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Avery Holmes
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The next day we decided to visit Marcus. He was in a hospital about a half an hour away, give or take a few minutes, and I felt the need to thank him, despite having him once be my enemy.
"Aimee, your hair is a mess today." I sighed, attempting at brushing out the knots and failing. She wore a big frown on her face and swatted at my hand when I accidentally hurt her.
"Just get yourself ready, I'll do it when we get on the bus." Harry said as he brushed past me, digging around in Niall's bag. I wordlessly agreed and went back to brushing my teeth.
"Babe, have you seen my Derby shirt?" Niall called, walking into the bedroom shirtless. I would never dare say it out loud, but I honestly wouldn't mind if he just always went without a shirt.
"Um, yeah in the closet on a hanger." I said as I rinsed and put my toothbrush back. "Is everyone else ready to leave?"
"Most of them are gettin' in the bus now." Niall said as he slid his shirt over his head. "You look gorgeous, now can we go?" He whined as he picked Aimee up and put her on his back, making her squeal in delight.
"Yeah." I sighed, checking the motel room over to make sure that all the lights were off before following my boyfriend and daughter out of the room and down the stairs.
Niall was right, everyone else was already in the bus. I always tried to be on time for things, but this morning it seemed that I was running late. I woke up late, woke Aimee up late, and now I was late for this. I blamed it on Niall, he practically had me trapped, holding me tighter whenever I tried to get up this morning.
"Look who finally decided to show up!" Louis teased. I gave him a look and sat down on the leather couch beside Harry and Darcy, and then Niall brought Aimee and sat her on his lap on the other side of me. I watched as Sam did a head count and then started the bus up.
"Give me Aimee." Harry beckoned, holding his arms out. I raised my eyebrow. "I'll do her hair."
I took Aimee off Niall's lap and handed her over to Harry, watching as he cracked his knuckles and got to work on her hair. I was almost going to ask how he was going to do her hair when he sometimes forgot to wash his own, but decided against it as he pulled it back in a tiny ponytail that he had on his wrist.
"Hally doesn't pull my hair like mommy." Aimee said, smirking over at me. I rolled my eyes and smiled as he got a green bandana and fixed it around her head, making her curly hair look extremely similar to how Harry always wore his.
"Oh God, that's priceless." Liam laughed. "Wait, I'll take a picture." He slid his phone out of his pocket and I listened as the camera clicked a few times. He was right- it was awfully priceless to see.
"Hey Harry, can you pass me that magazine over there?" I asked, pointing to a magazine that was beside him. Almost immediately he froze in his seat.
"It's all lies anyway, you don't want to read that." He smiled.
"So? I'm bored." I shrugged.
"Then you should do something else." He suggested, starting to give me a weird vibe. But then again, Harry was really weird sometimes.
"But I want to read." I pried.
"Reading is for losers, Avery." Harry tried turning it into a joke. "Besides, we'll be there soon." He pointed to an exit sign for the hospital and I sighed in defeat. He had won this time, although I didn't understand why this was such a big deal.
"I'm still a bit tired from the other night." Niall admitted. "All I remember is Zayn trying to pee in a ficus."
"It was in the VIP section, nobody would have noticed." Zayn shrugged. "The bathrooms were too crowded and I think taking a wee in front of everyone is weird."
"Wee." Aimee echoed, bursting into laughter.
"I think that's weird, too." Darcy admitted. "If I was a guy I'd go in the stall. I don't want to see someone else pee and I don't want them watching me."
"But that's a girl thing." Louis argued. "Like, it isn't a big deal for guys. Well, except Zayn." He smirked at him and Zayn gave him a shove.
I heard Sam order them to stop messing around with each other and the back of the bus grew quiet. It was funny, we were all around twenty years old and still acted as immature as twelve year old boys.
"So, who's coming with me to see Marcus?" I asked. I assumed that not everyone would go in and visit, mostly because some of them only knew him to be the jerk bodyguard and not a good guy. "Listen, I know that he did something wrong but he's the reason that I'm here." I said more firmly.
"I'll go." Niall said. "I need to thank him for saving my girlfriend." He wrapped his arm around my waist and brought me closer to him.
"Yeah, I'll pop in for a bit." Harry said. "I think that we all should go in and visit him. I mean yeah, he did something wrong but Avery's right. I'm assuming she'd be dead if it weren't for him."
"But he's part of the reason she was in this mess after all." Louis said, a hard expression on his face. I think I always knew that he still didn't get a good vibe on Marcus.
"He would have come after me anyway. Jake, I mean. And if Marcus wasn't there, I'm sure I would have been hurt a lot worse than I was and I would have been killed within the first few days." I reminded him.
Niall tensed beside me. This past week and a half since I had been taken we hadn't really spoken much about it. I knew that this whole thing made Niall upset, but sooner or later we were going to have to talk about it.
"Please don't." He whispered in my ear. I looked at him and gave him a small smile before returning to everyone else.
"I think it would be nice of you all to visit him but I'm not forcing you." I finally decided. Looking out the window, I saw that we were in the hospital parking lot. The place wasn't nearly as big as the one in New York City, but it looked to be fairly nice.
