To prove that me that Mr. Styles was serious about his whole warning, he bought me a "gift" the next day. I was just about to head out to the train station when Liam had called me. He was waiting outside the entrance of the flat.
"Uh, Niall? Why is there a brand new Audi R8 sitting outside the flat?" He asks curiously and I frown.
"What?" I don't even wait for him reply. I hang up on him and grab my bag before heading out. I rush down the stairs to meet Liam, only to see exactly what he was talking about. He was standing in front of a brand new sleek, black Audi R8 with tinted windows and a very expensive looking engine. My mouth unconsciously falls open and next to me, Liam is contemplating on what to do with it. His arms are folded across his muscular chest but he's biting down onto a thumbnail, lost in thought.
"This was on the windshield," he says quietly and hands over a brown envelope which has the key inside it and attached to it, is a note which reads;
"Be careful. Please handle with care -H." In fancy, italic writing.
I can't help but scoff at the note. How careless does he think I am? Does he think I'm gonna get a McDonald's take-away every other night and have fries sprawled all over the leather seats? Actually, that sounds pretty accurate.
"We could sell it?" Liam suggests warily although I can see him staring longingly at it. I know he wishes he could take it to his dad's garage and tear the pieces apart and build it up from scratch. It's his way of working.
"No," I sigh because I know we're not going to get anywhere by selling it. Liam looks up at me, confused.
"I'm going to send it back to him." I decide and he raises an eyebrow.
"But what about what he said?" He asks and I turn my head back to look at the car.
"Screw what he said." I answer and he smirks. I wasn't even going to listen to him anyway. There was no point. He even admitted it. He admitted that he couldn't stay away from me so one way or another, I'm going to see him again and I'm going to get that car back to him.
I take the keys with me anyway but I don't drive it. I take the train like always. Taking the train was second nature to me and it's not as if I'm going to stop any time soon just because some ridiculously-handsome guy told me not too.
As I expected, I see him. I see Mr. Styles on the train. I'm standing, my hands on one of the rails again, like before. He hasn't seen me yet. His head is bowed, his elbows against his knees as he types furiously on his phone. His hair is falling over his eyes and he sits up to brush it out of his face and that's when he sees me. His look is long and hard and yet again, I can feel my cheeks burning. But I clear my throat and buck up all the courage I have left in my me and walk over to him. I harshly dump the brown envelope in his lap without saying anything to him and go back to standing under the railings. He takes in my appearance, his eyes scanning over my body. He briefly looks away and I can see a hint of a smirk on his face. But it soon disappears when a man walks past us. A man, dressed in black, with a beard - walked past us.
Recognition dawned on Mr. Styles' face as he frowns. He stands up and places a hand on the railing, like me and scans the whole crowd of faces. His face scrunches up when his eyes meet with a woman, who's also dressed in black. Her hair is tied in a ponytail and she's subtly reading the paper. Mr. Styles eyes glance over mine before he strolls over to the next compartment of the train and I - without hesitation - follow him. As we go through the next compartment, I realize that there's two other people dressed in black. Again, both male and female.
Mr. Styles scans the crowd before he heads over the next compartment. I go to follow him until I hear my next stop being called out over the PA. I stop abruptly and as if on cue, Mr. Styles' stops top. He turns round and when he realizes that I've been following, he runs a hand through his long hair - looking stressed. He moves toward me as people start to pile out on the train and he when he's close to me, he places a firm hand on my waist and I can feel his fingertips burning holes into my skin.
"Go. Go! It's not safe." He demands huskily and when I don't budge, he ushers me out of the train, shoving me gently. I'm about to turn around when the train doors close on me and I'm left with my heart racing. I'm about to attempt to open the doors again when I hear a gunshot sound fired from inside the train. I jump with fright and everybody around me starts to scream and I can see the people on the train starting to scramble.
My eyes hurriedly scan the people of the train inside when the train lurches to a stop but there's no sign of him...that is until I see the doors spring open again and I can see a mop of curly hair amongst the crowd. I push my way through the swarm of people and follow him up the stairs to the centre of London. He's about to disappear again when I clutch onto his hand and spin him round. He jumps and for a second, he looks surprised.
He curses lowly and bites his bottom lip, looking annoyed. "You have to get out of here, it's not safe!" He snaps but I don't listen.
