(a/n: adorable yet creepy fanart by Wallahmelone)
P H I L 'S P O V
"You said they all had something in common. Do you remember what it was? And who is they? Did they give you a name?"
"They. . ." The girl trailed off, then passed out in my boyfriend's arms. Dan groaned.
"What now?" I hissed through gritted teeth.
"I vote on taking her phone," Oliver piped in. "Blindfold her and keep her mouth shut so if she wakes she wont freak. Go through her stuff in the van, look for any hints, then give it back and bring her to the police acting like we'd found her."
"How would we get her out of the club?" Alex questioned, stepping in.
"It's simple. We pick her up, walk out right in front of the cops. If they ask anything, we tell them we're her friend and we're taking her home. Any further questions and we'll knock 'em out with gas."
"That's crazy-" Alex began to protest, their eyes wide and eyebrows furrowed.
"It's really not," Oli grinned. "I'm up for it if you guys are. If not then just blue eyes and I will go."
"Okay, we go and Alex will stay here with Dan," I explained.
"But I wanna go with you-" Dan began to beg. I shook my head, setting my hands on his shoulders.
"We need at least two people back here. Not to mention the fact that I made a promise, and that promise was to keep you safe. Bringing you along would be the opposite. I'll keep you updated through texts, alright?"
Dan sighed, running a hand through his sweaty curls. "Alright. But if anything happens, please run."
I flashed him a smile, leaning forward and pressing a kiss to his forehead, "I'll," then his nose, "be," then his lips, "fine."
A blush formed on his cheeks and I pushed a strand curl from his forehead, turning away and picking up the drunk stranger. Oliver put the girl on his back and we headed out.
A guard instantly noticed, walking to us. I gulped. "Excuse me, what do you two think you're doing?"
I forced a friendly grin. "You know how friends can get. Drank too much again. Her boyfriend dumped her yesterday so we brought her to cheer her up. Obviously she got a little too happy if you know what I mean," Oliver chuckled and threw in a wink.
"Right. . . my apologies." He nodded us off and we forced smiles, turning it away and letting the act drop. We hurried off and ran to our parked van, climbing in and setting her in the trunk.
Layla peeked her head over the seats. "What's up?"
"We think we might have clues to signs of Wirrow's group being here. Watch the girl."
Layla nodded, hopping over the seat and working on blindfolding the dreamer. Oliver and I climbed in and I turned on the computer, hooking up the girl's phone to it and downloading her videos. We waited until it was done then I transferred the data to an L drive, smiling at the small thing.
"Oliver you hook it up, Layla go drop the girl back off."
"Gotcha," Layla responded, undoing the blindfold and hurrying off. I set up the video and spotted one from tonight, furrowing my eyebrows. We watched it and Oliver gasped.
"Wait- rewind," he spoke. I blinked at him but obliged, backtracking the film and playing it again in slow motion. Then we saw it.
A guy was flirting with her, and it was obvious this drunk girl didn't mean to record. But one thing strange was the words he said.
I picked up some of the words.
"Them. . . whatever you want. . . or- kill- the- name's Wirrow."
I froze. "Crap. No, he bribed her- she's gonna kill us, that was all an act. Go find Lay-"
We were cut off with a scream, and instantly Oliver and I were sprinting from the vehicle to where the shriek came from to find the 'drunk' girl holding a knife to Layla's throat.
Oliver jumped and knocked her off, snatching the knife from her hands and slitting the stranger's throat. "I don't get it," Oliver spoke, standing and throwing the knife into a bush. "I don't get why she didn't make a move while we were in the car."
"Because she knew she'd lose against three. Getting me alone was smart, really," Layla breathed. I shrugged, helping Layla stand, then called Alex. They answered.
"We got it, you two can come outside."
"Yeah, about that. . ." They began.
"Alex, what happened?"
"I don't know where Dan is."
"What? How did you manage to lose him?"
"He texted you and you wouldn't answer, so he started freaking out and I tried to tell him that you were busy then he started having an anxiety attack and tears were streaming then he ran off and now I can't find him."
I let out a breath. "We aren't leaving this damn club until-" I began, then I heard his voice.
"Phil!"
I turned to see the tearstained of my boyfriend running towards me with open arms. I froze, lowering the hand with my phone it. I stood still until Dan caught up and threw his arms around me, hugging me tightly.
"Dan, where did you go? What is it- are you alright? Are you hurt?"
Dan shook his head, gulping and trying to even his breathing. He reached up, wiping his now smudged eyeliner before locking eyes with me. "No, I-I just thought something happened to you, and I got really scared and I didn't know what to do and then I started crying and I-"
"Hey, shush," I told him gently, pulling him back to my chest and holding him firmly. "I'm fine, and so are you. See? Look at me, I'm here, you're touching me, I'm real and I'm okay."
And as much as I loved seeing the sensitive side of my love, I knew it was dangerous as well.
With a job like this, you couldn't afford to care about the others. It was just you, yourself, and you. You couldn't afford to worry.
He had a fear of being left alone, and I had a fear of leaving him alone.
And deep down I knew, that with such vast feelings for each other, our worrying would swallow us whole and eat us alive.