to me?” he snapped again. Frustration was clear on his face, his voice, and in his body language. She knew it was unfair to make him drag it out of her. But she was so tired. She wanted to go home. “We’re so far past this.”
“I can’t tell you,”she mumbled feeling ridiculous as she said it.
“You can’t tell me?” He spit. “What the fuck?”
“Harry, can we just go home?”
“No, not until you tell me.”
“Harry it’s been a long—”
“I can’t believe you—”
“—day. We’re both tired and—”
“—won’t tell me why you would say no after all—”
“—I’m hungry and—”
“—that. Would you just fucking tell—”
“Because you’ll kill him!” She slammed her fist on the arm rest of the door.
Harry stopped yelling. Immediately, he felt out of breath. “Kill who?” His voice was low, quiet.
“Forget it.”
Harry shook his head and turned her face toward him while holding her chin firmly but gently. Despite the fact he was so angry. “Not a chance, kitten. Kill who?” His voice was calm, gentle but firm like his touch. “What did he say?”
She shook her head. “Harry—”
“Baby,” his voice was terrifyingly level. There was a stoic look in his eyes. “Tell me.”
She swallowed. The awful conversation she had made her stomach twist. Tears burned the back of her eyes. She could see the future, and it wasn’t pretty; Harry was going to freak out.
“Kitten,” his tone returned to the normal gentle caress she usually felt when he spoke to her. “Don’t you dare cry over someone in that building… it was Jason, wasn’t it?”
She tried to lie but the sound of his name made her a little more nauseous. She inhaled a shaky breath, cast her eyes away from Harry’s and told him. “He said he always figured I gave you good road head and that’s why I was getting the position.”
Harry’s eyes searched her face sporadically looking from her teary eyes to the tremble in her jaw. His fingers released her chin. He took a deep breath as he faced forward in the seat his hands limp on the steering wheel, like he was waiting at a red light.
In the next second, less than the time it took her to blink, Harry was outside the car and stalked toward the building.
She scrambled. Tears brimming more in her eyes, her heart pounding hard against her ribs. She managed to get out of the car and lock it (perhaps with the keys in it, but that would be a later problem). “Harry!” She shouted chasing after him. But his legs were too long, and his strides already placed him in the elevator of the parking garage. She bolted for the stairs and was grateful she was traveling down and not up at her quick pace. She would be struggling much harder if she had to go up the steps to chase her boyfriend.
She passed some of her coworkers along her path. She ignored remarks of “where’s the fire?” “You’re going the wrong way,” and all the other ridiculous office humor that she didn’t have time for. She ran out of the garage and pushed through the door to the building. The security guard barely saw her wave her badge at him, but she was just in time to see Harry getting on one of the elevators. There wasn’t any way she could run up seven flights of stairs and beat him up there in her wildest dreams.
Instead, she got into the elevator (barely letting people disembark). She pressed the button too hard and the close-door button hoping that the rumors she saw about the elevator not making any stops were true. She bounced uncomfortably on her toes as the elevator seemed to move at a glacial pace. Silently she prayed someone stopped Harry’s elevator on the way up and it was anyone but Jason.
Tears filled her vision again and she felt the least put together she had ever been in this financial building, including the time she passed out right outside after her car accident. The elevator chimed with its arrival, and she shoved against the bodies waiting to board the elevator down so they could go home for the night. If anyone noticed her distraught expression, they didn’t say anything.
Typical men.
She glanced at the other three elevators to see if any were in the process of arriving but instead, they were all silent. “No, no, no!” She moaned. She turned down the hall where Julie, Jason, and nearly everyone else worked, and ran toward their offices. “Harry!” She called again.
There were clients in the office. She was certain. Julie mentioned something about a late night.
She felt the tears streaming down her face. Harry was being so protective and if she had waited to tell him once they were driving, maybe this would have been different. But all she felt was the anxiety clawing at her from the inside out. She caught sight of him right at the conference door knocking and preparing to enter. Probably disrupting whatever deal or business venture that was about to happen.
For her.
She choked on a sob. It was sweet. But not what she wanted. Harry fighting her battles would just make her situation worse. “Harry!” She hissed as quietly as she could. He looked down the hall toward her voice; he met her gaze and then pushed the door open.
She continued running to the door, nearly sliding on the hard tile (grateful for the shoe choice she made didn’t include a heel or wedge for the day). “Ma’am,” Harry nodded politely to the client. She looked a mess she was sure, out of breath, exhausted. “Julie, I hate to interrupt, but it’s important.”
“Harry,” she hissed looking away as much as possible to hide her tear-stained face from the client.
