Distract and Sedate H.S

Chapter Fifty One

"Hazel?" I jumped at a voice from in front of me. I peered over the hardcover to see curious green eyes gazing back at me. His slanted grin caused me to smile shyly and I drew the book closer to my face.

"Good morning, Harry."

"It is indeed," he jeered, hooking his fingers into the top of the book and removing it from my face. Lips that relaxed from his smirk pressed against mine in leisure time.

A giddiness overwhelmed me when he released my bottom lip from his and fell back onto the couch beside me.

The patio overlooked the entire garden. It was best in the early mornings. Although cold, hearing the birds in the endless trees and admiring the white roses in the distance was something I could never have imagined so peaceful.

His arm rested over my shoulder with a contented sigh, embracing me closer against his warm side. I leaned against his shoulders and placed both my hands to his side, seeing as the book had been disregarded in my lap.

With closed eyes and tranquil surroundings, I almost felt myself slipping back to sleep. I smiled as fingers swept across my cheek. On peeking through one eye, I noticed his quiet examination.

"When Darcy starts school we're going to have an entire house to ourselves, y'know that?"

"What ever will we do with the time?" I mumbled.

His light laugh was to be heard as his hand wavered over my neck. The red markings had eventually distilled from my skin, but the memories, like lovebites to my subconscious, hadn't perished as dryly.

"I could think of a few things, love." He brushed hair behind my ear. "A good few things."

I hid half of my face in the woolen inside of his jacket as I felt my cheeks heating in a smile. "I'm sure you can, Harry." Delight filled in his eyes when I glanced up to him. He was almost to remark something when Jeff's voice caught his attention.

"Harold, get the hell up! I've called you at least five times already." The anger was clear in his face. "A fire started on east outskirts and the wind's blowing south. It's already burnt through two staff homes."

My grip tightened onto Harry without thinking. He unlatched from me and cursed as he pulled himself up. "There in the sheep catchment? For God's sake, tell me that it's empty, Jeff."

"The herders let them in, saw this thing start and bolted. Asses came running back to me. We need to go."

"Do they know how it started?" I asked, drawing myself up to my feet in worry.

"That's fucking irrelevant right now," Jeff yelled.

"Watch your tone with her. She's right, Jeff. How would it have just started in the middle of May?" Harry questioned, his features hard as he marched across the patio to his office door. "If it's one of those godforsaken herding boys I'll have their heads on a stick by afternoon."

He reappeared from the office door. My eyes widened. A hunting rifle was slung along his back by its strap, a box of ammunition clutched in his hand.

"Oh my God, Harry. You're not going to kill them, are you?"

"No, just stay in the house until I get back," he ushered, tossing his jacket to me. I caught it in a heap. Jeff joined his side and tugged him away from the house.

"I want to come too." I was right behind Harry when he spun around and gripped my shoulders. The barrel of the gun was visible over his shoulders. It set a heavy weight in my gut.

"Hazel, it's too dangerous to have... you're..."

"Because I'm a woman?" I exclaimed in horror. "A fire will burn either of us the same way. Let me go, Harry."

"I can't do that," he put firmly. "Stay in the house."

He spun on his heel and I just missed getting hit in the face by a large scope. "You can't tell me what to do."

"On my farm, under my house I think I can, Hazel. You're not coming." I followed behind his footsteps. As soon as he realised, he rotated back to me for the last time. "You're staying here. That's final!"

I jumped at the raise of his voice. Sudden realisation softened his nerves. "I'm sorry, Haze. Just... just stay here."

"I'm not going to—" I was cut off by the loud horn of a truck. Harry jogged up and jumped onto the open back, gripping to a railing before Jeff hit the accelerator.

"Be careful, Harry," I murmured. My voice faltered as much as my emotions. Why would he need to take a gun? And how big was this bushfire?

My worries were raging within me. I could not just stand here pacing back and forth for an hour. I couldn't go sit inside and ignore it.

And what gave Harry the right to tell me to stay? I wanted to help. Because I was female? That's just ridiculous.

My feet carried me across the garden in a second and I entered the old shed. His newly fixed motorcycle was heavy as hell to wheel out the garage. I had been taught to ride about a year ago, but the person who taught me might have been high at the time.

My leg swung over the seat and I dropped onto it. My memory was growing the more I thought back.

I hesitantly kicked the bike into first gear and adjusted myself on it. I gripped onto the clutch and cringed as the throttle revved. Somewhere in my head I was thinking about how mad Harry would be with me. He had specifically said not to ride a motorcycle. Then again, he had basically given me no choice and I could handle myself just fine. The clutch slowly released from my grip and the dirt bike rolled along the gravel. I put more pressure on my throttle and gained speed jerkily.

For more stability I leaned forward and began to smooth over the sandy road, though a few rocks did embellish the ground and shudder through the machine. Where they were headed was only a few miles up and I had a full tank.

No harm, no foul.

A/N

I'm kind of depro, I'm not going to lie. I was too lazy to put accents on the curses words (don't judge me we all do it) and now the story's mature. It's not the end of the world but uggh it's so annoying.

Anyway, to lighten things up, here's a question for you... What is the most embarrassing thing you have done in front of someone you fancy/like?

I have awful luck with this so I won't even mention it lol

I haven't been dedicating all that often and I feel bad about that but as one, huge message to all of you, thank you for getting this far with me with your votes and comments xx. I'm nearing the goal I initially set, which is 10K, and that's massive for me so thank you very much for reading.