Unstable (Sequel to Twisted)

Chapter 5

Zayn raised an eyebrow at Harry, who simply stood in front of him.

Harry held out his hand, and Zayn's eyes glinted in recognition and he took the cigarette and put it in Harry's hand. The curly-haired male turned around, his green eyes glancing back at me as he inhaled the cigarette, taking a deep breath. His eyes never left me as he exhaled, the thick smoke swirling all around him.

"I don't ever want you to touch her again," Harry said quietly, though his voice was heavily authoritative.

"What?" Zayn questioned immediately, looking confused. "I had to put her into her place, mate. I can't just let her do what the hell she wants."

Harry suddenly whirled around and Zayn let out an actual scream; I could hear something slightly smoldering, and my eyes widened when I thought of what Harry did to him. Harry stepped away, with Zayn clutching his forearm, breathing heavily from the pain though he was no longer screaming.

"If she needs to be put into place," Harry snarled, "then I'm the one who will put her into place. She doesn't fucking belong to you-she belongs to me. Got it?"

Zayn nodded quickly, his eyes screwed shut tightly. He pulled his hand away a little, and my stomach lurched when I saw a deep, red mark on his forearm from the cigarette.

Normally, seeing Zayn in pain would've made me...slightly happy, since he deserved it how he constantly treated me. But his skin was burnt from the cigarette. I was unable to take my eyes off of his forearm; the cigarette was now lying harmlessly on the floor. Zayn exhaled deeply, reaching for it, and stood back up to continue smoking. I could tell he was trying to act like the pain was gone. But I've been burned before; I used to burn my fingers with my straightener all the time, and when I got a burn, it obviously burned-especially afterwards. It was probably hurting a lot now.

"Someone get Claire some ice." Harry snapped, taking a seat on the couch and motioning for me to come to him. Niall released me and I sat reluctantly on his lap, my eyes glancing back at Zayn, who wouldn't look at me now. If I was in his place, I'd be on the floor crying right now. How was he able to take pain like that?

"Hurry up," Harry growled as his hands grabbed my thighs, turning me around on his lap so I was straddling him. His eyes were immediately looking over my face, his long fingers lightly touching my cheek. I cringed from his cold touch; my skin felt like it was hotter than usual due to the injury.

Fran was the one who got ice for me. She had it wrapped in a thick wad of paper towels. Harry took it from her and held it to my cheek, his hand holding it in place.

My eyes watched as Fran walked away. I was shocked when she paused in front of Zayn, and my eyes widened a little when she held out a smaller bag of ice for his injury. The dark-haired male stared at her for a few seconds, taking another inhalation of the cigarette before taking the ice from her. He held it to his tanned skin, using his other hand to hold the cigarette.

Perrie glared at Fran like she was an idiot. Perrie shouldn't be surprised; deep down, Fran was one of the nicest girls I knew of.

Fran then continued making pancakes. Unlike earlier, this was a silent time-there was no chaos, everyone was just sitting here in a comfortable silence. Harry was quiet as he held the ice to my cheek, and I let my hands dangle in front of me. I couldn't even help from leaning into his soothing touch, my eyes now unable to look away from his mesmeric gaze. The tears had stopped falling, and the blood was no longer seeping in my mouth.

"So," Louis started after a few minutes, "which one of you girls likes to shop?"

"I do." Eleanor said hesitantly.