Elaina Basset
It's been nearly two days since Harry's father appeared at his front door.
I haven't given him the chance to shut down over it, texting and calling to keep him distracted and ask how he is. I haven't seen him in person since that morning, but it's only because he's been busy organizing for his work trip that's happening in just a few days.
I'm trying not to think about that trip. It makes me nervous. He'll be gone for five days, in a dangerous situation...and I'll be stuck here.
If anything happens to him, he'll be in a whole other country. He keeps saying that he'll have Niall, but that just makes me think of the both of them getting hurt.
Stop thinking about it.
I got off the phone with Harry twenty minutes ago. I asked him how he's doing. He told me he's getting through it. I then asked what he was doing tonight and he told me that he and Niall are gonna have a guy's night.
I was worried when he first told me this, because I just imagined him getting drunk and sad over his father. So, I texted Niall, and I asked him to give Harry a fun night where he can forget about everything else...just for a little while.
After thinking about it, I'm glad Harry's taking a night to just be young again with his best friend. I think he needs it.
It's 9:30 at night. I've been painting for most of the evening but I decided that the sun going down was my cue to call it a day. I came inside after putting everything away and went straight to kitchen, my stomach empty and begging for something to eat.
The thing about staying with Zayn, is that he doesn't have chips or junk that you can just grab and eat. You gotta make something if you're gonna eat. I suppose that's not a bad thing, but it sure is an inconvenience sometimes.
I decided to throw together the easiest thing I could think of, preheating Zayn's vintage oven as I begin to saw through a baguette to divide it into smaller pieces. I don't feel like fruit and veggies right now. I feel like heavy bread and cheese.
I start loading some brie onto these little baguette slices, hearing steps coming from the stairs at the same time. I look over my shoulder to see Zayn heading into the kitchen, rubbing his eyes.
"Were you asleep?" I ask, continuing to assemble my food.
"Yeah." he chuckles. "I just woke up."
I smile as he reaches into the cupboard, grabbing two glasses. He then goes into the fridge, grabbing a pitcher of fresh strawberry lemonade that he made, sliced strawberries and lemons floating around in the liquid. He pours a glass for him, and one for me.
"How has your day been?" he asks me, sliding my glass over and looking over my shoulder to see what I'm making.
"Pretty mellow." I answer, bringing a piece of brie up to his mouth for him to take. He grabs it with his fingers, popping it into his mouth as he keeps his eyes on my snack.
I sense him looking, so I look back and furrow my brows. "What?"
"Did you put olive oil on the baguette?" he asks and I look back down at the bread already adorned with cheese.
"Shit." I murmur. He laughs and steps in, taking over as he goes into the cupboard for the oil.
I let him do it, knowing the snack will turn out better if he's the one making it anyway. Plus, I know he loves to do this stuff. I sit down at the table with my lemonade.
With his back to me, Zayn speaks. "Did you hear about Harry's dad being in Milan?"
I try not to have much of a reaction to that, even though hearing it made my chest tighten.
"Yeah, Angela told me."
Zayn places the bread onto a baking sheet and shakes his head as he closes the oven, grabbing his drink. "I mean, it's crazy. That man hasn't bothered to see Harry in, fuck, I don't even know how long...and he suddenly just turns up."
He sits across from me.
"Do you know anything about his father?" I ask.
He shrugs. "I mean, not really." he sniffs. "I know that he's not the type to show up at his son's door only to reconcile, that's for sure."
I furrow my brows, sitting up a bit more. "You think he has bad intentions?"
He takes a sip from his lemonade. "Maybe not 'bad', but definitely nothing that benefits Harry."
I look down at the table, my eyes on the divots in the wood.
"But, hey. Harry's grown, he can figure it out. If he wants to reconnect with his father, good for him." Zayn says and it makes me look up.
"I mean," I scoff, "it kind of sounds like Harry's got a lot of baggage from his father..."
Zayn tilts his head as he looks at me.