"Listen to me, Blondie. It's not safe! Okay?! When are you gonna get that in your head?!" He snaps and I can tell now that he's infuriated.
"I don't care if it's not safe. I'm coming with you." I demand and he starts to mumble to himself as he brings out his phone.
I frown at him. "What are you doing?"
"I'll have Taylor take you home." He replies thoughtful and I give him a questionable look.
"Who's Taylor?"
"My driver." He answers simply and I scowl at him. If he takes the train, why on Earth does he needs a driver? I snatch the phone off of him when the tone starts dialing and now he's glaring at me.
"Okay...if you come with me. Take this." He orders and he pulls out a silver whiskey flask. I take it in my hands and look up at him.
"What is it?"
"Tonic, for the nerves." He answers simply. I immediately gulp it down but almost instantly, I start to feel dizzy and faint.
"Shit." I whisper and that's when I collapse into his arms.
When I wake up, I'm in a bed. The sheets are white and soft and the sun is beaming behind the curtains as I open my eyes, indicating that it's broad daylight. I rub the sleep out of my eyes and sit up. As my mind begins to focus on the new surroundings, I hear a voice coming from the room next to mine. I shuffle out of the bed and start to walk bare-foot across the floor and that's when I realize I'm in a fresh pair of clothes. A pair of plane, grey briefs and a simple white t-shirt. With shaking hands, I fumble and finger with the t-shirt and a horrid thought occurs to me that he's probably changed me while I was out.
I begin to walk again and when I open the door and step through, the sound of the voice gets louder and I see Mr. Styles pacing around in the living room. "No, no. I need you to stay put. Don't bother coming out to get me." He's saying and I frown. Who wants to get him?
"I'm only in a hotel just now, I'm fine. Honestly, there's no reason to worry about me." He assures at the other end of the line.
"Yeah, just...just some other guy. Nothing interesting." He shrugs, not even noticing me and for a moment, my heart sinks. He's not interested me. Got the message, loud and clear.
"Lou, I don't even know the guy. He's just someone who got caught up along the way, okay? I don't know - well yes, okay! I guess you could say he's nice but can you just stop asking questions about him I'm getting bored." There's a short pause in which he laughs at and my eyes widen at the sound. Wow.
"On a serious note, Lou. Keep the pen drive safe, okay? And again, I'm sorry it got into the wrong hands. I'll make it up to you. I promise you. Bye." He hangs up and at that, he spins round and sees me.
"Who's Lou?" I question but he ignores me.
"How much of that did you hear?" He frowns and I shrug.
"Enough." I mumble and he sighs heavily, running a hand through his hair.
I near closer to him. "Who's Lou?"
"None of your concern." He answers firmly and I realize that I've probably hit a nerve. I start to finger my clothes again as he sits down on the two-seater table next to the window.
"Did you...change me?" I ask self-cautiously and he looks up, a glint in his eye.
"Don't worry. I didn't peek." He assures me, followed by a cheeky wink.
Anger boiled inside me as I begin to feel a little self-cautious about myself. How dare he. He had no right. He had no right to invade my privacy - literally - like that. I'm about to rant and rave at him when he stands up and grabs his keys and wallet.
"I need to do something. Do you mind just staying in the hotel room for a couple of hours? Order as much room service as you like. I've left Taylor's number on the fridge in case you need anything else." He explains and I frown at him as he walks to the door.
"Where are you going?" I ask automatically but he only weakly smiles at me and disappears out the room before I can utter another word.
I decide to order a pizza once he's gone and I slump myself on the sofa and begin to watch TV. I manage to phone Zayn and Liam too - they're both frantic. After endless reassurance, I finally manage to convince them both that I'm safe and happy - well, sorta. After my pizza and phone calls, I take a nap and when I wake again, I'm woken by the sound of his voice like this morning.
The phone call he is having now isn't as cheerful and light-hearted as the previous one. He's shouting down the phone for one, even adding a few swear words in between them. When he finally hangs up, he turns round and spots me. His expression instantly softens and he sits down again.
"Everything all right?" I ask hopefully and he smiles a little.
"Never better." He answers with a false smile and I can tell he's lying.
