Verbatim [h.s]

Twenty-Three

Zayn was saying how much he loves rapping though, he wishes he could do it more but that his role in the gang now was far more important. He may have murmured under his breath about maybe going professional once he's done with the gang.

I had to then ask about that, taking that as my opening, about how you can leave the gang if there were any terms and conditions. He told me that it wasn't like the mafia that you hear about with the whole you can never leave unless it's in a body bag kind of thing. If you have done your job and your leader, aka Harry says it's okay then you can leave.

Just once you leave you can never come back so you have to be sure you can handle yourself outside of the 666. You lose all protection and rights, all income and the only thing you take with you is your friendships but even then, if you talk about the gang outside of it in any way incriminating then you paint a large red target on your back.

Zayn had also told me how worried he was when Audrey and I first got introduced to everyone, as much as the 666 is open to the people knowing about them, he was concerned about how deep our involvements would be.

He said he could see how Harry was with me and didn't want him getting in too deep to the point where he would drag me in and risk the exposure of their inner workings. But he soon changed his mind when he saw how crazy Harry was about me, apparently, and knew that wouldn't be his biggest concern now. His biggest concern is me getting hurt and that really warmed my heart to know that Zayn, someone I have only known for such a short amount of time, I genuinely concerned about my safety.

In that car ride, I knew that these boys would protect me with all they had, I trusted Harry obviously but the others? I barely know them but having that conversation alone with Zayn told me more than anything. They're a family. And family fight for one another. They protect one another. And they love one another.

And I think I might just be a part of this family now.

Putting the key in the door, I turn the handle and before I can get the door all the way open it is ripped from me and a body is launched my way. Arms wrapped tight around my shoulders but I still stumble backwards with my hands held up in surrender. Only when I see a large sum of red hair in my face, and I puff out some air to get it away do I realise it is Audrey.

I instantly wrap my arms around her waist, balancing myself and hug her back, both squeezing for dear life and laughing because of it.

"I missed you, Zur." She pulls back, grabbing my head in her hands and placing a kiss on my lips.

"I missed you too, so much. Please don't leave me again." I pout jokingly.

"Oh I know you haven't missed me, and there's a certain Mr Styles I've got to thank for that." She rolls her eyes and walks back into the apartment. I follow in after, shutting the door and placing my keys on the table. Audrey throws herself down onto the couch with her arms behind her head.

Only now do I notice she is wearing light wash blue skinny jeans with some fluffy socks that have candy canes all over. And then on her top half, she wears her large oversized Christmas jumper that has a cringe-worthy snowman with a 3D nose on it.

"You better get yours on too. It's tradition." She nods her head, so I turn on my heel and head for my room.

When I got the Christmas décor out of storage, I also got our jumpers. I had led Audreys on her bed and mine too because I knew we would be wearing them. As she said, they are our tradition.

First-year of uni, we decorated our flat because no one else wanted too and so with our student sized bank accounts we headed out to find the ugliest Christmas jumpers to wear. And we've held onto them ever since, making sure we wear them every year.