"...that's how Niall makes it sound anyway." I clear my throat, backtracking to keep my closeness with Harry covered.
Zayn scratches at the wooden table, "I know... I know." he nods, I think realizing that he was insensitive before. "He just never talks about it, you know? It's hard to tell what the guy is feeling most times."
Don't I know it.
I nod in agreement. "I think he's a lot deeper than he lets on."
Zayn chuckles, a small smile spreading onto his cheeks. "I think so too."
I smile back, and for a second there's a quiet that falls over the two of us. He's looking at me, the smile fading every so slightly before he blinks away.
"You okay?" I question, watching him. It felt like his energy shifted so suddenly.
He flicks his brown eyes up to me, his tongue running along the inside of his cheek.
He just pulls another short smile and nods. "Yeah." he says, but deep down I couldn't help but think that he wanted to say more. He inhales and pushes his chair out so he can stand, I just watch with a silent confusion. "Sleep well, kid." he tells me before leaving for the stairs.
I sit alone at the table, blinking my eyes as my mind tries to process what happened. It's like something invaded Zayn's head and just totally caused his mood to do a 180, but he didn't want me to see it so he left the conversation.
Maybe I should go check up on him...
As I'm about to stand up, my phone rings.
I look down at the screen, seeing Harry's name and face across my screen. As much as I tried to stay away from my phone tonight to avoid the temptation of checking up on him all night, I couldn't even hesitate answering when I saw he was calling.
I hold the phone up to my ear,
"Hel—"
"El! Baby, I—" he begins to laugh into the phone, a cackle that he can't contain.
"Harry?" I chuckle as I say his name, wondering what's got him so giddy.
"Sorry, hi, Niall's doing something so fuckin' stupid right now and I had to make sure you're included in this moment."
My brows crease as I breathe out a small laugh. "What's going on?"
He sounds drunk, not intoxicated, but drunk. I can only imagine what he and Niall are up to right now.
"I'm gonna facetime you, wait." he laughs again.
I hear the sudden sound of a dropped call, making me hold my phone down in front of me to see the screen. Within seconds, a facetime request from Harry shows up and I accept it right away.
I can only hope and pray that whatever they're doing, they're somewhat safe and not playing fucking chicken in the middle of a highway somewhere.
As soon as I click the green 'accept' button, Harry's pretty face is all I see, plus red lighting behind him.
I smile immediately when I see him. He does the same, a drunk and genuinely happy smile with teeth and dimples and all.
"Hi there." I chuckle.
"Hey." he grins as he looks at me through a phone screen. "I'm drunk. You're so pretty."
I laugh at his remark, hearing him laugh too because he knows how he sounds but he can't help the drunk words.
"You are too." I say in return.
He pretends to give me a wide eyed look of surprise. "I actually have a girlfriend, you can't say that to me." he jokes and I almost immediately hear Niall groan in the background of wherever they are.
"Can you stop being gross and show her!" Niall says.
"What are you guys doing?" I question, watching Harry as he's looking off at what I'm assuming is Niall and laughing again.
"Here." Harry says as he flips the camera around so now I'm seeing what he's seeing.
I first notice the red lighting of the room they're in, plus neon signs and finally, Niall in a chair with his leg extended out. I suddenly realize that I recognize this place, it's Murphy's—the tattoo shop they took me to when I got my Monarch tattoo.
There's a man hunched over by Niall's knee, and it doesn't take long for me to piece together that he's getting a tattoo.
"Oh god." I murmur, Niall looking at the camera with a coy smile on his face and a doing a 'rock' symbol with his fingers.
But it wasn't until Harry brought the camera right up to Niall's leg where the tattoo was being done. I squint, seeing the ink spelling something out.
I see a 'C U N' and my hand slaps over my mouth, earning an immediate cackle from Harry behind the phone.
This little Irish fuck is getting the word 'cunt' tattooed on his fucking knee.
