Chapter 55: A Millionaire, His Suit And Poor Me Chapter 55

“No,” Henris said. “Absolutely not, Noras."

I lifted the red sweater up again to examine it. As unflattering as the illuminated reindeer-shaped sweater is, I was almos90% sure that Henris would still look like some kind of luxury model wearing it.

“You have to do it," I pouted, bringing her to his chest. “This is the theme of the party.”

Henris scowled and pushed back the outrageous knitted garment. “I won't wear it “You must.”

“Or what?"He asked sarcastically, raising an eyebrow in defiance. “Louis won't let me attend his birthday party?”

I shrugged a shoulder. “Maybe. You know how serious he is about this. I mean, we only got about nineteen thousandreminders that the theme is Christmas sweaters. He will probably have a security guard to enforce the dress code.”

“I already gave her a gift...

“Making Lou come out with your credit card is a total abuse of your position and your wealth -"

“- I gave her a gift, I'm going to go to the party, and I won't wear this sweater.”

I showed my sweater, a green knitted masterpiece with a tasteful snowman on the front. He offended fashion in every waand it was a crime that something so ugly was made to be worn, or even existed. “Look at me. Look at me, Steve, damn itHer lips tried in vain to hide her amusement. “I think he’s cute.”

“I work for Vogue. I spent a month's salary on a pair of shoes. At Fashion Week, I saw Karl Lagerfield and Jace literally hadmake me leave the room so that I kept control. If I carry one of these chargers, you will too."

“Very well" Henris said in a low voice, squinting to provoke. “But I'll wear the one with the snowman on it”

“Are you kidding me? Honestly, I don't understand.”

He fixed his cold gaze on me. If I have to wear a sweater, I'll put on the one with the snowman. Final offer. Its take it orleave it, Noras."

I wasn't sure if it was the icy look or the fact that I knew it was the most I could expect from him, but regardless, I endedtaking the huge green sweater with the snowman off my back and swapping it for the other red and extremely uglier onewith the reindeer.

The red that was originally Henris' was a little too loose for me, it slipped over my collarbones and was long in the sleeveI ended up rolling up the sleeves to make it a little more wearable before putting on my tight jeans and boots. I looked isome kind of elf.

On the other hand, exactly as I suspected, Henris looked like he had come straight out of a Christmas catalog. The darkgreen sweater made her eyes even brighter and her cheeks more rosy. The fact that it was a little too tight and defined hcurves perfectly didn't help either.

“I love you," I said, my eyes wide with admiration.

“Of course I love you too since I'm wearing that f*****g sweater,” Henris said, pulling at the neckline. “Come.”

After collecting the gifts that Miss Jennifer had carefully wrapped for us, I joined my free hand to Henris's and we headedfor the elevator. “I'm going to take a lot of pictures of you in this sweater, just so you know."

“Why? To blackmail me?”

You're right," 1 said, pressing the call button. Henris rolled his eyes and began to handle one of the three bottles of gin thhe was carrying hard in one of his huge hands. He unscrewed the cap as soon as we got into the elevator.

He took a long sip from the bottle, then passed it to me without a word. I shrugged my shoulders and took a sip myself, alittle greedily, startled. It tastes like Christmas trees,” I mumbled, before bringing the bottle back to my lips.

“Tis the season,” Henris said impassively. It made my heart skip a bit, because sometimes I think I can’t love the companyCEO anymore, then I do something like wear a cheap sweater and drink gin straight from the bottle and it ends up takingup even more space in my heart.

The elevator doors opened. James made a muffled sound when he saw us. Either because I was drinking gin from thebottle, or because Henris was wearing a f*****g Christmas-lit sweater. Most likely because of the rider.

“A word,” Henris said abruptly, staring at James with a black gaze. Slowly, I lowered the bottle out of my mouth like a chilediscovered with his hand in the cookie jar. “One f*****g word and you're fired.’

james nodded solemnly. “It is noted, sir"

Henris walked towards the car waiting in front of us, his head held high to maintain a minimum of dignity. I raised my harto give a high-five as I approached the driver. “It's okay," I whispered to James, turning my failed “high-five” into anawkward pat on the back. “He's already on Santa's naughty list”

“Get in that f*****g car, Noras," Henris snapped.

“Certainly coal in the sock too.”

Henris voluntarily locked himself behind the car door. When James and I finished giggling, we got into the car after Henriwho was sitting stoically in the back, alcohol clenched in his hands, eyes fixed straight ahead and lips clenched.

I held out for about thirty seconds in tense silence. “There are so many potential jokes about Ebeneezer Scrooge.”

Henris looked at me askance before he started laughing out loud, his shoulders shaking and his forehead pressed againsthe leather seat in front of him, and my heart stirred a little as I incredibly fell in love with him even more.

“I don’t know if it would be more weird to knock or not to knock,” I said, my hand hanging in front of my apartment door.it weird?”

“I never knock,” Henris reflected.

I looked at it with regret. “Yeah, well, you're not a real person so you don't count.”

