"it's okay," javier's comforting hands wrap around his frame. zayn is shaking and whimpering from the events that just occurred. "he's gone, he can't hurt you anymore."
his words are comforting but zayn is still scared out of his mind. he can't even stand straight, his body hurts from where the man had attacked him but it's nothing compared to the state of his mind.
javier moves him to lay on the couch.
"are you hurt?" javier asks. zayn doesn't answer. "take off your shirt."
zayn does as he's said, javier helps him remove the shirt completely. he winces when his side is accidentally brushed.
javier examines the wound, touching around it making zayn flinch. "i'll get you some ice."
he stands up, heading to the kitchen but zayn pulls him back.
"don't leave me," zayn pleads.
"i'm just going to get ice for your bruise," javier responds.
"please," zayn insists.
javier nods. "alright. i'll call zayaad."
javier brings out his phone and dials his brother's number. zayaad answers after a few rings.
"what?" he says on the other line.
"you need to get here. your brother's been attacked," javier responds. zayn can imagine the panicked look that would be on zayaad's face at this instant.
"fuck," zayaad replies. "is he okay? can he talk?"
"he can, but he's traumatized from what happened," javier responds. he hands zayn the phone.
"z-zayaad," zayn says. "i'm scared."
"i know baby. i'm so fucking sorry i left you, i'm almost home," zayaad says.
in less than ten minutes after the call ends, zayaad comes barging into the apartment with louis behind him.
he instantly rushes to zayn's side, noticing his state and his bruise from his shirtless body.
"who did this to him?" zayaad demands, looking angrier than zayn had ever seen him look before.
"i don't know," javier replies. "he had a mask on."
"did you kill him?" zayaad asks.
"no," javier shakes his head.
zayaad glares at him. "he attacked my brother and you let him get away alive?"
"zaad," zayn calls his attention. "if javier wasn't here, i don't know what would have happened to me. he saved me."
zayaad manages to calm down after hearing that. "tell me what happened."
"he heard a knock on the door and he thought it was you. i called him back but it was too late, a guy in a mask walked in and attacked him. he didn't see me, so i hid and quickly went to find the gun," javier starts. "i shot him on his leg and chest. he was wearing a vest so the only thing he got away with was a shot to the leg."
"what did he want?" louis asks.
"he didn't say. he just walked in and went for zayn," javier replies. "he didn't speak to me. i think... i think he recognized me."
"what?" zayaad says.
"he didn't speak to me at all, but he spoke to zayn. that could only mean one thing, he didn't want me to recognize his voice," javier says. "this is someone we know. they knew your apartment, they came here for a reason. they had an escape plan."
"someone we know?" zayaad repeats. "we know a lot of fucking people."
"zayn," louis calls to him. "do you think you'll be able to recognize his voice if you hear him speak again?"
zayn nods. there's no way he's ever forgetting that voice, it's going to be in his nightmares, he knows it.
"what do you suggest? i take my traumatized little brother around to listen to hundreds of douchebags speak to find the douchebag speak,"
"what do you suggest then?" louis asks.
"simple. i'm taking zayn home, and we'll figure this shit out ourselves," zayaad replies.
"you think he's safe home? we still don't know what the guy wanted, what if he comes back again to attack him? what if he's working with other people?" louis says.
"zaad, i think louis is right. this is our only chance of finding him and the three of us together here makes zayn stand a better chance than him alone," javier replies. "and we don't have to listen to hundreds of douchebags. i shot him in the leg, that narrows down our search by a lot."
"zayn," zayaad calls his attention. "i'm sorry for bringing you into this mess. what do you want to do?"
"i-i won't feel safe knowing he could come for me at anytime. i want us to find him," zayn says.
"okay then," zayaad says. "let's find the motherfucker."
...
later, when louis and javier had left the apartment, zayn and his brother were practically inseparable.
zayn couldn't sleep alone, so he's in his brothers room again. so many things have happened within the span of twenty four hours.
first he saw a dead body. then he discovered his brother deals with drugs and has a hideout with an illegal amount of drugs and guns. then he told louis about his crush on javier, made a move on the said crush by kissing him only to be rejected. and then he got attacked by a stranger and was saved by his crush.
too much events happened in one day. apart from being scared and traumatized, his brain is also overwhelmed. he doesn't know what to think.
"zayn," zayaad calls out his attention. "don't be scared, we'll find him."
zayn nods. "i know. i wanted to ask but, were you able to go through with it?"
by 'it' zayn means burying and disposing of thomas body. zayaad tenses.
"yes," he says. he looks guilty. "it felt horrible. but it was necessary."
zayaad might not show it but he's very affected by what's been happening. zayn has been so focused on himself when zayaad has it just as bad. and he's been doing these for longer.
he moves closer to his brother and cuddles up with him. "i'm sorry. i know you didn't want to do that."
"i've done a lot of things i don't want to do. and i should be the one apologizing, i put your life at risk. i'm so sorry, i shouldn't have let you come visit. i was selfish, i just wanted to see you," zayaad says.
"no," zayn shakes his head. "i don't regret coming here. i wanted to see you too, i'll go through this all over again. that's how much i missed you."
"you deserve a better brother," zayaad says.
"stop saying that," zayn hits his shoulder lightly.
"it's true," zayaad whispers. "i'm a mess. i can't protect you. i can't protect him."
"you're protecting me right now," zayn says. then he wonders who the other person his brother is trying to protect. "who's he?"
