"Liam, are you sure you feel like going out? I mean you really don't have to entertain James and me."
My cousin Shane had been talking about wanting to go to Rebels ever since we were sitting in his hotel room at the Driskill yesterday, before my whole world turned upside down. I never told him why I had to run out on them. They were getting married this weekend and I didn't want to put a downer on things. James was supposed to fly in a day ahead of Shane, but he ended up surprising me by coming in early with him. I was so blown away when he opened the door to what I thought was James' hotel room. He screamed and jumped into my arms. Then I saw James sitting on the bed. It had been a great surprise, at least for a few minutes until I got Niall's crazy-ass call accusing me of sleeping with someone.
"Liam, are you going to ever tell us why Greg punched you last night? Your eye looks terrible," Shane said as he fussed over it again.
We walked into Rebels and I spotted Brad, so I stopped and introduced him to James and Shane. Brad I could tell was giving me the cold shoulder. I guess Amanda filled him in on my whole cheating thing. Whatever. I followed Shane and James in and my eyes went right to the dance floor. It was like I instantly knew he was here. "I Cry" by Flo Rida was playing and Niall was dancing with that fucker. What the fuck? He had a fucking beer in his hand and he dancing awfully close to Jon. His ass was grinding all in his fucking crotch.
Just then Greg and Louis walked up to me. Louis looked at me funny as I looked down at him. He tilted his head and looked at me and then looked out to Niall. I looked back out and Niall had his back to us, but that fucker looked up and saw me. He smiled and then he reached down and kissed Niall.
When they say you can't die from a broken heart they're right, but it sure as fuck hurts so much that you wish you were dead. My heart just shattered and I felt like I was going to be sick.
The song stopped and Niall turned around and saw me. He stopped and stared at me. Then "Over You" by Miranda Lambert started playing. What fucking timing for that song to start playing. I felt a tear running down my cheek as Niall shook his head and looked at me confused.
"I can't do this anymore. I can't love him enough for both of us. Greg, can you give Shane and James a ride home?"
Greg just looked at me and then out to Niall, who was just standing there while Jon was trying to get him to dance.
"Liam, why don't you try to talk to him? He might..."
"I'm leaving and I need to know if you'll give my cousins a ride to their hotel please. They're talking to Brad and Amanda."
"Sure I will, Liam."
"Liam, who was that you were with yesterday?" Louis asked me.
I just shook my head. "I don't know who you're talking about and I'm tired, I'm so tired of doing this. I'll see you around Louis."
I took one last look at Niall, who was still standing there and looking over at me. I turned and walked away from the only person I've ever loved in my entire life. I would love him for the rest of my life.
Now I needed to figure out how to forget about him.
*****
Niall
Was Liam just crying? I was so confused why was he looking like I was the one who gutted him. I was pissed at Jon for kissing me.
Asshole!
Liam turned and was leaving.
Wait, where was he going? I started to walk over to where Louis was; he was looking at me like he was just as confused as I was. Jon started to pull me back onto the dance floor.
"Jon! Let me go talk to my brother for fuck's sake!"
I started to walk towards Greg and Louis, and of course Jon was walking right behind me. Then I saw him. My stomach instantly felt sick. I sucked in a breath and looked at Louis, who looked over to where I was looking.
"Oh holy shit! That's him, Greg. That's the guy that Liam was with yesterday," Louis said as he was pulling on Greg's shirt.
I couldn't believe it...he brought him here? I mean he didn't know I would be here. But oh my God...
Greg looked at us confused. "Who?"
"The guy standing there with that guy talking to Brad and Amanda. That's the guy who was at the Driskill who jumped into Liam's arms and he kissed."
Greg snapped his head at Louis and looked back and forth to both us like we were crazy.
"Fuck Louis, you didn't tell me what hotel you saw Liam at. Oh holy fuck!" Greg said as he pushed his hands through his hair.
"What the hell does it matter what hotel it was at!"
"It matters a lot Louis. That guy over there, that's Liam's cousin Shane. He flew in a day early to surprise Liam. That guy you saw jumping into his arms was his fucking cousin!"
No... Oh my God, no... This can't be happening again. I instantly felt the tears rolling down my face.
"Oh my God, no. Oh my God..." Louis said as he looked at me.
"Where did he go Greg? Where did Liam go?"
"Um, I don't know Ni, he was pretty torn up when he saw you on the dance floor kissing asshole here, who made damn sure Liam saw him kiss you."
I turned to look at Jon and who was now pulling on my arm to go back out and dance with him.
"Let me go, Jon. Louis, I need your car keys. I need to go after him."
"No! Niall, my dear, you need to come back out and dance with me. Just let him go."
"Louis, I need your keys!" I was trying to push Jon away while trying to reach into Louis's front pocket for the keys.
"Niall, I know for a fact you've been drinking. Greg and I will take you anywhere you want to go."
Jon was still pulling at me. Fuck, what was his deal?
