Thursday, September 28th
(around 2 am, the day of the meeting at Sweet Creatures)
Harry's POV
Ri was asleep and I tried to make sure I didn't wake her as I removed myself from the bed. Her restless body shifted, she was a sleeper that often would move around so I am not surprised but I hesitate to watch and make sure she does not wake. Her lips were barely parted, soft, with quiet hums as she buried herself deeper into the pillows.
I find my boxers, shorts, and a dirty shirt to slip on. Realistically I cannot even care enough to find something clean at this moment. I shuffle through my disgusting room, god damn I am glad that Riley didn't notice all of this and instead was willing to romance me earlier tonight.
I meander my way down to the kitchen and find a disgruntled Louis raiding the fridge. The lights were all off, but the eerie glow of the refrigerator light casted a bunch of shadows across the room. "Toss a water?"
Louis doesn't even turn around before throwing an unopened drink over his shoulder to me. I snatch the plastic container out of the air and grab a seat at one of the barstools in front of the kitchen island.
Lou dug around for another minute while I gulped down my water. Today felt like a lot. Every day has been late. "What's that old saying, like, a penny for your thoughts? What's on your mind Haz?" Lou says as he turns to me with some leftovers in hand.
I don't know if he could just read the strained expression on my face or if he was in the same boat and just feeling the vibes of true stress that had been plaguing us all. The tensions were a little high after Niall and I came home from the warehouse, and lucky for me Niall told them most of the story because I felt like I had been hit by a car. I used all the energy I had in me to try and keep it together just on the ride home and in front of Riley.
Liam went on taking care of me duty, making sure I was at least staying hydrated, trying to convince me to shower or leave my room, plus checking on my wounds. Louis went on Niall duty, making sure his drug come-down didn't end up being a big fucking fiasco, which it was. Since all of us had been trying to cut back (because the guys were doing everything to help me quit) we were all on edge anytime drugs were around and I know that was a huge trigger for Louis too.
I swear in the weeks we have been cutting back on drugs the alcohol consumption in the house has tripled. Nowadays you can find empty beer bottles scattered anywhere from the bedrooms, living room, showers, the gym, and even the surveillance room in the basement. Not ideal, but better than being a coked out mess that can't tell Monday from Thursday with no real intentions of doing anything productive. Nowadays we all have a small buzz or drink to just get us through the horrific events of the day and our job to stay afloat and not want to massacre each other, the annoying frat bros that we now are realizing are a giant pain in our ass, and our fucking p-o-s bosses who need their heads on a spike. You could say our tolerance for people is wearing thin lately.
Riley had really turned my life around, and even though right now I am realizing how much I have turned hers around for the worse, she changed mine for the better I think. Minus the whole 'right now I have two different cartel leaders wanting me to bid down the other and do an extensive murder for them otherwise myself and my girlfriend plus everyone I have ever cared about might die an extremely tragic death' thing.
"Going to go check?" I raise my brows and Louis knows exactly what I am referencing. Since I didn't answer his question about what's on my mind he deduced that there was too much to talk about out in the open up here, and since I also asked the surveillance cameras he knows that I wanna' head to the basement. He double backed really quick for a beer before grabbing his snacks and heading to the basement door.
Once the door to the security room opened I was met with the exact description I imagined. A table full of files, stacks of cash, beer bottles, and computers. A room that smells like stale ale, old pizza boxes, depression, and male cologne.
Harry to the GC: basement?
Niall: Hold on - be there in ten
Liam: Not home
Harry: Can you join Payno? Kinda important
Liam: Be there in twenty
Louis and I try to waste time, eventually Niall joins us. Of course, with a beer in hand. It's almost getting awful how predictable we are all becoming.
Once Liam arrived it was very apparent why he was preoccupied. The hickies on his neck were only partially obscured by his haphazardly thrown together with a backwards shirt, jacket, and jeans. Poor guy was finding a different way to cope and we just cockblocked him.
For a good reason Harry. Tell them your plan.
"Okay guys, let's talk about it because we are fucked. Tonight we are all meeting, and I have no fucking clue how this is going to work." -Harry
"What does Riley think?" -Louis
"Riley lost her voice in these moments. She is not capable of making choices without realizing what the consequences might be and I cannot have that happen again." -Harry
Both Louis and Liam scoff, "little heavy on the male dominance and misogyny aren't we there Hare?" Liam says with an annoyed tone, but he didn't first hand see the events of the other day.
I instead just point at my face to remind him of the story which does soften his expression a little.
"I have been thinking." -Harry
"Before or after your hour-long rendezvous earlier?" Niall gave a wink to Louis while elbowing him in the side playfully. The two both chuckled and playfully tried to jab and gab about it but I quickly shut them both down. "Not funny and also very weird. Do not speak of this. You guys disgust me." I snatch away Niall's beer from him after scolding them both.
Niall plays hurt, "can't be half as disgusting as us having to hear Riley moan out your name all night. Who knew you had such stamina bro." As funny as they all found this, I was the only one not amused currently. The stress of what I was going to bring up really was my only focus. Back in the past I know we would have all joked about things like this, in fact there was never anything really 'off the table' for our humor, but with Riley it seemed different. Maybe it's because I had real feelings for her and didn't just think of her as some girl I liked to take to bed, but I don't know.
