The Good, the Bad, and the Boy Band?

Chapter 16

Now everyone knew. I can't keep Gwen and Vi safe any longer. They'll go searching for answers, and then they'll dig themselves a deeper hole than what Ian was into.

Ian.

What happened to him? What was he into? I didn't get it. There's was too much to think about.

I ran down a little stone path and stopped when I reached a little garden. I flopped down on a bench and stared at the sky. I needed to clear my head and piece this puzzle together.

"Hey." A quiet voice came from behind me.

"Go away." I muttered.

He ignored me, instead coming to sit by me. We sat there in silence for a few minutes before I spoke up.

"They're not too mad are they?"

"Oh no, they're fine with it. Fine with the fact that you kept this huge secret from us all."

I stood up. "Fine!" I shouted. I ran my hands through my hair. "I'm sorry! What was I supposed to do?! I couldn't tell them! They would've just gone off to find answers and put themselves in a bigger risk than they already are!"

"Calm down Rienne."

I spun around to face him. "Calm down? Calm down?!"

He grabbed my arm and pulled me down me next to him. "We're gonna be fine. We can handle this."

"No we can't! Ian couldn't, so we can't!"

"What do you mean Ian couldn't?"

I swallowed. I can't just tell him, couldn't I? "Ian. He found out something. He was too deep into something. The last time I spoke to him, he was under house arrest. But when I talked to the man in black, he told me that Ian got his punishment. He was in too deep. Then he told us that you boys are being manipulated, and that this is about us. That you are being used. He said that we are in danger, and that Gwen is next. Next for what, I don't know."

Everything came pouring out of me. I needed to stop and get myself under check. But for some reason, when I talk to Zayn, I forgot everything. He was so easy to talk to. I hated it, but at the same time, I liked it. I needed to tell people things once in a while.

"Wow." Zayn said. He looked at me. "That's a lot."

I rolled my eyes. And here I thought he gave good advice. I opened my mouth to say something, but he held up his hand.

"You were wrong to keep that from us. You should've at least told us that it wasn't completely about us boys. But it's a good thing you didn't mention anything else. They don't need to know that just yet. We can still keep Gwen and Vi safe. If we don't tell them, then they won't run off for answers. We need them here to help protect us. We can search for answers here. And we can start by finding out more about the man in black."

Zayn held out his hand. I took it and we stood up.

"Let's go figure this shit out."

***

Eleanor's POV

I knew him.

The man in black.

I just couldn't place him. When he looked at me for the first time, his eyes bored into mine. I felt like he was looking into my soul, and I was so intimated by this. But when he talked, I knew I had heard that voice before.

His face was different, and his eyes seemed familiar, but I have a good placement of voices. And I knew his.

After Rienne had stormed out of the house, we all stood there in a shocked silence. I don't think Louis or the rest of the boys understood the gravity of this situation.