"Niall!" I react as a muffle into my palm, my eyes basically bulging out of the sockets.
"Do you like it, Red?" Niall laughs like he's made the most hilarious joke ever heard by human ears.
"You're an idiot." I shake my head, but it's impossible not to want to burst out laughing at the pure absurdity of these two.
The camera flips back on Harry who's rubbing his hand over his face with a bright smile like he can't believe the ridiculousness either.
"You just let him do this?" I say through a laugh.
"I tried to stop him, I swear I did." he tells me.
I'm sure 'trying to stop him' didn't consist of much effort on Harry's end. He probably was saying 'Niall stop, don't do it' at the same time he was patting the tattoo chair to sit down on.
I chuckle once more, glad that he's having fun.
"Okay, crazy." I say, "I'm gonna eat and go to bed."
He looks down at the camera. "Sleep well. I'll text you."
I grin. "Call me later if you want. My phone will be on. Goodnight, Dreamboat."
"Night." he smiles.
"She calls you Dreambo—" I hear Niall's voice at the very end of the facetime, being cut off as Harry hangs up.
I put my phone down, still smiling to myself at the thought of Harry being happy and having a genuinely good time. I'm gonna worry all night though, so my phone will be by my side for the rest of the night.
All I can do is trust that he won't get himself into any trouble.
Harry Styles
"14 year old me would think I'm so fucking cool." Niall giggles to himself as he snaps the fourth flash picture of his tatted knee.
"Probably, Ni." I say as I puff on a joint outside the tattoo shop. He's crouched over on the sidewalk, putting his phone down and looking up at me.
He just gives me this goofy smile, cross faded eyes squinting at me to try and focus his vision. "You having a fun night?"
I blow smoke out as I chuckle and shake my head. "Don't do that." I shove his question off.
"Don't do what?"
"Don't make this all mushy." I say.
He laughs at my comment, standing up and rolling his pant leg down. "I'm just asking." he grabs the joint from me. "I mean, I'm having fun."
I shut my eyes for a second with a stagnant smile on my face as I lean against the outer brick wall with my arms crossed. I refocus my vision on him puffing on the weed smoke. He then looks at me so we're making high slash drunk eye contact.
"Look, I'm just saying, you've been really great these past few days." he tells me, smoke blowing out his lips. "Elaina brings something out in you. I'd hate for your dickass father to ruin it."
Hearing him say how Elaina is affecting me makes me feel good, I'll admit. I've felt way lighter since we started dating, even lighter than when we just knew we liked each other.
"Yeah, seeing him fucking sucked." I tell Niall. "But, whatever, I'll get through it."
Niall scoffs as he examines the joint, his head shaking slightly. "He's lucky I wasn't there."
If there's anyone who hates my father more than me, It's Niall. He was there for nearly all of it; my mother's death, the police station, my father showing up to take me back in...he saw it all.
That's why we're so close. He knows everything about me, and he knows what can and can't break me.
"Yeah? What would you have done?" I ask with a smirk, trying to make this conversation as light as possible.
Niall takes the last puff, then puts the joint out on the brick. "Kicked his ass, cussed him out for what he's put you through, then kicked his ass again." he shrugs like it's a casual thing to say.
I lift off the wall, scratching my nose. "Well I don't think your little girlfriend would love you beating the shit out of her beloved dad." I joke as I start to walk down the street.
"She's not my girlfriend, dick." Niall remarks as he catches up to me.
I appreciated what Niall was saying before, but I really don't want to talk about it. It's not avoidance, it's just wanting to keep the vibes of the night positive.
Niall and I head down the strip of late night shops and bars and restaurants. There's a number of people out tonight, and we blend in pretty well. To everyone else, we just look like two assholes out for the night. I guess it's not too far off.
"Hey, should we go to Zayn's bar." he asks me and I immediately scrunch my nose in decline.
"Nah, we're there all the time." I say, hands in my pockets. "I wanna go somewhere where absolutely no one knows us."
