Invisible || h.s.

19: The Night We Met p.2

This flashback picks up exactly where we left off in the last chapter. Enjoy!

__________

Harry

Approximately forty days earlier

"What do you mean you messed up?"

My face twisted in a grimace at the irritating sound in my ear. I don't know whether he knows it, but Niall's voice tends to get annoyingly high-pitched when he's anxious, which was definitely not something I wanted to deal with at the moment—especially with my hands literally full with other things.

Those things being a still very much unconscious teenage girl in my arms.

"There's been a slight complication," I muttered, choosing to omit the fact that the said complication was caused by my own glaring lack of self-control. "M'putting her in the dark room in the basement; got no choice. I forgot to install the lock in the bedroom."

The muscles in my arms strained painfully as I worked to lay the girl down on the tiny bed as gently as possible. I've been carrying her around for most of the night, and despite her light weight, I was beginning to experience the first signs of fatigue, which tends to happen when you haven't slept for sixty hours straight; not to mention had a couple of beers in the mean time.

"Whatever happened to convincing her to work with us? Sounded like you were dead set on that," Niall pressed; I should have expected he wouldn't drop the subject. He never did—after knowing me for more than nine years he knew exactly which buttons to push to get the answers he needed out of me.

"That was the plan until she got scared, ran off," I explained vaguely.

"Scared? What did you do—"

I sighed, knowing that the only way to get Niall off my back was to distract him with something else—that wouldn't be much of a problem, due to the very dire situation my earlier meeting with Dawn had put us in.

"I need to deal with Hardy—now," I interrupted Niall's rant in a clipped tone. "How long till you get back?"

A huge purple bump on the girl's forehead caught my attention, momentarily distracting me from the voice in my ear. The wound didn't seem to be very threatening to her overall health, yet I wanted to make sure she didn't wake up in too much pain. A whole lot depended on her willingness to cooperate, not to mention I couldn't even bear the thought of becoming the source of her pain—she's had enough of it from others.

"—at least a seven hour drive. Might be back tomorrow night; that's assuming I deal with my business here fast."

A heavy sigh left my lips as I took one last lingering look at the girl in front of me; her chest rising up and down steadily with long, deep breaths. I knew very well that her peaceful state would be very short-lived, ending as soon as she realizes her situation and meets her kidnapper—me.

"I don't want to leave the girl with Sam for too long," I said, "so just get here as fast as you can. "

I hung up, sliding the phone into the pocket of my tight jeans. The time for useless conversation was over; I had a job to do, and it required my undivided attention.

The door to our makeshift prison was heavy; equipped with a lock that would ensure whoever was kept inside had virtually no chance of getting out. I closed and locked it behind me with a heavy sigh. Leaving the girl defenceless with Sam was the last thing I wanted, but this Hardy business couldn't wait—or we'd all be fucked, her included.