Devil's Due [h.s.]

Chapter 23

**This was a double update! Please read Chapter 22 first! <3**

Chapter 23

"A rage room?" Harry's eyes were on mine, devoid of any emotion. "That's where you brought me?"

"Er... Yes." I nodded, suddenly feeling a little unsure in my decision but refused to let myself overthink it. "That's where I brought you." Quickly locking Moira, I threw my keys in my purse and nodded my head toward the front door. "Cold feet already, Styles?"

I would admit, the space looked a bit daunting. A big, unmarked gray building with boarded-up windows and no sign of life inside definitely wasn't a place that I'd willingly walk into – not if I didn't know beforehand what I was getting myself into. But I'd been here plenty of times and given Harry's notorious mood swings, I figured it would be the perfect spot for him.

Harry was still lingering by the car when I started to walk toward the front door. After a few seconds, the familiar sound of his boots crunching over the gravel made their way in my direction – long, apprehensive steps.

"You can just watch." I shrugged, pulling the front door open. A swell of air conditioning breezed out through the entryway, cooling us both. "If you're too scared to–"

"This just wasn't what I expected." Harry muttered through his teeth.

I watched him walk inside. Watched the way he carefully examined the area – searching first for every point of entry, before taking note of all of the exits and then darting his eyes over everything that could potentially be used as a weapon. It was something I'd started to notice with him. Everything he did was calculated – no move left unchecked.

For a while, I hadn't been sure if it unnerved me or put me at ease. I still wasn't entirely sure but would never outright mention it to him. I wanted to ask if he even knew he was doing it anymore or had just been so conditioned that it was like second nature. I wanted to know if he realized that his hand instinctively hovered behind his back wherever he went in case he needed to pull his gun at the last second.

"River!"

I tore my eyes away from where Harry's hand flexed over his waistband, readying to wrap his fingers around the base of his gun at the sound of the voice and directed my gaze toward the woman approaching the two of us. She emerged from the back room into the small, dimly lit waiting area where Harry and I currently stood, eyes darting back and forth between the two of us.

"Maggie," my face broke out into a grin and I stepped around the front desk to throw an arm around her neck. She stood a few inches taller than me – broad shoulders pressing against my chest, her buzzed head of hair brushing my cheek as she leaned down.

"Missed you, kid," she mumbled into my ear before pulling back a few inches to examine me. "How've you been?" She glanced briefly at the armed assassin behind us both, "Who's James Bond over there?"

"That's..." I winced, glancing over my shoulder, "Harry. He's a friend." Harry was still stood by the door – rigid and looking slightly annoyed.

Maggie released me, keeping a single hand braced on my shoulder while she angled her head to the side to look him once over. "You wanna introduce yourself, Mr. Man in Black?" It wasn't a surprise when Harry didn't say a word but rather clenched his jaw. Maggie turned back toward me with a small laugh. "He's lovely."

"Yeah," I whispered under my breath with a small chuckle. "An absolute angel." My fingers shot up to fiddle with the strap of my overalls. "That's, um," I lowered my voice a fraction, "why I brought him here. I'm hoping to kind of get a little bit of that pent-up aggression out."