33. Too Deep Already

"No, cause that dumb fucking asshole comes in there, with his dumbass wannabe British rocker look, and dares to not only LOOK at my partner, but tries to ask him out too! I don't even know why the bastard transferred!?" Harlow growled. "No, wait, I do know. The man did it to annoy the fuck out of me!"

Wes stared silently for a few moments, his face unreadable, before slowly asking, "And…has this man…Iggy, always invoked anger in you?"

"His idiocy caused me to lose sight of a fucking pedophile twice, and on the second occasion, he shot me. What do you think?"

"I see… And how did all of that make you feel? Just angry, or…?"

Harlow stared. "Did you really just bust out ‘how does that make you feel'? Really?"

"You are capable of feeling more than just anger, Harlow. Surely, that is not all it made you feel? If you compare how you felt during those two incidents with Iggy, with how you felt when he asked your partner out, do they differ?"

"Murderous."

"With which?"

"The latter."

Wes" brow lifted slightly. "I see."

He sees?! Sees what? "What does that even mean?!"

Fucking hell, this shit was so stupid. Also, in his opinion, he felt he should be rewarded since he had managed to not kill Iggy before making it to this appointment. Especially after it had been pushed back. It had been a long four weeks. Though…he could do it right after this… The day was still young. It wouldn't take much to kill the bastard. The killing wasn't the problem, it was the not getting caught part. That would, unfortunately, take planning.

The man wrote something down before folding his hands in his lap. "Harlow, have you realized that the changes, both bodily and mentally, all resulted due to things happening in your life in connection to your partner, Foxx?"

Harlow would have to be brain dead to not realize that. He knew Foxx…was responsible for some of it… He just didn't know why…

"Foxx is just…Foxx."

"Let's go back to talking about the recent case, dealing with those hunters who tragically died."

He'd rather not think about that case. Well, Foxx had been hot as fuck during it. It was more the after that he would like to forget.

Harlow sighed. "Why?"

"I have a reason."

"Sure, fuck, whatever. What about it?"

"You mentioned that you stopped Foxx from going out alone. Refused to separate from him. Why?"

"What do you mean, why? Last time we did, he was fucking kidnapped!"

"Yes, but that could happen at any time, not just on a case. How is him being separated from you now any safer?"

"Well, since you feel the need to point it out, to be honest, neither are a problem anymore."

Because Harlow had fixed the problem, both the one during the case and outside it, now that Foxx had a shiny new tracking bracelet. Though bracelets could slip off… Maybe he should convince Foxx to get a piercing…

The brat had already nixed the medically inserted one… Harlow, personally, thought the man was overreacting. Sure, Foxx's vampire cells may try to destroy it like it did almost everything else that was inserted—like medical steel and all that—but they weren't a hundred percent sure it would. So like, why not at least try?!

Either way, he knew Foxx was fine. The man was home at the moment with Alastair. Which he knew thanks to the security system he'd put in sending him a text with a picture each time someone entered or left the apartment. Foxx was safe.

"Harlow, the reason I'm bringing this up, and I really want you to hear me right now, is that you can't control everything. Life happens. Things will happen. No matter how much you prepare, how much you try to shield him, things will happen, regardless. And you really need to accept that, before you end up going too far in your need to keep Foxx safe."

Oh…it was far too late to worry about that…at least thirty-ish hidden cameras too late. "I have no intention of taking things further," Harlow drawled. Well, not unless he can get Foxx to agree to an insert…

* * *

Standing there,arms crossed, his full glass of wine sitting untouched on the table, Alastair stiffly said, "You can't be doing this, Foxx…"

Foxx spun away from his friend, his own wine glass almost finished in his hand, and stared out at the night sky. "I'm not doing anything."

"Foxx…go on the date with that other human."

He huffed and reluctantly turned back around. "No."

"And why the bloody hell not?"

"The question, Alastair, is why the bloody hell should I?! I have no interest in Iggy. I'll never have an interest in Iggy. Furthermore, there is zero reason to go on a date with someone I'm not even remotely sexually attracted to!"

If Foxx had known his fun gossip session today would have turned into an interrogation, he'd have taken a longer fucking nap.

"There are plenty of reasons when you are, right at this very moment, running head first into heartbreak!"

"Ridiculous." Foxx rolled his eyes and took a sip of wine.

"It's not!"

"Just drop it!"

"I won't. Not when you are having feelings for some bastard who will never be what you need him to be! We both know where this is going, and it's not going to end well."

"You don't know anything, Alastair. I'm not?—"

"Don't lie to me!" Alastair hissed.

"So what if I have feelings?!" The wine glass shattered, and he shook out his hand, glaring at his friend. "Aren't I allowed to?! Aren't I allowed to feel?! I like Harlow. What is wrong with that?!"

