19. Lucky You?

Foxx eyed Harlow. The human was driving, glaring out at the road illuminated by the car's headlights as if it had offended him. While one would assume it was the literal downpour causing the man's foul mood, or even the fact that they were back to work, Foxx knew it wasn't either of those things. Because Harlow had been pissy as fuck since the day before…after the whole Iggy thing.

Though…maybe it wasn't the Iggy thing, and it was because Foxx had woken him up in the middle of the damn night again. Well, it had been daylight, but it was their night.

Regardless of the time, Harlow had been woken up by him, followed by him telling the man all about his stupid nightmare. After which Foxx had sat there sobbing on him for hours. He grimaced, cheeks heating at just the memory of it.

As embarrassing as it was…Foxx…did feel a little better after talking to Harlow. He just felt like he was a little less weighted down. That being said, the human was pissy as fuck right now.

Though, he hadn't seemed pissed last night. Well, he'd been angry before they went to bed, and then when he'd woken him with his nightmare, he was not angry… But then, on officially waking up for the day, Harlow had seemed just as grumpy as he had been right before going to sleep…

Fuck a duck, he was giving himself a headache trying to figure out what the hell Harlow was mad about. "Why are you so angry?" Foxx huffed.

The human's gaze flicked over for a brief second before it returned to the road. "I'm not," the man said gruffly. Harlow reached into the back and snagged a water bottle off the floor.

"You are. More than usual."

Cracking open the bottle, the man ground out, "I'm fine," before quickly chugging the water.

"You don't seem fine."

"Well, I am!"

He tried to muster up some anger himself, but worry about last night had him instead nervously blurting out. "Are you mad about last night? About me waking you up? Is that it?"

"WHAT?! No! Foxx, I'm not mad at all. And if I was mad, not that I am, it would never be about that."

He frowned. "Are you sure?"

"Yes!"

Okay, he was less nervous now… But the human was definitely still fucking mad about something, and he was pretty sure it was about Iggy…maybe…

"But you are mad."

"Foxx, I am NOT mad."

"You sure about that?" Foxx asked, making sure his voice dripped with doubt.

"I SAID, I'M FINE!" Harlow snapped.

"Yes, because snapping like that does scream ‘fine' and not at all angry," Foxx said sweetly.

The human growled. "Foxx."

"‘Foxx,'" he mocked.

"Just drop it!"

"Hmm, no, I don't think I will," Foxx hummed. "You've been pissy since Alastair suggested…" he hesitated.

Thinkingit was about Iggy would be very different than confirming it was about Iggy. And it felt like he was about to step somewhere he shouldn't… Yet…he wanted to know so badly!

As much as he told himself to not go there with Harlow…he…

Something inside him needed to know. Knowing couldn't…hurt, right?

"Why are you so angry about the idea of me going on a date with Iggy?"

Harlow stiffened, the man's gaze slowly moving back to him. A shiver went down his spine. At that moment, he felt like prey.

"You are going to do it?" The words were a bare whisper, yet…they held so much rage.

"I-I didn't say that." And he wasn't going to, really… Iggy wasn't his type…yet… "But if I wanted to, I have every right to do it. We're not dating."

"Yes, but you are—" The man cut off, his eyes widening slightly. Harlow glanced back at the road, saying nothing more.

Foxx licked his lips as his heart started to race, not daring to look away while the human's expression shifted from startled to confused.

"What? I am what, Harlow? Finish what you were going to say. Why can't I go on a date with Iggy?"

Harlow's jaw clenched, the confusion disappearing under clear rage at Foxx's words, only to oddly snap back instantly to the same confusion as before. But what came next was…panic.

Harlow's pulse sped up. Each of the man's breaths were flowing in and out, faster and faster. With each second that passed, the man's panic seemed to grow.

Foxx had honestly never seen Harlow look so…lost…

* * *

Mine! You are mine! I'll kill Iggy before I let him, or anyone else, touch you! Head ringing and stomach churning, Harlow's rage boiled inside him as the words repeated in his mind.

But as quickly and swiftly as the anger had come, it disappeared in an instant. His head practically spinning with how quickly it had been shoved aside by confusion.

Foxx…wasn't his. NO! He was, Foxx was…

Why…why was… Why did it matter who Foxx fucked? Why did the idea of Iggy…going near…

Why did this bother him? Broken… He was still broken. The nightmares were gone, but…this wasn't him. He wasn't… Jealous… Was he jealous?

Ridiculous, he didn't…get jealous. Foxx wasn't… Foxx couldn't be…

Obsession—Tony had called him obsessed. Fucking…hell…

"Harlow…"

He gasped, his gaze flicking to Foxx. "I…"

What did he say? What could he fucking say?

‘Congrats, Foxx, you've been claimed by a psycho! Just a heads up, I may possibly try to kill anyone you date. Lucky fucking you?' Yeah, that would go over so well!!he thought with exasperation.

Harlow swallowed hard and tried again, still not sure what to say. "I…"

With a soft, hesitant laugh, Foxx slowly said, "It's fine… Never mind…let's talk about the case."

Harlow could tell that Foxx was giving him a way out of this fucking conversation, and he grabbed on to it with both motherfucking hands.

"Yes! The case. Humans, right? Why don't you see if Charity has, uh…sent the file yet?! We have two hours before we get there, but who knows? She did say she had cases for us, so maybe she already finished the write up and…things…" He finished awkwardly, and then forced himself to take a deep breath in and out upon realizing that he may have possibly been hyperventilating slightly…

"Yes…the case…" Foxx said just as slowly as before. The vampire eyed him for a moment with a frown before pulling out his phone and tapping away. "Looks like we are in luck."

Thank the fucking universe, he thought with an inner sigh of relief. He took another deep breath as Foxx sat there reading over the info.

"Some random house on the edge of fucking nowhere in Bolin, Missouri." Foxx tapped some more. "Ah…on the edge of a small cliff. That's new, and could be fun. Just three humans, all men. Their names are Dobson Brady, Chance Dillan, and Bob Bigham. All in their twenties. And…" Foxx's freckled nose wrinkled. "For once…no actual murder involved, but there is a vampire coven involved."

"Not many vampire covens in the states."

Most nests overseas were called covens. It was only unusual to find vampire covens in the US… Mainly, as to be officially called a coven here, they needed to register as one. The majority chose to remain a nest over dealing with the obnoxious amount of paperwork, and the hoops one had to jump through just to get what was basically only a label.

He frowned…wait… "If there are no dead bodies, why are we capturing them?"

The vampire's face twisted in disgust as he explained. "They've been harassing the coven for months. The three men's crimes escalating from vandalism to arson, to sexual assault."

Harlow's right eye twitched. Oh, he knew where this was going. "Did Charity happen to make a note of the reason we are driving three hours for a case that isn't even under our jurisdiction when she called?"

Harlow had been in the bathroom when the woman called, so he not only missed all the fucking ‘cutie' bullshit nicknames she loved to call him, but also any heads-up about the case.

"She…" Foxx pursed his lips. "She said it would likely piss you off." The vampire glanced back down at his phone and scrolled more. "Ah…there's a note… It says…" Foxx let out a hiss. "The bloody police refused to do anything about them, claiming that paranormals are involved so it's not their job."

HE KNEW IT!

"Fucking lazy ass bastards," he ground out. "Those shit for brains, gutter trash, redneck cops probably ignored every motherfucking report, call, and crime, until someone thought to report it to us, all because the victims weren't human. And because legal proceedings against their failure to do fuck all will take too long, WE now get to waste OUR time dealing with these hicks, instead of, you know, going after actual murderers. Bet the fuckers can't even fucking fight."