He's a Keeper (Narry AU)

Forty-One

Words: 1405

My feet were heavy. My breathing quickened and my mind started to come up with the most hideous ideas to escape yet another beating from the boys.

As the group of guys approached me, I felt like I should do something. Prepare myself for whatever will happen. Whatever can happen.

It's not that it was the first time they threatened me. It's not the first time they actually hurt me.

Thinking back to what happened the first time, my body froze completely and shut itself out. The more I thought about these guys, the more I got unsure whether they are older or younger than I. At first I thought that they were younger, seeing they appeared to have this just-out-of-school look. But now that I look closer to some of the other guys, I noticed the facial hair -which no is not a sign that they're older, but it could be.

Once Jack was in front of me, his typical bad-boy smirk on his face and a cigarette in his right hand, he looked slightly down before he inhaled the toxic smoke of his cancer-stick and blew it right into my face. Making a face of disgust, I coughed a little and blinked multiple times to get the slightly watery eyes I was supporting dry again. Jack only laughed, creating this sort of chain reaction where the others would start to laugh with him one by one.

"Look at that, guys. The blonde doesn't like my cigarette. I would have never guessed," he said before laughing loudly and patting my chest, right on the spot where he burned me once.

Bitch.

"So, I'm going to ask you this once, Blondie. And you better give me the answer I want to hear," Jack threatened, taking yet another step closer to me so our faces were just a few centimeters apart. "Do you have the money?"

I swallowed thickly and looked behind him, over his shoulder to the group of guys.

God, how I wished Jack was alone...

"Yes," I answered once I noticed Jack didn't like the long wait.

He patted my back harshly and gave me a vile smile. "You hear that guys? He's got our money," he said as he turned his head to look back at the group of wrong doing guys.

Wrong doing? I think that's an understatement for what they really are.

Jack turned back to me, his smile gone from his face and his lips pulled in a thin line. "I don't like liars, Blondie."

My eyes widened, surprised that he knew I was lying. "You said I better gave you the answer you wanted to hear. I was just being obedient," I fought back. Immediately regretting that step once I received a smack to my cheek.

"Jack, I thought you said we wouldn't ruin his pretty face?" one of the guys said once I held on to my jaw, feeling the pain that will soon be a throbbing soreness.

Jack rolled his eyes and shoved my shoulders, making me stumble back and fall over once my feet hit the boarder of the street. I fell down onto the grass of someone's front garden and groaned when my head hit the ground. At least the ground was softer due to the muddy and slightly wet texture of the sand.

"I never said I ruined his face. To me, he looks just as pretty with a pretty blue bruise."

If I could, I'd pull him down. But I can't, so I shan't...

One of those guys stepped up and placed a hand on Jack's shoulder. "Jack, mate. I wouldn't hurt him on places people will notice. They'll go asking and I don't thrust this punk."

I don't like to admit it, but seems like he's the smart one of the group...

All Jack did was roll his eyes before he nodded. "You got a point there, mate," he said to the guy. Then he turned back to me, my still lying figure in front of him. He could easily kick me or simply just hurt me in whatever way he wants.

Stand up you fool!

Run!

Just escape!

Call the police!

DO SOMETHING.

My bottom lip started to quiver from both cold and fear. Jack stepped back and called someone over to me. I couldn't hear what he told the guy, but the last few words were clear enough to me. "and make sure he won't forget," he whispered. The guy nodded and smirked down at me.

"Let's have some fun, alright?"

...

Breathless.

My entire body screamed the word as I stumbled back home.

My left leg burned like hell. The feeling of broken bones changing places each step I took was almost unbearable. I could imagine my stomach yelling at me, telling me to take a break and let everything I ate today out because he couldn't carry the weight anymore.

Describing how I felt in one word would probably be sick.

I felt sick.

For a minute, I thought of calling my mom or even Harry to come pick me up and bring me home, but I knew I would have some serious explanation to do if one of them saw me like this.

Hell if it wasn't this late, I guess anyone would ask about what happened.

Lucky me, I guess...

Once I reached my door, I prayed to God that my mom wouldn't be awake anymore. It was already pretty late and I knew she had work in the morning, but I never texted her, saying I would be late home. So there is a chance that I get a rant once I walk inside.

God must have been on my side, because once I unlocked the door, I saw that all the lights were off and no mother anywhere near the door.

I let out a sigh of relieve and locked the door once I was inside. With my shoes long gone and my jacket lying over a chair, I slowly made my way over to my room and let myself fall backwards onto my bed once I reached it.

As everything floated back in my mind of what happened just half an hour ago, I closed my eyes and tried to relax.

I knew I had to shower and take look at the damage caused by the guys, but I couldn't get myself to stand back up and go in the shower. Besides, showering would mean waking up my mother, and if she knew I was only home just now, she'd definitely demand an explanation. And for now, my mind couldn't come up with one.

After a good few minutes, I decided that the way I was lying half off half on my bed wasn't going to get me to sleep. I stood up and went out of my room and into the bathroom, trying to make the least noise I could.

Once inside, I closed the door, switched on the light and sighed. As I looked into the mirror, I could see how horrible and exhausted I looked. My eyes were bloodshot, red and heavy from how tired I was. My skin was pale -well, paler than usual- and my hair looked like a damn mess.

In one word, I looked horrible.

I took a few minute in the bathroom to collect my thoughts and take a look over my body. At that moment, nothing really looked all too bad. Some scratches and some forming bruises, but nothing major. Though, I knew that everything might look worse in the morning.

When I went back in my room, I sighed once again and crawled in my bed.

Finally getting some well-deserved sleep.

//AUTHOR's NOTE//

Hey guys!

I just want to clarify that no, Niall did not get sexual assaulted in this chapter. I saw that a few of you were confused and I thought I should explain it real fast.

ANYWAY! I hope you all enjoyed this chapter nonetheless. I always try to give you in some way what you want to read, but sometimes you just gotta do the opposite to make a story interesting.

Hope you don't mind.

Question: Do you think Niall will tell Harry or his mom after this? Or will he still fear Jack and his horrible group?