Devil's Due [h.s.]

Chapter 24

"Mm," was all I got in response. Not that I had expected anything else. It was a surprise he'd even initiated a conversation. My brows furrowed when he suddenly held his outstretched palm toward me, the two of us having halted in front of Moira.

"Um," I squinted at his hand. "What's that for?"

"I'm driving."

"What–"

"You almost killed us on the way here." A bit of an exaggeration. "And I didn't even argue with you about it–"

"Um, yes you did–"

"Not as much as I normally would have." He rolled his eyes, wiggling his fingers. "C'mon. Seriously."

I pursed my lips, glancing between his outstretched hand and the keys crushed in my palm. On one hand, Harry broke my fucking passenger seat already and there was no telling whether he'd do the same to the driver's seat. On the other hand, if I was sitting passenger, I could control the music and he had been less of a dick today – had even said thanks to Maggie.

With a small sigh, I held the keys toward him. "Fine–" Harry went to go snatch them from me but I yanked them back. "Wait. On few conditions."

"Jesus, River–"

"No, don't 'Jesus, River' me, asshole," I shot back, crossing my arms over my chest. "You broke Moira on the way here. Do not break my driver's seat. That's the most important part." When Harry didn't say anything, I jangled the keys in front of him. "Well?"

"Fine." He huffed, bracing a hand on the hood of the car and rolling his eyes yet again. His other hand hip dipped into his pocket to retrieve a cigarette, which he was toying with between his lips. "Fine, fuck. Even though this piece of shit car could die anyway. You're gonna get yourself killed driving this thing."

Harry was lighting the smoke as I said, "Well if I die driving Moira, that's on me." Before he was able to interject – probably with something along the lines of how he wasn't going to continue trying to keep me alive if I was willing to let a shitty car take me out – I added, "and you can't complain about the music I choose if you drive. Or threaten to jump out of the car like a maniac again."

Harry's cheeks hollowed out as he took a long, steadying drag of the cigarette. We stared at each other for a few seconds before he leaned back on the hood of the car, tipping his head to the sky and blowing a puff of smoke out the corner of his mouth. "Fine," he mumbled, his lips closing around the smoke again. The end ignited, ash falling over his boots. "Anything else, your fuckin' highness?"

"Nope." The cigarette almost fell from his mouth when I suddenly threw the keys at him. He lurched forward, uncrossing his arms from over his chest to put his hand out and catch them in his palm.

"Thanks," he grumbled sarcastically as I sauntered over to the passenger side. Even though he wasn't being sincere, it was the second thanks I'd heard from him today and I counted that as a win.

"God, you really did a number on this," I commented, sliding into the seat and feeling it teeter beneath me. When I directed my attention to the dash in front of me, I was sitting on an angle. At least I had enough room to basically spread my legs straight out in front of me.

I was in the middle of inconspicuously sizing up Harry's legs compared to mine when he managed to get the seat to move backward – this time without destroying it altogether – and he sat down beside me. He flicked the butt of his cigarette onto the ground before pulling the door shut beside him.

"Again," he gave me a mocking smile, trying and failing to get the engine to start a few times, "a piece of shit."

"You're a piece of shit," I countered with a small laugh, leaning forward to flick the radio on. Harry stiffened, inhaling sharply through his nose, yet said nothing. Good.