AN: Ok! So I feel like several apologies are necessary. 1) I am sorry this is taking so dang long. School, internship, sick, heartbreak, etc. Basically life right? 2) It isn't nearly as long as it should have been, but... they should actually be coming along now. 3)This will not be pleasant. It is not a happy surprise. Sorry. As always to those following and reading; Thank you so much. I really appreciate any and all reviews. They do help. Please keep it up... and maybe more? Purty Please? AN
"Where are we going?" Reese asked as she trotted behind Harry. She struggled to maintain his pace with her wrist held snuggly in an oddly tight grasp.
"If I told you," he answered, turning his head to flash a toothy grin her way. "Then it would spoil the whole surprise." She frowned lightly at the peculiar behavior. Harry led her down the street, the hem of his coat billowing back to brush against her shins. Tripping on a rock, she stumbled and fell flush against Harry's back.
"Woa," he chuckled, pausing to help her back to her feet. "Flattered, but we need to get to that surprise first." Setting her upright, he leaned in until his lips lightly brushed her ear. "Later." His heated breath slid down her ear, lightly disturbing the locks of hair hanging from her ponytail. She shivered from the bold action. It wasn't like Harry to come on to her at all let alone in a very public place. Before she could question him about it, he turned around and continued dragging her down the sidewalk. Together they disappeared around a corner, heading towards a parked tan car. Seated in the driver's seat was a middle aged man in a dark grey checkered suit. The man turned slightly in his seat to watch their approach.
Harry tugged open the door to the backseat of the car and led her inside, his grip on her arm still firm. Reese slid along the seat until she sat directly behind the driver, and found herself staring into the thick mat of black hair, that despite the clearly thorough maintenance via combing and hair product still fluffed several inches above his head. She jumped slightly as the car door shut with a resounding thump. Turning, Reese saw Harry settle himself comfortably next to her, and toss an arm over her shoulders. The warm weight landed heavily against her tense muscles. She normally trusted Harry, more than anyone in the world, but when these odd moods overtook him, her faith in him wavered fairly noticeably.
An awkward squeak drew her fickle attention towards the front of the car. The driver twisted in his seat to face them, bulging creases forming in his thick neck. He nodded slightly at Harry in acknowledgement.
"Harry," he murmured, his lips pulled into a thin lipped smile.
"Hey Abie," Harry answered.
Abie turned his eyes to her, looking her over with a calculating stare. His stiff demeanor and the harsh corners to his expression only added to her concern. She inched instinctively further in to Harry. An amused smirk perked at the corner of his eye.
"I take it you are Reese?"
She nodded, uncomfortable at the idea of him knowing more about her than she knew about him. He reached over the back of his chair to offer a beefy hand. Rather than risk insulting the man, she slipped her hand into his grasp, marveling at the way her hand disappeared in his for a mere shake.
"I'm Abie," he said casually, as he released her hand.
"Nice to meet you," she murmured. He nodded at her before turning back to the front to start the car. Reese stared out through the window as they pulled out from their spot against the curb.
Harry caught her hand in his as he practically skipped out of the car. She peered at the warehouse in confusion.
As she gazed out of the window at the changing scenery, her thoughts ran ramped with the potential "surprises." She didn't really like surprises. They tended to be worse than she hoped.
"Harry?" she asked softly. "Please just tell me where we are going." He shushed her again, squeezing her shoulder slightly in some meager attempt to console her.
"You'll like this," he smiled at her. His eyebrows crinkled as a thought skipped across his face. "Well," he cocked his head at her, as he reconsidered the up sell. "Maybe not like, but you do need this."
His less than stellar pep talk succeeded in making her even more on edge, fidgeting in her seat. Through the window she could see the view turn from monstrous, tightly spaced commercial buildings to widely spaced yet no less monstrous factories. Her nose wrinkled as the smell of burning metal leaked through the vents of the car. Watching with a nervous curiosity, Reese stared at the fairly dilapidated cluster of warehouses they were pulling into. They drove passed the empty security guard booth, before coming to a stop in the empty parking lot before the maze of empty buildings.
"Which is it?" Harry asked peering up at their surroundings through the window.
"The one in the middle," Abie answered, adjusting his suit. "Green door."
"Thanks," Harry turned to Reese, holding out a hand. "Come on." He didn't bother to wait for her response, but instead tugged her from the car. She tossed a fleeting glance over her shoulder at the car that she hadn't wanted to get into to begin with, but now wanted back into. Abie looked back at her, a small smile quirking at the corner of his mouth, before Harry tugged her into the collection of buildings. He walked briskly, forcing her into another necessary trot to maintain his pace.
"Harry," she panted as he searched for the correct damn building.
"Found it!" Harry stopped abruptly in front of a large dark green door. Reese felt both grateful and concerned that he found the door. Grateful that he wouldn't be dragging her around al over the place in search of a stupid door, but concerned at what was waiting for them behind the door.
They wove through the maze of tall walls of stacked boxes and machinery. A faint light pierced through the murky atmosphere in the distance.
"Harry," Reese pleaded, trying to deter their endeavors. "Please, I don't want to go. Whatever it is…" A sound drifted from behind the boxes, trapping the rest of her sentence in her throat. Cold chills sparked down her spine, tracing the paths of her nerves with their freezing touch. The sound came again, louder than before. It was a muffled sound. A very human muffled sound. She found herself moving towards the sound, driven by some morbid sense of curiosity. She rounded a corner, where the light spilled out onto the floor, stained with irregular black splotches. Squinting as her eyes adjusted from the darkness surrounding them, she blinked as the shapeless forms took on color and detail. As she rubbed her eyes, the muffled sounds grew louder and more frantic. Her eyes finally focusing on the scene before her, she gasped in shock. Bound to a chair with a gag stuffed in his mouth was her stepfather.
