Valerie’s POV:
“Calder?” Louis asked, his voice cracking a little. Uh oh…
“Yep,” Richard said, “Something the matter?”
“Uh, no,” Louis said, “Um, would you happen to know an Eleanor Calder?”
“Yeah, she’s my niece,” Richard said, “Wait a minute, I know you. You’re in that band One Direction. You and El used to date too, right?”
“Yeah,” Louis said. This was seriously getting a little awkward. I cleared my throat and Richard turned to me. A creepy smile spread across his face when he saw me. I cringed back; even that smile looked familiar.
“You must be Valerie,” he said and I shivered. Where have I heard that voice before? He held out his hand and I shook it. He held on a little too tight for a little too long. Louis cleared his throat and Richard let go of my hand. Sophie looked between the three of us, confusion the dominant feature on her face.
“Okay, so let me get this straight,” she said, “Richard is Louis’s ex girlfriend’s uncle?” Louis and Richard nodded. Sophie nodded and the confusion turned to discomfort. There was an awkward silence that lasted for a minute. It ended when Rex sneezed.
“Aww,” Sophie and I cooed. I walked over to Sophie and leaned over Rex and rubbed his belly. Rex kicked his leg and he barked. I smiled.
“Isn’t he the cutest?” Sophie asked me.
“He is,” I said. I tickled Rex and he squirmed in Sophie’s arms. Louis went to play with one of the other puppies while Sophie and I played with Rex.
I had completely forgotten about Richard; I only remembered his presence when I felt someone’s breath on the back of my neck.
“Hey there Valerie,” he hissed in my ear, “Don’t you remember me?” I turned around to find Richard’s face only a few inches away from mine. I backed away from him.
“Um, no,” I said, “I can’t say that I do.” I looked over to Louis who was looking down at one of the puppies.
“You don’t remember all the fun we had together?” Richard said, “Didn’t the past three years mean anything to you?” It took a moment for what he had said to sink in, and when it did, my mind started racing.
“You… you’re…” I couldn’t form a complete sentence. I looked over at Louis again. He had noticed Richard and he was walking over to us.
“What’s going on here?” he asked when he reached us. He put his arm around me and he calmed me down. I had to tell him…
“Louis, Richard is…”
“Just telling Valerie about some of the puppies,” Richard cut me off. Louis didn’t look convinced. He looked down at me, his eyes asking for the truth. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Richard glaring at me, the look on his face clearly saying that I couldn’t tell Louis without repercussions. I gulped.
“Yeah,” I said, weakly, “That’s all that’s going on.” Louis nodded slowly, still not buying it entirely, but he didn’t say anything else.
The rest of the time we were in the dog room, I stayed close to Louis. When it was time for us to leave, however, Richard stopped us.
“Louis, could I speak to Valerie for a moment?” Richard asked. Louis tightened his grip around me.
“Yes?” Louis asked.
“Could I speak to her, alone?” Louis slowly nodded and let go of me. He went over to Sophie to say goodbye to her, but he kept glancing over to me.
“What do you want Richard?” I asked, crossing my arms.
“Oh, now don’t be like that,” Richard said, his voice sickeningly sweet, “I just wanted you to know, that if you tell that precious boyfriend of yours about me, well, let’s just say, things won’t end well.” My eyes widened and I gulped. I nodded and Richard smiled, “Now, run along Valerie, you don’t want your boy to worry.”
I walked over to Louis and he wrapped his arm around my waist.
“We should be going now,” Louis said. Sophie nodded.
“Oh, before you go,” she said, “Could you sign this?” She pulled out a pad of paper and a pen. Louis signed it quickly and we said our goodbyes to Sophie. Richard was nowhere to be found.
When we were outside the shelter, Louis pulled me closer to him.
“What was that all about?” he asked.
“With Richard?” I asked and Louis nodded. I really wanted to tell him, and I hated to lie, but I really didn’t have a choice here, “Oh, I was talking to him about maybe adopting Darcy for Harry. Those two are so alike, it’s like Harry’s meant to have her.”
“I suppose you’re right on that one,” Louis said. I was relieved; it seemed like he believed the lie. But I couldn’t help but feel guilty about lying to him. Then, a thought occurred to me. Richard had only said I couldn’t tell Louis, but that didn’t mean I couldn’t tell Harry.
The rest of the way to the flat Louis and I talked about almost anything that came to mind and by the time we were standing outside of the flat, we were laughing at a story Louis had told. We stopped walking and Louis turned to face me. We looked into each others’ eyes for a moment. Louis brushed a stray piece of hair out of my face.
“I really had a great time tonight,” he said.
“I did too.” And it was the truth; if I could ignore the parts with Richard, it had been an amazing night. Our faces were an inch apart and I could feel his breath on my lips.
Louis closed the gap between us and when our lips met, fireworks exploded. The kiss was perfect. Sweet, but passionate at the same time. If either of us had any doubts about how we felt about each other, the kiss erased them. For a moment, nothing mattered in the world; nothing, but us.
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Never Broken (A Louis Tomlinson Fanfiction)
Fanfiction{Being Edited} [Book 1] Valerie Styles was taken away from everything she loved. For three years, she's been locked away in a basement, tormented by her kidnapper. She promised herself that she would never let him break her, but she can't help but f...
