Ace (HS)

Too Close

There were few times in Carmen Vicino's life where she was rendered speechless.

This was one of those times.

She could barely process the sight in front of her.

Her eyes were unblinking as they flickered between her father, who was knelt on the floor, and her lover, who was watching her with just as much intensity as she was. There was a silence that had settled in the small space of the room, a silence that was so deafening Carmen wanted to clamp her hands over her ears and scream. She didn't know what to do, for the first time in her life she felt like she was breaking into indefinable pieces.

Harry, and her father. A gun and a man with nearly black eyes, staring at her intensely. She couldn't wrap her mind around the fact that her Harry was in the very place she had been keen on keeping him away from. The soles of his expensive boots were on the very floorboards that an eight year old girl had been kneeling on, weeping as her father laid passed out on the couch. He was standing within the very walls she had been trying to escape her whole life.

Harry's nostrils flared as he let out a thick breath he hadn't realized he had been holding since the moment she walked in. His body was tense, eyebrows knitted together so the indent between them had formed. A multitude of questions raced through his mind and he didn't trust his voice to manage out the words. Crook, who stood by his side, was confused by the tension in the room, but was slowly starting to put the pieces together as he looked between his friend, and the woman who was standing frozen in the doorway.

"What are you doing here?" Harry was the first to speak, his low voice penetrating the pending silence. His tongue darted out to moisten his lips, which had gone dry. He watched as a flash of fear cut through the abyss of Carmen's eyes, and she glanced at her father briefly.

She could have lied.

She could have made up some explanation as to why she was there, perhaps sob into Harry's neck until he couldn't bare the sight of it anymore, and then make love to him for the whole night so he would forget it ever even happened. He would believe her like he always did, for he was blinded by his love or lust or whatever it was he felt towards her (she wasn't very sure anymore), and Carmen could move forward with the plan she had since the start.

But something in her, in that moment, grasped onto the lies and dragged them back down her throat, where they would stay put.

"I live here," she answered almost inaudibly, so that maybe the confession would go unheard. Her hands were shaking by her sides, tears threatening to seep out of her eyes. The air in her lungs had seemingly been stolen from her, her throat constricting and making it nearly impossible to breathe. She wished she could run away, but she couldn't; she had to stand there and endure what was to come.

Harry's face fell in confusion as he registered her words. Of all the things he had expected her to say, that wasn't one of them. He let out a breath, nodding his head slowly as he did his best to keep his temper at bay.

"You live here," he repeated, clicking his tongue against the roof of his mouth. "So this is where you live now?" he questioned slowly, his voice steady and his breathing controlled, despite the fact that his mind was still trying to grasp the situation. "After moving out of Stephan's place, you went here?"

The way he visibly grimaced as Stephan's name sounded from his lips did not go unnoticed.

Carmen was unresponsive, her eyes staring blankly at him as though her thoughts were elsewhere.

"Carmen, do you know this man?" Harry demanded gently when she failed to say anything. He motioned the end of his gun towards Carranza, who flinched at the sudden movement. The tears were streaming down Carmen's cheeks rapidly now, as though her walls were finally crumbling right before Harry's eyes. The sight of it made his chest sting painfully, and he fought the urge to drop the gun in his hand and scoop her up in his arms, cooing comforting words in her ear as he buried his face in her hair.