Just as I say this, we walk past a railing to an alley like area with stairs. From the bottom of the stairs, we hear the faint, but ground vibrating sound of rock music. Live rock music, like guitars and drums being actively played.
We both stop to listen, and Niall turns his head to look at me with a suggesting grin spreading over his lips.
Niall played guitar for years when we were growing up. Not as much now, but he was really good at it. So, I'm sure watching some random underground rock performance would be his shit.
"Now, when do you hear classic 80's rock on a street in Milan?" he says and I just laugh, giving in as we head for the stairs. There was no line or anything like that, just concrete graffitied steps that led down to a rusty steel door which you only had to push open.
The door greeted us with a small lobby and the humidity of cigarette smoke and a packed dive bar with heavy guitar bass and the vocals of the singer vibrating off of the walls. There's green lights which fade into red, then blue, then purple, and smoke machines just adding to the sweatiness.
I've been in plenty of old bars like this, but I gotta admit, this is cool.
Right at the back, there's a stage where a band performs. It's some 'KISS' song, and the crowd in front of them is going batshit as if it's the infamous band in the flesh.
Niall and I push our way to the front left side to watch closer. It's clear that everyone here is intoxicated, but everyone's having the time of their life all the same. Niall's eyes light up like a boy on Christmas as he watches the live music.
There's girls right at the edge of the stage, screaming for the band, one of them even crying. I chuckle under my breath, entertained by it all.
When this song comes to an end, the 'lead singer' speaks into the mic.
"We've got lots more for you tonight, let me hear you." he cups his hand around his ear as the people in here roar for more music.
As the crowd is erupting, one of the guitarists sets down his instrument and nonchalantly walks off of the stage with a smile, probably taking this tiny intermission to either go piss or maybe do a line, maybe both.
I think nothing of it, but then I hear Niall speaking to the dude next to us. I turn my head to hear them. The guy has black Raybands over his eyes that Niall is pointing at.
"Mind if I borrow those?" he asks the guy, my brows furrow as this random dude just hands the glasses over to Niall willingly and with a smile.
"What are you doing?" I ask as Niall places the sunglasses over his own eyes, and then grabs a cigarette from his pocket.
"I'm goin' up there."
I have to process what he says, giving him a confused look as he starts to jump over the very effective barricade. That's when I realize, he wasn't kidding.
"Niall!" I shout for him over the rest of the crowd, watching as he lights his cigarette while he hurries up the side steps to the stage like he belongs up there.
Oh my fuck.
The singer is still interacting with the loud crowd while Niall just grabs this stray guitar, examining it in his arms with a smirk and a lit cigarette between his teeth, sunglasses over his eyes.
The rest of the band give each other looks, wondering who this random blonde fuckhead is who just joined them on stage. But, amazingly, no one is stopping him.
Niall is either a complete idiot or a genius. I can't tell anymore.
"Anyone heard of Def Leppard?" the singer teases the crowd and they all shout back at him, anticipating the next song.
Niall looks at me in the crowd and I just stand there, honestly amazed, as he has this mischievous and excited smile.
Before any instruments are played, the singer and the bassist both echo the first lyrics of 'Pour Some Sugar On Me' into the microphone.
While the crowd screams.
Then, I watch as Niall and the bassist strike their guitars and the drummer joins in. And suddenly, Niall is playing a classic rock song to a crowd.
Jesus Christ.
He's up there like he was apart of the 80's band in a past life. The singer is singing to the crowd while Niall mouths them in the back. The people next to me are singing back to all of them while I just watch my best friend.
He's killing it, I can't even be mad.
With every lyric, every pound of the drum, every note, he's playing the instrument like he was born for it.
The singer finally acknowledges him, doing a double take as he recognizes that this isn't his guitarist...it doesn't falter the performance whatsoever though. Instead, the singer takes the mic off the stand and goes up to Niall, still singing as he kind of mirrors Niall's movements to get him completely involved.