"Foxx, he's a psychopath!"

"So?! He's different, yes, I know that. I fucking live with him. I know how different he is. But that's what makes it so much better somehow.

"You don't get it, Alastair. He was there for me. He's still there for me. The words he says may be clumsy and awkward…" Foxx swallowed hard as tears formed in his eyes. "But he's there in ways that no one else ever was. And he just…makes me feel safe, wanted... Like he is willing to do everything in his power to not let me down."

"But he will… He will end up hurting you like everyone else did."

"He won't. He's not like them. He already treats me better than anyone I"ve ever dated!"

"Foxx, when the bar is at grave level, someone being better than that doesn't build much confidence."

Foxx sniffed and rubbed his hand on his trousers, uncaring about the wine staining them. "I don't get what you are even worried about. He doesn't want to date me. He doesn't have feelings for me. I don't know if he even can have feelings for me."

Alastair stared silently, his face grim before firmly saying, "Go on that date."

"I won't."

"Just do it for me."

"No."

"Foxx…" his friend hesitated. "What if…Harlow does want more?"

Foxx blinked. "I…"

"You'd say yes, wouldn't you?"

"I…" He swallowed and licked his lips.

"Foxx, answer me."

"Would that be so bad?!"

"Yes!" Alastair snapped.

"Why?!" Foxx cried. "Why would that be bad?!"

"Because he can't love you! And you deserve someone who loves you. So, Foxx Honeywell, go on that fucking date. I don't care if you don't like him, or that he's not your type. Because you need to distance yourself from Harlow before it's too late!"

"You don't know that! You don't know what Harlow is capable of. And it doesn't even matter, because I'm happy with how things are right now. Can't you just leave it be?"

"Go on that date."

"No."

"Foxx," his friend pressed.

"Alastair, enough."

"No, it's not enough. Because I've seen this before…you falling in love with the wrong person. You put everything into it, and I watch them give absolutely nothing of themselves back, as you end up a mess of tears and pain, devastated and confused as to why you weren't enough. Even though it was never about you, and all about them being selfish bastards not worth a damn.

"Except, this time, unlike the others, you know going in that this man has nothing to give you. You know that there is no hope for more. You are teetering with emotions for a man who we aren't even sure is capable of liking you, or anyone else for that matter, let alone loving someone. So, no, Foxx, I won't give up. So you might as well give in now."

Foxx sighed and rubbed at his eyes. "If I go on that date, will you leave the subject alone?"

Even as he asked the question, he knew he was about to lie. He couldn't—wouldn't—go on a date with Iggy. Because…just based on how Harlow had reacted already, he was afraid that going on that date, even if he had no intentions of taking things further, would mess things up between them. They weren't dating. Foxx had every right to date and fuck whoever he wanted. But he didn't…want to lose what they had…

Was that wrong of him? Maybe it was… And perhaps…the fact that he didn't want to mess it up really screamed how deep he was getting…

"If you go on the date, I'll leave it alone."

He turned away, taking a deep breath as he stared out at the sky again. After a few moments of silence, he let the lie come out. "Fine…I'll go on a date with Iggy."

"What?!"

His eyes widened at the familiar harsh growl. Foxx spun, spluttering, "H-Harlow…"

The subject of the whole debate stood stiffly near the entrance of the hallway, his face unreadable.

"Harlow!" Foxx cried when the man turned away and left without another word.

* * *

Pulse pounding in his head,Harlow slammed open the door for the underground parking deck. Entering, he didn't stop until he reached his Jeep. Hands clenched, he barely held himself back from slamming his fists into the hood.

Harlow took a shuddered breath, followed by another and another. After a few moments of breathing, he pressed his fists to the still warm metal, sagging there as he continued to take deep breaths in and out.

Staring at the shiny black surface, rage bubbled through his veins, even while the rest of him—his heartbeat, his breathing—calmed.

Harlow slowly smiled. It would be so easy… Iggy…had never been a threat. Just some fuck up who bumbled his way through hunts. He wasn't a threat, even now. But he was…in the way…

No, not in the way. He was just trying to touch something that wasn't his to touch!

Foxx was HIS! No one else's! No one else would touch Foxx. No one! He'd kill them all first. Iggy could be the first to go. He could make an example of him. String him up, skin him alive… He could…

Harlow's heart started to pick up speed again… Hands clenching further, his nails dug into his palms as he pushed them hard into the cooling metal.

"Fuck!" He sagged further, pressing his face to the hood. "Fuck…" Harlow repeated, softer this time, before sighing and pushing up. Rubbing his temples, he took another deep breath before pulling out his phone. Flipping it open, he dialed a number that he really didn't want to call.

When the call connected, he didn't give them time to say anything. "Wes…" He swallowed. "Either move up my appointment or prepare to help me hide a body."