Part of the Plan (Book 2 in the 'part of' series)

Chapter 23 friend or foe in the forest

Chapter 23 Friend or Foe in the forest

Harlow's POV

Karim was suddenly turned around, since I was holding his hand I was forced to turn with him. There was a rather strong looking person standing there. He was shirtless but he was wearing a type of denim shorts. He had short dark hair and hazel eyes. "I'm sorry to interrupt." He spoke in a rather deep voice. "This is private property."

I shared a confused look with Karim. "Really? I'm sorry, we didn't know." My first instinct was to apologise and then leave. However, that didn't seem to be what Karim wanted to do. The man's eyes turned to me, his expression noticeably changed. I couldn't tell if it was a look of suspicion or recognition that flashed in his eyes.

"I'm not so sure of that." Karim furrowed his eyebrows and moved closer to me. "This forest is going to be under construction soon." The man took in a sharp breath and looked down slightly. I had to stop myself from nudging Karim. We didn't know much about the plans for construction, we didn't even know if the land was being stolen from them.

"Yes, that's rather unfortunate. Considering there's people who live here." My eyes widened at the words. He was still looking at me rather strangely. "I'm sorry but do I know you? You seem rather familiar." I shook my head rather quickly.

"Uh-no sorry. My name is Harlow Forst." I held out a hand to shake his, I could tell that Karim disapproved but I saw nothing wrong with the situation. The most unusual thing about this man was that he was shirtless in the middle of the woods. Even then, that's not the strangest thing I've seen.

"That must be it." He nodded as he shook my hand. "My name is Beaumont. I know your brother." I raised my eyebrow. Maybe he was one of Aiden's new friends? I didn't like to judge on appearances but I wasn't sure if Beaumont was the type of person who Aiden would hang out with.

"My name's Karim." The snarkiness was clear in his tone. "Since nobody asked." I gave a chuckle, it was refreshing to witness that kind of attitude."Are we allowed to be on this private property? Or do we have to leave?" That seemed to stump Beaumont as he looked at us with slight confusion.

"Uh-might want to ask the owner." He nodded slightly but then the ndos became more confident. "Actually, yes that's probably a good idea." He paused for a moment as he started to turn away. "Actually, I feel like you should come anyway. These woods are dangerous. Aiden might want to have a word with you Harlow."

I bit my lip and blushed slightly in embarrassment. I wasn't a five-year-old, I could do what I wanted. Though, I had to admit that it probably wasn't the best of ideas to go into a wolf-infested forest. "That's more reason to turn back and leave if I'm honest." Beaumont chuckled but started to lead the way further into the forest.

Karim stayed beside me, holding my hand. I wasn't sure if he was still aware of this fact or not. His hand was really warm and slightly bigger than my own. "Stay behind me." Karim mumbled as we followed Beaumont into the forest. I nodded, he could be a murderer for all we knew. It wasn't a smart idea to go further into the forest with him.

He said that he knew my brother, that was the only thing which was keeping me calm at the moment. The forest wasn't too spooky considering the weather. It was light and the shadows weren't nearly as terrifying as they were if you were out by yourself. "So, what brings you to the forest?" Beaumont asked us in a friendly manner.

"Oh it was supposed to be a date." The words slipped from my lips before I could stop them. Beaumont turned and raised an eyebrow at us as my cheeks blazed brightly. Karim didn't seem too fazed, yet his eyes did dart around the trees slightly.

"Ah, sorry about this then." Beaumont chuckled. "It's not really the best way to spend a date." We started to approach a house. The house looked pretty normal from the outside, if not a little bit rundown. Karim seemed to tense up, I could feel his hand tighten around mine. "Aiden!" Beaumont called into the house. The sound made me flinch slightly. I was going to get into trouble.

I saw a shadow in one of the windows before it quickly disappeared. About fifteen seconds later I was engulfed into a hug. "Harlow, what're you doing here?" It took me a few moments to comprehend that it was Aiden hugging me. Karim's hand had left mine due to the force of my brother.

I laughed. "Could ask you the same." He moved away from me for a moment. It was definitely Aiden, he was wearing his red shirt which I begged him to get rid of a few years ago due to the fact that it was rather out of fashion, I'm pretty sure it was from the 80's or something.

"I guess we both have a lot to talk about." I looked towards Karim nervously. He just gave a sigh and a nod. Beaumont was still rather close to us but he was joined by a woman.

"Yeah, We'll let you do that." Beaumont said to us. "We'll go and tell Lathen that we've got some visitors." Beaumont and the woman both went inside. There was another man who was outside now. He had long dark blonde hair and green eyes. He seemed to stick pretty close to Aiden.

My brother looked between Karim and I, before he turned and headed back into the house. "Follow me to the best place in the house." There was a little bit of hesitance in his voice during the sentence but I shrugged it off. This was going to be interesting. My brother meeting my first date was not something I had expected to happen today.