Collide

Chapter 4

Chapter 4

It had been decided. Liam would return with Niall, claiming that he was a family friend who needed work. Murphy was not pleased.

Connor sighed.

"Look," he had said when they got back to the apartment. "I know this isn't the best idea, but you know Niall. He's stubborn as fuck. If we don't help him he'll try to figure it own on his own. We've convinced him and it's our own damn fault."

"Not the best fucking idea?" Murphy growled.

Had he heard anything beyond that?

"That's the fucking understatement of the year! He's our cousin, Con, and we're all he's got left. It's our job to look after him!"

"He's not a kid anymore! He is twenty-one and you know as well as I that we started making our own decisions long before then."

"Yeah, but this is Niall, no-"

"What's done is done," Connor interrupted. "And you know as well as I that it can't be undone, so let's just fucking forget about it, alright?"

Damn, Connor needed a smoke.

Murphy stood up and grabbed his jacket, walking towards the door. Apparently his twin was felt the same way because all he said was "I need a cig" before he left.

Connor rubbed his eye with the heel of his palm. What the hell had he gotten Nialler into?

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Niall went straight into his bedroom when they got back to the apartment. He sat on the bed and rested his forehead on his hand. He realize they had been right, but he was still pissed as hell. What else had they been keeping from him? Did they really expect to keep him in the dark for long after he came to live with them?

Niall sighed. He was being ridiculous, and he knew it. It occurred to him he should probably go out there and talk to them, especially Murphy, but the next thing he remembered was waking up in his bed, his sock and shoes still on.

He sat up stiffly and yawned. Glancing at the clock, he noticed he had only been asleep for 6 hours or so, but it felt like the most rest he'd had in ages.

Niall slipped off his shoes and stepped out of his room. Connor was sitting at the counter nursing a beer, and Murphy was asleep on the couch, obviously unintentionally.

Connor looked tired.

Niall sat down in the stool adjacent to his.

"Look," he whispered. "I understand if you don't want me to do this."

But Connor was shaking his head.

"You're twenty-one and it's high time you made your own decisions. Just don't tell him I said that." He nodded towards Murphy. "He's just worried about you."

Niall nodded. "I know, and I wish I could help, but I can take care of myself." Niall had been in the police academy when his mother was murdered in a street mugging. He had dropped out after the courts claimed they couldn't prove it because there were no witnesses and not enough evidence.

"No, you don't understand. Last time we brought someone in, someone we cared about, they ended up dead. I hadn't liked the idea, but Murph was all for it; convinced me even. Now he carries that guilt, and I can't get him to let go of it."

Niall's stomach dropped. He knew Murphy was concerned about him, but he never imagined something like this had happened before. That Murphy still hadn't moved on.