asset [h.s.]

forty eight // hide and seek

Alicia

"Good, you're ready," Harry says as soon as I walk out of the bathroom, making me furrow my eyebrows as I notice him re-packing his bag.

"What's the rush?" I ask as I head towards the bed, grabbing a jumper he left out for me and pulling it over my head, sliding my arms through to pull it on.

"Liam got some more information on your dad. Apparently he's on the move, somewhere further up north, so we need to start heading up there," Harry informs me, zipping up his bag. I still feel quite hungover and only catch about half of what he said, but I manage to get the gist of it.

"What happened to laying low?" I ask curiously.

"We still are, we're just travelling up further and then we'll stay in a hotel until Liam finds out more," he replies, causing me to nod slowly, having to listen extra carefully in order to understand. He slips his bag over his shoulder and then turns to face me, glancing down at me before he raises his head again, raising his eyebrows expectantly. "I thought you were ready?"

"We're leaving right now?" I ask, my voice giving away how unimpressed I am with this decision. There's still a dull ache in my head and I feel a little drowsy, so I was hoping I could just bury myself under the sheets and sleep all day, but that doesn't seem to be an option anymore.

"Yeah, right now," he confirms, shattering my dreams of a lazy day. "Didn't I say that already?"

"Ok, ok, just hold on," I say, holding out my hands in mock surrender as my eyes scan the room for my shoes.

I finally find them over by the door and I sit on the bed to slip them on while Harry checks the rest of the room, making sure we haven't forgotten anything. As he emerges from the bathroom, I've just finished putting on my shoes and I slide off the bed, my gaze sliding over to meet Harry's.

"Ready now?" he asks again.

"Yeah....."

"Then let's go."

He turns on his heel and briskly walks over to the door, leaving it open for me to follow him out. I furrow my eyebrows as he leads me down the steps to the motel reception, making me wonder where this sudden sense of urgency came from. I know we need to be prepared and alert if we want to catch up with my dad, but Harry seems to be in some kind of rush, which is weird as it's obvious he doesn't like the idea of finding my dad, and that he's only doing it for me, to secure my safety.

Despite being a little sceptical, I decide not to comment and go along with it, because really, what else can I do? No matter how much I can act like it, I still have no control over what's happening and probably never will, so it's not like I can complain or suggest an alternative. The decision has been made, the plan is in place, and to Harry, he's just on another mission. This one's a little different though, because he's going against his own boss, he's truly risking his life for me. I wouldn't feel right questioning him about anything knowing that.

Once Harry has given the key back to the pretty scary looking guy at the reception, he leads me back out to the car which is still parked outside the bar. I feel slightly nauseous just looking at it and thinking about last night, having to turn away and quickly get into the car. I notice Harry smiling to himself as he climbs into the drivers seat, glancing over at me with a look of amusement.