He ignored her. “It’s important?” Julie asked, her eyes a bit wild, her lips pressed into a straight line. She was not happy with the interruption. Her eyes darted to Julie.
“No,” she swallowed, looking away still. “It’s not.”
“It looks important,” the client smiled sweetly. Bless her heart.
“It can wait,” Julie said.
Harry nodded eagerly at the stranger on his side. “Yes… it really is.”
“Hey, sorry I’m late.”
Harry chuckled without humor. “You’ve got some nerve,” his voice was low and he shook his head as he moved toward Jason.
No, no, no! Before she could register what was really happening, she grabbed Harry by the arm and shoved him away from the person that she actually, in the right circumstance (but that circumstance was definitely not at work), would love for Harry to at least punch in the face once. Just so he could feel as bad as he made her feel for a minute.
“Harry,” she croaked yanking hard on his arm. But Harry was angry and it felt like his strength was turned up about a hundred degrees hotter.
“Mr. Styles,” Julie snapped. It felt like they were all in high school and the principal was trying to stop a fight before it started. “This is extremely disrespectful to Mrs. McNally,” she hissed through her teeth and did her best to shoo herself and the men out of the room.
Simultaneously blocking Mrs. McNally from the situation rapidly escalating close to the doorway.
“Ma’am, I’m sorry,” Harry glanced over his shoulder and nodded politely. “If you could give us all a few minut—”
“Absolutely not,” Julie growled.
“What’s your deal, Styles?” Jason stared at him like was crazy.
“Harry!” Her voice felt raw as she continued to yank on his arm like her life depended on it. There were a handful of things that would be worse than Harry punching Jason. In the event he did punch him, she suspected that in no particular order, Harry would be fired, arrested, and possibly also injured.
(Although she also suspected that her subconscious wasn’t kidding when she said Harry would kill him so she wasn’t so sure about the injured part.)
“I’m sorry, Mrs. McNally,” Julie smiled politely, poised, fake at the woman in the room before she pulled the door shut behind her just in time for Harry to shove Jason back hard. He stumbled, because of course he did.
“Harry, please!” She pleaded.
“You’re a fucking prick, Styles.”
“Go ahead, say it in front of us now, Jason. Say it. Say what you said to her in front of our boss,” Harry growled. “I should kill you.”
“What you fucking told on me?” Jason narrowed his eyes at her. “What are we in grade school?”
Part of her wondered if Harry was letting her hang on to him because he didn’t want to get into a physical altercation in front of one of their supervisors. Maybe since she got there in time, he was glad because then he wouldn’t get fired or arrested.
Harry took a step in front of her, so Jason couldn’t see her. “Don’t even look at her unless you want to lose all your teeth,” he threatened.
“This is workplace harassment.”
“Oh, that is fucking rich, you worthless piece of—”
“That is enough.”
Now it really felt like they were in grade school. She looked at the floor and considered that maybe she also would be fired if Julie was pissed enough. She was the reason Jason and Harry were fighting anyway. “Julie I—” She started.
“Don’t,” she shook her head. “You,” she pointed at Jason. “Go in there and apologize and try to keep Mrs. McNally as a client.”
Jason brushed past Harry while physically bumping into him on purpose. Harry laughed lowly, again, without humor. “You’re a piece of work,” he sounded so threatening.
“Tell me what the fuck just happened,” Julie hissed trying to keep quiet while Jason conducted business on the other side of the door.
“Jason is a horrible person and it’s a shame he was ever hired. He says despicable things because he’s a waste of oxygen. He’s bad for this company and he’s the reason women will always distrust men.”
Julie’s shoulders untensed ever so slightly. She pushed Harry out of the way to look at her even though she continued to avoid eye contact. “Is that so?”
“Yes,” Harry responded. “He said—”
“No,” she shook her head. It was pathetic. She shouldn’t have said anything to Harry. It would do nothing. Nothing but cause headaches. Who knew what headaches would already become just from the current interaction.
“Love, don’t. Don’t let him—”
“I want to hear it from her, Mr. Styles.” Harry pressed his lips together to keep from talking. Or yelling. “Did he say something?”
“No,” she shook her head. “It’ll just be worse.”
“Kitten.”
She winced, knowing it was likely Julie already suspected they had a relationship. But with the confrontation paired with the nicknames and show of fighting her battles, now it seemed very obvious that she was in fact with Harry.
Which meant that all of the things Jason could say about her would seem even more plausible. “Julie, I’m so sorry. We’re going home. I’m…”
Julie softened. Her eyes flicked to Harry and then back to her (even though she refused to meet her gaze.) “If a coworker said something inappropriate to you, it should be reported to HR,” she explained. “That’s what they’re there for.”