Lead mysteriously filled her shoes, keeping her fixed in place. A tall black man stood hovering over the bound figure, a police badge pinned to the front of his suit. She watched in silence as recognition flickered behind the foggy panes that were his pitiful eyes. Through the dense fog of disbelief wafted the sound of Harry's voice. Out of the corner of her eye, she spied Harry making his way to the man standing next to her stepfather. An automatic portion of her brain registered the civil greeting between Harry and the unknown man. She'd have to run the importance of that through her mind at a later date. Priorities at the moment determined the hogtied nightmare from her past was a bit more important, than who Harry chatted with.
As the blood drained from her extremities, Reese's eyes wandered over her stepfather, taking in the finer details her first terrifying glance had missed. A fresh gash across his brow oozed a mirky red trail down his cheek that dripped onto the dirty jacket. Purple shadows circled around his left eye just under the lower lid. Underneath the clear evidence of recent abuse, Reese marveled at the deeper set grooves of wear and tear. Time had not only been unkind to him, it had carved it's passing seconds into his skin. Her stepfather had never been what one might consider an attractive man, but he had never looked so dead. Pale skin hung over that sharp protruding bones in his face. In the artificial light, the sunken depths took on a waxy hue. Stringy clumps of hair, unaffected by his reciting hair line, hung shaggily down the back of his neck. His cold dark eyes were drained of the dreadful intensity that haunted her in the dead of night.
Despite their lack luster appearance and his overall decay, they still obtained the same result. She was a teenager again, crying in the dark. The flesh on her arms began to itch unbearably, the irritation creeping up to her shoulders. Unconsciously, Reese caught the back of her left arm with her right hand, scratching from her elbow to her wrist in long digging motions.
"Reese?" She turned her eyes from her stepfather to Harry.
"What?" The frail voice that answered hardly sounded like her own.
Harry walked carefully towards her, putting his hands on either side of her neck. His thumb passed languidly over the racing pulse at the base of her throat.
"You need this," He said softly. A single finger lifted to twirl through a lock of hair. "After all that he's done. All that he took away. All that he fucked up. We're gonna take it back."
"Harry," she choked out. "I can't…" Harry's hands slid from her neck over her shoulders. The touch, which normally sent delicate chills to her spine, burned with revulsion from the burbling memories that had burst upon her and flooded every sense. Hot tears began to spill down her cheeks. He took her trembling hands in his, slipping something cold and heavy into her palms. Looking down Reese gasped softly at the small handgun shaking in her grasp. One of his hands still clutching her own, Harry walked behind her, positioning himself against the curve of her back. She jerked involuntarily at the intimate contact. A sharp breath expelled from his nose and fluttered the hair behind her ear. He reached down with his free hand, and closed his hands over hers, pushing the gun more firmly into her sweating palms.
"Reese," He spoke harshly against her hair, lifting her hands to aim the gun at her stepfather. "He doesn't deserve to live anymore. Not after everything he did. I won't have it." The fine muscles in his hands tensed around hers, drawing her index finger over the trigger.
"We can punish him," Harry's voice softened, as he continued to coax her into agreement. "An eye for an eye." A rush of adrenaline soared through her body, lighting up every nerve in its path. She stared down at the pathetic excuse for a human being, a cold smile perking at the corner of her mouth. Boiling hatred bubbled from all the dark corners inside her soul pushing raw energy to her limbs. This time he was helpless, and she the stronger of the two. A predator in the shadows.
What would that accomplish?
Reese stared wide eyed at the whimpering mess that had ruined her life. As much as her old wounds screamed for vengeance, it would never be an eye for an eye. Even if she killed him. Even if she tortured him. There was nothing, absolutely nothing that would change what had happened to her. Nothing could fix it or take it away. She would still be damaged goods. The only difference would be the new found title of murderer to tack on to her list of terrible qualities. Spilling her stepfather's blood did not equate the blood of her innocence.
"No," she whispered. The hands holding hers faltered a bit.
"Why not?"
"Killing him won't fix what happened," she answered, her quavering voice struggling as it began to find strength in its conviction. "It won't even the score. Nothing possibly could." She turned her head to look at Harry's hard set face, confusion furrowing his brow. Shaking her head, Reese squirmed out of his embrace.
Setting one foot determinedly in front of the other, she turned away from the disturbing scene. As the light faded behind her, she felt her strength disappear with it. Shaking, Reese leaned against a stack of crates. Her hand clamped down on her ribs, as she struggled to catch her breath. Blood pounding in her head, she listened to the sound of her own frantic breath. She rubbed a palm against her damp forehead. Two loud bangs exploded in the air. With the eruption of those sounds went the remaining strength left in her knees. Reese collapsed against the crates, hiding her face against her knees. She sobbed silently, her clothes soaking up the warm moisture.
"Rey?" Rubbing her eyes against her kneecaps, she looked up at the sound of her name. Harry was kneeling in front of her, small splatters of blood sprinkled on his cheek. The harsh edges gone from his eyes. His smile flickered unsurely on his face. He offered a hand. "I'll take you home."