His Secret Bodyguard

Part 71

I looked over at the car, and stopped walking. I felt Harry grab onto my arm as the window rolled down. Not sure why he was so freaked out about being out here at this time, it's not like we're in downtown Brooklyn or something.

They spoke in broken-French. It was very obviously not their first language, and I only understood parts of what they were saying. They were asking where something was.

I started off talking to them in French, but they seemed more confused. I hesitated. "English?" I asked. The woman nodded, seeming relieved. "What're you looking for?" I asked. It was her and a guy who appeared to be her husband.. Harry was still holding onto my arm, and was facing away from them. She explained it to me, glancing over at Harry. Luckily, I knew the place she was talking about, despite not being on this side of town very often.

I had to think about it a moment, trying to figure out the best way to explain it to her. The street signs were pretty hard to follow on this side of town, and a lot of stuff was in French, and they obviously weren't very good at that. "You're going to keep going down this road. At the fourth traffic light, turn left. It's the second building on the right." I explained, picturing the place in my head.. She thanked me, and Harry looked over at me.

I saw her look at him, then over at me. I could tell that she'd recognized him, but she didn't say anything.. After another minute, they drove off.. "You can let go of me now." I said, and he hesitated, before slowly releasing my arm.. "So, you do know where we are." He commented. I shrugged. "Not really, no. I've just been to that place a few times." I replied. He nodded, and I glanced in his direction. He was getting tired, probably from walking. I sighed. "Ok, we can head back." I said, and he looked over at me.

"Do you know how to get back?" He asked. "Eh, I guess we'll see." I replied, turning around and going back the way we'd come...

After an hour, we made it back to the dark alleyway. There was a guy in a black hoodie leaning against one of the walls, smoking. Harry instantly stopped, and I glanced over my shoulder. "I mean you can stay there if you want. Either way you'll have to walk past him." I said. I looked forward again, and saw that the guy had seen us.. He stood up off the wall, and I continued to walk. I felt Harry grab my hand, catching up to me. I swear, he would be the one to get us killed, acting like a complete chicken..

We approached the guy. When we were a few feet away, he asked us in French if we had any money. I replied and told him we didn't, and didn't have anything on us.. He looked at Harry, who was still tightly grasping my hand.. We walked past him, and I listened for movement. I wouldn't glance over my shoulder. That would make me appear vulnerable. I didn't hear anything, and we exited the alley, coming back out onto the street..

"See? Told you." I said, finally glancing back over my shoulder. He was right where he'd been before. "What'd you say to him?" He asked as we continued up the street. "He asked if we had any money, and I told him we didn't have anything on us." I explained. He nodded.

"How far are we?" He asked. I shrugged, thinking about it. We'd gone into a lot of shops during the beginning of our walk, which added time, It'd taken maybe an hour to get to the alley the first time, which probably meant we were only about thirty minutes away..

"Half an hour, maybe." I said, and then laughed. "What?" He asked, looking over at me. "You. I forgot you were holding my hand, and now I think you're just doing it because you want to." I elaborated. He glanced down. "Maybe." He commented, a small smile appearing on his face. I rolled my eyes, but didn't pull my hand away, knowing if we ran into anything else, he'd just grab it again.

Hell, if a cat ran in front of us, he'd probably lose it.. We walked the rest of the way there, and Harry let go of my hand as we walked up the street. I glanced over at him, but he was focused on something else. I followed his gaze. There was a guy sitting in his car across the street from my apartment, likely someone from the media..  Harry pulled the door open, and followed me in; shutting it behind us.. I took my hood down, running a hand through my hair.