Niall’s POV
As soon as I slammed the door, I could hear Isla’s sobs coming from outside. Of course it hurt me to see her cry but what she did to me hurt me even more.
I ran my hands through my hair while I paced around the room trying to calm myself down. I tried clearing my head of the image of Isla’s face after I said those last hurtful words to her. I never wanted to be the cause of her pain.
Of course I didn’t mean it. I don’t know what made me say those words but I just wanted her to feel the same amount of pain I was feeling. It was like some monster had taken over me and said those words.
Immediately, I felt the guilt building up inside of me. I didn’t want her to think that I ever regret falling for her. Falling for her brought me some of the happiest moments of my life. And now I had to ruin it by telling her those lies.
Honestly, everything I said to her was a lie.
I would always be there for her no matter what. I will always be there for her to pick her up off of the ground. I will always love her.
I’m an idiot.
I should have let her explain. The last time I didn’t hear her out, it led to disaster. I should’ve learned from my mistakes and listened to her side of the story.
I am a huge idiot.
I groaned in frustration and as I rushed over to the front door and opened it. I looked towards my driveway, hoping to see her car there but she was gone.
She probably went back to Lou and El’s place.
It had started to pour outside so I quickly grabbed my keys and ran to the car. I drove as fast as I could, even driving past stop signs without stopping. I had to tell her that everything that came out of my stupid mouth was a lie.
I got there and breathed a sigh of relief when I saw Isla’s car in the driveway. I quickly parked the car and got out and ran to the front door.
I didn’t even bother knocking as I opened the door and set my eyes on everyone in the living room. Everyone was there except Isla.
Everyone was looking at me, taking in my appearance, I was now drenched from the rain.
“Niall, what are you doing here?” Harry asked, slowly getting up.
“Where’s Isla?” I asked, ignoring his question.
“I thought she was with you,” he replied, I could see worry growing in his eyes.
“She was but…we were talking and I said some horrible things to her and…I told her to leave. Her car’s in the driveway. She’s here, right?” I looked around the house but saw her nowhere in sight.
Fear was now evident in Harry’s features as he looked at me and then the others.
“Niall. Isla’s not here. She hasn’t come back since Harry dropped her off at your place,” El spoke. All of them were growing worried now.
I started to panic now.
“You drove her? I…I thought she drove to my place.”
Harry shook his head. “I drove her. I didn’t want her driving in the state she was in when I told her what happened.”
My head was swimming with a millions thoughts now.
I shook my head. “So…so I told her to leave without a car…in the rain?” I paused, horrible scenarios flashing through my mind. “Why didn’t she call you to pick her up?”, I asked, my voice starting to sound distraught. I turned towards Harry again.
“I left her a text to let me know if she needed to be picked up but she never did.” He took out his phone and looked at it before shaking his head. “Nothing.”
“So, where is she?” I asked frantically. “She doesn’t have her car. She’s out there in the rain!”
“Niall, calm down,” El said as she stood up. “Maybe she went to a coffee shop or something. Why don’t we just call her?”
I nodded, not knowing what to say. El took out her phone and clicked on it a couple of times before bringing it up to her ear.
Time seemed to slow down as we waited for Isla to pick up.
But she didn’t.
Fear appeared on El’s eyes but you could tell that she was trying hard to hide it. I could see her hands shaking as she tried calling her again.
“I’ll try texting her,” Harry said before proceeding to do just that.
Minutes passed by with no luck. We couldn’t get a hold of Isla.
I groaned in frustration and ran my hands through my hair and grabbing it, pulling some of it out of my head.
“Niall, what happened?” Harry asked.
Tears were forming in my eyes. I did this. It’s all my fault. Again. I should’ve listened to her.
“She…she was trying to tell me that your kiss this morning didn’t mean anything but I didn’t believe her. She tried explaining it to me but I didn’t let her. I said some horrible things to her that I didn’t mean. I don’t know why I said those things. And then I told her to leave. I was just hurt. Hurt because she picked you. Not me. "
Silence filled the room as everyone looked at me with sympathetic eyes.
“Isla didn’t choose me, Niall.”
I looked up at him, looking for any sign that he was lying. But the pain in his eyes was enough proof that he was telling the truth.
“Harry’s telling the truth, Niall. She told me today. She said that she picked you. She was going to tell you tonight,” El said softly.