Niall's beaming.
There's a moment where the singer stops singing and it's time for the instrumentals to shine. Niall shreds the guitar in harmony with the bassist. The girls at the front are losing their shit over this young rockstar facade, while Niall eats up every second of it, even going as far as getting to the edge of the stage and leaning over while he plays to get close to them.
I can't believe it.
I knew Niall enjoyed playing the guitar, but I gotta be honest, I never knew he had this in him.
It just makes me think, is this where he'd be if we didn't go down the road we did?
He looks like he's having the time of his life, all while no one in here apart from me knows his name.
I start thinking about if Elaina were here. We'd be in this crowd, watching him together. I'd be able to have my arm around her and hold her against me as we watched our friend.
What a cool moment.
As the song comes to an end, Niall stands up straight and looks on to the small crowd while they go wild. Beneath his sunglasses are a pair of blue eyes taking in every second of this event.
But then, that electric expression on his face suddenly drops.
His head turns to look for me, and when he finds me, he nods toward the back of the club. Confusion on my expression, my chest rises into worry as I look behind me.
At first, it's just the crowd of drunk people. Maybe a hundred or two hundred heads behind me. But, after desperate searching, my eyes land on what Niall saw.
At the back of this underground concrete club, stood Leo and Marco. Standing tall with sunglasses over their eyes, it's clear who they're looking for. And with Niall being on the stage and in sight, they start to move through the crowd.
"Shit." I mouth as I don't waste any more time standing around. Niall's already on the move as well, down the stairs and heading back into the sea of people.
We meet each other about three rows in, pushing and shoving to our escape. The way we came in is our only way out.
"You saw what I saw?" Niall yells from behind me as I'm crashing into a sweaty mess of people.
"How'd they fuckin' find us?" I curse through my heavy breathing and rushing.
People are swearing at us as we push through. I'm trying to locate Leo and Marco as I navigate the crowd, but with all the people in here, I can't see them anymore. Our disadvantage comes from the two of them being half a foot taller than most people in this place. They'll see us before we see them.
That steel door that we entered through is in my eyeline, and my only goal is to get myself and Niall through that door and up those stairs. I know Leo and Marco, I've seen them work, if they've been instructed to hunt us down even if they have to make a scene of it, they'll do it. They'll shoot us dead in the street and flee the scene. So, if Niall and I make it out of here, we won't stop running until we lose them.
"They're right behind us, Harry! Go!" I hear Niall shout, making me shove my way to the exit even harder than before. I look over my shoulder briefly, seeing Niall knock over some stools to create any obstacle he can between us and them.
My hand eventually meets the door and I push it open, well aware of all the eyes on us. No one dared to help, though.
I make Niall go ahead of me. I need to be able to see that he's okay while also being the closest to Leo and Marco. It made me feel like I had some sort of control over the situation, despite being weaponless and drunk.
As soon as he's out, I run and slam the door shut behind me. It's not even two seconds before I hear it being whipped open again as Niall and I are sprinting up the concrete stairs.
My mind goes to Elaina, and how I can only hope and pray she's still safe at the villa with Zayn. I almost feel guilty for wishing she were here with me before, because if she was, she'd be in imminent danger yet again. And I don't know what Leo and Marco have planned. If they get to me, they could use me to get to her if they know anything about us...and if she knows I'm in danger, she'll come for me regardless of the position that puts her in.
Niall reaches the top step, and just as I'm about to, I feel my leg get grabbed. I'm suddenly pulled down to the concrete, my back scraping against a few steps as raw adrenaline floods through my blood.
"I've got you now, little shit." I see Marco smiling above me, trying to grab my limbs as I struggle and Leo goes to grab what I'm assuming is his gun. I can see Marco's mangled ear from where Elaina shot him, it's half gone and just a messy bundle of loose skin.
