Vigilant | N.H.

Thirty Six.

April 27th, 2016.

TW: MENTIONS OF ED

NIALL'S POV
"All packed?" I double-check before I toss the rest of our bags in. She gives me a quick head nod and jumps into the backseat as I follow directly behind her. My driver begins our drive home as we close our eyes. We should be home by noon so we won't be wasting all of our day. When I get home I need to help the boys wrap up some business things since I don't affiliate myself with any of that anymore. It's weird not having a lot to do job-wise but it means that I get to spend more time with Blair. I'm looking forward to spending my free time traveling with her and making more memories.

The only unfortunate thing about going home is that's where Scarlet is. Blair and I talked more in-depth about things to allow her to understand everything more but I'm still worried that she'll make Blair feel inferior in some way. She's always been good at doing that, but I know Blair's strong enough to not give into her mind games. Hell, I have enough faith in her that I think she'll be able to send her back home.

"Finally!" she shoots up out of her sleep as soon as the car comes to a halt. I laugh at her enthusiasm as I unload the car. "D!" she runs down the sidewalk towards Delaney as they reunite with a hug. I already know they're both filling each other in on everything that's happened over the past few days so I give them time and begin to take everything upstairs. I delicately drop Blair's bags on the floor in her room and let my body flop onto her bed. I shut my eyes for a moment before I'm awoken by footsteps.

"Somebody tired?" she giggles out as she joins me. "No, just resting," I honestly reply as I sit up. "I have to go console with the boys, be back later?" I ask to see if she's free. "Of course, I was thinking instead of going out tonight we could stay in?" she proposes a date night. "Sounds perfect. Text me if you need me to bring anything," I speak into a kiss as I make my way out. I tell my driver to take me to 312 as I scroll through my emails to check if I missed anything while I was gone. I step out of the vehicle and sneak in through the side door.

"Hey!" I greet everyone with a smile as they shoot me one back. "Shall we get to business?" I rhetorically ask as we make our way up to my office. "We shall," Zayn calls from behind. I sit down on my leather swivel chair and begin to move my hips, turning it from side to side. "So," I click my pen on my wooden desk. "I didn't come here to speak on statistics or anything like that," I start out as I blindly string them behind me. "I came here to officially bow out. One of you will be replacing me, if you'd like. I want to focus on the club and eventually broaden business options—this isn't for me anymore," I blurt out, hoping they'll understand as much as I think they will.

Before I can say anything else, they all nod their heads. "One of us would be more than happy to take over, but it's not really for us either," Harry starts out. "We want to be like you, Niall. Sure, it's good money, but it's not fun. It's dangerous, too. We all want families someday," Zayn adds on. I can't help but smile at how in-sync we all are with this. "I respect that. Louis, Liam?" I shoot my eyes to them to see where they stand. "I'm done, too," Louis states. "Me too. I'm sorry if we let you down, Ni," Liam apologizes. I shake my head and smile. "I'm really proud of us all for making this change and I'm excited for the next chapters of our lives. I have a backup for me and they'll have a backup for all of you."

I make the calls and quickly fill the positions. The one fortunate thing about doing the dirty work is that someone will always have to do it, regardless if they want to or not. Besides, that's how I got so well-respected.

"We're good," I say as everyone celebrates around me. "Shit, we need jobs," Louis finally realizes. "I run this place," I remind him. "There's plenty for you to do here if you'd like." Without taking a minute to consider the offer, they all shake their heads in unison. "That'd be great, man," Liam graciously thanks me. We sort out all of the details and plan for the next few weeks before calling it a day.