I let their words sink it and reality hit me hard in the face.
She picked me.
She loves me.
And I had to ruin it.
“Shit!” I yelled, slamming my fist against the wall.
“Niall, calm down.” I saw Liam quickly get up and walk over to me, pulling me away from the wall.
“I won’t calm down. Something bad could’ve happened to her! It’s been hours!”
“That’s why we’re going to go and find her but you need to calm down first.”
I looked at Liam’s worried face and took a deep breath, trying to calm myself down.
Just when I thought I was able to think clearly, my phone vibrated in my pocket. I quickly pulled it out and looked at the caller ID.
“It’s Isla!” Everyone instantly came closer.
I answered the phone and brought it up to my ear.
“Isla! Where are you? Are you okay?” I frantically said through the phone. Everyone was looking at me, waiting for me to say something.
But all I could hear was silence on the phone for a while before I heard someone laughing.
It wasn’t Isla thought. It was a man.
“Hello, lover boy. Sorry, Isla can’t come to the phone right now. She’s a bit…tied up. Guess you’re stuck talking to me.”
Fear and anger filled my entire body.
How the hell is he here? How did he get Isla?
“James.” I growled through the phone.
Shock filled everyone’s faces as I said that devil’s name.
“Where’s Isla?” I barked.
“Don’t worry. She’s safe with me.”
I looked over at Harry and saw him quietly say ‘speakerphone’. I quickly pulled the phone away from my ear and clicked on the ‘speakerphone’ button before holding it out in front of me. Everyone circled around it.
“Just let her go, James.”
“I don’t think so. I need to get some revenge for the hell she caused me. Oh and the trouble you and your stupid friends caused.”
“How did you get out of prison?”
He laughed menacingly.
“Oh, I just pretended to be a good little boy and told them I would change into a better man and blah blah blah. I just told them some stupid lies and they believed me. They’re still keeping an eye on me but I have some friends that are covering for me right now. And now here I am. It wasn’t hard to find our precious Isla. I just had to search your whereabouts and it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out that Isla would be with you. I saw her at your place and, just my luck, I saw her crying her little heart out after what seemed to be a lover’s quarrel. So I took the opportunity and followed her. And I grabbed her just as she was about to get away.”
“Don’t you dare hurt her!” I yelled.
“I won’t hurt her, I promise. I won’t even touch her.”
“Then why do you have her?” I asked.
“That’s a good question. My plan is going along perfectly, actually. I wanted to get Isla so I can get you or the other lover boy over here to come save her worthless life. And then I can get my revenge. And since your name was on the top of her list on her phone, I thought that you would be there perfect one to come save her.”
“Tell me where she is!”
“Now, now, no need to get angry. I’ll tell you.”
We all waited in silence, waiting for him to tell us where they were.
“I’ll tell you. But only you. You can’t tell anyone else. If I find out that you brought someone with you, I won’t hesitate to hurt her. You’re a big boy, right? You can handle it yourself.”
“Just tell me where she is.”
He didn’t know that I was with everyone and that he was on speakerphone. I really hope he doesn’t find out.
“Why don’t we get our precious Isla to tell you?”
I heard some scuffling on the phone, followed by some footsteps.
“Isla, love, tell your lover boy where you are.”
Silence.
“I said tell him!” he yelled in anger.
Still no sounds coming from Isla.
I heard a loud smack and a cry coming from Isla.
Anger boiled inside of me. Tears started forming in El’s eyes as anger grew in the rest of the boys’ faces.
“Don’t f*cking touch her! You said you wouldn’t hurt her!”
“Well, she isn’t cooperating right now so she needs to be taught a lesson.”
I could hear quiet sobs in the background.
“Isla, dear. Tell him where you are so he can come save you.”
“No.” I could tell she was trying to sound strong but you could hear the fear in her voice.
“Aw, how sweet. You’re trying to protect him. Sooner or later, I will find him myself. This will just save us the trouble of having to drag him here. Now tell him or I won’t hesitate to hit you again.”
Silence filled the room. No sounds coming from the other end.
I heard him yell before another loud smack was heard through the phone. Isla shrieked, the sounds piercing through my heart.
I couldn’t take it anymore, tears were forming in my eyes.
