Delicate

Chapter 76

HARRY STYLES

The mansions in Haven's parents' neighborhood are all dark apart from the street lamps lining the sidewalk and I feel envious of all the people surely sleeping soundly inside of them without a care in the world. I guess part of me feels guilty for waking Jeff and Harry to make them drive two hours in the middle of the night, but not that guilty at all, really. There was no way in hell I could have stayed at the hotel until a reasonable hour in the morning after getting that call from Haven.

"Right here's fine," Jeff mumbles to the driver as we approach the front of the house. "Thanks again."

"Of course," he gets out of the car to open the trunk and unpack our luggage, and I call Haven as we follow the path to the front door.

As promised, she answers in a whisper that she's coming before she hangs up, and we see the dim lights turn on through the windows beside the front door a minute later. She looks as exhausted as I'm sure I do when she opens up for us and I feel all the emotion hit me like a train all over again as soon as our eyes meet.

"Come on in," her voice is hoarse as she steps aside to let us past the threshold.

"Sorry about everything, Hay," Jeff keeps his voice low as Blue and Chester come dragging their paws over to us while staying quiet.

"It's okay, we can talk about it in the morning," she shuts and locks the door. "I can show you guys to your rooms upstairs."

We follow her with our luggage, trying to remain as quiet as possible as she gestures to the wide hallway full of doors. She explains that they can pick whichever one they want and that each has an ensuite with fresh sheets and towels, and we plan to go over everything in the morning like she suggested downstairs.

As for the two of us, we linger in the hallway so I can hold her for just a second. I can feel her shaking and hear her sniffling as she hugs me back and the guilt I feel is unlike anything else. I know it's not my fault in so many words, but she wouldn't have been in this situation if not for me. She wouldn't be shaking and crying at 3:30 in the morning if not for me and that's the only way I can see it.

"Let me see you," I hold both sides of her jaw as she looks up at me with tired pink eyes. It's obvious she's been crying this whole time. "You're not hurt? She didn't touch you?"

She shakes her head as her tears continue to stream under my palms. "I didn't even see her and neither did the babies. They were asleep until she started banging on the door and I think they were confused more than anything else."

Now I'm the one shaking my head, trying to work out how someone could be so sick as to think it's okay to intrude into someone's home just because she thinks we're friends when we've never met. What the hell was her plan anyway? What would she have done if I was home? All I know is that if anything would have happened to Haven or our children, I would have lost my fucking mind. I already feel like I'm losing my mind just picturing this woman in our house. It's disgusting.

"I'm so sorry," I use my thumbs to brush her tears away. "I mean–I don't even know what else to say, Haven. I wish I could have been there so you didn't have to be so scared all alone."

"I'm glad you weren't," she sniffles with her hands on my chest. "I don't know what she wanted and I'm not sure what she would have done if she saw you, but thank you for coming home."

"It wasn't even a question," I lean in to give her three soft and slow kisses, catching her faint smile as I brush my thumb across her bottom lip.

"We should go to bed, c'mon," she takes one of my suitcases to start rolling back to her room while I take the second one with my duffle bag to follow her.