Guilty

Chapter 9

Chapter 9

“He’s waking up.”

The girl, whose name I have learned is Annabeth from boring small talk, says to me. I look up from my magazine and see Niall’s body moving on the cell floor. I sigh, close the magazine, and stand up.

“Sit on the bench against the wall and don’t move.”

I command, but Annabeth doesn’t listen to my order. I glare at her and take a few steps towards the holding cell. “I understand that the officer who brought you in agreed not to tell your parole officer about the situation you are in.” Annabeth reaches up to itch her nose.

“Well, I made no such agreement. So listen to me or I will call him. I mean, his number is sitting right on top of that desk over there,” I say, nodding my head towards the desk. It’s true. Jerry did scribble her parole officer’s phone number onto the front of Annabeth’s file. The smug smile fades and Annabeth steps back to sit on the bench. She slides into the far corner and I can barely see her anymore in the shadows.

I walk along the outside of the cell, waiting for Niall to fully awaken, but nothing happens.

After a few minutes, Annabeth shrieks. My head snaps up to look at her, and I see her staring at Niall with wide eyes. “What?” I ask, confused by her sudden reaction.

“His face! Holy shit!”

She exclaims, leaning forward on the bench so I can see her face better.   

“What about his face?”

“You never told me that you fought back!”

The pieces come together in my head instantly. “Niall, turn this way.” I command so I can see his face for myself and tell if my theory is correct.

“Niall.” I repeat, and I am surprised when he obeys me. I guess I’m not going to have to threaten him with anything!

He looks up at me and I wince. There is a large bruise that starts at the bottom of his left eye and runs down to his jaw, his lip is busted, a trail of dried blood is coming out of his nose, and yet he still manages to smirk up at me. “Well, don’t look so disgusted.”

 “Who did to you? Tell me, or else I won’t help you.”

Niall shuts his eyes and lets out an exasperated sigh. “I don’t need help. I’m a grown man.”

“Tell me.”

I demand as he sits up on the cell floor. Annabeth has shrunken back into the shadows of the cell wall.

“Your fucking boy toy,” He says and I narrow my eyes. “Harold.”

“I figured as much.” I shrug my shoulders before grabbing the key to the cell from my pocket. I’m the only officer who has an extra key to carry around that unlocks the holding cell. Apparently Chief thinks that I am the only one who can handle it, or at least that’s what one of my coworkers said last week as they mocked me about it during lunch.

“And he isn’t my ‘fucking boy toy’, you ass.” I retort as I unlock the cell door. I am relieved to see that someone has put handcuffs on Niall’s hands and feet so there is no way in hell he can hurt me again.

“Uh oh. Kitty has claws!”

He taunts me, but I ignore him as I crouch down to examine his face more closely. My safety job back in school was a nurse, so I know a bit about medical research. I only took one or two courses on nursing at Uni, though. I studied at Lincoln for only four years. I had to choose my courses carefully, and I figured that nursing could help in the field of law somehow.

“You’ll be fine,” I conclude after applying pressure to his nose to make sure that it isn’t bleeding anymore. “I have one question about it, and then I’ll go sit back at that desk and never bring it up.”

I help Niall sit up and lean him against the cell bars. It couldn’t be very comfortable, but I’m sure he’s in a lot worse pain from Harry’s attack so it couldn’t be too bad. Niall stares at me for a few seconds before nodding his head, letting me know that I can ask away.

“No way you would let him beat the crap out of you, and then let him get away scratch-free. Why didn’t you fight back?” I ask, remembering how nervous Harry was earlier when he was walking me out of the medical office. I’d be nervous too if I just beat the living shit out of a half-conscious, wound up ex-friend who just happened to murder a woman this morning!

“Well, for one thing I was kind of out of it due to you stabbing me with a needle full of shit. Not to mention the fact that I was hand and feet cuffed.” He runs his tongue along where his lip is busted before speaking again.

 “And I figured that you wouldn’t like it very much if your boy toy joined you in the nurse’s office.”

A/N: To clear some things up, this story takes place in 2019. 

Claire's best friend, Elsie, is from Frampton. Claire grew up in Boston, so both of them are from Lincolnshire. I'll explain later in the story how the two of them met. 

Same goes for Claire's family. I'll get to that eventually!

I'm hoping that this story can adapt into a trilogy, because I have some great ideas, but unfortunately I can't do that unless people like the story. 

So please give feedback and share the link to Guilty! I'll love you forever :)

Thank you all for reading, and possibly sharing the link. <3