I'm kicking, grabbing onto the wall and the stairs, anything to keep them from pulling me down. It's not long before Niall jumps in, back down the steps and connecting his fist with Marco's jaw so hard and fast that it causes him to let go. Leo, of course, tries to go for me next but I use my now free legs to kick him as hard as I can in the ribs.
When he doubles over, Niall grabs my arm to help me back to my feet. We don't stick around considering we don't have anything to defend ourselves...instead, we book it back up to the street and run.
We don't look back, not until we reach an alley. We turn the corner to the darkened street and pin ourselves against the brick. Our backs to the wall, we pant from the rush we endured, catching our breath.
"Fucking assholes." Niall mutters through heavy breaths, his head against the bricks and eyes shut.
I know that at any moment, they'll find us. My eyes dart around the darkness for something, anything, that I can put to use. In the blackness of the alley, I see metal glistening beside a dumpster like it was meant for me to see.
A crowbar. Beautiful.
I quickly rush over to pick it up, examining it in my hands like it's a blessed artifact.
Now, I'm excited for those two giant fuckwads to turn down this alley. I'm ready to knock out some fake silver teeth.
"What do they even want with you?" Niall questions.
I grip the crowbar. "Don't know."
"Well you pissed 'em off somehow."
"I think they're working for that asshole." I hint and Niall rolls his eyes.
"I say we kill that asshole next time he shows his face."
"Yeah, but then we'd have more people pissed off at us." I say.
"Well, you cut off the head of the snake..."
He stops when we hear the unusually close sound of tires. We both freeze, turning our heads. My heart drops when we see headlights turn down the other end of the alley, coming straight for us and ending with a screeching halt.
My palms were gripping the crowbar until I realized that I recognized this car.
"Oh fuck." Niall murmurs under his breath.
It's Angela's convertible, top down, with her in the drivers seat.
And in the passenger seat, sits my girlfriend.
My breath hitches when I see her. My mind races, wondering why she's here, terrified knowing what's around the corner.
"Guys?" Angela questions as she peers over the windshield.
"What the fuck are you two doing here!" I shout in a hushed tone, frustration coursing through me mixed with the instinct to protect my sister and my girl.
"Niall shared his location with me! He said you two were at a cool bar and we were gonna come see you guys but then it said you were in some alley! Why do you have a crowbar?" Angela states and I immediately turn to Niall with an irritated glare, whacking him in the back of his head with the back of my hand.
"Ouch, fuck!" he curses, rubbing his head. "It was a drunk text, alright! I'm sorry!"
"You two need to go." I say.
"What's going on?" Elaina looks to me in worry, starting to open her car door to come to me as she can sense something's not right.
There's no point in lying to her.
"Leo and Marco found us." I say, hurrying up to her car door and shutting it again. Her face drops.
"What!" she panics. "How!"
"I don't know." I shake my head. "But they're looking for us now so you need to go."
"Get in." Angela says in full seriousness.
"I'm not getting in this car, that'll just put you two in more danger." I explain sternly.
It makes logical sense to get in and get away, but if I do, they'll see the car. They'll see Elaina. They'll find a way to follow us, and just like that, Elaina's in a bad situation.
"We're not leaving you guys here on the street, get the fuck in!" Angela shouts.
"Ang, drive." I reject again.
"Get in the fucking c—"
"Harry!" Elaina screams my name right as I hear running behind me.
I turn and attempt to swing the crowbar, but I'm met with Marco dodging it and connecting his ring covered fist to my nose.
My head whips to the side, seeing stars from just one hit. I hear Elaina scream. I hear Leo going for Niall. I hear car doors opening and closing. It's all happening so fast.
All I know is that I'm not letting them get to Elaina.
Marco generously punches me in the stomach to add on to the throbbing in my nose. I have to use everything in me not to collapse, swinging the crowbar again but missing because of how dizzy I am.
"You aren't the fighter you used to be, kid." Marco makes the snide remark, a smirk on his face.
