11. Restraint

T urning off the main road onto the bumpy gravel-covered one that would lead to Harlow's cabin, Foxx continued his well-earned rant. "Furthermore, if someone is breaking into the apartment to kidnap and or kill us, why in the hell would they do it when we aren't there?!"

He glanced over, his eyes narrowing when Harlow started to smile way too smugly for his liking. Thoughts of smacking the bastard rushed to the forefront of his mind.

That smug ass smile in place, and only growing wider, the dhampir drawled, "Well, in case you don't recall, my house was blown up. I don't know about you, but if I want to blow someone up…I don't tend to plant bombs when the person is home."

"Fuck you," Foxx hissed.

Harlow chuckled. "I'll gladly fuck you."

"I love how you are acting like there's any chance of that happening in the near future while those cameras are still up. Let me quickly destroy that delusion. Think again, old man!"

The smile dropped. "You'll cave."

"Will I?" Foxx beamed.

"We could be blown up." Harlow huffed and crossed his arms. "Shouldn't that be taken into consideration?"

"Could be?! We have been, multiple fucking times, Harlow! One of those times was due to your buddy, who is currently stuffed in the boot!" he hissed, before taking a deep breath.

When he spoke next, Foxx layered on the fake sweetness, a sweetness that quickly fell way to sass. "Hmm, let me think of all the times I was actually the fucking target of a bomb. Oh, what's that? It was just during a case and not planted, and only because some human with brain rot decided to join a bloody cult!?

"So let's see…if I'm counting right, I believe I have a total of ZERO people who are out there plotting to blow me up, while you have had two, if I'm not missing anyone. One, who again, is in the fucking car with us! So are the cameras about protecting me or you?"

The dhampir's head tilted as he slowly said, "Both?"

"That's not going to work, Harlow."

"What isn't? It's true, right? I mean, if someone plants a bomb wanting to kill me, you would be an unintended target anyway. So, the answer is obviously both. Therefore, we keep the cameras."

"No!" Foxx snapped. "We do not keep the cameras! I do not need to be recorded twenty-four-bloody-fucking-seven!"

"But we will, because of safety," Harlow said with a smile.

Foxx hissed. "You are not winning this!"

"Unless you want me to be blown up?"

He spluttered. "I-I don't want you to be blown up!"

"But you don't want to keep the cameras that could prevent me and you from being blown up?"

Foxx growled. Fuck a duck… Was he going to lose this argument?! NO! He refused! Foxx didn't care if there was some logic there. He didn't care if he was wrong. By the Goddess, he refused to lose! Even if it meant he could accidentally get blown up by some bastard who was just trying to kill his asshole of a boyfriend!

"Oh, look, we are here!" the dhampir drawled as the cabin appeared through the trees.

Foxx took a deep, calming breath. "This isn't over," he ground out.

Harlow just smiled and said nothing.

Glaring at the fucker out of the corner of his eye, he didn't say more as he followed the small gravel drive to where it ended, just before the docks, and parked.

Let it go, for now…I'll let it go for now , he thought with irritation while he eyed the area. Lake Gallows was sparkling in the moonlight. In the distance, you could hear the sound of water rushing over Galley Falls.

The first time he'd been here, Foxx hadn't had the time to walk that far on the property to actually see it, but according to Harlow, about a mile back, if you followed the narrowing of the lake past the cabin, you'd run into the falls.

The cabin itself was built on a bit of an incline, and there was a decent sized green lawn out front. A large stone path led from the docks up to the two front steps. The two-bedroom, one bath house was only one story, and a mix of wood and stone, with a covered front wooden porch. Past the lawn and the cabin, the forest sprung up fast and thick.

While Harlow jumped out of the Jeep and headed around to the boot, Foxx reached into the back seat to grab his duffle, before quickly getting a blood bag out of the refrigerator that was built into the middle of the seat.

Getting out, Foxx approached Harlow, who was standing there with the boot open. The body bag with Micah in it was on the ground. The dhampir glanced at the blood bag with a raised brow.

Foxx shrugged. "Hate to have to feed the bastard, but he won't wake up without it." He looked over at the lake before his eyes flicked to the forest around them. "How close is your nearest neighbor?"

He could see a house in the distance at the far side of the lake, but the woods were too dense around the rest of the property for him to see past.

The dhampir pointed towards the lake, saying, "Nearest is that house on the other side. While noise does carry pretty well over the lake, I soundproofed the cabin, so…it doesn't really matter."

Foxx giggled. "Oh good, then we won't have to be quiet. Let's get Micah chained up and get this shit done."

Harlow hummed. "Scriptured chains or…?"

His head tilted. "You have…more than one type?"

The dhampir shrugged. "I have a variety."

"Well, Mr. Boy Scout, since he's been drained dry, and I only plan on giving him enough blood to wake his ass up, whatever chains you want will be fine. He'll be too weak to even handle rope or duct tape, for that matter. Though, in my opinion, duct tape is stronger than rope." Foxx blinked. "OH, do you have duct tape? Because that hurts for sure."

"Do I have duct tape?" Harlow scoffed, as if offended Foxx even asked, as he opened a hidden panel on the right wall of the boot. Foxx's brow rose at the rows of different types of tape the man revealed, along with various other questionable binding materials.

He giggled, and with a smile, he said, "So prepared. I love that in a man."

The dhampir grinned. "Which is why you should appreciate my camera installation."

Foxx's smile dropped. "Fat chance of that," he hmphed. He grabbed one of the rolls of duct tape and started towards the cabin, but stopped as something occurred to him.

He eyed Harlow. "I realize you may want to hit him for the whole changing thing, but…let me handle things until we get the information we need. You don't really have much control right now, and as sturdy as vampires are, you may accidentally kill him."

"Right." The dhampir grimaced and, as if the word was foreign to him, slowly muttered, "Restraint…"