Annabel's downstairs in the kitchen, her hair in a very untidy mess atop of her head and her shirt lifting to show her lace underwear that displayed a nice portion of her backside. She left Harry upstairs to make breakfast because her stomach was growling and the last time that he made breakfast he burnt the eggs. It was funny because he always swears that he's the best chef around and he always seems to mess the smallest things.

The thought of his cooking mishaps has the corners of her lips lifting into the smallest of smiles. Even though they've pretty much been confined to the house and they're 'hobby' has been put on hold for a while, things are pretty nice. Sitting around gets boring every now and again, but she and Harry have been spending a lot of time together and not all of it is centered around sex.

She's gotten to know who he is aside from his illegal interests and he's actually quite an interesting person. He's let her get into his head and it's a little scary, but it's nice knowing who he is aside from murder and sex.

Harry likes to believe that she hasn't gotten to him so deeply, but they both know that she has. It's something that they aren't going to talk about or acknowledge, but they both know that it's there and what it means.

Upstairs, Harry's laying on his mattress and staring at the ceiling and reevaluating the decisions that he's made in the past year or so. He's happy with Annabel, genuinely happy with something other than murder for the first time in his life, but at what cost?

Annabel was fine before he came along. Now he's fucked up her life and put her in danger in more ways than one. There's the constant threat of being caught and he's always, always liable to take her life away every time that they're intimate. And that terrifies him, he doesn't want to take her life away, but he does at the same time because it's in his nature and he can't just get rid of that constant urge to see the red in her veins and feel the moisture on his fingertips.

It doesn't help that the cops are keeping them under constant surveillance (and for good reason) and they can't really do anything because they're still searching the woods and looking for Madison. Madison, the woman that they're never going to find because he took care of that just like he took care of the rest of his unfortunate victims.

Harry's incredibly meticulous about his disposal process, there's absolutely no room for error. He's lucky that he's smart and that he scatters what's left of his victim's remains far from his home and in places where the cops wouldn't think to look. If he wasn't so careful, he'd be rotting in a prison cell right now.

Don't get him wrong, the sex is great, but with nothing else to do, Harry's had a lot of time alone with his thoughts. He's still haunted with the image of Annabel from his nightmare and he knows that he's going to end up killing her eventually. He's going to rip the life away from her with his own hands and there's nothing that he can do about it.

Annabel doesn't deserve that, she doesn't deserve to be another one of his victims, and she doesn't deserve his tainted love. While he's upstairs and dwelling in his thoughts, he decides that he's going to let her go now, before he makes things any worse.

Harry takes his time to wake up and to word what he's going to say to her. He doesn't want to see the look on her face, but he has to do this. He has to let her go before she takes his heart with her to the grave.

By the time he actually makes it downstairs and into the kitchen, Annabel's plating their food and humming to herself. She hears him walk down, he's not a very quiet person when he's not thinking about it, and a smile finds its way to her lips because he's always cute when he gets out of bed with his hair a mess and his sleepy eyes.

He's quiet as he takes a seat and she sets a half full glass of orange juice on the counter in front of him, it's his favorite but he doesn't realize that she knows that. It's not unusual of him, he isn't really a morning person and sometimes they just sit in silence for a while and enjoy the sounds of nature and the presence of another human being.

They're quiet for a little while as they eat and it's okay, but Annabel is a little worried because he's got this look to his face that he only wears when something's bothering him or when something's wrong.

She pushes the eggs around on her plate for a moment and tries to avoid his eyes as she asks, "Have you noticed how close they've gotten to the house?"

Harry nods as he takes a sip of his orange juice that doesn't taste quite right today. "Mmmhhm, it means that they're about to give up because they can't find anything that pins us as the criminals."

It's silent again as they finish their food and there's something about this silence that's different from the silence that they usually share. Annabel knows that it isn't something that she's going to like and she's a little curious and a little worried to know what's going on in that interesting head of his.

She doesn't have to wait very long because he's running his hand through his hair with closed eyes.

"You have to leave. I can't put you at risk for my own pleasure, no matter how badly I want to."

