CHAPTER 24
NIALL’S POV
My phone starts going off and I walk into the other room to answer it.
“Word’s got around that you’re back in town.” Damon says.
Aw fuck.
“I’m here now. Are you happy?” I snarl.
“I’m sure the rest of the guys would love to see you. And you’re chick. Meet at the regular meeting place in an hour. With her.” He hangs up.
I run my fingers through my hair. There’s no way that I could bring her into this, but if I don’t bring her then they’re going to bring her by force. I walk back inside, looking around at their new house. Seems like they’ve moved on just fine without me, their only son. I find Brinley at the kitchen counter, talking with my mom.
“So I hear your house got flooded? How long are you staying here?” Brinley asks my mom.
“Marua.” I say, pointing into the living room. “Bobby.” I seethe, glaring at him in his chair by the tv. They get the message and follow me into the living room.
“Listen, Brinley doesn’t know that you guys are my parents and it’s going to stay that way alright? She thinks your house got flooded and you’re staying here for a week or whatever.”
“When is the truth going to come out?” Maura asks.
“When I want it to, and only then. Are we clear?”
“Niall, I don’t think this is a good idea. You should be glad that we’re even letting you stay here. Damon visited us a few months ago, explaining how you were involved in this gang. Does Brinley even know?” Bobby asks.
“I should be lucky?! Are you fucking kidding me? You happened to forget that I was in America for surgery. How do you forget about that? You should be lucky I even decided to come here and am speaking with you! I’ll never be able to forgive you for what you guys did to me, you left me all alone.”
“Niall we didn’t forget you. We were forced to leave you, we just didn’t have any of the money from your medical bills to pay for you to come back and live with us.”
My mouth is agape.
“I have nothing to say to either of you, but I swear if you say anything to Brinley about how you guys are my parents and not just family friends, I won’t even consider coming back. Ever.” I spit, glaring them down.
I turn on my heel and storm out of the room. Brinley is sitting at the counter still, on her phone. I wrap my arms around her waist, my chin on her shoulder.
“How are you doing? Is there anything I can get you?” I ask, my voice muffled by her hair.
“No thanks.” She replies softly, giving me a tiny smile.
I can see that her heart is broken, not by me, but by Wesley.
“I know this vacation is supposed to be about us hanging out, but I just need to go take care of one thing. I should be back within the hour. Is that alright?” I ask. “I don’t have to go if you don’t want me to.”
“As long as we go to the beach tomorrow.” She says smiling.
“Alright thanks babe, I’ll be back soon.” I kiss her cheek.
“Drive safe, love you!” She calls. The door shuts behind me before I can say anything. After a ten minute drive, I’ve arrived at an old bowling alley. It was open a few years ago, but closed down. Nothing moved into the empty space and the gang took it over.
I step through the front door, which was knocked out years ago. Nobody has bothered to get a new one yet. Damon and everyone else are sitting around, drinks scattered all on the floor.
“Look what the cat dragged in.” Damon drawls once he sees me.
I sit down on his right, stuffing my hands into my pockets.
“I came. What do you want?” I huff.
“Just to catch up with everybody. There are some new faces you should meet. Here’s Alex and-”
“Why do you want me here?” I interrupt, already ready to leave.
“We’re all very concerned for you. See, I don’t know if you remember, but years ago we all made an oath. It seems as if one of us- you- have broken that oath. Do you remember the consequences for that?”
“You’re not going to touch her. I won’t allow it.” I say forcefully.
“Bro, you made the oath.”
“If I break up with her then will you all just back off?”
“We would consider it.” Damon says, running his hands through his hair.
“As if none of you have ever broken the oath.” I say. My eyes pick out Alex - a new kid.
“You. You can’t tell me that you don’t miss what life was like before the oath. How now, you can’t even look at a girl. I know some of you assholes never thought about marriage, but the oath puts things into perspective. You all here, are going to be alone. For the rest of your lives.” I look around at everyone while saying this. “Alex, do you really expect me to believe that you didn’t have a girlfriend or crush or whatever before all of this?” Alex is looking at his shoes, very interested in some non - existent dirt on them.
“That’s enough.” Damon says.
“I”m just trying to make a point.”
“No you’re just trying to get you and your hoe out of trouble.”
I stand up, kicking the chair behind me.
“Never call Brinley names. Or I will personally slit your throat in your sleep.” I say, poking his chest. I storm across the broken glass, too furious and scared to think about anything but Brinley. How could I drag her into all of this?
“Before you leave,” Damon starts “I noticed you didn’t bring the girl. If you’re so intent on keeping her from us, you should keep an extra eye on her.” He smirks.
I bite my lip to keep me from saying anything that would provoke him. I hop in the car and drive back to the house, well over the speed limit every mile. Once I park in the driveway, I jump out of the car, storming inside. I find Brinley on the couch, something in her hands.
“Did it go alright?” She asks. I plop myself down next to her, and wrap her in my arms, kissing her forcefully.
“You know I would never let anything bad happen to you right?” I ask when I pull away. She runs her tongue over her lips, “Yeah.” Brinley smiles and pecks my lips once more.
“What have you got there?” I ask, looking at the photo album in her hands.
“Some pictures. Your friends' family and yours must’ve been really close.” She thumbs through the pictures, they’re all baby pictures of me with my parents.
“Yeah. We were inseparable since the womb. They practically raised me, even.” I answer.
BRINLEY’S POV
I flip through more photos. “You have the same eyes as Bobby.” I say, pointing to the older man.
“Yeah, weird huh?” He answers, picking at his fingernails.
“Hey is everything all right?”
“No but it will be.”
I frown but don’t say anything.
“Could you help with dinner Niall? I can’t get the plates on the top shelf.” Maura calls from the kitchen.