"Hey, Jon, let my brother go right the fuck now!"
"Fuck you, Greg. Your brother can make up his own mind." He took my arm again. This time I saw Greg coming after him. I ducked down when I saw the swing coming. Greg hit Jon right in the nose.
Louis screamed out when Jon lunged back at Greg. I grabbed Louis's arm and reached in his pocket and grabbed his keys. I knew he was going to be more worried about Greg than me reaching in and getting his keys out. I would be okay. I only had two beers.
I turned and ran over to Amanda and Brad, who were still talking to Liam's cousins until they saw Greg and Jon fighting. Brad ran over to try and break them up.
"I need to find Liam. Will you make sure Greg and Louis get a ride home?" I yelled at Amanda.
There was so much commotion going on no one even saw me running for the exit. I had to get to Liam. I had to beg him to forgive me. Once I told him what I saw, he will understand how easy it was to misunderstand that. He had to understand... Oh. My. God. Liam! I had no idea where Louis parked! I started hitting his panic button as I ran to the parking lot he normally parked in. There! I saw his Jeep. I felt a little dizzy, but I only had two beers...
I jumped in his Jeep and took off. The first place I needed to check was his house.
*****
Liam
Pounding. All I heard was pounding on the goddamn front door. Shit, my head was fucking killing me... I looked at the clock and it said 1:30 a.m. I left Rebels at 10:00 and came straight home and started drinking hard. I must have passed out around 12:30 a.m. At least that's the last time I looked at the clock.
Pounding again. Fuck, make it fucking stop!
"I'm fucking coming, Jesus Christ."
I opened the door and saw Brad standing there. What the fuck was he doing here?
"Jesus, Liam, are you drunk?" he said as he pushed his way in.
I let out a laugh. "Not nearly drunk enough dude, not nearly enough."
"Where the fuck is your cell phone?" He looked around and saw it sitting on the coffee table. I turned it off around midnight when Louis kept fucking calling me over and over.
Brad turned it on while I walked over the kitchen to get a beer.
"You want a beer, man, or something harder?" I said with a laugh.
Just then I heard my phone beeping like crazy with notifications. What the hell?
"Liam, I need you to listen to me." He took the beer from my hand and looked at me. It was the first time I ever saw fear in his eyes.
"Oh my God, did something happen to my cousin?"
Brad shook his head at me.
"Your cousin is fine, Liam, he and James are back at their hotel. But there's been an accident."
My heart started to pound...oh God, please no.
"Who?"
Brad swallowed hard. He ran his hand through his hair and when he looked at me again he had tears in his eyes. Holy fuck this was going to be bad.
"It's... It's Niall, Liam. He was in a car accident earlier and is at Brackenridge hospital. Greg got a call around midnight and we've been trying to call you. I left the hospital to come find you."
Niall...in an accident. I felt like I was going to pass out.
"Whoa Liam, sit down, man. Take it easy for a second."
I was instantly sober. I needed to get to him...
Now!
"No, I need to get to him now, Brad! Is he going to be okay? What happened? Who was driving?"
I was going to fucking kill Jon Baker if that asshole was driving.
Brad grabbed my wallet and we headed out to his truck. Once we got in his truck I started asking if he was okay again.
"I don't know how he's doing. They had him in surgery when I left."
Surgery?
"Surgery? What did he need surgery for?" Oh my God, my heart was pounding and my chest was killing me. I felt like I couldn't breathe. What if something happens to him? I didn't tell him I loved him, I told him we were done. He thinks I walked away from him. He thinks I left him and I promised I would never leave him or hurt him. I think I was going to throw up.
"Brad, what happened?"
"Um, they think he might have swerved to miss a deer but he ended up hitting a tree..."
"Wait. Niall was driving? Where the hell was he going?"
"He was coming here, Liam, to find you. After you left Rebels, all fucking hell broke loose. It turns out that Louis and Niall were at the Driskill with Amanda. They were there looking at ballrooms and shit for the wedding. Louis and Niall saw you standing outside a room and then saw some guy jump into your arms and y'all kissed and then you walked into the room with him. That's when Niall flipped out Liam and thought you were cheating. He had no idea that was your cousin Shane. He thought you were meeting James. Then when they saw Shane at Rebels and Greg told them he was your cousin, Niall just lost it. Louis said he was screaming for him to give him the car keys so he could go after you. I guess Jon was not having it and kept trying to pull Niall back on the dance floor before Greg got sick of it and punched the shit out of him. Then Jon went after Greg, and while that was all going down, Niall got the keys from Louis and he took off."
Holy fuck. It was all making sense. No wonder Niall freaked out. Shane had surprised the shit out of me and jumped into my arms and wrapped his legs around me like he always has when we saw each other. Did he kiss me?
Fuck, he did. It was quick but it was a kiss on the lips.
"Brad, please get there." I leaned my head back on the seat. My Niall, I needed to be with him. He was coming after me. Oh God, please don't take him away from me.
Please...