I clench my teeth, my one hand gripping my ribcage from the pain. Looking up at Marco with pure fury, I take in a deep inhale and lunge at him.
I grip the crowbar with two hands again and I get him right in the side of his cheek, knocking him to the ground. I want to check what's going on around me, but I need to focus on getting him fully out of my way. So, I get on top of him, he's gripping his face as he looks up at me with wide eyes while I raise the crowbar over my head.
Ready to bring it down to smash his face in, my body suddenly gets tackled down. Smashing to the concrete, I can only assume that it's Leo who's gotten to me now. I pinch my eyes shut from the impact of my already throbbing ribs hitting the unforgiving ground of the alley.
Within seconds, Leo pulls me up halfway by the collar of my shirt and slams my back against the brick wall. I feel the cold metal of the crowbar being harshly pinned against my throat, rage in Leo's eyes as he has every intention to cut off my breath with the tool.
I see Niall on the pavement, on his back, I see blood by his head. I can't even scream at the sight, my voice box cut off.
I can't see Elaina. Where the fuck is Elaina?
My legs thrash out while my arms try desperately to either pry the crowbar off of my throat or push Leo away, but he shows no leverage or mercy.
"Let him go!" I suddenly hear Angela running up to Leo, ready to give him hell. I can see the faint sight of her nose bleeding.
Before she can do anything to get him off of me, Leo lifts his leg to connect his foot with her stomach, knocking her much smaller frame to the ground as well. The sight pains me, I can't help her.
I can feel my vision fading. My chest is rising, pining for air that it can't get. I can't breathe. I can't fucking breathe.
Leo turns back to me, smiling with insanity.
"Let it happen, Styles." he tells me. "Wouldn't it be so much easier to just close your eyes and accept—"
Blood suddenly splatters from the side of Leo's head, his body collapsing down and the metal coming loose from my throat.
I take a desperate breath in, wide eyed as Leo's head gushes crimson red liquid onto the alley ground beneath him.
I look up, my heart thrashing against my chest cavity when I see Elaina with a sharp rock in her hand. It's now covered in blood. She just saved my life by smashing a rock against Leo's skull.
Angela painfully sits up, breathing hard and laboured, staring at the sight in front of her.
Elaina's hand shakes as she drops the rock, horrified by what she's done. She stares at Leo, hyperventilating.
I begin to try and get up, needing to come to her aid.
But, as I see Marco's big figure stand and lurk behind her, and I hear Angela scream for her best friend...there is no trying to get up. I'm suddenly up on my feet as Marco grabs Elaina from behind, arm wrapping around her neck as she screams out in terror.
He's going for his gun with his other hand, but unluckily for him, I'm seeing red. And when I'm this angry, I'm a lot scarier than a fucking gun.
He's fumbling for his weapon, having to look down to his pocket for a brief moment. In this same moment, yet again, I'm picking up the crowbar.
With a ringing in my ears and fury clouding every other thought I have, I swiftly raise the bar and crack it down on the top of Marco's skull. I didn't care if the blow killed him or if it didn't. All I know is that one hit took him out, his body going limp and setting Elaina free.
She immediately stumbles into me. Despite my pain, I latch on to her with one arm, holding her against my chest as her arms grip my torso. She's still hyperventilating, I can feel her heartbeat racing.
While gripping on to her, I look at Angela crawling over to Niall. I watch with fear, not knowing if he was alive.
And I didn't breathe until I saw him cough, choking on air as he came to. Angela has her hand on his chest, lifting his head up with her other hand.
She looks up to me and Elaina. "We need to get out of here."
I was ready to carry Elaina over to the car so I could get Niall, but instead I feel her let go of me and hurry over to him herself. She sniffs, wiping away tears in her eyes. I follow.
I get down to Niall's level, seeing his eyes wired shut as he turns on his side to cough. His heads bleeding, hot blood running down the side of his temple.
"Fucking Christ." he swears, which relieves me a bit.
"Get him laid out in the backseat." Angela tells me.
