Smile For Me || Niall Horan

36: Protecting The Family

"What if he finds me and kills me? What if he kills you and Liam and Louis and Zayn and Harry? What if he kills Claire or Austin?"

"He's not going to kill anyone."

"I had a dream about this! He was standing in the freaking living room downstairs! Everyone I loved was dead!"

"Calm down," he says, rubbing circles on my back. I shut my eyes and let the tears fall. I kept telling myself that I would be okay. That we would all be okay. But something in my gut wouldn't believe it. A million things raced through my head and my breathing sped up.  

"Alexis I don't want you to get hurt! Stay downstairs!"

Jake running to the second floor. Me following him.

"Please don't hurt our daughter!"

Two shots.

"Drop the shovel..."

The gun pressed to my head.

"Sit over there and don't say a word or I'll shoot you both!"

Jake mouthing the words 'I love you' just before his life ended.

I imagined it being Niall instead of Jake. I can't handle that. Just the thought of losing Niall to that man makes me want to shrivel up and die. Extreme, I know. But I honestly think I can't live without him. Avoiding him for a few months is one thing, and look how well that turned out, but having him completely vanish from the earth would probably destroy me.

"I love you," I remind him through my sobs. He gently kisses my head.

"I love you too," he says in a soft voice.

"I can't lose you."

"And you're not going to."

I look up at him. "Do you promise?"

"I promise."

I hope he keeps this promise. My phone rang again. It was Austin. I press ignore.

"You should answer him," Niall says softly. "He's probably worried." I take a deep breath to try and calm down when the phone rings again. This time, I press answer and push the phone to my ear.

"Alexis, are you okay? Be honest. I heard a thump. What happened?" he asks in a panicky voice.

"I-I'm fine," I lie. He sighs.

"No, you're not. I know you." I wipe away more tears. "Look, I know you're about to hate me. You're probably going to scream or cry or punch something, but I have to tell you something. And it's not debatable." I waited for him to go on, afraid of what he would say.

"You're flying out to California and living with me. It's not safe in London anymore, and I'm not comfortable with you and Claire being there without me to protect-"

"No!" I cut him off. "No, Austin. I'm not doing that!" There was no way he was ripping me from my life.

All of my fears are coming true. This can't be real. I'm dreaming. It's a nightmare.

"If you don't fly out here yourself then I'm flying over there to get you. There's no other option."

"I have my career here! I have my friends, my boyfriend, everything! You aren't making me leave! You can't! I'm eighteen and I can do what I want!" I yell into the phone.

"Not when there's a killer loose!"

"I have body guards, security. People will protect me and Claire. We will be fine! But there is no way you can possibly force me to leave. Don't even try."

"I may not be able to make you, but I'm not letting Claire stay there and get killed. If you want to be stupid and get yourself, and possibly others, murdered in the process, then go ahead. But I don't want Claire involved. She has her entire life ahead of her, and I tried to warn you." I let more tears fall. "We've already lost two members of this family. Look how hard that was. If you want to be responsible for causing me and Claire to lose another then go ahead. Put us through more."

Then he hung up. I gripped the phone tight. I wanted to smash it. I wanted to scream at the top of my lungs. I didn't know what to do. I felt strong arms wrap around me and my tense body relaxed.

"It's okay," Niall whispers.

"No," I say. "It's not."

AUTHORS NOTE

a short chapter): sorrryyyy next one will be longer i promise! i just needed the chapter break for something in the next chapter. I promise not to wait as long to update(: i love you poptarts<33 thank you so much for reading and voting and commenting and (for some of you who do) RECOMMENDING :D hehehe it makes my day when I have lots of emails from wattpad saying i have new comments and fans and stuff :) it makes my face look like this>>> C: aha so yea THANKS<3 xx