There was nothing I hated worse than the feeling of not being safe. I hated scare houses, I hated the rides at fairs that didn't have seatbelts, and I hate when my mother insists on driving. This morning when I was standing at the counter drinking my coffee I got the same stomach dropping feeling as I skimmed the newspaper headlines.
"Good morning, love" Harry's husky morning voice tore me from my thoughts as he shuffled into the kitchen and made his way over to me. He kissed my temple before turning and pouring himself a cup of coffee. He was wearing only a pair of black sweats, which were riding low on his hips, and his hair was still mostly in the bun he put it in last night, but a few pieces had escaped and were sticking out in every direction. "Since when do you read the paper?"
Usually when I grabbed the paper in the morning I would hand it straight to Harry and not even glance at it, but this morning an article caught my attention. I turned around and looked at him as he was pulling the toast from the toaster I had put in earlier and forgot about.
"Did you know there have been some burglaries in this neighborhood recently?"
Harry's brow furrowed as he pulled some jam from the fridge and started coating it over the toast. "A burglar? That's impossible I haven't heard anything about it." He grabbed a banana from the basket on the counter. "The only crazy thing that's ever happened in this neighborhood is when Mrs. Dyer brought her dad home from the rest home and he got into her liquor cabinet."
That was definitely a day I would never be able to forget. Mrs. Dyer didn't bring her dad home often but when she did he was known to be troublesome. He had somehow gotten into her liquor cabinet and had no intention of leaving any in there. It was a Saturday night and Harry and I had gone out to dinner with Liam and Sophia. We'd had some alcohol that night as well, making Harry especially cheeky. We took a cab home since neither of us were fit to drive and we were both having trouble keeping our hands off each other. We were both giggling stupidly and sharing sloppy kisses as Harry's hand kept creeping further and further up my thigh as he whispered things into my ear that were causing me to blush. It was obvious we weren't going to get any sleep that night. Little did we know it was going to because we were mentally scarred for life. When the cab driver got to our house we stumbled out of the car still giggling as the alcohol burned through our veins. Our euphoric state came to an immediate halt when we saw a stark naked Mr. Dyer cackling and peeing on our mailbox. Needless to say he hasn't been out of the home since.
Harry and I simultaneously shuddered as we relived the memory. Harry sat a piece of toast in front of me as I continued to scan the article. "It says here that two houses have already been robbed and someone has been hospitalized." I bit down on my lip nervously, thinking of places we could stay until this person was caught. Harry leaned over my shoulder, biting off a piece of banana as he read the article.
"You're right peaches, this is serious." My stomach twisted as as I turned around and saw Harry take another bite of banana, his eyes widening.
"What do you think we should do?"
He sighed finishing off his banana and throwing his peel the trash. "I dunno. Hide in the closet till this blows over, maybe get a guard dog. Oh! We could sneak Mr. Dyer out of the rest home and set him on the porch with some alcohol. That will scare 'em off."
I glared at him, watching the side of his mouth twitch as he tried not to smile.
"You're not funny Harry. "
He cocked his head to the side and smiled. "Oh c'mon. That was kind of funny."
I frowned and looked down at my toast before throwing it in the trash. My stomach was so full of knots I had lost my appetite.
