28: In a Burning Room
Zayn had informed AJ through Harry that their return home would be later than expected. He and Sonny agreed that his shift would end at ten whenever he worked (mainly because the restless crowd would be out late at night and he didn't want to risk getting hurt) and Harry and Mike (even though legally Mike couldn't sell anything, but he could watch, buy and pick up packages— something Zayn explained to Sonny for him) would only work when he did.
He and Harry walked through the door at almost midnight and AJ nearly knocked him over when she jumped on him.
She didn't waste any time kissing him and hugging him tightly, telling him how happy she was that he was home in one piece. Zayn just chuckles and carries her over the sofa as Harry just shakes his head, going off to the shower.
“Baby, please,” Zayn tells her, a little overwhelmed by his welcome.
“I'm sorry, I was just worried,” she says, kissing his lips. “And I know you told me not to worry, but I couldn't help it, I care about you a lot.”
He smiles at her and hugs her tightly as she wraps her legs around his waist. “I love you.”
She smiles at him, holding him with everything she has. “I love you, too.”
He laughs a little and kisses her forehead. “Can we go to sleep?”
She smiles and kisses his cheek, nodding. Once she untangles him from her limbs she grabs his hand and pulls him to their bedroom.
She closes the door behind them and Zayn pulls his shirt over his head, smelling it before scrunching his nose.
“What?”
“It smells like shit,” he says, tossing it in the hamper and then smelling himself. “I smell like shit,” he says, groaning. He pulls his jeans off, kicking his shoes off and then walking to his dresser to get new clothes. When he finds a pair of boxers, he grabs AJ's hand and pulls her with him to the bathroom.
“Why am I in here with you?” She asks as he lifts her and places her on the counter and then he starting the water. “You're a big boy you can take a shower by yourself.”
He grins at her. “So you can keep me company because I haven't see you all day,” he tells her, pulling his socks off his feet. “I missed your feistiness, babe.”
She smiles and pulls him in between her dangling legs when he's done. She pulling him forward, she kisses him. “You're right,” she says, pulling away from him, “you do smell,” she teases, kissing his lips before pushing him towards the shower.
He smiles at her and winks as he pulls his boxers off, letting them pool at his feet before stepping out of them. She winks at him, biting her lip and he steps into the shower. He closes curtain and turns the shower head on.
“So, how was your day?” Zayn asks after a few minutes, raising his voice over the sounds of the shower.
“Fine, I guess. I didn't do much,” she tells him as the fresh scent of soap fills the room.
“You and Andy do anything?” He asks as she hears a bottle pop open, a more masculine scent filling her nose, obviously a shampoo.
“Not really, just talked and stuff.”
“About?”
“Us, you, him and Deanna,” she tells him as she draws on the foggy mirror.
The shower turns off and Zayn opens the curtain, gesturing for AJ to pass him a towel from the rack. She tosses him on and he dries himself before wrapping it around his waist and stepping out.
“You talked about me?” He asks, amused as he steps in front of her, grabbing another towel to dry his wet hair.
She nods and pulls him to her as he puts the towel down next to her. “Nothing but good, I promise,” she tells him, wrapping her arms around his neck, playing with the wet hair at the nape of his neck.
He smirks, softly drawing patterns on her bare thigh with his thumb. “Mhmm, is that so?”
She winks at him, pushing his wet hair back. “I was telling him how I can't wait to marry you.”
He raises his eyebrows. “That's all?”
“And maybe how I was really worried about you.”
Zayn smiles, nodding. “I had a feeling. Well, if it makes you feel any better, we started working for him tonight. As far as we're concerned, he fell for it.”
She smiles and pulls him into a hug, catching him off guard. “So this should be over soon?” She asks hesitantly, but also hopefully.
He laughs and holds her in his arms. “Hopefully. Things went kind of smoothly, except for some reason he still want to kill me for being with you, but since I'm a hard worker he spared me my life.”
She stares at him. “Did he ask?” She whispers.
He nods. “Yeah.”
“I don't understand why he's so obsessed with me and not Andy,” she says, completely baffled.
“That's what I would like to know...”
She sighs, resting her head on his bare chest. “Can we just go to sleep?”
Zayn chuckles and kisses her head. “Yes we can. Let me just finish drying off and put clothes on.”
She nods as he goes on. A million thoughts race through her head of the man she loathes. Why would he care so much about her now when he never did before? And why not Andy? Why not his son, but his daughter? There has to be something more, there has to be something more than just hating Zayn and wanting his revenge for almost sending him to jail for life.
