Beside Him

Chapter 32// I Asked You A f*****g Question

I blinked. Once. Twice.

"What did you just say?" I asked quietly and she looked down at the wedding ring on her finger.

"I'm so young, Rivi." She said and I released a long breath, leaning back onto the wall behind me. She mumbled something I didn't catch.

"What was that?" I asked, leaning forward once more to try and hear her.

"He's cheating on me." She muttered and my eyes widened alongside my mouth.

"Vincent is cheating on you?"

"Mum likes him." She said, avoiding the question. "I just wanna make her happy, Riv." She looked up at me, her blue eyes- the same ones that had watched me, widened in the same way, as her fiance and my ex boyfriend announced their engagement- twinkling with an emotion I couldn't quite place. Or maybe I just didn't want to. "I'm doing the right thing, aren't I?"

I pursed my lips and looked away. "No." I muttered and she must've heard as she suddenly stood up.

"You don't understand, River!" She yelled and I winced at her sudden change of volume. "You don't understand because mum never forced you to be perfect! Mum never loved you enough to want you to be the perfect girl!"

My eyes immediately went to the floor as she realised her mistake. She breathed out loudly as I stood up and made my way back to the door. "You're my sister." I said, quietly in fear of breaking into tears. "I'll support you through anything."

"Riv-" She began, but I'd already shut the door.

I blinked back the tears and wiped the ones that had fallen from my eyes.

Mum never loved you enough.

The thing that hurt the most, was the fact that it was true.

I shook my head at myself, kicking off the Valentino's on my feet into the middle of the hallway. To think that Amanda Harrison actually changed, actually thought that she loved her little sister. To think that she would ever love her sister. Well, it was like thinking Kanye West is a fallen angel.

Untrue, ludicrous, stupid.

I opened the door to my room, stepping into the empty bed space. I sighed.

Why is it that I desperately need a hug right now? From one person in particular at that.

The wedding was in t- 5 hours and Amanda was having second thoughts. I nearly laughed to myself.

The door opened with Archer's voice and I quickly wiped the tears that had fallen unknowingly and pulled my lips into a smile.

He was on the phone, having an animated conversation with someone. When he saw me sitting cross legged on the bed, he paused mid-word and narrowed his eyes. I could hear the person on the other end carry on talking but he, without once taking his eyes off me, dragged the phone down and cut it.

I blinked. "What's wrong?" He asked gruffly, his narrowed, calculating eyes trailing over my every feature.

I frowned in confusion. How did he...?

"River, I asked you a f*****g question." He said, his voice low as he put his phone back into his pocket.

"Why were you crying?" He asked and, as a reflex, I looked down.

I heard his soft footsteps and saw his feet from the corner of my eye. He got down on one knee as if proposing and, with two fingers under my chin, he pulled up my head so that my eyes met with his forest green ones.

He took one looked at my eyes and pulled me onto his knee, allowing me to throw my arms around his neck and held me as if I was a baby, cradling me to his chest.

And then I let the tears fall.

He didn't say a word as I cried into his Armani suit jacket. He didn't say a word as I mumbled incoherent sentences that explained what had happened. He didn't even say a word as I told him I hated her. That I hated Amanda so much for everything. But that I loved her because she was my sister.

He just held me. So close it was suffocating. I was suffocating. In his scent. In his heart. In him.

As the tears finally died down, he gently took my face out of his chest and wiped the final tears away. I sniffed and he gave me a small, reassuring smile that made the world seem as if it was a-ok.

"You're such a brave girl,

princess." He said softly, his eyes never leaving mine. "You're my brave girl." He finished and I sighed, letting him put our foreheads together. Even with me sat on his knee, he was still taller than me, so as he put his hands on my waist and guided me up, I let him.

He placed his lips gently on mine and I smiled slightly as he pulled away, kind of dazed.

He wiped at the bottom of my eyes. Then his eyes zoned into my jaw. His lips tilted up. "I like giving you hickeys." He said quietly and I rolled my eyes, slapping his arm. Hard.

He winced and rubbed his arm. "Jeez, you have quite the hit." He murmured and I smiled. The mood shifted to a serious one soon after. "So if Amanda isn't getting married, your mum doesn't seem like the type to accept her with open arms."

"Yeah, I-" a loud knock on my door interrupted us.

I sighed and went to open it. Immediately, Bubby came in, his brown eyes wide and panicked.

"What the f**k just happened?" He asked in shock. "Amanda- as in the same Amanda who made us both a time table when she was 13 to do our chores on, the same Amanda who had her wedding dress picked out from the age of 15, the same Amanda who lives out of the book mum wrote for her is telling me now, 5 hours before her f*****g wedding, that she doesn't wanna go through with it!?"

My eyes widened as I snatched the phone he was holding up out of his hands. It showed a message-

"I'm extremely sorry to all of the guests who attended today in hopes of a wedding. I truly am. But I personally feel that marriage is a big commitment that should not be made unless one is 100 percent positive on their decision. At the present, neither Vince nor I am in the position. I'm sorry to cut it this short. I am aware many of you have travelled a long way to witness a Harrison wedding and I cannot apologise enough. The refreshments and foods are still available to those who may wish to enjoy that. I apologise profoundly once again to anyone this may affect.

My deepest sincerity.