Annabel looks at him with slightly widened and sad eyes, a noticeable frown on her lips. She knew that he felt weird about keeping her around from the beginning, but he had her feeling like he wasn't going to let her go, no matter what the circumstance.

The silence is smothering as she bites her lip and keeps her thoughts to herself. She drops her eyes and refuses to look at him as she collects herself and picks at her nail polish. Harry can't make himself say anymore because he hates that he's doing this, but it has to be this way. It has to.

Annabel puts her dishes in the sink and heads upstairs. She packs a few things in one of his empty duffle bags and walks out the front door without a word.

Harry's a mess when she leaves. He throws anything that he can get his hands on and smashes things that he knows are breakable. He's pissed at himself for bringing her into this in the first place and he's even angrier that he let himself fall in love with her when he knew that he should never, ever do that.

On the other hand, Annabel is the complete opposite. She's calm and reserved as she drives down familiar roads until they turn into unfamiliar streets that she's never even heard of before. She feels empty and incredibly sad, but she refuses to cry because it's not going to help anything and it's not going to make her feel any better.

Annabel doesn't know where to go, Harry was the only one that really gave two shits about her and she thought that she was safe with him, so she gave up her apartment and kept everything at his place. He never hinted at sending her away at any point, hell, he told her that she wasn't ever going to be alone without him because she was his.

She ends up stopping after a few hours of quiet music and pulling over on the side of the road to sit on the hood of the car and watch the sun set. It's peaceful, but she's still not at peace with herself and what's just happened.

Annabel's hotter than she needs to be because the temperature is starting to rise with each day that passes, but she likes wearing her sweaters and it's a habit she's not really willing to give up even though she should.

She picks at her sleeves until strings are poking out of every possible space and the sun has already taken its place in the sky on the other side of the world. It's gotten a lot cooler since she first pulled off the road and the stars litter the night sky in pretty patterns that she's always adored.

Another thirty minutes pass as she thinks to herself about what Harry's said to her. She decides that it was too easy and that it wasn't the way that it should have been. She's not an easy catch and she certainly isn't that easy to get rid of.

No one's really out on the road that she's on, she hasn't seen a car go by at all since she started driving so far out, so she pushes the pedal to the floor and makes her way back to the secluded house in the woods.

Annabel gets lost a couple of times and has to backtrack quite a lot, but she makes it back to Harry's place before the sun makes another appearance. She knows that he's awake, she can see the light on in the upstairs bedroom, and she decides to ring the doorbell. He won't react well if she just walks in through the back entrance like they usually do and the front door will get him to answer because he'll think it's the cops.

And she's right, he makes his way downstairs and around the mess that he's created to answer the door. His eyes widen slightly when he sees her, but she doesn't give him a moment to say anything, her lips attaching to his in seconds and making it impossible for him to push her away.

He's in far too deep and she's pulled him back in again and she's hardly tried at all. Harry pulls her into the house immediately, shutting the door with his foot and pinning her up against the wall and attaching his lips to her neck.

Annabel's putty in his hands and yielding to his every move. Harry doesn't waste any time and it's only a number of minutes before he's got Annabel undressed and writhing beneath him as he takes all of his frustration and all of his worries out on her.

Her back is arching against the wall and her nails are digging into his back as his hips smack into hers and send her head into the wall. The pain only adds to her pleasure and she's loving every second of it because she knows that this means he's not going to send her away again.

She comes undone at his mercy, but he isn't done with her yet and their passionate moment continues upstairs in the master bedroom. By the time that he's gotten it out of his system, Annabel's in a pure state of bliss and she's smiling because she's just made it harder for him to tell her to leave again.

Their each catching their breaths and she's got his head against his chest when he finally takes a moment to speak his mind. "Don't throw your life away for me, Annabel."

It's his last attempt at sending her away and it isn't a very strong one. He knows that it probably isn't going to work, but he wants her to know that he doesn't want to take her life away and tell her that he cares for her without deliberately saying it.

Annabel knows what he's doing, but it isn't going to work. They're both too far gone and he's stuck whether he likes it or not. "It's too late for that, I'm yours and there's no going back now."