That said, I entered the Manhattan apartment where I did not set foot for more than two weeks. It was exactly as I had lefit - bright, comfortable and smelling of coffee — except for my belongings, which were replaced by Louis's objects anddecorations.

Multicolored and flashing lights were hung on the walls, our fake Christmas tree was moved to a corner, the table and thekitchen counter were emptied and replaced with bottles of alcohol, red and green cupcakes and a giant silver cake with“Happy Birthday” written on it.

We added our bottles to the already huge collection and put the gifts in the only small free space that I could find. “Jace?called. “Celebrated?”

“It's not my birthday yet!"Louis shouted from the living room. We followed the sound of his voice and found him and Jacemoving our couch against the wall to make room for the dance floor. “Apparently all our friends live on another continentor something and have to go home for Christmas Eve. It's disgusting”

Laughing, I greeted them both by kissing them on the cheeks. “A real mess.’

You are early, says Louis.

“This is my apartment,’ I replied. “Besides, I'm a good friend and I wanted to know if you needed help with some stuff. Anwe brought gin and we're going to pour it all down your throat, Louis! Happy anniversary!”

He kicked my ankles, but I saw a smile on his face. “Cheers.”

BY the time Liam arrived with Sophia and Nia, we only had four drinks each, Louis had deafening music and Henris caredless and less about his snowman sweater, all indications that the evening was going to be good.

Then the sound of music increased in time with the arrival of new guests, each of whom was wearing his own disgustingsweater and holding various gifts in his hands. They greeted Louis with hugs and warm kisses, and he immediately putdrinks in their hands and brought them to us, Stan, Eleanor, Aiden and a bunch of other names that I couldn't even beginto remember given all the drinks that were running around in my body.

Things were starting to get a little fuzzy, then Zayn Malik arrived with his girlfriend Perrie on his arm and three $40,000bottles of Dom Perignon White Gold jeroboam in his hands. Nia immediately grabbed them and uncorked them whilestanding on the kitchen table, and after that there was a kind of endgame.

In the midst of all this, however, Henris was next to me, warm fingers wrapping around the back of my sweater, thelightness of the holiday atmosphere welcoming him too. He even kissed me under one of the many minks, lips that tastelike expensive champagne and red velvet cupcakes that we had been nibbling on all night.

“I love you," he said amid the kisses provoked by the mistletoe.

“And I love you," I said, and then Perrie popped up, dragging me into the kitchen for more photos with her and Liam and,a second, dragging me screaming to see Zayn and Henris doing body shots on Nia Horan. I probably should have beenmore surprised about this.

The party continued all night, a constant blur of Christmas lights, ugly sweaters and people kissing between drinks. Atsome point, Louis opened his presents to find Marvel printed Vans from me, Broadway tickets from Henris, and a strippera birthday cake from Nia, which explains the abnormal size of the box.

“The stripper doesn't have to wear an awful sweater,” Henris complained, wrapping his arms around my waist from behinI succumbed to her touch while we watched the dancer try several lap dances on the guests. “And neither is Zayn Malik”“Zayn Malik is a Greek god alien robot’, I mumbled, “it doesn't count”.

“Ym the one who signs Zayn Malik's salary, and I'm still there in a sweater.”

I leaned my head on his shoulder, blindly kissing his jaw. You look so cute in your sweater. Cute Henris in a sweater. Don’tfire him. You're so cute. Kisses, please.”

At least the alcohol made me more charming.

Apparently, the stripper turned out to be the highlight of the evening, because soon after that people began to leave theapartment, crawling through the unforgivable cold New York air in search of taxis and their warm bed to wake up the nexmorning. The house was emptied until only the original group remained scattered from one side of the furniture to theother.

“Christ,” Nia groaned as she closed the door behind the last guests. There was a little frost on her cheek among all thetraces of lipstick. He threw himself on the sofa, his feet on Sophia and Perrie's knees, his head on Liam and Zayn’s. “I donknow if 1 swallowed more alcohol or cupcakes.”

“The battle for space in your stomach,” Louis yawned. He and Jace were curled up on top of each other on one of the chaiin the kitchen, surrounded by gift wrap and empty glasses. “Everyone is leaving my apartment.”

zayn, who had a penis drawn on his face and was therefore no longer a Greek god alien robot, made fun of him. “Dude, dyou really want to clean all this up yourself?"For more free novels, visit FindNovel.net Nia moaned dramatically and pressed her head even further against Liam's abdomen. No, not at all, I'm going to hire sommaids for tomorrow. We're not going to clean up, no way. No fucking way. Fuck. I'm going to call someone.”

“Perfect” Louis encouraged him. “It could be your real gift because the stripper sucked.”

Jace protested and pinched his boyfriend's arm, muttering something about being grateful and grateful and so on, butLouis pushed him away with a pout and muttered something about the fact that it was his birthday and after that I realizthat I probably wouldn't want to hear more of this conversation.

I turned around and snuggled up to Henris even more, my eyelids starting to close. The only way I measured time was bythe number of drinks I had, and I probably even lost count. But I knew it was late, and the warm glow of the Christmaslights put me to sleep even more.