~Amanda"

I blinked in shock. Archer pulled out his phone and sure enough, the same text was on his.

Bubby cleared his throat after a while. "I'll go talk to her." He said and I nodded. He gave me a look asking whether I was ok and I nodded once more.

He gave me a pursed lip smile alongside a solid kiss to the head before practically running out of there.

"I think- should I go and talk to Vince?" I asked Archie once we were alone. I noticed his jaw lock as he shrugged.

"You can do what you want." He answered tautly and I tilted my head, trying to figure out what was wrong.

Once I did, my eyes widened. I smiled slightly and went towards him to hug him, placing my cheek onto his chest where, underneath his suit jacket and shirt, the tattoo lay. "I didn't meant it like that, Archie." I said in a soft voice, really not wanting to let go.

He nuzzled his nose into the top of my head. "I know you didn't, gorgeous." He replied.

Just as I was about to say something else, my phone buzzed.

I gave him another smile before taking it off of the counter to check it.

In my room, now.

-Dad

I winced. Looking up at Archer, I sighed, holding out my phone. He winced too. "That doesn't look good."

I nodded. "Agreed." Then I sighed and began making my way to mum and dad's room.

I didn't knock as I walked in, already hearing the screaming match between mum and Amanda.

Walking into the bedroom of the suite, I saw dad on the chair at the mirror, his head in his hands. Lolly and Pops were sitting on the bed, their hands connected. Lolly was crying. Vince was leaning against the door to the bathroom, his face blank of any emotion. And Bubby was waiting for me outside the room.

He saw me and gave me a nod, pulling me in to the room with a hand on the crook of my elbow.

I bit my lip as all eyes turned to me.

Mum was the first to turn back to Amanda. "Please, Amanda, baby, please for the love of God tell me this is just a joke. Just a sick, sick joke."

Amanda shook her head, her eyes overflowing with tears. "I'm sorry, mum I can't-"

"Do you have any idea?" Mum asked, cutting her off in a low and dangerous voice. Almost broken. "Do you have any idea what you have done, Amanda? 25 years of building up a reputation. 25 years of building a name for the Harrison family and you just demolished it. Just. Like. That."

"That's enough, Claire." Dad said, using the nickname he always had for mum, through thick and through thin. "Calm down, sweetheart. Please."

Mum's eyes narrowed and she turned away in disgust from the daughter she so loved.

"Mum, please-"

"Get out." Mum said, her voice cracking. I felt a pang in my chest. "Get. Out."

Amanda took a deep breath in, advancing towards mum as if she was gonna hug her.

I winced, along with everyone else, as the sound of a slap resonated through the otherwise deadly silent room.

Mum began crying hysterically and dad sprung up to hold her. To try to calm her down.

I started forward to pull Amanda away from the situation.

Bubby, Amanda and I made our way out. I took her to my room since it was the closest. She was in hysterics.

As I walked in, I noticed Archer on the bed, phone in hand. As he looked up, his eyes widened and then he licked his lips, clearly uncomfortable.

He practically shot out of bed and moved away, allowing Bubby to guide Amanda to the bed and sit her down.

I went to stand behind me and he squeezed my waist, giving me an assuring smile.

I licked my lips and turned back to my sister. "I'm such a bad daughter, Jamie." She breathed out, her eyes wide as she stared ahead.

Bubby rubbed the back of her hand just as the door the hotel room re-opened.

I heard Archie grumbled behind me. "f*****g idiots never knocking what if I was f*****g naked-" I cut him off with a solid jab to the rib.

He hissed and glared at me just as Tobias came into the room, calling my name.

He paused mid word as he saw Amanda on the bed.

"Mandy..." he breathed out, blue eyes wide, jaw hanging open.

Amanda's own eyes widened and, after sharing a look with Bubby, I grabbed Archer's hand and made my way out, practically dragging him.

"If they start creating babies on that bed-"

I cut him off with another jab to run and this time he caught my elbow before it could touch him. "Uh-uh-uh." He mused, drooping my arm beside me. I rolled my eyes, fighting a smile.

Bubby gave us a playful dirty look and then sighed. "I can't do it, Riv." He said in a small voice and I frowned as Archer's grip on my waist became almost painful.

"Can't do what?" I asked, slightly frustrated at all that was happening today.

I really wanted to see Taco. He seems to be the only normal Harrison left.

"I can't go back to England." I blinked.

"Eh?" I said, a noise that I didn't think I even possessed.

He gave me a weird look. "What the hell was that?" He asked. I rolled my eyes.

"Don't you have college to finish?" I asked and Archer suddenly spoke.

"Woah, college? I thought you two were twins...?"

I smiled. "We are. It works differently in England. College is like our high school and then we go to university." I explained and his eyes widened in understanding.

"Oh" He said and I turned back to my brother, who was watching Archer with a 'what the f**k' expression.

I snapped my fingers. "Hello? Why would you wanna come here?"

"Well I can get my a-levels here, Riv. With you. Plus, I-er, I don't do long distance relationships."

I blinked when I understood what he'd meant, slightly dazed.

"You're moving for Penny?" Archer said, literally speaking my mind.

Bubby, for the first time since I could remember, looked slightly embarrassed. "I mean, not entirely. But it's good to take risks, no?"

Maybe everyone in my family was taking a few risks too many nowadays.