witness || h.s.|| ON HOLD

twenty-seven || it's always good to see the neighbors

the song for this chapter is Ain't No Rest For The Wicked, by Cage The Elephant :)

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Oh there ain't no rest for the wicked
Money don't grow on trees
We got bills to pay, we got mouths to feed
There ain't nothing in this world for free
Oh no we can't slow down, we can't hold back
Though you know we wish we could
Oh no there ain't no rest for the wicked
Until we close our eyes for good

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Tate

   Harry and I actually chatted some on our drive. It was nothing too eventful, just small talk, but I had to say, it felt nice to have a conversation with him without one of us wanting to rip the other's head off. For parts of the conversation, we actually were both laughing, and I finally realized what a nice laugh Harry had, especially when it wasn't about something messed up.

One odd thing I noticed though was that the closer we got to his headquarters, the more shut off he became. It was like with each mile that brought us nearer to our destination, another piece of him disappeared back into the hard shell that he locked them in.

   It struck me that probably none of the people he worked with knew about his more sensitive qualities. Perhaps Abel did, as he had told me before that Harry really wasn't that bad if you got to know him. The irony was too funny. I had been in complete and utter disdain of Harry when Abel had told me that, and now...I could almost see where he was coming from.

  Harry did have his moments, especially when it came to me, which was something that I didn't know if I would ever understand completely. He hardly knew me, yet he was willing to kill for me. I think part of that was due to the obvious fact that I was an essential part of his organization's current agenda, but I would also go as far as to say that the other part was simply because he cared about me.

  It wasn't like I found myself to be some unlikeable person, it was quite the opposite. I always tried to be nice to everyone, I made an effort to go the extra mile to make people smile, even if I didn't know them. In school, I won the superlative for "friendliest face on campus," so being liked wasn't something completely foreign to me.

   But being cared for by a highly trained assassin who worked for one of the biggest organized crime groups in the world? Yeah, that was definitely new.

  As for me, I didn't know what I felt about Harry. At first, I hated him. And I don't use the word "hate" casually. With every fiber of my being I hated, loathed, and despised Harry. I was terrified of him, I genuinely thought he was the scariest man on the planet. He annoyed me, with his sarcastic and rude remarks. I found him completely repulsive if I'm being honest.

  But now?

I didn't hate him, I knew that. As far as kidnappers go, I am fairly certain that not many of them would kill for their captive, or cook dinner for them or drive them to a quaint little Inn so that they could have a hot shower and get some rest. I wasn't as terrified as I used to be of him, although I'd be lying if I said that there weren't moments that he still made me nervous. But after what happened with that man in the park, I knew that no matter how terrifying I found Harry when I first met him, there were people who were far worse than him. People that made him look like an angel. And that was probably one of the most terrifying things of all.

   While I didn't always like his sarcastic remarks, I had to admit that now, I sometimes thought they were funny.

   There were no circumstances in which I would consider what I was going through right now was good. However, I knew that I could also have it a lot worse. I could have been kidnapped by someone like the man who attacked me in the park. Someone who wouldn't hesitate to physically and mentally break me in order to get what they wanted, and once they did, they'd use me to their heart's content, and dispose of me. Even though I knew Harry had done terrible, unspeakable things to many people, I also knew that he would never lay a hand on me.