“Isla. Please just tell me. I don’t want him to hurt you anymore.” I said with a shaky voice.
I could hear her sniffling through the phone.
“I…I don’t want him to hurt you, Niall.”
“This isn’t about me, Isla. I just want you to be safe.”
I heard her sniffle. I looked around at everyone and before they could stop me, I took the phone off of speakerphone and brought it up to my ear.
“Tell me, Isla.”
“We’re…we’re at the motel on Queen and Bell,” she said quietly.
They realized what I was doing and they looked at me with serious faces. Before they could stop me, I turned around and headed for the door. I heard them following me.
“Good girl,” James drawled. “Now, come save her. And if you decide to bring one of your friends or call the police, I won’t hesitate to hurt her, maybe even do her a favour and end her life.”
“Don’t worry, I won’t.” I said. I could feel everyone’s gazes piercing into my back.
“You better not. Now hurry, don’t waste my time. We’re in room 108.”
Before I could answer, he hung up.
I put the phone back in my pocket and continued to walk to the door before opening it.
“Niall, where is she?” Harry asked.
I froze in the doorframe, unable to look at them.
"I’m going to go get her. He said that I was supposed to go alone. If he sees any of you guys there, he’s gonna hurt Isla. And I don’t want any of you to get hurt, either. I caused this mess, I’m going to go fix it.”
“Niall, you can’t go there alone. He might hurt you.” Liam said, worry filling every word.
“I’ll be fine. Now, I have to go. If you don’t hear from me in a couple of hours, call the police. But don’t call them any time before then. Got it?”
I took their silence as a ‘yes’ and before they could stop me, I went outside and closed the door. I hurried to my car and got inside. I turned it on and started driving to the motel.
I didn’t want to risk anyone else getting hurt. Isla was already hurt and probably scared out of her mind and it’s all my fault. I didn’t want to bring anyone else into this mess. That’s why I didn’t let them hear the location of the motel. I didn’t want them to go with me.
I had to do this alone.
It was past midnight so there weren’t many cars out so I was able to get to the hotel faster than I thought.
I quickly parked the car and rushed out. I ran towards the motel and search for the room. At the end of the motel, I saw it.
Room 108.
I brought my shaking hand up and knocked but the door opened slightly as I did. I slowly opened the door all the way and I look inside the room.
I instantly saw Isla.
She was tied up in a chair with a piece of tape over her mouth. She looked at me with wide, frantic eyes.
“Isla.” I breathed out. I quickly walked over to her.
Her eyes grew bigger and she started shaking her head frantically. She peered over my shoulder but before I could look over to see what she was looking at, I felt a hard blow on my head.
I could see stars as I fell to the ground. Everything was blurry and I tried to blink it away. I rolled over to my back as I looked around for Isla.
Tears were spilling out of her eyes as she looked down at me, sobs being muffled against the tape.
“Isla, everything will be okay,” I groaned, my words almost inaudible.
I was still dazed when I saw a shadow loom over me. I turned my gaze onto the eyes of someone I never wanted to see again.
James was looking down at me with a smug expression as he held a bat in his one hand. I brought my hand up to my head and felt a warm liquid. I looked at my hand and, sure enough, there was bright red blood on it.
“How nice of you to join us, Niall.” He slowly went down to a crouching position, never taking his eyes off of me. The smug look never left his face. “I thought you’d be a coward and have one of your friends come fight your battle. You surprised me.” He paused as something flashed in his eyes. “Now, to get back at you for taking Isla from me and making me go through hell.”
Before I could react, he brought his fist up before slamming it down across my face. I groaned and I could taste blood in my mouth. I could see stars again.
I could hear Isla groaning against the tape over mouth from behind me, desperation filling the sounds she was making.
I spat out some blood and groaned as the pain grew in my head. I rolled around on my back, trying to muster up the strength to get up but I was weak.
“And this…” he said before I felt a hard kick the side of my body, the wind being taken out of my lungs, “…is for hitting me back in Presteigne.”
I couldn’t take it anymore. I tried fighting it but the pain was unbearable. I couldn’t move.
With the last bit of energy I could muster, I looked up at Isla, locking my gaze with hers.
“I love you, Isla.”
Before I could get any reaction or response from her, everything went black.
***************
OH NO
IS HE DEAD??? OMG!!!
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