This time another hand clapsed its way around my wrist, and I was yanked out of Jennings grip, pulled back into the safety of Niall's arms. But I didn't look up at him, or thank him in anyway. Not yet. My glare was still set upon my cruel, former trainer.
"If you think you are going to get my horse," I snapped, "then you are dead wrong, ass. I suggest you get no where near my barn, and no where near my friends."
"For now little girl," He said, wagging a finger dangerously close to my face. "For now. But remember, I still have a promise to fulfill. And I don't break promises." With that, he spun on his heel, stalking briskly from the store, leaving me glaring at the front of a bookcase, folded safely into Niall's chest.
Niall's hand glided down and locked on my waist, pulling me around to face him, holding me out at arms length. His eyes darted up and down like he was inspecting a small, fragile child for injuries. His eyes finally found mine again; the light blue orbs were glazed over with worry and anger. Not anger at me. Anger at the man he didn't know who I had been growling at not moments earlier.
"Who the hell was that, and what the hell does he want with Sophee?" Niall demanded, his eyes boaring into mine as he contuined to hold me out at arms length.
"Can I talk about it some other time Niall?" I said, my voice coming out shaky and dangerously quiet. I usually wasn't like this. Something about damn Jennings made me scared out of my mind, even if I acted tough when I was around him. It was a fear, boiling somewhere in the deep pit of my stomach that someday he would get to my horses, and kill them once and for all.
And I still didn't know why he wanted to even do that in the first place. The hate and resentment for me. I did nothing. I stayed loyal to him for two years after he hurt my horse. Two whole years. We paid him ridiculous amounts of money to even keep him around. He didn't even leave our barn because of us. He left because he had pending animal cruelty charges, and he told us he would no longer be working for us.
All of it made no sense. Like a missing piece of a puzzle that had fallen under the table and you didn't find it until the day later when cleaning.
"Can I atleast know his name?" Niall asked, his voice softening ever so slightly as my face fell from my thoughts. "I need to know who the hell that was."
"His last name is Jennings. Niall, he's my previous trainer, before Fiona," I whispered, my voice falling even more as I began to shake slightly. All the memories. All the torture. It all came flooding back. Those horrible training sessions I had to live through when my parents left me alone at the barn with him. Cruel use of the whip for no reason. He carried it everywhere with him, at shows, at lessons, just around the barn. And if my horse even acted up slightly, even under my fault, that little thin rope would crack through the once peaceful air.
Or the time whenever he recommended the new feed for my little herd of horses. Having to watch my horses drop ridiculous amounts of weight in weeks of time. Jennings insisting to my parents that it was perfectly fine, and wasn't hurting the horses in anyway, that it was the season change.
The time he whipped Ginger in her pregnacy. The time I almost killed him. The first time I told my parents about his horrible actions. They didn't believe me. They told me I just wanted a new trainer that was more well known than Mr. Jennings, and that we just couldn't afford that right now.
I didn't even noticed I was crying until I felt Niall's thumb flick across my cheek, the tiny little diamond glistening on his shiny fingernail. "I think we need to go home," He told me softly, looking over his shoulder to the other boys who's heads where partially hidden behind various book cases. "I'll text them and tell them where we went. C'mon."
He laced my fingers securely in the spaces in his, pulling me through the crowds of people outside the stores, ignoring each cry of "Hey Niall! THAT'S NIALL HORAN OMG. Is that Lauren? Why is Lauren crying?"
The automatic doors of the front of the mall slid open, the cool air not even phazing me right now. I was too consumed in my thoughts and Niall leading me through the now crazed, growing crowds.
"Just a little bit more, Paul's waiting around the side with a car," Niall said in my ear, and I nodded weakly in response, stumbling after him as another girl accidently ran into my side, shoving me sideways.
The rest few moments were a blur, either from the overwhelming situation, or the tears that contuiniously stung at my eyes. I couldn't tell, they both blurred together in my already confused and fearful mind state.
The next thing I remember was sliding into a dark car with heavily tinted windows, the door closing in the face of two or three girls that tried to climb in after us. Niall's arm draped over my shoulders, pulling me close to him, resting his chin on top of my head as the sobs shook through my body. His voice softly began singing Stereo Hearts in my ear as he rocked me back and forth, his hands rubbing soothing circles on my back.
My memory then blurred out completely as I felt myself drifting into a rather unwanted sleep.
~
I awoke with a start, the same repeating dream haunting my sleep again, the one involving those haunting hazel eyes getting dangerously close to my vision, before they vanished completely, leaving me in an eternal darkness.
My hands braced behind my back as I bolted straight up, heaving, ragged breaths escaping from my chest as I hurriedly tried to calm myself down. Small beads of sweat suddenly felt cold as they trailed down my cheek and dropped onto the sheets below me.
Only as I began to calm down did I noticed I had been placed into a familiar bed, my clothes changed into simple gym shorts and a baggy green t-shirt with a small white shamrock plastered across the front.
Then I noticed Niall sitting beside me.
"Are you okay?" He asked, tone heavy with worry, scooching over close but not touching me in any way. "Same dream? It's not real, love. You know that right? Nothing will ever hurt you or your horses."
"It's not that I'm fearful of what he would do to my horses, my friends and family, or me," I said in a choked voice. "It's the fear of when he will do it, and if he will do it."
"Come here," Niall ordered suddenly, opening his arms up to me, motioning for me to sit on his lap. I willingly placed myself in between his waiting arms, curling into his chest and breathing in his sweet scent. "You're safe right now. And so are the horses. That's what matters."
My eyes widened almost imediately. "Are you sure the horses okay? He could have went straight there after talking to me and took the horses. I didn't close the barn door when I left yesterday! He could have picked the locks on the stall doors. He could have broke down the wooden doors, they aren't the strongest things in the world. He-"
Niall cut me off with a quick and chaste kiss. "Will you be quiet for two moments, and stop wondering about what might happen when it hasn't even come close to happening yet? I called Louis, and he promised to check on them on their way home from the mall. All the horses are fine. He actually said Tango tried to snap at him when he went by, and then was all for Eleanor. Called her a bitch, if I recall."
I held in my snicker, relaxing immediately and leaning my cheek on his chest. "Wait, how long have I been out?"
"Er, like four hours. Maybe a little less," Niall said, rubbing the back of his neck and smiling sheepishly. "You look really cute when you sleep. I didn't want to wake you up. Plus, from that little crying breakdown at the mall, I really didn't think you wanted to talk to me anyway."
"FOUR HOURS," I almost yelled, but contained myself, simply turning around to gaze at Niall. "I don't care that you didn't wake me up, but remember next time, if I nap for more than two hours WAKE ME UP."
"Got it," Niall chuckled, placing his hand on the back of my head and pulling it back down for a tight hug, absently stroking tiny strands of my hair. "Now shush, and either go back to sleep. Or, you could tell me what is the big deal with Mr. Jerkface at the mall."
I gulped. "Well, I'm not going back to sleep, I'll already be up until four in the morning. So I guess I'll tell you the story."
"Should I get popcorn?" Niall asked, his eyes twinkling as I felt his chest vibrate with small fits of laughter.
"You might. This is a long story that I have still yet to make sense of."
--------------------------------
here's an update.
with not much of a cliffhanger.
but.
I wrote this in a half hour
and I was proud.
but.
yeah.
bye.