Callum & Harper (Sleepless 1)

“No!” She said, frantically searching my face with her hands. “Please, don’t, Callum. I can’t leave you!”

“Harper!” I said, grabbing her shoulders. “He only has one bullet left and I swear to God if that bullet comes anywhere near you I will never be able to forgive myself.”

“And you!” She screamed in my face. “Will you-” She started but John came crashing to our feet just as we rounded the second floor.

Almost there, I thought. I grabbed the table leg and rushed him, swinging at his hand as he aimed the gun for my head, knocking it away. Harper immediately reached for the revolver but john kicked her in the stomach before she could reach for it, making her double over. I swung as hard as I could for his head but he leaned back just enough for me to miss and my bat met the wall beside him instead, giving him just enough time for his fist to connect with my jaw and I staggered back against the wall.

When I righted myself, John had bent to pick up Harper, sickeningly attempting to sooth her with troubling words that she made him do that to her, so I took advantage, swooping up my makeshift bat and cracking him over the head as hard as I could. John fell to the floor in a massive lump.

“Oh my God,” Harper cried, reaching out for me.

I tugged her to my chest just as the bell alerted us we’d reached the first floor and the doors opened to reveal surrounding officers, their guns drawn. We practically fell from the elevator as they swooped in to collect a very out, very heavy John Bell, the sickest bastard I’ve ever come across in my entire life.

“Thank you,” Harper said, tears streaming from her face. “You saved my life, Callum.”

“Shh,” I told her, rubbing her back. I placed my hands on her face, pushed the coppery hair from her tear soaked cheeks, and rubbed my thumbs across the salty wetness. “It’s over, love. It’s over.”

It’s all over.

And my stomach plummeted to the floor, a strange mix of relief and colossal regret.

Chapter Seventeen

I'm On Fire

Callum

Harper and I watched as two EMT’s placed John in an ambulance and drove away with a police cruiser following behind, a collective, pent up sigh came barreling from both our lips. The detective took our statements on the scene and we were given the clear to go home around five in the morning. We rode the subway in a dazed disbelief, quiet, and afraid of what this meant next for us. I opened the door to our apartment, closed it and locked it as Harper began a sticky walk all the way to her bedroom door. She didn’t want to sleep alone but didn’t know how to ask me.

“Come on,” I said, dragging her by the hand to my bedroom.

The room was pitch black despite the fact the sun was coming around soon. I need complete and utter darkness to fall asleep or it won’t happen. I closed the door behind us and felt around for my dresser, pulling a random large t-shirt from my bottom drawer. From the feel of it, I guessed it was, ironically, my Barcelona tee. I explored my nightstand with my hands, looking for the remote for my stereo. Finding it, I hit play and my Stateless album rang softly through the room, drowning out the sounds of the city that never sleeps.

I felt Harper sink into the bed and reached for her, pulling her across the top, towards me, and sitting her up. I pulled her hat and coat off, peeled off her t-shirt, and pushed my own on top of her head. I unlaced her boots and tossed them at the end of the bed. Shaky hands reached for the top of her jeans but she’d already started undoing them. I heard her slink out of them and toss them with her boots.

The intimacy of the situation didn’t escape me, nor Harper, I’m guessing, but undressing her in my bed never played out like this in my dreams. In my imagination, she wasn’t practically catatonic, or bruised, or beaten, or scared out of her wits. No, that was not how it was supposed to be. I peeled back my steel gray sheets and tucked her beneath them before enfolding her in my arms and we were both asleep before our heads hit my pillows.

A loud pounding woke me from a dreamless sleep. I sat up right, still on edge, glancing at my alarm clock, nine a.m. Harper sat up, but I pushed her back down.

“Go back to sleep, Harper.”

I got up to put some clothes on but realized I’d fallen asleep in mine. When I opened my door, a sliver of light fell into the room, highlighting Harper’s hair and neck, making me almost wish she wasn’t sleeping in my bed, a sad reminder of what I what I couldn’t have. In five steps, I had the door thrown open, revealing a distraught Cherry and an amused Charlie.

“Oh thank God!” Cherry said, reaching for me and throwing her arms around my neck. I lifted a brow at Charlie as if to ask what was up but he only offered a shrug. A slap to the chest brought my eyes back to Cherry. “Why in the hell didn’t you call us?” She demanded, hands on her hips, tears in her eyes.

I tugged her close and hugged her. “I’m sorry, Cherry. We were just so exhausted. We needed sleep so badly by the time it was done, we didn’t think to call anyone.” I looked over at Charlie. “How’d you find out?”

“The news, Callum. You can’t seriously think it wouldn't have made the news.”

“I really didn’t.” I pushed Cherry back softly to look at her. “Forgive me?”

Just then, Harper threw my bedroom door open wide in my t-shirt, nothing covering her legs and panic written all over her face. “What’s wrong?” She asked. “I heard crying.”

Well, if there was any doubt in Charlie’s or Cherry’s mind that we weren’t ‘together’, the sight of her would have squashed them. Ironic that shortly I’d have to admit everything to the both of them. She peered down at herself and blushed. “Sorry,” she offered, hiding behind the door and peeking over the edge.

Cherry didn’t care though. She pushed past the door and hugged Harper fiercely, closing the door behind her, I assume, so Harper could throw on her jeans.

I stood staring at the door when I felt Charlie’s hand on my shoulder as he pulled me into a slap-hug. “Jesus, Callum. If you scare Cherry like that again, I swear I will hunt you down and kill you myself.” He pulled away, throwing his stare at the wood below. “You terrified us.”