The Project

Chapter 73

"No she's not here, try checking her house" I hear someone say upstairs. I sit up from my bed and I quietly walk to the door, pressing my ear to it to listen. "Zayn I know you're protecting her but I need to see her again" I hear a different accent say. "Why should you? You broke her heart!" Zayn says, his voice starting to rise. "I only did it to let her go!" Niall yells back.

I open the door a little and tip-toe upstairs to see what's happening. I sit down against the wall and listen to the conversation. "You wanna know what happened last night? She came here late at night, looking like a mess and she cried her heart out in my arms" Zayn explains. I look down at my hands and I fiddle with my fingers. "She also told me to 'make the pain stop and to take her back to her normal life'. Niall, you really hurt her" he adds.

"I had no intention of hurting her as bad as I did" Niall says, his voice much softer than Zayn's. "I don't know if she wants me to tell you this, but she wishes that she never gotten into this and met you" Zayn says, his words hurting me. And I said those words. I look over my shoulder and I see Zayn standing in front of Niall in the doorway.

Niall's eyes were red and puffy, his hair was all over the place and he looked as bad as I did. His face fell when those words left Zayn's mouth and my heart dropped at the sight. I had an urgency to just run up to him and kiss him to make the pain go away. But I swallowed that feeling and sat back down. "She doesn't mean that" I hear Niall say. "I don't know, you really hurt her. It took her a long time to stop crying. Niall, she's been through a lot in her life, but this, this stunt you did may be the worst she's ever gone through" Zayn says.

Tears begin to fill my eyes and I put my hand over my mouth to stop any future sobs. "I think you should leave" he adds. "I will be back, she needs to know that I still care for her" Niall says. "No, I meant, I think you should leave her alone. For good." His words cut like knives in my chest. No. Don't tell him that. I still want to see him. My mind scrambles and I lie down on the stair-step.

"Zayn" Niall's voice cracks. "I mean it. I promised her and myself that I won't let her be in anymore pain. And to do that, I need to cut the reason for it from her" he says. I hear something else from Niall but it was too quiet for me to make out. "Goodbye Niall" Zayn says before shutting the door. I sit up and grab the railing to help me stand up. I hit my head on the railing trying to stand up and I hear Zayn call my name.

"Marley" he says, walking down the stairs to me. "Did you hear the whole thing" he asks. The words stop in my throat and I can't get them out. The only thing I could get out were some choked up sobs. He hugs me tight and I cry into his shoulder, glancing at the front door trying to see past it and see him.

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-Niall POV-
"Please take care of her for me" I manage to get out. "Goodbye Niall" he says before shutting the door in my face. His words replay in my head and I sit down on the porch step, the tears coming back. Why did I do this stupid thing in the first place?! I love her so much and I ruined it. I ruined our chance to work passed this, contract, and live a normal couple life. I'm such a screw up! She was the most perfect thing in my life and I destroyed everything!

My phone buzzes and I take it out of my pocket, hoping it's Marley. My face falls at the I.D. and I put it back down. It's just stupid Veronica. I don't know why I ever got involved with her in the first place. I was drunk and sad that Marley was gone and I missed her like hell. It was a mistake and I just decided to hang out with her all the times I got drunk because it made me happy to think she was Marley. But she is nothing like Marley. And to help break the fall of the extermination of the contract. But I need to tell her that Veronica means nothing and I only thought of her when she was gone.

I get back up to knock on the door again, but I stop my hand above the door. I can't do this. She needs space and time. I need to do what Zayn told me to do, leave her alone.

I walk back to my car and sit in the driveway for a few minutes before leaving. I get an incoming call from Simon and I breathe in before answering it. "Hey Simon" I say as I put it on speaker. "Niall, glad I caught you" he says. "What's this thing with you and Marley" he asks. "How do you know about that?" I ask, turning onto a street.

"It's all over the news. Tell me what's happening" he asks. "Remember when I ended our project" I say. "Yeah, what about it?" He asks. "I didn't tell Marley at the time and to make her break up with me, I started seeing another woman while she was in America" I say. "You what?!" Simon yells. "Niall, why didn't you tell her? That's why she seemed so clueless when she talked to me" he says.

"Wait, when she talked to you? When?" I ask. "Uh, not too long ago she approached me and asked for an extension" he says. "She, she asked for that?" I ask, my heart starting to drop. "Yes, and I obviously had to lie to her because she didn't know about your problem" he says. "She did that?" I ask. "Yes, she was so thrilled to even talk about it. And she said that you two had talked about it" he says. We did discuss it but I didn't think she would actually go through with it.

"Niall, you totally crushed her" he says. "I know that!" I snap. "Listen you need to get your shit together and fix your mistakes otherwise your band and I will pay for it" he says before hanging up. I throw my phone at the passenger seat and clench the steering wheel. She extended our contract so that we could have more time together and I screwed all of that up! I should've just told her the moment I got it canceled. I need to speak to her, now.