"what?"
"you said you can't protect him," zayn says. "who is he?"
"you," zayaad responds.
zayn shakes his head. "you already said me, which means you were referring to somebody else. who?"
"go to bed," zayaad changes the subject. "we have a long day ahead of us."
"i can't believe you're still keeping secrets from me," zayn shakes his head. he turns away from his brother and shifts to the other side of the bed. he's angry.
"like you aren't?" zayaad scoffs.
"of course not. i'm not like you," zayn snaps.
"really? if you weren't keeping secrets, why didn't you tell me that you like javier?" zayaad brings up. zayn tenses on the bed.
"what are you talking about?" he tries to play dumb but he's a bad liar.
"i know you like him," zayaad repeats. "you should get over it. apart from him being my friend and too old for you, he's also not going to reciprocate your feelings."
zayn feels a rush of anger course through him as he remembers how javier had rejected his advances earlier. he's angrier that his brother now knows about his crush and is already deeming it to fail.
he's also curious on how he found out. he had no way of knowing unless javier told him himself. and he doubts that because if he was going to, he'd have told zayaad before.
something changed when they went out. and he realizes what. he told louis about his crush. louis must have told his brother too.
he should've known better than to trust him. he can't keep his mouth shut at all. he tells his brother everything, he has a strange kind of loyalty to zayaad.
"you're talking shit. i don't like javier," he denies again.
"that better be true," zayaad says. "my friends are my friends for a reason. they won't go for my little brother. so get it out of your mind."
"dick," zayn shoves him away. he goes to bed annoyed with his brother.
the next morning, zayaad gets up before him and has a shower. he sees zayn still asleep when he comes back and covers him with a blanket.
zayn barely slept during the night, he seemed disturbed in his sleep and zayaad knew he was having nightmares. he feels very guilty about what happened to his brother.
he gets his phone and sends text messages to louis and javier telling them to come over so they can begin planning. he hasn't told javier about thomas, and he's not planning to. not because he doesn't trust him, but for his safety too. him and louis are already in danger for knowing about it, he hates that he brought louis into it but he panicked then and he had no other choice.
he couldn't handle it all alone.
javier and louis come around the same time. zayn is still asleep.
"how's he holding up?" javier asks, referring to zayn.
"he's anxious but he's doing better than i thought," zayaad replies.
"poor baby," louis says, feeling sympathetic.
"what's the plan?" javier asks.
zayaad actually spent most of his night thinking about a plan. he needs to find the person that attacked his brother and also the person that killed thomas and tried to frame him. he's very sure that they're connected and might even be the same person.
but he can't let javier know about thomas. so this investigation would have to go on without him, which is unfortunate because he's the only person amount the three of them who was in close contact with the attacker.
but he also doesn't want zayn to be involved in the process, for his own safety. and he can't leave him alone, so javier is his best bet to stay with zayn. he would prefer to stay with his brother but that's not an option, because he'd be leaving only javier and louis to go investigate which is just going back in circles because javier doesn't know about thomas.
"there's no guarantee he won't come back again. i want you to stay with him," zayaad says. "javier, there's not many people i trust, but i'm trusting you with my little brother. please, protect him."
"i will," javier says. "he can come stay with me since here is compromised."
zayaad nods, that's a good idea. he knows zayn would not object to that. louis told him about his brother's crush on his friend, and while he finds it annoying, it's convenient because he knows he won't get any complains on javier having to protect him. he knows if it was someone else, zayn would just complain that zayaad is making someone babysit him. he would've discovered zayn's crush if louis hadn't told him, simply by the way his brother acts.
"louis and i will go meet some people we know, see if anyone is walking around with a limp," zayaad says. "we'll meet back here by 10 and let you know what we got."
"um, hello," zayn's voice is heard, he walks towards them, feeling suddenly shy when he sees that javier is here too. he's wearing one of zayaad's shirt that looks so baggy on his small body. it makes him look adorable, and zayaad is filled with a wave of anger knowing that someone tried to hurt him.
he's going to make them pay.
zayn makes not so subtle glances to javier.
"hi zayn," javier says. "how do you feel?"
"i'm okay," zayn replies. he looks at louis and frowns at him. he's mad at him and he wants louis to know. louis winks at him instead, he guesses that zayn must have realized he told zayaad about his crush. "zayaad?"
"yes babe?"
"can we talk?" zayn requests.
zayaad nods. he follows zayn to his bedroom.
"zayaad i thought i was going to die yesterday,"
zayaad clenches his fists. even the mention of it makes him angry. "i won't let that happen."
"you weren't there and you can't be there to protect me all the time. yesterday made me believe anything could happen, and i want us to be honest with each other. i know you're still hiding something from me," zayn says. "you hurt my feelings last night."
"i'm sorry," zayaad says, feeling guilty.
"just talk to me," zayn says. "what else are you hiding?"
"i guess this isn't worse than what you know already," zayaad sighs. "two years ago, louis and i slept together."
"what?" zayn says in surprise. he knows his brother and louis are close, but he never expected them to have that kind of relationship.
"we did it only once, we're not together or anything," zayaad clarifies. "i'm not gay. it just happened."
"right," zayn rolls his eyes. "what does that have to do anything?"
"i kind of got him pregnant," zayaad admits, avoiding eye contact with zayn. "i have a son."
"what?"
...
trying to up the pace of this book a bit. i miss updating boys.
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