Shut Out >>Ziall<<

Chapter Twenty-Seven

For once, Ed or Josh wasn’t standing outside the door and making sure that I wasn’t going to scramble somewhere. On the other hand, I could tell exactly where they were by the yelling and screaming coming from downstairs. Ed’s loud, booming voice echoed off the thin walls, and Josh’s whimpers and sobs hit my ears harder than they should. This wasn’t the first time this kind of thing had happened, but it seemed to be the worst yet.

As quickly and as quietly as I possibly could, I crept down the stairs, making sure that neither of the boys would see me. They were in the living room from the sound of it. I pressed my back against the opposite wall, and even though it was wrong, I knew that I wanted to hear everything that was going on.

Somehow, this could be important to me and Niall’s escape.

“Please! I… I didn’t do what you think! I was just—“

“Don’t fucking lie to me!” Ed screamed. I could hear the sounds of what could only be fists on skin, and when Josh let out another sob, I stiffened. He wasn’t just smacking him around if Josh was making noises like that. He would have had to been hit pretty hard.

“I wouldn’t do that to you! I love you!”

“You’re a lying piece of shit! You think that I don’t notice how you spend extra time down in that basement? You two are trying to work against me, I know it. For God’s sake, Josh, I trust Zayn more than you! How is that supposed to make me feel?”

There was a long pause, and then Josh’s now tiny voice whispered, “I just feel bad for him, is all.”

Ed snorted, and then I could feel the vibrations as he tossed Josh’s body into the wall. There were more hits – punches, slaps, probably even kicks. By the time five minutes had gone by and the thrashing noises had stopped, Josh had gone completely silent. Ed cursed under his breath, and when his footsteps grew closer, I ran back over to the steps to make it look like I had just walked downstairs. He would no doubt be pissed off at me if he realized that I eavesdropped.

Ed passed by me, a limp and unconscious Josh in his arms. He was cradling him, and if I was seeing everything correctly, there were what looked like tears in his eyes. He blinked them away the very second he realized that I was there. I almost believed that I had imagined it all, but something in his stance convinced me otherwise. “Oh, Zayn… you’re ready?”

“Yeah. Whenever you are, I guess…”

He nodded and headed toward the basement. “Give me a minute.” He muttered. I could hear him going down the basement steps, and a few moments later, he came back up and nodded to me again. “Let’s go.”

~

Just as expected, the car ride was awkward and silent, neither of us daring to say a word to the other. Ed was of course staring at the road, but when I snuck a glance over at him every once in a while, I could tell that difficult thoughts were running through his mind. His muscles were tense, especially in his hands when he gripped the wheel.

When we didn’t arrive at our destination in twenty minutes, I decided to at least try to get into Ed’s head a little bit. He wouldn’t speak about where we were going, but maybe he would talk about him and Josh. As odd as it sounded, Ed and I had had some good times together. He had even inked some of my tattoos. There was a real person under there who just liked to kick back and have fun, and if I could get that part out, it would be better for everyone.

“Alright, mate, time to spill it. What’s bothering you?”

Ed looked over at me before once again turning away. “Why do you care?”