I decide to sit opposite him and already I can feel the radiating between us. The tension in the room has risen completely and I can see his body stiffen in front of me. His eyes grow dark and he bows his head but I move my hand forward and tilt his chin upwards with my index finger as I near closer to him. Electricity sparks between as our skin is brushes between us and I don't really care about how cliché that sounded.
I near closer to him and his body goes rigid. I close my eyes as our breath mingles together and I can softly, carefully taste his lips against mine but they're gone the second I touch them and when I open my eyes, he's slammed himself against the cupboards. He's completely stiff, his body tense as he stares at me through narrowed eyes.
"I can't kiss you." He croaks and I gulp, feeling a little idiotic.
"Why not?" I manage to croak except I don't trust the sound of my voice.
"You nearly kissed me before, back at the flat-"
"Well, that was a mistake. All right?!" He snaps at me and he moved in toward the kitchen.
"A mistake? That's what I've been all along, a mistake?!" I shout and I don't know where this anger is coming.
"Don't make this about you." He snarls and I glare at him.
"How could this be about me, it's always been about you! From day one, it's been about you! In case you've forgotten, I got tortured - because of you! I ended up in hospital - because of you!" I tell and he turns round, looking at me with a worn-out expression.
He's about to open his mouth to argue when his phone vibrates on the round, kitchen table and he goes to fetch it. I frown when a smile is now plastered on his face.
"Who's that?" I ask and he looks up at me.
He stands up and exhales deeply. "You should shower and change first. There's someone I want you to meet." He grins and I raise an eyebrow.
"Someone you want me to meet? What makes you think I'd still go with you?" I challenge and he smirks.
"Because you said I owe you a laptop and I do. I know someone who could fix you one." He admits.
"You do?" I ask hopefully and he chuckles.
"Now go on and get changed if you want this laptop." He ushers me out the room, waving his hands toward the bathroom and I hurry over, quickly grabbing a fresh pair of clothes that Taylor brought up earlier on.
Once I'm ready, I'm about to grab my jacket and head out with him when I freeze. What if this was all a plot? To get me kidnapped again? He's admitted to using me once before, who's the say he won't do it again? Besides, I mentioned my laptop way back; why he is he only talking about it now?
He turns around when I realizes I haven't moved. "I get it if you don't want to come. I wouldn't trust me, either. I can always have the laptop delivered to you." He shrugs and I give him a confused look, feeling a little sorry for him but then I remembered what he did to me to get me here in the first place and my heart starts to hammer against my chest.
"You drugged me?!" I gasp and I blink when he chuckles.
"You weren't cooperating with me. I had to do something," he sighs and I snort.
"What on Earth did you give me?"
"Bortine Zero." He says as if it's the most obvious thing in the world.
I laugh manically. "Bortine Zero? As in Knight and Day Bortine Zero?" I press and he hums in response.
"The very one."
"Bloody hell," I breath and he smirks again.
---
He drives in a sleek, black Landrover to some sort of modern flat just at the outskirts of London. We pass the subway station along the way and I can't help but remember what had happened before he drugged me. He shot someone. He had actually killed someone. I was sure of it. And the worst part was was that he didn't even feel guilty for it. To me, he was a monster. A gorgeous monster, at that. I glance away from the windows and look at him. He doesn't even bother to look back, his eyes fixated on the road so I keep on staring at him. Finally, after a while, he finally relaxes his expression and turns his head to look at me. His gaze is soft and for once, ever since I met him, I can actually look him directly in the eyes without my face turning red and looking away. A small smile twitches on his lips before he looks away to the park the car.
"We're here." He announces and the engine dies down as he gets out the car. I look up at the flat and notice a curtain twitching, as if someone had been previously looking out the window. As if someone was expecting him. I hesitate for a moment before I push down the door handle and step outside. I follow him into the flat and he leads me up a flight of stairs. As we near our destination, the sound of loud rock music gets louder and I'm reminded of Zayn in our flat, locking himself in his room. "You'd have to excuse the music, it's how he works." He smirks and pushes the door handle open.
He leads me inside and I can't help my mouth falling open in awe. Despite the fact that the flat was old and dirty walking up the stairs, this flat was everything glamorous. A chandelier hanging from the ceiling, white plump sofas and fluffy rugs and shiny kitchen cabinets. The view itself looked magnificent.