"The deal isn't a good one. We all know that. Even if we deliver Aiden, Riley won't be safe. None of us will." -Niall
"None of us are safe now." -Louis
"Except now we drug her into it." -Niall
"Technically she drug herself." -Liam
"That's a fucked technicality Payno. Don't do that." -Niall
Louis slams a hand down on the table, "Stop bickering. We need to be logical right now."
"Thanks Lou." I give him a nod of approval and he smiles at the sentiment, because he knows it means a lot to me that he is taking this all very seriously.
"Sorry mate." -Niall
"Yeah, sorry. I know that Riley wouldn't have chosen this all on purpose." -Liam
"That's the thing, I don't think any of us would have, if we would have known." -Harry
"True that." -Niall
Everyone just stares at the cameras in silence, letting the years of bad memories flood through us. From drugs, murders, cons, deals, meetups, and so much shit in between. A shower can easily wash away the blood of a person that I got rid of, but the memory of watching their light go out doesn't go away. Ending their life before their time was up, for what, because they were some pathetic junkie addict who couldn't pay? I'm just as terrible for being the one who got them hooked in the first place probably.
I've seen reports on the news about things I've done.
I've heard girls on campus giddily grabbing their coffees chatting about a true crime podcast that covered a cold case, going over the gruesome details, sometimes even getting them wrong. But who am I to correct that? I can't really waltz up to two girls sipping on their caramel cappuccinos and let them know I didn't pull Leo Motoziario's teeth out with pliers like the reports say, in fact Niall and I took a sledgehammer to his head and bashed it in about fifteen times to knock them all out before burning the body because we couldn't find our pliers that day. Again, not something you can just do without people realizing you might not be a college student and potentially, maybe, slightly, kinda' could instead be a member of the cartel.
The best parts of my days back then were when I could just spend my evenings getting high with my friends, doing coke all night, beer pong till the am, and selling drugs to all the idiots on campus who didn't care about the jacked up prices. Then she came along, and now I'm in a shit mess.
The cameras flip and we are presented with the usual image of Autumn sleeping on the couch, which is way more common than you would think. This girl makes eating take out, binge watching tv, and sleeping on the living room couch into a real daily activity.
"How's that going Lou?" -Liam
Louis takes a really long sip of his beer and looks away from the screen. No one makes a comment about the awkward tension that was overtly evident with that kind of a reaction, but we all knew that meant they were on the fritz.
"Okay, uhhh, let's move on then." Niall tried his best.
"It's shit really." -Harry
"It's always shit." -Liam
"But now, again, it's more than just us. It happened to Niall, and now it's affecting Riley. This is fucked. Everett and Alexander are never going to stop. They have no limits." -Harry
"Yeah, but that's nothing new." -Louis
"That's why I brought you guys here, I have an idea." -Harry
Everyone seemed nervous the moment I mentioned it. For obvious reasons.
"I want out." -Harry
"We all want out." -Niall
"Then let's do it." -Harry
Niall cleared his throat, "then let's do it" he mocked me in a fake British tone. His Irish accent vanished instantly and it was a terrible impression, but he tried. Honestly, it was better than Riley's impersonation.
"I'm serious." -Harry
"And how do you even think we do that?" -Liam
"Aiden." -Harry
Louis scoffs. Niall rolls his eyes. Liam looks confused. "Explain further." Louis encourages me.
"Tonight, when we go and meet Aiden, what if we tell him the truth?" -Harry
The guys were not amused by the laugh they all mutually let out, but I wasn't joking.
"I am being serious. We tell Aiden that Everett and Alexander are fucking insane and we can't do it. With that being the case, we make a new deal. Give Ev and Alexander over to Aiden and start fresh." -Harry
"So we go from one set of a shitty psychopathic set of bosses to a new psychopathic boss whom we have never met and might also try to kill us tomorrow. Sounds great! What part of the plan am I missing Harry?" Niall sounded super sarcastic and happy. "Maybe we can also ask Aiden for a new salary, and wait for it..." he drum rolls on the table, "a beach house!"
"Mate. Shut up. I am being serious here. I really thought about it and I think - " I was cut off by Liam, "Honestly, Harry might be onto something."
"But, if we do this, we have to promise something." -Harry
"Let me guess, we cannot tell Riley?" -Niall
Niall always knows me, this is why has been my best friend for as long as he has.
"If Riley knows, then she is going to try to stop us, or find a way to protect us, and she has this goddamn idea of saving us and she's hellbent on it. I can't let her get hurt because of me. So if we do this, and we will, we cannot let her know." -Harry
All of us soak in our feelings for a moment, as silence takes over the room.
"So this is it, we gonna' do this? Fuckin' double cross? Pull a one-eighty? Mission Impossible. Fast and the Furious. The Whole Nine Yards. The Departed." -Niall
"Yes Niall, we get it. We are doing it." -Louis
"You guys totally know what this means right? Tonight is the deal. Tonight is the double cross." -Niall
"Yes, Niall, we just established that." Liam sounded confused as to what Niall was hinting at.
"We need costumes!" -Niall
Louis, Liam, and I groan in unison while Niall fistbumps the air with excitement.
***Author's Note Below***
I cannot believe that new people are finding and reading this. It's just a little hobby for me but it means everything, you don't get it. You guys are my favorites, thank you so so much. I love you.
<3 -T