“I have nothing to report.”
“Kitten,” Harry sounded pissed and shocked at the same time.
“I’d like to go home.”
“You have to report—”
“No, I don’t have to do anything, Harry. I do not have to report my coworker who already dislikes me.”
Harry opened his mouth to protest, but a wave of understanding washed over Julie’s entire body and she deflated completely.
“Harry, go… get the car or do something useful,” Julie shook her head. “You’re lucky I don’t report you.”
Harry stared at her for a moment. Waiting for her to say something and then in a moment of sobering clarity, he realized what he did was ridiculous. Even if he would still love to knock every one of Jason’s teeth out. But the look of sympathy on Julie’s face for the girl he desperately adored, was clue enough that this was much more than him being a protector.
He rubbed the back of his head, sighed, then went to get the car and do something to be useful.
She released a breath she’d been holding for who knew how long. “I’m so sorry Julie,” she whispered.
“You have nothing to apologize for. Men love their pissing matches.”
She smirked weakly and put a hand on her forehead. “Did we ruin your meeting?”
“Did you ruin a business meeting with a female client who has been in the business longer than you and I combined because of something two men were arguing about? No. She’ll understand.”
She sighed. “I better catch up to him.”
“Be easy on him,” she said gently. “You and I are used to it, but it’s Harry’s first time facing misogyny in the workplace,” she reminded her.
She snorted. “Right. Of course.”
“For what it’s worth, I do hope you decide to report him for whatever he said,” she stepped into the office and left her to walk back to the car alone.
*
She sat next to Harry in the staff meeting. They didn’t touch each other, not even with a brush of their legs. They listened to all the department heads speak, silently they listened to the (inane) questions their coworkers asked. She tried to keep a straight face but fortunately they sat toward the back.
She tilted her head back and Harry “dropped” his pen so he could lean down to grab it. He brushed his hand along her ankle without anyone else noticing, hoping she would feel a little better about their annoying coworkers.
“Before we get back to work,” Julie stated. “We have one last memo.”
She had one leg crossed over the other, her foot bouncing slightly as she listened. A man from HR that Harry met with last week stood up, cleared his throat, and took a paper out from the inside coat pocket of his suit.
Harry leaned toward her ever so slightly. “Kitten, don’t be mad,” he whispered.
“What?” she turned and looked at him curiously.
“‘To whom it may concern,’” he began. “‘I’ve worked here for many years. I’ve sat in a lot of meetings, been a participant on many projects, and have been fortunate to lead projects due to the guidance of some great mentors I’ve had in the supervisors. There are many people who work here that I would say are important, talented, and impressive. But there is only one person who I believe is invaluable.’” She sat back in her seat staring intently at the man speaking. If she knew, she was pretending she didn’t, listening very carefully to the words he was saying. “‘If you were to lose her, I think this place would fall apart. She works tremendously hard. Getting here an hour before the day begins and often working at home and even on her commute.’”
Her emotions betrayed her stoic facial expressions. Everyone turned to look at her and, on the outside, her mouth didn’t move. Her eyes didn’t move. Nothing moved except there was a twitch in her brow as she strained to keep still.
How telling it was, that everyone knew it was her.
The HR person continued. “‘She has helped me on so many projects. She has listened to so many of my presentations ahead of time and offered constructive feedback. I can’t tell you how many mistakes of mine she has caught and remedied. I have simply lost count. But instead, she is overlooked. Overworked. Treated poorly by others in her department because she is a woman. How this company hasn’t noticed is atrocious. When she leaves, I will leave too. If you don’t want to lose her, you need to address the fantastic work she does for this company. The relationships she builds with clients and how she never speaks out about the injustice she faces every day. There is no one who works harder than she does. No one is better. Which is why I do not and will not be running the project. Personally, I don’t think you should look any further than the person who should have gotten the lead in the first place. And if anyone takes issue with the most intelligent woman in our company being in charge, then she will probably run and complete the whole project by herself and do it better than if she had ten people working with her anyway. I would gladly work with her. But I will not lead her. She doesn’t need to be led.’”
Harry was staring at her as intently as she was while still facing forward. It was silent in the meeting room for a few moments. “I want to remind everyone that we do not discriminate nor threaten others based on gender. If there is anyone who feels this is happening, you should report it to me immediately,” he tucked the paper back into his jacket.
Julie stepped back up. “I won’t take it personally that I’m not the most intelligent woman here, as I agree,” she stated looking straight at Harry. “You don’t want to run the project?” She asked.
Harry shook his head. “No ma’am.”
She nodded succinctly. “Very well. We can discuss the next move going forward. Does anyone have any other matters to discuss?”
