Gina’s eyes widened. “You don’t know?”
“Tommy is…” Harlow swallowed hard as the kid’s face flashed in his mind. The young boy, who stood there yelling fiercely, protecting him for reasons Harlow was sure he’d never understand…was dead? How was that possible?
“He’s…been dead for eight years now… I guess you didn’t see the news.”
His eyes widened. Eight years?! This whole time…he’s been dead?!
“What happened? Did that injury…”
“No…it was what came after that…” She wrapped her arms around herself. “The couple he ended up with next…they killed him. They claimed he fell down the stairs and broke his neck. That it was an accident, but I knew that couple… It was one of the few times that I was actually happy to be given back to my mother. I don’t know what went down exactly, but what I do know is that nothing that happened there was an accident. The husband…” She swallowed, her eyes having gone slightly glossy. “Is a police officer…so they got away with it.”
Harlow’s hands clenched into fists as his anger bubbled up, but then the calm came just as swiftly.
How utterly fitting it would be that his first two kills would be due to the very person who had led him to his first homicidal thought.
“So,it all came back around to Tommy,” Wes said.
Harlow blinked. “Yeah, you know, she hadn’t lied…they did kill him. They confessed everything, before I killed them, that is.” He grimaced. “Tommy wasn’t their first kill. He also hadn’t been their last.
“I think…the part that irritated me the most was that they knew they had killed him, knew how fucking close they had come to getting caught, yet…with all the eyes staring at themwith doubt, they couldn’t even be bothered to attempt to put on a good show by paying for a nice grave for him. They just bought a shitty grave marker in a crowded old cemetery, and left him to rot in a cheap ass box. Like he was a piece of trash they’d accidentally stepped on.”
Foxx gripped his hand, and he looked down, his brow raised.
The vampire was frowning. “Do you want to give him a new grave? I bet we could find a nice spot for him?”
Harlow smirked, and opened his mouth to say he’d already done so…but Wes spoke first.
“Harlow already had him moved, didn’t you, Harlow?”
He eyed the man. “Okay, that’s starting to get annoying now, and…creepy.”
“So, he’s right?! You did?” Foxx gasped.
Harlow sighed. “Yes, I did. I paid for a new coffin, plot, and headstone, and had Tony use his connections to have him moved, without the necessary legal papers or family ties that most would need to have a grave moved.”
Wes chuckled. “Sorry. Hazard of my profession. Based on the behaviors I’ve observed, and the way you spoke, I figured it irritated you enough that as soon as you had the means to do so, you had him moved. You’re in your forties, and I’m aware of how well hunters were paid, even before everything.”
“Still creepy. And I’m slightly insulted that you are basically calling me predictable.”
The human smiled. “You aren’t insulted in the least.”
“Yep, that’s annoying. Oh, look, times up. Get out.”
Wes laughed. “Can I at least take some sweets with me this time?”
“No.”
“Harlow…” Foxx huffed.
“Fine,” he ground out.
“Did our date really have to be at a putt-putt?” Harlow groused as he swung his club. He winced when the ball went flying.
The thing looked to be an actual hazard as it pierced into and out of the plastic mountain of ice cream, where it then kept going, breaking down a small metal sign, right before it finally embedded into a far retaining wall. Even from this distance, he could see the chunk of cement and plaster that crumbled to the ground when it hit.
“Yes,” Foxx snapped, and he pointed towards his ball that was now a wall fixture. “Because of THAT right there! And this date will last all day if it has to! Until you start figuring out how to hold back!”
He eyed the vampire. The sun was up, so the man was dressed in a simple brown bear sunsuit. But he knew that underneath, Foxx was looking very coordinated, clothing wise. Under the onesie, the vampire had on a light purple sweater, and patchwork overalls that bunched at the ankles like sweatpants did. Color wise, the patches were different shades of green andpurple, and while some blocks were solid, others had flowers and vines in them. To go with it, Foxx had a puffy cap that was green and brown patchwork, which sort of matched both the overalls and his brown boots, but that had been left in his Jeep.
