invasato [h.s]

52

Elaina Basset

"I'm freaking out. There's no way this is a coincidence." I say, pacing my room as Harry sits on the edge of my bed.

We managed to sneak away after breakfast. I knew we had to talk about this—about the diner and what happened last night.

I pace back and forth, fiddling with my necklace and biting my cheeks in stress.

"Elaina relax, please. We're both gonna start growing grey hairs." Harry murmurs, just watching me.

I stop and look at him. "This is serious!" I whisper shout and he sighs and hangs his head. "We were at that diner, miraculously after the man that is now missing! And need I remind you that we were hunted down by someone with a knife right after? Tell me you aren't at least slightly suspicious, Harry!"

He stands up so he's taller than me, suddenly grabbing my arms to stop me from moving. He looks into my eyes as his fingers dig into my skin. "You're gonna send yourself into a spiral, stop it." he urges. I just look at him with parted lips.

"Listen," he says, "I know this is sketchy, okay? And you're right, I don't think it's a coincidence. But I can't tell you the amount of times I've dealt with sketchy shit like this. You're overthinking it because you're not used to it."

I shake my head. "I've had a stalker, Harry. I was almost murdered in a house fire." I retort as calmly as I can. "Don't tell me I haven't been exposed to this shit before." I say before pulling myself away from his grip. "And the way everything is lining up, it seems like it's all happening again."

I feel myself burning up, because everytime I brought up the topic of being stalked to my family or friends back in Denver, I was shut down—told I was paranoid. I don't want that reaction again, it makes me feel small and my immediate reaction to prevent it is to walk away and isolate myself.

"Then we'll figure it out." Harry says, making me stop the whirlwind in my head. I just look at him, I don't say anything simply because I don't know what to say. He takes a step toward me. "If something is really going on, you're not going through it alone. You have people to protect you now...so please, try not to panic."

My lips form into a tight line, coming close to a frown as I just shake my head and quietly mumble, "What if I put you guys in danger? Just like I did with Marjorie and Derek."

"That wasn't you, Elaina."

"It was because of me."

He sighs, looking down to his feet before flicking his gaze back up to my eyes. He takes my chin firmly in his hand, squishing my cheeks slightly.

"It was because those people had troubles that are rooted deeper than you can imagine and unfortunately you got caught in the crossfire. You need to stop blaming yourself."

I tilt my head in his hold slightly. His statement was so quick and confident, it caught me off guard for a moment.

"I'm scared that something's gonna happen tonight." I admit. It's been weighing on my mind since we got here, excluding the times I was distracted having fun with Harry. I know that this mission was meant to be simple and to the others, it still might be—but with the knife man and the tires, I'm nervous that one of us might end up hurt.

"I'm not gonna let anything happen to you." Harry says, dropping my chin and walking past me. He heads for the door, knowing he had to leave with the guys soon.

"What about you?" I say as he twists the doorknob. He stops for a second and looks over his shoulder.

"I'm the last person you should be worried about." he says.