I follow him down the hall and he opens another door again, where the music is most loud. I flinch a little at the sound and when we enter the bedroom, he automatically turns the stereo off. A man, perhaps a bit older than ourselves, is sitting at a computer and I can't help but stare at his work. Around the walls, are white boards and clips of scientific work. Numbers of algebra and scientific terms, much like the ones that appeared on my computer when it shut down. There's pictures of him and Mr. Styles' amongst them as well; both of them looking happy.
The man turned round to look at Mr. Styles. "Hey! You stopped at the good part. Again." He sighs. He reaches out to put the stereo back on but Mr. Styles grabs at his wrist and pushes him back down. He grunts and looks innocently up at him and I find myself glaring at him.
"Louis, there's someone I'd like you to meet." Mr. Styles' gestures toward me and I flush awkwardly. Louis' eyes fall on me and a huge grin spreads on his face. "This is, uh..." Mr. Styles clears his throat as he runs his hand through his hair, clearly trying to remember my name. I roll my eyes and step forward.
"It's Niall." I grin and shake his hand. His eyes widen and he grins again.
"I'm Louis. Or Lou. Whichever you prefer. Just don't call me Loubear or you'll never see the light of day again." He adds sternly and I blanche. There's a short pause in which he bursts out laughing and reaches out to hug me. "I'm just messing with ya." He assures me. He ruffles my hair and sits back down again. When I turn back to look at Mr. Styles' his eyes are dark and he's glaring at Louis. Louis shifts uncomfortably under his gaze, as if he realized he's done something wrong.
"He can stay here tonight. I'll give him the guest room." He mumbles and walks out of the room, leaving us both alone.
Louis sighs and rests himself against his seat. I fold my arms across my chest and walk around the room, admiring all the different pieces of work and I can feel Louis watching me as I walk. "Holy hell...this is amazing." I grin and when I turn round to look at him, he's grinning.
"Yeah. That's what I do. Science. I love it." He shrugs and I hear the passion in his voice as he speaks.
"You could really go a long way with this." I nod and he smiles again.
"I know. Harry offered me an internship at his old company back I declined, so...I kind of still work with him now." He smirks and I frown.
"Harry?" I repeat and his eyes widen. My eyes fall on the pictures of them and realization dawns on me.
"Harry..." I whisper.
"Take it he's not even told you his name, has he?" He guesses reasonably and I nod. He sighs heavily and shakes his head in disbelief. "Yep. That's Harry."
"But why?" I ask curiously and sit down opposite him, next to the stereo.
"Harry's a very secretive and private person." He says and I scoff.
"You don't say?"
He rolls his eyes and wrinkles his nose at me. "I don't want to explain Harry to you. It's not in my position. If he wants to tell you about him in his own time, then he can." He huffs and I stare at him blankly.
"You and I both know that's not gonna happen." I reply and he sighs again.
"Okay, look. If you think you're getting anywhere with him, you're not. He is never gonna open up to you. Look at the name thing for explain. Harry doesn't like remembering names. To him, remembering names, is like forming an emotional attachment to someone. And that...Harry doesn't do. He doesn't like to...feel any emotion at all. It's how he is." He shrugs and I frown.
"He remembered yours perfectly." I point out and he chuckles.
"Yeah, only took him about five years." He snorts and I raise an eyebrow and his face becomes serious.
"We have a past." He admits sheepishly and in a way, I feel sorry for him.
"What happened?"
"Nothing. I don't wanna say. Long story short, we were a thing and now we weren't. Okay? Okay." He looks flustered now and I can tell that it was more than just a "past" that he and Harry had. There was definitely a connection there. A connection that was ruined and became what they are now.
"He's so complicated," I breath and he laughs and he's back to his normal self.
"Tell me about it."
"But...that's Harry. He's trained that way. He's trained not to feel any kind of emotion whatsoever. He's trained to...shut people out. Shut anybody out who could possibly care about him." He explains and I look up at him.
"But why?"
"Because it's his job. Niall, he's a high-class CIA assassin."
"Wow."
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All I'm asking for guys, is a little bit more feedback. That's all. Thanks. Hope you've enjoyed this chappie :) xxx