“Ready?” Zayn asks, snapping AJ out if her thoughts.
“What?”
“To go to sleep...?”
“Oh! Sorry, I zoned out. Let's go to sleep,” she says hopping down from her seat and leading the way.
Zayn gathers his things and follows after her, slightly weirded out. Regardless, he brushes it off and flicks the lights off, crawling into bed next to his fiancé.
He pulls her close to his body and she tangles herself into him, fitting into him like a puzzle piece.
“I'm really proud of you,” she says quietly.
“For what?”
“For being really brave and facing him in a civil manner.”
Zayn chuckles and she buries her face in his bare, shaking chest, kissing it. “Thank you. It's different, but doing legal things isn't that bad,” he jokes.
She looks up at him and smiles. “I really mean it. I love you, a lot.”
He smiles and kisses her lips. “I love you, a lot more.”
She smiles and kisses him again, tangling her fingers in his damp hair. “And whatever happens,” she pauses to kiss him, “you will always,” kiss “have me,” another kiss.
He smiles down at her. “And you'll have me.”
She smiles, resting her head back on his chest. He kisses her head, wrapping his arms around her body, holding her close as they slowly drift off to sleep.
***
“Jeans and a t-shirt are fine, AJ,” Zayn tells her as she races around their room, looking for something to wear. “It's October, it's cool out anyway.”
“I can't wear that!”
“That's what I'm wearing,” he says, grabbing her hand and pulling her into his body. “Please calm down, whatever you wear will be fine,” he says, trying to reassure her.
She sighs. “If I wear jeans and a shirt they'll think I'm a slob.”
Zayn laughs, “No they won't.”
She huffs, pulling away from him to continue her search. “I just want to look good and impress them.”
He smiles at her, pulling her back to him and kissing her head. “You could wear my shirt as a dress and they would still love you.”
She smiles at him and wraps her arms around his neck. “That's not very classy.”
He smirks, snaking his arms around her waist. “Maybe, but I think it would look cute.”
She rolls her eyes playfully. “Well, maybe later, but now I need to find something to wear and you need to get ready, too.”
He chuckles and leans his head against hers. “When I get out of the shower you better not still be fussing over what you're going to wear because I'm not marrying you because of your fashion sense, princess.”
She smiles at the pet name. “I just want to look like a princess.”
“You already are one,” he tells her, sealing it with a kiss. “Now, I'm going to trust you'll be ready by the time I get back,” he says, kissing her forehead before leaving her to finish getting ready.
Once he's gone, she runs around their room looking for something to wear, shoes, her makeup and curling wand. She needs to look perfect because this is her first time meeting her boyfriend's family and if they don't approve of her, they might convince him otherwise of their engagement and she can't let that happen.
Forty-five minutes later, Zayn returns to their room, fully dressed and hair done, to drop his used clothes in their hamper, only to find AJ searching for something in the closet.
He sighs and puts his things away. “Baby, please, don't over think this, it's just my mother and my sisters.”
After a minute of throwing things around, she emerges from the closet, carrying a pair of black combat boots. Zayn chuckles and shakes his head at her.
“What?” She asks as she sits to slip her feet into her shoes.
He looks over her appearance, loosely curled hair, minimal makeup—mascara and eyeliner to make her green eyes look bigger, if that's even possible, she's wearing an oversized, cream colored, cropped knitted sweater, a black circle skirt and black tights. He smiles at her and puts his white Nikes on, completing his look. “What happened to jeans and a t-shirt?” He asks.
She smiles and ties her last set of laces. “I could ask you the same thing,” she tells him, nodding towards his unbuttoned jean dress shirt that's paired with a pair of black jeans.
He opens his shirt and shows her he is in fact wearing a black t-shirt under his dress shirt. “Don't worry, I am,” he says, winking at her. “However, you look pretty; they're going to adore you,” he says, taking her hand as she stand up.
“Thank you.” She smiles and grabs a long, silver necklace from her nightstand, putting it around her neck with one hand. “You look very pretty yourself, in a manly way, since you didn't shave,” she says, kissing his stubble-filled cheek.
He chuckles. “Thank you,” he says, returning the gesture. “Are you ready?” He asks.
She nods, pulling away from him and grabbing a black purse off their bed that she already packed with everything she could possibly need. She slings it on her shoulder and takes Zayn's hand when she's ready. He smiles at her, amused by her caring so much about meeting his family. He intertwines their fingers and leads her out of their room, grabbing his phone, wallet and keys on their way out.