“Coming!” He yells. Niall stands up and kisses my forehead before he disappears into the kitchen.
A few seconds later, I hear a big crash. I jump up and run to the kitchen. When I hear low whispers coming from a few feet away however, I stop. I lean against the wall, listening onto Niall and Maura’s conversation.
“Mom stop!” He hisses. I peek my eyes around the wall and see Niall standing by the sink. He’s running his hands under water, the water stained red. Broken plates are surrounding his feet. Maura is trying to dab something from a bottle onto his hands. “Well you can’t blame me, after my only son has been gone for years, motherly instincts kick in.”
Mom, only son, motherly instincts? I emerge from my place behind the wall.
“Mom?” I ask, staring at Niall.
His face pales.
“Brinley, listen-”
“Why? I don’t see any good reason for you to lie to me. You could’ve just told me these are your parents, it’s not a big deal. I don’t know why you have to lie to me.”
“Brinley, I didn’t want to tell you because I didn’t want you to feel bad.”
“Why would I feel bad? All I feel now is embarrassed.”
“I know that you don’t have a family any more, and I didn’t want you to feel left out I guess.”
“Niall, that is no excuse. I’m sorry Maura.” I turn to her. “I need to take a walk.”
"Wait!" Niall races across the tile to grab my arm. "Don't leave. I need to talk to you about something anyway." He drags me into the living room, away from his mom. "There's something I need to talk to you about." He says.
NIALL'S POV
How could I possibly do this to her? She's already fragile, on top of Wesley's 'death', and now this? I can't live with myself, but if I do it then she'll be safe.
"I realized something today." I say.
“If I break up with her then will you all just back off?”
“We would consider it.” Damon says, running his hands through his hair.
If they back off, then they would only be able to hurt me. She'll get over it, she doesn't even really like me, I reason.
"Yeah?" She asks, pissed off.
"I don't know ... I don't know if-" I stutter.
"Spit it out Niall."
"I don't know if I love you anymore." I blurt out, lying through my teeth. Her face crumples and she takes a step back.
"Are you kidding me?" She asks, her voice cracking. She twists her fingers together and I know that I've hurt her beyond belief. "Do you really mean that?" She asks.
I can feel a lump forming in my throat. I swallow and nod, trying to keep the tears at bay. How could this possibly be the right thing to do? How can making the love of my life cry be okay? How can making her heart shatter be the right thing? How?
When I see a tear escape her eye, I know that I can't go back on my words. If she stays away from me, than no one can hurt her. I can't hurt her. I know she won't forgive me, but I can't have her do that. I can't have her come back to me. I'm quite possibly the worst person she could be with, I'm a liability. I feel tears escape my eyes and I furiously wipe them away so she won't notice that this is hurting her more than it is me.
"You're sure?" She whispers.
"Yes." I whisper.
She nods and walks out of the room, out of the house. Once she leaves, I sprint up the stairs to an empty bedroom. I yell and punch the closest thing I can find, my mirror. Within a few minutes, I'm sitting in a pile of broken things. This is why Brinley can't be with me. Why I can't be with anyone.
BRINLEY'S POV
How could this have hapened? How could he break up with me? I wasn't good enough for him, I'm not good enough for anyone. How am I supposed to get back to Colorado? What am I going to do? Walking outside, I know it’s more humid here than Colorado. Few people are on the streets now that the sun has set. I have no idea where I’m going but I have to get away from Niall.
He was right that now he has his family back and I don’t have mine. But how could he be right in saying that he doesn't love me anymore? I thought he did, I thought he thought I was special. My life is crumbling to bits right in front of me. I stop at the end of the block, looking up at the stars in the sky. They twinkle brightly.
“Hey Wes,” I start “It’s me. I don’t know what it’s like up there or what you’re doing, but I pray that you’re safe, healthy, and happy. I’m really going to miss you. I don’t think your ... death has hit me yet but I know it will. I wish it didn’t have to end like this. I wish you would still be here with me. You would’ve loved Florida, it’s beautiful here. I know you would’ve hated the sand on the beach but loved the ocean." I take a deep breath and continue.
"We would’ve gotten ice cream on the beach and then run into the water to get our sticky fingers clean. We would’ve tried surfing and both failed horribly. We would say that we’re too cool for it and surfers are stupid anyway. But I know that I can’t do that because you aren’t here anymore. I wish you were. You could help me right now. I know if I told you what's going on, you would've jumped up and gone to punch Niall for me. You could tell me what's wrong with me and why he doesn't love me anymore. You could help me. Does he thing I'm too ugly? Does he think I'm weird? Why doesn't he love me anymore Wesley?" I ask, sinking to the ground. "You and him were my only anchors in life and now you're both gone. What am I supposed to do?"
I start breathing heavy and can't catch my breath. I don’t tear my eyes from the sky, because that’s where I feel closest to her.
“I love you Wesley.” I finish, wiping tears off my chin. I turn around, about to try and find my way to a phone when I’m knocked to the ground. The wind has been knocked from my chest, and I can’t breathe. The stars are blocked from my vision as someone stands over me.
“So you’re Brinley. Niall has been keeping you from us.” A husky voice says. I trace the face back a couple weeks, to when that guy had visited Niall. “You’re Damon.” I wheeze.
“Right you are honey.” Someone grabs my wrists and someone my ankles. He squats next to my face. “Alright, now that we have you we’re hoping Niall will come back.”
“What?” I ask, confused on what’s going on.
“Don’t worry about it, he should came to save you. But if he doesn’t, then I’ll have to deal with you myself.”
I’m about to start screaming when I get a sharp blow to my head, and black coats my vision.
Please just spend a little bit of your time reading one of the chapters in my new series 'Imagines'. Tell me if you like it or not! Thank you! :)