Crossroads - H.S.

Chapter 35

"Let's fuckin dance."

Harry's dark and intimidating voice has me on edge but feeling relieved at the same time.

Roughly ten men follow Harry through the door and surround Jacob, pointing their guns directly at his head.

The smug look Jacob has had on his face is wiped right off, and I can see the fear beginning to creep in.

Harry makes eye contact with me for a split second before turning to one of his men, "Get Grace out of here." He nods toward the girl next to me, who is gripping onto me tightly.

The man walks over to us, and holds out his hand. Grace looks at me for reassurance and I nod to her, signaling that she can trust him, before she lets go of my arm and places her hand in the one held out to her.

Harry's other men stay in position, not moving a muscle as they all surround Jacob who hasn't moved since the bullet went through his shoulder.

"Don't let him move." Harry orders, lowering his gun before putting it in the back of his waistband while taking long strides towards me.

He immediately wraps his arms around my shoulders and pulls me into an almost suffocating hug, but I don't mind a bit. His smell engulfs my nostrils, making me take deep breaths while I relish in the serene feeling it gives me.

"I'm so sorry." He mumbles out quietly. The hurt and regret in his voice is killing me. I just want to stay in his arms forever, letting him know that it's okay and I know it's not his fault.

"Shh, please don't apologize. This was out of your control." I say to him just as quietly.

He pulls back to see my face, but keeps his hands on my shoulders like he's afraid to let go. His eyes are glazed over, most likely from stress and lack of sleep, and it's devastating to see his bright eyes dulled.

He brushes my hair out of my face and gives me a sad smile before leaning forward and pressing a soft kiss to my lips. The kiss is light and delicate, like he's scared that I'm going to shatter at any moment.

"I'll have someone take you out to the car to wait for me. I need to deal with this, and I know you don't want to see it."

"No, I wanna stay with you." I argue. The thought of being without him right now, even for a few moments, scares the shit out of me. What if something goes wrong in here? I don't want to leave him. Not right now.

"Are you sure? The last time you saw me-" our eye contact breaks for a moment, and he looks ashamed, "like that, it didn't end well. I don't want to scare you away, I just got you back."

I've never seen or heard Harry like this. He isn't his normal collected self, and that worries me even more that something might go wrong.

"Harry," I place my hands on his cheeks, "I'll be okay, I promise. I just want to stay with you."

"Hate to ruin the moment," one of Harry's men who I remember to be Garth speaks up, "but I don't want to be here all night, and this dude just dripped blood on my new shoes. Can we speed this up?"

Harry turns around and gives him a short nod before pulling away from me completely and walking over to Garth.

Harry's p.o.v.

"You know what? I've got this, boys. You can leave." I tell all of my men that are in the room. They all look at each other in confusion, then back to me. I nod to encourage them further to leave. They all lower their weapons, and walk out of the door, leaving the room to the three of us.

I'm livid. I can feel my head getting hotter the longer I look at Jacob, and I can't wait to get my hands on him.

I'll go easy this time, considering Jude is in the room. I don't want her seeing how bad I can get, even if she says it's okay. I don't want her to think less of me.