"I—" Niall chokes out. "I don't want the backseat. I want shotgun."
"Ni, you're bleeding." I say, helping him up.
He finally opens his eyes, looking at my nose. "So are you, dipshit." he groans as I help him to his feet.
Well, he's not concussed.
"Oh my god, fine he can sit in the front. We just need to leave, now!" Angela rushes. We all help Niall into the passenger side, he buckles himself in.
I lift Elaina into the backseat before jumping in next to her. I don't take a second look at Leo and Marco still on the ground.
I don't know if we've killed them or not, but there's an insane amount of blood.
Angela puts her car in reverse and speeds out of the alley, leaving the scene behind.
"We need to tell Vince what—"
"Yes I know." I respond to Angela by cutting her off. "Just focus on getting somewhere safe first."
The rest of the ride was silent. Elaina sat next to me, looking down at the floor of the car while I gripped her leg.
It seems that danger will follow us everywhere, even if I try to keep her from it.
I don't know how much longer I'll be able to shield her from everything I haven't told her about.
There's so much she's unaware of, things that I don't know how to bring up. But it's time, I can't hide it any longer. I used to think that what she doesn't know won't hurt her, but that's just not factual, at least not anymore.
I have to tell her everything.
Angela brought us all to her place. She took Niall upstairs to get him cleaned up while Elaina and I took the guest bedroom.
As soon as we got in the room, she sat down on the side of the bed and stared numbly at the floor.
I watch her with deep concern as I strip down to just a t shirt and boxers. Then, I walk up to her and I crouch down to see her face. There was no emotion there. I rub her leg, my heart aching.
"Hey, talk to me." I whisper.
And then, she breaks. Her chin quivers and her eyes squeeze shut as tears begin to roll down her flushed cheeks.
A sob escapes her throat and I immediately pull her down to me by her arms. I sit her in my lap so she's facing me, her legs at the sides of my torso. I hold her face in my hands. "Baby, hey. It's okay, you're safe now."
She shakes her head. "I didn't mean to do that." she cries. "I just wanted to save you."
I can only imagine what's going through her tender mind. The image of her knocking the stone against Leo's head must be replaying over and over in a hellish loop.
"You did save me." I tell her. "He would've killed me, El. You stopped it."
She sniffs, her glossy blue eyes looking into mine. "I can't hurt people, even the bad ones. I'm not built for it."
I nod, rubbing her cheekbones. "I know. But that doesn't mean you're weak."
Her lip shakes and she looks down again. "How am I supposed to protect you if I can't handle this?"
I push some hair away from her face. "You don't need to worry about me, Flower."
"I want to worry about you, though." she flicks her eyes back up, her hand rubbing my knuckles on my left hand. "I want to keep you safe just as much as you want to keep me safe."
My chest aches when she says this, and it's not from the physical pain.
Tell her, Harry.
You have to tell her.
Tell her the—
She brings her lips to mine, gently. She leaves the softest kiss, pulling away slowly and resting her forehead to mine before taking a silent inhale.
"I'm exhausted." she breathes out as she goes to stand up. I follow her movements, anxiety in my stomach.
I watch as peels her dress off, throwing it to the ground and climbing onto the bed.
I stand there, picking at my cuticles. "El, I've gotta tell you—"
"Not tonight." she immediately cuts me off, looking at me with puffy wet eyes and red cheeks. "Please, I can't handle anything else tonight."
She then lays on her side on top of the covers, her head on the pillow, her back to me.
I look down to the floor, biting my cheek.
It's against my better judgement to let her go to sleep, but my selfish side allows it.
I turn off the light, then walk over to the bed. I get on top of the covers just like her, pressing my body to hers in a spooning position, my hand grabbing hers and holding it against her chest. She cuddles right into me, like I'm the only source of comfort she feels in her world.
And as I lay there, being her only outlet of some twisted sense of peace, I'm overcome by the darkness of guilt.
//
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