Do I Wanna Know?

Chapter 22

To my very serious statement, Harry's mouth twitched up into a smile before he cleared his throat to stifle his laugh. "Break up? No. Not an option."

"What do you mean, no? It wasn't a question, Harry."

"I understand, Grace," he said my name with equal disdain. "But I'm saying no."

"Look," I sighed and rubbed my whole face with my hands. "I meant it when I said I won't tell anyone because I don't exactly wanna end up like Peter, but that doesn't mean I wanna be a part of your life now."

"Why not? You think I'm gonna treat you differently now or something? If I wanted to hurt you, I think we both know I could have done that a long time ago, sweetheart."

"Yeah, well that was before I knew you were capable of murder."

"What part of 'I would never hurt you' do you not understand, Grace?"

When he stepped forward, I stepped back. "I don't know if I believe that, Harry. You scare me now and I don't think I can just not be scared after what I saw tonight. No sane woman would just be okay with this."

I think he felt like he was running out of options as he sighed and rubbed the side of his jaw, but I still really had a hard time believing he was just going to let me gather my things and leave. Not after what I witnessed in the alley tonight.

"How about this," he started. "You let me take you on a trip, we get out of Los Angeles, I don't pick up my phone for anything or anyone, and I explain everything to you from the very beginning up until what happened tonight."

I'll admit the offer was tempting for a lot of different reasons, the biggest one being that I had never been out of California before, but I knew exactly how this would go. He would take me somewhere exotic and swoon-worthy, and he'd seduce all the fear right out of me.

"Why can't we do that here in Los Angeles where at least a couple of people would notice if I went missing?"

"Jesus Christ, Grace," he muttered as he pinched at the bridge of his nose. "You can tell Claudia where I'm taking you–"

"Claudia," I gasped. "She doesn't know either."

"No, Grace," Harry got suddenly very serious. "You cannot tell Claudia anything. If Zayn wants to tell her, that's his own business, but you will not."

"Harry!" I scoffed with my arms out. "I set my best friend up with a fucking hitman! She wants to fuck him all the time! Which includes after her shift tonight, after he stabbed a man to death!"

"Zayn's not fucking anyone tonight, he's working."

My shoulders fell as I started to laugh again, and I think I was losing it. Maybe I was still in shock. "Oh my God. You're crazy. You're a lunatic. I slept with a fucking drug lord murderer, and I called you daddy!"

Harry's brows were raised as he watched me have my little meltdown, and I almost believed I was scaring him more than he was scaring me. "Are you laughing or crying? Because I can't really tell right now."

"I don't know, I need to get the fuck out of here," I tried walking past him, which I should have known was pointless when he grabbed me by my shoulders.

"This is your house, Grace," he reminded me. "Where do you think you're gonna go? Back to your meth head father?"

"No, no, no, no," I gently pushed his hands away. "This is not my house. I'm not responsible for any of this shit in here. When the FBI comes kicking down your door, I will play so dumb that you wouldn't even believe it was me."