Atonement

•33•

•Harrison's Pov•
I look over at the beautiful girl asleep next to me, her hair tossed over her bare shoulder and her lips slightly parted. It's three in the morning but I can't sleep, my mind is in full work mode, wondering how in the world I'm going to keep this amazing girlfriend of mine safe.
She's my first real love, and I would die for her in a heartbeat.
My thoughts are interrupted by a loud explosion sound, shaking the entire house and a flash of light shinning quickly. I jump out of bed instantly, throwing on my sweats as quickly as possible and grabbing my gun from the dresser drawer.
"Haz? What's going on?" Aurie asks frantically as she sits up.
"Stay here, do not for any reason leave this room." I say, loading my gun.
"But you need my help!" She says, quickly grabbing her clothes to throw them on.
"Honey please.." I say. "Please just stay here. I can't let anything happen to you, not again."
"But Haz-"
"Aurie. I said no." I raise my voice, making her eyes widen slightly. "This door stays locked and you do not come out no matter what you hear do you understand?"
"Yes.." she says quietly.
I quickly press a kiss to her forehead, taking one more look into her big beautiful eyes before stepping out of the room, shutting the door behind me.
I run down the hallway and skip down the stairs as fast as possible, smelling smoke faintly. Was it a fire? A bomb? If it's Marcus.. I'm going to kill him.
"Sir, a bomb hit the west end of the house. Everyone's searching the area for who planted it. I gave directions to kill if found I hope that's okay." Orion says.
"If needed but I want whoever did this brought to me." I say as we walk down the hall to the front door.
Orion runs out to go continue searching, and I see the damage as I go to the west end of the house. A huge hole in the wall to be exact. The guys managed to put out the fire around it, but this definitely caused damage. They wanted to make a statement, and they definitely succeeded as there's a giant hole in our gym.
I hear the sound of my phone ringing from my sweatpants pocket. I already have a sick feeling in my gut.. I just know it's going to be him.
"Hello?" I say.
"Hello mate, really made a mistake bringing that phone back to your place didn't ya?" Marcus' voice rings through the phone. "Trackers can be quite handy."
"Well killing your friend got me some information too." I challenge.
"Take this as a warning." He says. "Just give me what's rightfully mine and we won't have any more problems."
The line goes dead, and I drop the phone from my ear.
"You guys won't find anyone, they're gone by now." I call to everyone.
I can't fucking believe this.. how could I be so stupid? I was so angry, so ready to get that man back here and question him that I didn't even think of phone trackers. I keep fucking up. I need to stay focused and do my job, and I can't do that while protecting Aurie at the same time.
"Everyone inside. We need to talk." I call.
Before talking with the guys, I run upstairs to check on Aurie and make sure she's okay. I knock on the door, letting her know it's me and it opens instantly.
"What happened? Are you okay?" She asks, pulling me into her arms.
"Darling I'm fine, I'm okay." I say. "I need to go back down, I just wanted to let you know that everything is fine now and you can go back to sleep."
"Okay.." she nods.
"Go to sleep babygirl." I say, kissing her head before leaving the room.
I know what I need to do. It's going to be the hardest thing I've ever done but it's necessary. I walk into the room, seeing everyone sitting around waiting for me to talk. One person is missing though, someone vital to this plan.
"Someone go get Tom." I say.
Eli goes off to get Tom and I sit down, ready to explain everything to the group.
_____
"Woah what do you mean you're sending me off with Aurie to California?!" Tom exclaims, pacing the room.
"I can't do my job if I'm worried about Aurie, and I won't stop worrying about her unless I know she's far away from all of this with someone I trust." I explain.
"And you think she'll agree to this?" He laughs. "You know how she is. She'll go off on a rant about how you don't think she's capable of protecting herself and shit."
"Well, either way it's happening. In order for me to think clearly when we raid them, I need her there." I say.
He simply nods his head, his pacing stopping.
"Okay." He agrees.
"Thank you.."
Aurie is very hard headed and strong willed, she's going to hate this idea, she's probably going to get very mad at me. I have to do this though. Three days in California wont kill her and this nightmare will be over with by the time she's back.
I check my phone, seeing it's almost five am, well I practically pulled an all nighter. My body barely makes it to my room, laying down under the blankets next to Aurie's sleeping frame. She rolls over in her sleep, her arm slinging over my chest. I rest my head against hers, taking in the last few sweet moments before she gets angry with me.