Harlow was aging before his very eyes…already. But…it wasn’t like forty-six was that old by human standards, right? He knew he joked around and called him an old man…but Harlow wasn’t… He wasn’t old yet…
But he would be…eventually… All humans got older, unless something else cut their life short first. And while forty-six wasn’t old for a human…for a hunter…
Foxx grimaced. What if his back went during a fight? What if, in the future, it got the man killed?
No…no…Foxx would be there. He would stop it. He would keep Harlow safe. It was… He licked his lips. It was too soon for him to be worrying about any of this. Harlow was fine. The man had just twisted wrong. It wasn’t even an age-related injury… It could have happened to a human of any age.
Harlow was, and would be, fine…Foxx would make sure of it.
He reached up and lightly ran his fingers through Harlow’s hair. Laying there, Foxx couldn’t help but feel unbelievably content to be right by Harlow’s side. Which was odd. It hadn’t actually been that long. Not even a year had passed. Yet…somehow…
Foxx frowned. Would it be okay…even if nothing would ever come from it…for him to admit that he maybe…just maybe…liked Harlow?
It would be fine, right? As long as he didn’t tell him, or say it out loud… Foxx could admit, at least to himself, couldn’t he? He knew if he admitted it out loud, something would change between them, no doubt for the worst. But as long as he said nothing…things could stay the same. If he kept it inside, he could keep this contentment he felt with Harlow safe.
It was the best option, for sure. Because no matter what Foxx was feeling…he doubted Harlow would ever feel, or even could feel, anything back.
* * *
Harlow jerked awake,cursing as the sudden movement caused his back to tense. Swallowing down the scream of pain, Harlow took a few calming breaths while he blinked the sleep from his eyes.
He was still on his stomach, arms down by his side with his head propped up on a pillow. The position was awkward, to say the least. Harlow could also feel the weight of an ice pack on his lower back, but it was no longer cold.
At the sound of a whimper, he realized what—or rather who—had woken him up. Gaze flicking down, he grimaced on finding Foxx curled up and trembling, the blankets scrunched up below him.
“Ah…shit.”
Foxx whimpered again.
The man had to have a nightmare when he could do fuck all about it! Dammit…
“Foxx,” he rasped.
The man’s eyes didn’t open.
Taking a deep breath, pain be damned, he reached out, sliding his arm over the bed, grabbing onto what was in his reach—one of Foxx’s knees.
Foxx’s eyes snapped open on a startled cry, jerking from his touch. The trembling was worse than before, until the man must have realized he’d been asleep and that it was just Harlow.
Sobbing softly, tears spilling from his large aqua green eyes, the vampire wrapped his body around Harlow’s arm.
At the brush of a hand against his, Harlow grabbed on, interlocking their fingers together. “I got you, Foxx,” Harlow said softly. “I got you.”
“No, cause that dumb fucking asshole comes in there, with his dumbass wannabe British rocker look, and dares to not only LOOK at my partner, but tries to ask him out too! I don’t even know why the bastard transferred!?” Harlow growled. “No, wait, I do know. The man did it to annoy the fuck out of me!”
Wes stared silently for a few moments, his face unreadable, before slowly asking, “And…has this man…Iggy, always invoked anger in you?”
“His idiocy caused me to lose sight of a fucking pedophile twice, and on the second occasion, he shot me. What do you think?”
“I see… And how did all of that make you feel? Just angry, or…?”
Harlow stared. “Did you really just bust out ‘how does that make you feel’? Really?”
“You are capable of feeling more than just anger, Harlow. Surely, that is not all it made you feel? If you compare how you felt during those two incidents with Iggy, with how you felt when he asked your partner out, do they differ?”
“Murderous.”
“With which?”