I would love to stay and talk about the amazing stripper’, says Nia aloud, “But I have a jet ready to leave for Ireland andeven more champagne and probably even more strippers waiting for me”. Somebody take me.”

In response, Liam threw him to the ground. “Why are you flying so early?”

“Why is Louis’ birthday so close to Christmas?"Nia retorted. “I told my mother that I would be back on the 23rd, whichmeans that I must have flown over the Atlantic four hours ago. It's so impractical, that's what it is."

Louis gave him a thumbs up. “1 am like a Jesus of the first times. Except, every year. Not uncomfortable. Miraculous.’“Hallelujah.”

With that, Nia got up from the floor, adjusting her bright blue Christmas sweater. He greets the military, grabs a half-emptbottle of vodka and heads for the door, leaving everyone staring at him and trying to recover from his exuberance.

After a good thirty seconds, Zayn shook his head and stood up, giving Perrie his hand to leave, followed shortly after byLiam and Sophia. They took turns hugging us to say goodbye, murmuring their thanks and a few “Merry Christmas” as theleft and closed the door behind them.

Louis looked at Henris and me expectantly: “I would like to be polite, but I think it's up to you to leave and we are still inthe week of my birthday. So. You two, out.”

“I live here," I protested weakly.

“Me too,” he huffed. “Jace also gave me a key for my birthday."

I sat up so fast that I almost bumped my head against Henris's jaw, looking at them both with a mixture of shock anddisbelief. “I hate you both," I said slowly. “I knew it. Come on, Henris, let's go back to our apartment with a view of CentralPark and expensive kitchen appliances.’

“That you don't even know how to use,” Jace replied, raising his hand to applaud. Louis clapped his hands together with 2triumphant swan. “Besides, I think you meant “her apartment. Unless, of course, something has changed.”

“shut up,” I say affectionately, getting up from Henris’ lap to greet them with a hug. I gave them sticky kisses on each cheand warm hugs. “I love you both. Happy birthday, Louis."

Henris did the same after me, then took my waiting hand and we left the apartment together, drunk on good alcohol andfull of sugar. “James should have the car ready and waiting for us,’ Henris said softly, our footsteps echoing as we walkeddown the stairs together.

We opened the door and discovered that it had snowed again, a thin layer covering the dark ground and snowflakes stillfalling, which compensated for the fact that the car had not yet arrived. “I'm cold," I said obediently, looking for warmth iHenris's chest.

“He'll be here soon,” Henris whispered. He put his chin on the top of my head and surrounded me with his arms, his widehands sliding under my sweater to seek the warmth of my skin. He could be ours, though. My attic. You practically livethere anyway."

“It makes sense”I said against his chest.

He murmured in agreement. “Both sides would benefit from the agreement”.

“I love your talk about business,” I whispered, lifting my head to look at him. Her cheeks were flushed by the wind andheated by alcohol; her eyes were dark and huge. “Words that seem important but that I don't understand. Sexy.”

“The revenues,” Henris says softly, stooping down so that I can feel his warm breath against my lips, “this month theyexceeded the quota by a combined third. Shareholders’ equity has almost tripled.”

“Tripled," I replied, and then Henris kissed me, pushing me against the brick wall of my old apartment. Her fingers clung tmy hips, and her lips were cold from the winter air when they rubbed against mine, a little cracked and colored by sugarand vodka in a way that could only be attractive.

“Yours,” I whispered.

Yours too,” Henris replied.

I slid my hands between her curls in response, thumbs gently stroking her cheekbones. We kissed until we both startedlaughing, clouds forming between our lips, which made Henris laugh and he took over my lips with his, strong and full ofneed.

“Our apartment?’, I asked breathlessly between two kisses.

“Ours,” Henris said.

“I really don't know how to cook. Are you sure this is a good investment?”

“A little risky,’ he muttered, tilting his head to the side, pretending to think about it. “But you give great blowjobs. Risks arewards, baby."

“I think Mrs. Jennifer likes me, though. She can cook enough food for two."

Henris smiled at me. He adores you. And the car is here. There's ice and you're still drunk, so don't try to fall. Got it?”“Yes! answered solemnly, my hand seeking the warmth of his.

He grabbed me and put his arm around my waist, probably to prevent me from falling on the shiny sidewalk that I was indanger of doing. He pressed his mouth behind my ear as we walked to the waiting car, boots crunching in the snow.

I put my head on his shoulder. “Your apartment better be warm."

“Our apartment,” he said, before drawing me into another of his warm kisses under the light of the street lamps obscurecby the snow. We were both smiling so much that our teeth were making a little noise, his hands were stuck in my hideousChristmas sweater, and my fingers were going numb, but everything was perfect.

We were going to fight, and we were going to fucking try. I knew I wasn't the great person I wanted to be, and neither wasHenris, but we were going to try. It doesn't always work — it rarely does - but we were always trying and we weresucceeding. And it was worth it in the end, with Henris rubbing his nose on my neck and whispering “yours” against myskin.

“Yours,” I sighed. And, yes, everything was perfect.