Andy walks out of his room, dressed in jeans, a t-shirt and a flannel over with the sleeves rolled up. He looks at them and chuckles. “Is black your color?” He asks, teasing them, manly his sister.
She rolls her eyes and Zayn laughs. “Are you ready?” She asks, ignoring him. AJ had talked to her mother the night before and she didn't want to meet Zayn's family on the same night, so instead AJ arranged for Andy, Deanna and their mother to have dinner.
“Yeah I am, I've been waiting for you,” Andy says to his sister. “You take forever.”
She ignores him, pulling Zayn towards the door as he laughs following behind. “When are you going to grow up, Andy?” She asks as she walks away from him.
“Never,” he tells her as he locks the door.
She rolls her eyes and follows Zayn to the car. The car ride is full of brother-sister banter and AJ asking a million questions about Zayn's family. Most of which Zayn answers and some he tells her to ask herself because he has no idea.
They drop Andy off first and stop in to say hi to their mother and Zayn's future in-law. To everyone's surprise, she says hi to Zayn first, pulling him into a tight hug. Zayn just laughs and gives her a tight hug back.
“Remember when she hated him?” AJ says to her brother, who laughs as they watch the scene in front of them.
When they finally pull away, she goes over to say hello to her kids as Zayn watches, smiling.
“Finally you come to visit me!” She says to AJ, who rolls her eyes.
“I've been busy,” she says as Zayn returns to her side.
“There's been a lot going on,” Zayn adds to her answer, taking her hand and squeezing it.
"Everything okay?" Anabelle asks, seriously concerned for their well being.
Zayn and AJ nod. “We're fine, mom, I promise," she tells her mother. They didn't exactly tell her what had been going on for the past couple of months and they didn't intend for her to fine out because she would worry.
"So, you're going to meet Zayn's family?" she asks the two of them as Andy goes off somewhere.
AJ nods. "Yeah, first time."
"Nervous?"
AJ nods. "A little." Zayn smiles at her and kisses her head, which makes her mother smile.
"I'm sure they'll love you as much as he does."
AJ smiles and leans her head on his chest. "Hopefully."
"Well, you two better get going. You don't want to be late! Andy told me earlier he was going to be spending the night with Deanna so you two don't have to wait for us," Anabelle explains to them. Zayn nods and they says their goodbyes.
As soon as they leave the house, Zayn's phone goes off. He answers it without looking at the caller ID, thinking it's his mother calling ask where they are, but it isn't her.
"You thought I wouldn't find out, huh?" a deep, too familiar voice says through the phone, making Zayn's heart stop.
Zayn freezes. AJ looks at him curiously, silently asking who is on the phone, but he doesn’t say anything or move a muscle.
"You know what I do to people who lie to me, Zayn. You have twenty-four hours to get you and your precious fiancé as far away from here as you can or you know what happens."
The line goes dead and Zayn drops his phone, cracking the screen in the process.
"Zayn?" AJ asks, looking at him. "Zayn? Who was that?" she asks, frantically.
He turns to her, trying his best to keep it together so he doesn't worry her. "I'm so, so sorry," he says softly.
She looks at him, very confused. "What are you talking about?"
He doesn't explain. He grabs his phone off the ground, grabs AJ's hand and pulls her back inside as she starts freaking out. Zayn ignores Anabelle's questions and calls for Andy.
Andy appears right away, looking worried when he sees the look on everyone's faces. "What?"
"Remember what they told us would happen if he ever found out?" Zayn asks Andy.
Andy's eyes go wide. "Shit, what happened?"
"We have twenty-four hours," Zayn says.
Everything clicks in AJ's head and she stares between the two of them. "Please tell me that wasn't him on the phone, please," she begs, tears starting down her face.
Zayn pulls her into his body, holding her tight and then turning back to Andy. "Call Harry," he tells Andy.
"Can somebody tell me what is going on?" Anabelle asks, completely frantic.
"Call the police," Zayn tells her.
________________
you all didn't think sonny was that stupid, did you?
how does everybody feel about me killing off a character?
also, i was thinking of maybe writing a sequel to this instead of writing the prequel to criminal, thoughts?
love you guys lots and lots. :) xxxxx
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Bullet From A Gun
Fanfiction[second book in the criminal series] Zayn hasn't changed a bit. He's still the same bad boy I fell in love with, but this time, he loves me, too. Sounds perfect right? Waiting for the happily ever after? Well, it's a little more complicated than th...
