Was he actually going to beat Harlan? What the hell was he thinking?
Worried sick, I caught up with him in a hurry. Before Caleb could throw the first punch, I shouted at Harlan, “Honey, when did you get home?”
Both Harlan and Caleb were stunned.
I took this as an opportunity to close the gap between me and Harlan.
Trying to act as naturally as possible, I held his arm and smiled at him sweetly.
“Harlan, since when did you and Zoe become so close?” Caleb asked pointedly, looking at Harlan with one eyebrow raised.
Harlan’s eyes darted between Caleb and Zoe. He was clearly at a loss for words.
Zoe, on the other hand, was so embarrassed by Caleb’s implication that her ears turned red.
“Harlan and I are just friends,” she explained, twiddling her thumbs.
A N G E L A ‘s L I B R A R Y
Then she looked at me and explained, “I met him on patrol today, so I sent him home. It was along the way.”
“Oh, is that so?” Caleb asked, smiling meaningfully.
Anyone with a discerning eye could see that the relationship between
Harlan and Zoe was more than that-much more than that.
I bit my Lip nervously. Judging from Caleb’s demeanor, it seemed he was willing to do something reckless to avenge me. So I pretended to be very forgiving and said with a smile, “Harlan’s a great guy. I’m okay with him having female friends.”
The smile on Caleb’s face disappeared.
Seeing him like this made me feel inexplicably happy
“Zoe, thank you for sending my boyfriend back home. If there is nothing else, we’ll be getting ready for bed soon.”
To pull ourselves out of this sticky situation, I took Harlan’s hand and started to drag him back inside the apartment.
But to my surprise, Harlan seemed very unnatural and his walking was a little stiff.
Worried that he’d give us away, I hissed in his ear, “Don’t look back or Caleb will get suspicious!”
This seemed to knock some sense into him. He picked up the pace and we quickly retreated inside the apartment.
After closing the door, Harlan looked at me guiltily. “I’m sorry,
Debra. I didn’t know Caleb would be here.”
This was the second time he nearly gave us away.
I sighed and tried to comfort him. “It’s okay. It’s not completely your fault. If it weren’t for me, Caleb wouldn’t have come here.”
