Possession [H.S] ✓

Chapter Twelve

I pressed my lips together, and shook my head. "Nothing. Like I said, I'm just tired and speaking nonsense," I responded with a faint shrug.

She put her hand back on my shoulder and gave it a gentle squeeze. "You don't have to be afraid of anything, Layla. You're completely safe, and I know Harry won't allow any harm to come to you."

I nodded faintly and bit the inside of my cheek. I wanted to feel reassurance from her words, but I didn't. All I could feel was an empty promise because I knew that I couldn't have been completely safe. I'd end up being killed in some way. I mean, Harry's enemies tried to kill me with the stairs while I got off the boat, so who's to say that they won't try something else? My food could get poisoned, or something, anything, of that nature could happen. And it'd have to be something that Harry couldn't stop, and I knew that even he couldn't stop anything. My death would be something quick and simple.

My only hope was that it wouldn't hurt, and that I'd feel nothing at all.

***

"You look exhausted, love," Harry commented as he led me toward the back door that we had came in through a few hours before.

I yawned quietly into my hand and nodded. "I am. It's been a really long day," I responded. My feet stumbled slightly on the rug, causing Harry to look down and notice my bare feet.

"I forgot you don't have shoes," He said and quickly lifted me into his arms.

I gasped a bit and hooked my arms around his neck. I knew he wouldn't drop me, but that fear stayed.

His lips pressed against my temple before he walked down the stairs of the garage and headed toward the car we had arrived in. "I'll send a maid up to your room once we're home to help you get ready for bed," He said as he slowly climbed into the car while still holding a firm grip on me.

I smiled a bit, and laughed quietly despite the effort it took for me to make the noise. I really was tired, and now it wasn't just an excuse to get people to stop talking to me. "You don't have to do that, I can get ready for bed on my own," I said and yawned again.

He chuckled and shut the door as soon as he was seated. Instead of putting me in the space beside him he simply allowed me to rest my head on his chest while I sat in his lap. "I know you're capable of doing it, Layla, but you look so run down right now that I want someone up there to help you."

I rolled my eyes with a slight laugh and tilted my head up to look at him. "You know, you never gave me your second present."

He smirked a bit and moved some of my hair from my face. "That's because I said I'd give it to you on the car ride home."

"Well, can I have it now then? We're going home," I said softly. It was weird calling Harry's huge house home, but that's what it was. Home.

He reached forward and grabbed a thin, long, rectangle box that was covered in the same type of wrapping paper as my ring had been. The box reminded me of the one that held the iPad Eleanor had given me, which was situated in the trunk of the car with my other gifts including the leather jacket, but I knew that Harry wouldn't have gotten me one this big. I didn't even think that they made ones as big as this box was. "Here, love," He said as he placed it into my lap.

I continued to lean my head on his chest while I lazily tore at the paper. My eyes could barely keep themselves open, but I managed it because of the excitement I felt from the surprise of wondering what he could have gotten me and why I had to open it in secret. However, it was when I managed to get the wrapping paper out of the way, and the lid of the box off, that I realized why Harry didn't want anyone else to see this particular present.