Niall rubbed my back and I sighed. I wasn't exactly sure how today was going to go- I mean, the last time I had seen Marcus was when Jake had me. I knew that some things triggered from when I still lived with Jake and I hoped seeing Marcus wouldn't bring back unwanted memories.
"You can do this, alright? I'll be right beside you. I have faith in you." Niall whispered. I nodded and gulped, standing up as the bus came to a halt.
We all left the bus except for Darcy and Aimee. Since Darcy didn't know Marcus too well and someone needed to stay back to watch Aimee, she volunteered. Plus, I trusted her with my daughter more than some of the boys.
We went up to the lady at the check in desk and told her that we were here to see Marcus. Almost right away she recognized the famous people in the group and told us that we could go right up, a mesmerized gleam in her eyes. It was funny how people acted so different in front of people with a title.
The elevator was quiet. I was still trying to mentally prepare myself and try not to have a panic attack. Although I wasn't going to tell this to the group, I was really scared. I was scared of the flashbacks that might come with seeing Marcus and I was scared to see the condition that he was in.
When we walked by a magazine rack, I noticed how Harry tried to stand in front of it. I honestly had no clue why he was acting so strange but I wanted to find out.
"He's room 309." Sam said. "Niall, you can take Avery in to see him and then the rest of you boys can go in if you'd like. I'll be in the waiting room right here." He nodded us once and then turned around.
My stomach twisted into a thousand knots. I knew that this was it, we'd have to go in his room at the end of the hall and see him. But I was scared, terrified even. I know that he had helped me out in ways I couldn't even describe, but he was also one of my captors. It made me question why I was even here in the first place.
"C'mere." Niall held my hand and walked me toward the end of the hall. My heart rate was increasing with every step I took. Moisture began to form around my forehead and the air supply in the room seemed to be dwindling. Even though I told myself before we left that I wouldn't cry, I did.
"I can't do this." I croaked, stopping in my tracks in the middle of the hallway. "Please don't make me do this."
"Ave," Niall cooed, wrapping his arms around me. I think all along he could tell that I was shaky and scared. "Listen to me, okay? We will go in there for a few minutes and be gone. Nothing is going to happen to you again. I promise you that I won't let anything happen."
"I know." I cried. "I just don't want to remember those weeks. I don't want things to come back to me. Please, please don't make me." I probably sounded like a four year old who didn't want to go to preschool.
"Nobody is making you." He whispered, cupping my face in his hands so that I had to look him in the eye. "We can turn around and go right back to Motel 6 right now. But I know that you want to do this. You're just afraid."
"I know." I said, my bottom lip quivering. "I know what I have to do."
"Good." He smiled, kissing my forehead. "I'll be right there, holding your hand the entire time. And who knows? Maybe he'll know how to help stop them." I knew that he didn't want to say Jake and Kate's names.
Slowly, we started advancing toward Marcus's room. I was still afraid, but not as afraid as I was before. Niall had this was of soothing me that I couldn't really describe, but I was grateful for it. We stopped at his door and Niall slowly opened it.
Almost right away I saw him. He wore a cast on his arm and had some cuts and bruises, but it wasn't as bad as I looked last week. He was watching something on the television hanging above his bed, but when he saw us he weakly smiled and shut the t.v off.
"Hello, Marcus." Niall said politely.
"Hi." I mumbled shyly.
"Thank you for visiting me." Marcus chuckled. "I know I'm not exactly in the best shape."
I bit my lip, looking over to Niall and hoping that he would say something.
"We're really sorry for all of this." Niall admitted. "Nobody deserves this kind of treatment. We're going to get them put behind bars as soon as we can."
"I appreciate that." Marcus smiled. "Don't underestimate them. I know that there is only the two of them, but they will take you down in a split second. I've seen the pain they have caused her." He pointed a shaky finger at me and Niall and I both have stiffened.
"I know." Niall said, his voice wavering.
"Do you?" Marcus asked. "Has she told you all that happened?"
"N-no." Niall stuttered.
"I saw him slap her around and starve her and he'd kiss her-"
"Stop." I said firmly, trying my hardest not to glare at Marcus. I knew that he just wanted to tell Niall the truth of what happened, because Niall did deserve the truth, but not so bluntly.
"I'm sorry." Marcus said sincerely. "It just makes me angry to know that he does things and goes unpunished. It makes me even more angry to know I was so blinded by the money that I didn't even stop it." I could tell that he was on the verge of tears.
"It's okay." I assured him. "It's over and done and you shouldn't feel bad because you were the one that saved me and I'm so thankful for that." I looked him in the eyes so that he'd know I was being completely honest with him.
"I want to thank you again for visiting me." He smiled once more.
"No problem." I said. "We'll probably come back before you get checked out to make sure you'll be alright." I decided of that on the spot.
I waited for Niall to say something to Marcus, but he just stood there, expressionless. I wished that I would have been the one to tell Niall exactly what I had been through, but it seemed as though someone had spilled the beans for me.
With that we left the hospital room and went back into the hallway. Niall still hadn't said anything and continued to not say a word as we walked down the hall and met up with everyone else in the waiting room.
It was then that he lost it.
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a/n:
okay before you're all like 'wow he cries a lot' just imagine if your girlfriend was kidnapped like um i'd cry even if i was supposed to be a man like c'mon
vote/comment/fan/hi mom
- x Delilah