“Why should Harry’s letter get her a job without any application or trying?”
Harry opened his mouth to tear Jason limb from limb verbally (or maybe even physically). She tensed beside him, but it was another person near the front that turn and spoke to Harry’s least favorite person. “She did apply. Harry had more experience, so we chose him. She was second with no experience leading because no one will let her. She’s always second. We don’t look at other applications after hers. Your sexism is so appalling, truly. I’ll follow her lead,” he volunteered. “If she’ll have me.”
“That’s for her to pick her team,” Julie smiled gently. “But I’m sure she’ll appreciate it.”
“We don’t even know if she wants to do it!” Jason said.
“For God’s sake, shut up, you sound like a child!”
From there, HR had to get involved. People were pushing others away from one another and the scene unraveled quite fast.
The entire time she stared at her lap, looking at her fingers. Harry watched her silently, like she was his favorite movie, and he was trying to keep track of all the hard parts. “You okay?” He asked finally.
She glanced up at him amidst all the chaos, shouting, the HR violations being volleyed back and forth between parties.
“You think I’m invaluable?”
“I would have been fired by now if it wasn’t for you.”
She bit the inside of her lip. “That’s the nicest thing anyone has ever said about me here.”
He desperately wanted to touch her. His hands itched to reach out and brush his thumbs across her cheeks and kiss her forehead. He wanted to wrap her in a hug like he did while they made dinner together and they were waiting for water to boil or chicken to finish baking. He wanted to hold her tight and tell her that he loved her so much it was all he thought about these days.
“That’s a real fucking shame, kitten,” he said instead.
She nodded. Looked at her lap again and continued to ignore the shouting match. Finally, she stood up, smoothed her skirt down, and left the meeting room to get back to work.
*
It was Harry’s turn to drive, and she stared out the window the whole way. Harry didn’t speak; he let the radio play her favorite station even though the music was ninety percent commercial. He didn’t complain that she kept turning the heat knob back and forth from its position. Nor did they argue about anything. It was merely silent.
When they pulled into the parking lot Harry left the car idling and waited. They hadn’t come up with a dinner plan. Honestly, Harry wasn’t sure if there was a they or we or our left after his stunt in front of their coworkers.
“Do you love me?” She asked simply. Like she was questioning if her presentation made sense. It had the same intonation of wonder as a colleague asking if her understanding of the project was clear.
There should have been flowers, candles, maybe some music playing, not a commercial for the mattress sale of the century playing through his speakers. “Of course, I love you,” he willed his eyes to stay still and not roll back into his head. He didn’t want her to take this as a joke. She seemed just as serious. He would match that. “I want to say I’ve loved you since the day I met you. But you know as well as I do, we argued so much. But since your car accident? Yes, I’ve loved you this entire time. I love you so much… I asked my doctor if I had a heart condition that I didn’t know about because it just aches, kitten. I love you so much it physically aches in the best way to love you so much. I didn’t know it was possible to feel so completely captured by someone.”
Her cheeks turned pink, but she didn’t really have any other outward response. “Your letter to HR sounded like a love letter.”
He smirked. “Good.”
“I love you too,” she said softly. “I know I said it when I was on pain medication already. But I don’t think I was wrong at the time. I love you. Have loved you so much.”
Apparently, Harry had been holding his breath since the meeting. He had been anxious that she would hate him for his HR stunt. He was so relieved the air left his body in a long breath. He cupped her face the way he wanted to in the middle of the meeting, brushed his thumbs over her cheeks and brought her close for a kiss. All the love he felt for her, he tried to push through his kiss. Maybe the mattress commercial wasn’t the most romantic place, but the car was where he fell in love with her. Carpooling with her had been the best thing to ever happen to him.
So, it was perfect anyway.
“You’re going to work beneath me?” She asked softly. “You’re really okay with that?”
“I love being beneath you, kitten,” he teased and kissed her again.
“Shut up,” she giggled against his kiss. “Thank you, baby. I went back to my office and cried.”
“I love you, kitten, I love you so much. You’re priceless, to me,” he reminded her. “But don’t get too big of a head being my boss. I don’t want anyone getting any ideas about what’s going on at home,” he winked.
“I’m always the boss,” she reminded him, pouting so cutely, Harry really thought she might take the breath from his lungs.
“I know, kitten,” he chuckled, kissed her forehead softly. “But we don’t need everyone to know how gone I am for you.”
“It’s a lot, isn’t it?”
“God, yes, baby. Should be obvious, no?”
She smiled. “I still like hearing it,” she shrugged.
“I’ll tell you all the time, my love. Anytime you want.”
--
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