Vice [h.s]

Six

Tatum's POV

"I think we have a lead"

I am still frozen, stone cold in the passenger seat of Harry's car. Holy shit. Is he serious? A part of me feels relieved, like I have been waiting for an answer for so long and now I potentially have one, but another part of me is terrified. I guess I never really thought much about this actually happening. I internally had assumed this would be a dead end case and that they wouldn't have more of an explanation other than 'this happened and we're sorry for your loss'. I don't know what it could possibly be...

"Oh..." I say as my heart rate begins to quicken. I can feel an anxiety attack coming but there is no way I can let Harry see me like this. I attempt to take a deep breath.

"How soon can you make it to the station?" Brandon asks. Great question, I'm actually at the store buying Plan B with my hookup from last night that I can't even remember because I was incredibly drunk.

I put him on mute.

"I need you to take me home right now." I insist. Harry raises an eyebrow.

"Is everything okay?" He asks, concern in his voice, his eyes burning into me still.

"Harry, we need to go, please," I say quickly, ignoring his question and unmute the phone. He suddenly pulls out of the parking lot, speeding onto the road towards the apartment complex.

"I can be there in an hour," I tell Brandon, holding my bottom lip between my fingers, fumbling with it out of anxiousness.

"Okay, try to get here as fast as possible, we have reason to believe this is a very time sensitive case. Are you with anyone right now?" He asks, concern in his voice.

I look to my left to see Harry focused on the road, his jaw clenched.

"Uh... yes, why?" I ask, trying to keep the topic of conversation ambiguous to Harry.

"This is extremely confidential. If who you're with tries to question you, don't tell them anything okay Tatum?"

"Okay," I respond, my hands begin to sweat.

"See you soon," he says, the line going dead.

I let my hand fall from my ear down onto my lap, still holding my phone. My eyebrows furrow together as we speed down the freeway.

"What's going on?" Harry asks, a stern and determined look spread across his features.

"Oh, nothing I just need to go help V with something," I lie, looking out the window and fumbling with my fingers, a nervous habit of mine.

"Tatum..." I could tell by the tone of his voice that he didn't necessarily believe what I was saying.

"I'm serious, she needs me to help her with something personal."

"Are you su-" he begins and I can feel him look over at me out of my peripheral vision.

"Please," I cut him off, begging for silence. I know I can put up a front but mentally I can't think about anything else other than getting to the police station as soon as possible.

The rest of the car ride is silent, thankfully he didn't continue to question me on the phone call. Once we get to the apartment complex, he follows behind me slowly as I walk towards my car in the parking garage.

"Tatum..." I hear his voice behind me, causing me to quickly stop and turn around in my tracks.

"What Harry?" I ask, snapping at him unexpectedly. My anxiety is through the roof right now.