Always A Pleasure || H.S. [COMPLETE]

Ninety-One

08.31.2023 — This is a chapter in a three part update, along with chapters 90 & 92. Make sure to read chapter 90 first!

"Sir!" Harry heard and his vision snapped to Harris who was looking past the barricade.

Harry's vision shot in that direction and watched as Bates carried a crying child out of the building. The tiny bit of relief Harry felt at seeing his second-in-charge was only replaced with anger when he didn't immediately see Katherine by his side.

That mother fucker better have gone back to find her, or the thin ice he was currently on would be water under his fucking feet with cement blocks tied to his ankles.

Harry's eyes caught a moment later to a wild head of blonde hair that appeared at the doorway. Katherine. Relief flooded him in an instant and he felt tears sting in the back of his eyes. He had never felt such a mixture of emotions at one time.

Katherine was helping a frazzled-looking elderly woman with a walker out of the building. His heart bled for her kind soul. His angel.

In an instant, he found himself bypassing the barricades, ignoring the police shouting from behind him as he ran to her.

"Katherine!" Harry shouted, watching as she registered her name and looked in the direction of his voice.

When her eyes landed on him, a smile shone brightly on her face. In the next second, Harry was in front of her, cupping her face with his hands before pressing his lips tightly to hers. And then he was tugging her body to his in a vice grip, causing her to giggle as she squirmed in his arms.

"I'm alright, Harry. I'm okay," she told him, and just hearing her voice, knowing that she was real and alive, that she was okay was enough to get him to loosen his grip on her. But he didn't let her go.

"Dieu merci. I was so scared, angel. I was so scared," he cooed, cupping her cheeks again, looking deeply into her eyes.

His vision hastily darted across her whole face a moment later, silently making sure that not a hair on her head was out of place.

"Me too," she agreed, leaning up on her tiptoes to kiss his lips again.

"You're okay? You're in one piece? You weren't hurt, were you? I'm taking you to the hospital," he told her in a rapid array of questions.

"Harry, Harry. I'm fine. I don't need to go to the hospital," she snickered, smiling up at him.

"I'm taking you to the hospital to get you checked out, Katherine," he told her in a no nonsense sort of way.

There would be no way in hell they would be going home until Katherine walked out of the hospital with a clean bill of health.

"Harry, they're probably busy right now. I don't want to take up an ER bed, or take away a doctor or nurse from an actual patient," Katherine tried to reason with him.

"I'll call my doctor. He'll come to the flat," Harry compromised, pulling his phone out of his pocket.

"Harris!" Harry snapped and his number one was at his side in a second.

"Yes, sir," Harris answered obediently.

"Call Dr. Mills and get him to the flat as soon as possible. Tell him I'll pay him triple," Harry barked the order.

"Harry, stop it," Katherine told him, rolling her eyes.

"You should get checked out," Bates said, walking up to them after handing off the child he brought out of the building to a police officer.

"Why? What happened in there?" Harry asked, silently panicking as his attention fell on Bates in a split-second.

"What happened to you, mon ange?" Harry asked Katherine before Bates even had a chance to speak.

"No. Nothing physically happened. But it was a traumatic experience. I should have been there," Bates said, focusing his attention on Katherine.

"Yes, you should have fucking been there," Harry growled through his teeth.

"Harry, stop. Derek, you couldn't have known what would happen. Don't beat yourself up. You found me when you could," Katherine reassured him.

Her calling him 'Derek' grated on his nerves, but he didn't have the heart to say it out loud. Not after what she'd just been through.

"C'mon, Katherine. We're going home," Harry said, gently placing his hand on the back of her arm to guide her.

"I should probably talk to the police... you know, make a statement," Katherine tried to protest.

"They'll call if they need anything from you," Harry insisted, which caused her to protest again.

"The police commissioner has my number. He will call if he has questions," he said insistently, which caused a look of disbelief to cross Katherine's face.

"Fancy, hot-shot man," Katherine chuckled as Harry guided her back behind the barricade and toward the spot where he left the car.

He figured it was a good sign that she was teasing him. It meant that she wasn't as traumatized as she could have been. He just hoped like hell that she didn't have to see any of the carnage. At least eight souls lost.

Harry could hear Harris on the phone with the doctor from behind them as they turned the corner to find that the car was still in the same spot Harry left it.

"Uh, I don't think I'll be getting the SUV out of the parking garage anytime soon," Bates said from behind them as Harry opened the passenger door to the car for Katherine.

"Get in," Harry grunted at Bates as he nodded his head toward the back seat. He should leave his ass to walk the fuck home, but he was feeling benevolent now that he had his angel back.

Harry helped Katherine into the front seat even after she told him she could get in the car by herself. He even went as far as putting her seat belt on for her before he safely closed the door and made his way to the driver seat.

Both Harris and Bates were crammed in the back seat of the sports car as Harry flipped a u-turn and began driving them back to the flat.

All he wanted to do was hold Katherine in his arms and not let her go.