Forced Family 3

N I N E

"Found Ya!"

Bringing her hand over her mouth, Annika feels tears finally course down her cheeks. They had been burning her eyes for the past hour since she'd gotten home and found Carter with his half-pint sloshing it as he danced in the living room to the sound of the game.

The pub always gave good deals when the boys were winning matches.

Nikole had turned in for the evening saying something about a job interview that next day, Annika wished her mother well and said she too would be heading to bed.

Thomas was at the neighbor's flat, Annika made sure every time there was a game on that Thomas stayed elsewhere.

It was routine, she'd wear her best bra, lipstick, and blush, normally she'd have her hair tightly tucked in a bun to make it less easy to grab in case things went wrong. 

"We just need the rent paid,"

Nikole's haunting voice plays on loop in Annika's head as she sits with her knees to her chest on the couch watching Carter survey the game too drunk to truly see any value in it.

He'd cheer when the buzzer sounded, cruse when a flag was thrown down, mainly pace around the room buzzing off the vodka in his system.

When the game ended, Annika feels her face flush, tears pricking her eyes when Carter hazily made eye contact, his own gray eyes were bloodshot, sweat glistening his face; "good game," he mutters setting the empty bottle on the coffee table.

He misses the surface of the table as he sways on his feet, the bottle dropping on the carpet.

"Oops," he muses, eyes crinkling in a smile, "You look so pretty tonight," Annika plasters a smile beginning to stand from the couch, the initial deal being that she dressed up to watch the game with him. That was it.

"G-goodnight,"

Carter's hand grasps onto Annika's wrist, the girl gasps jerking it to free the tight hold, a sinister smile coil on his features, "We had a deal,"

"Fuck you!" She shouts kicking the man's shin breaking free when out of surprise he drops the grip clutching onto his shin, "You bitch!" Carter barks, Annika having time to run into the hall closet knowing this would be one of the last places he'd check if at all considering it was hidden beneath the attic stairs.

Tucking into herself, Annika brings her hand over her mouth to suppress the sobs, the tears finally course down her cheeks dripping from her chin onto her shirt.

She can hear Carter Storming through the flat opening doors, slamming them closed, he calls out for her, the only noise in-between the shouting is the radio in Nikole's room playing Frank Sinatra. 

Her breath hitches when the thudding footsteps grow dangerously closer, bracing herself Annika exhales shakily hearing the footsteps pass her.

The apartment was silent for the next passing minutes, the shouting, the footsteps gone as the radio carried the only sound between Annika's hushed breaths.

She wonders if Carter had fallen asleep, beginning to move from her crouched position when the door is flung open,

"Found ya!"

The sound of the radio increasing in volume disturbingly.

"Found ya!"

Niall steps in helping the girl to her feet, their looks of concern startle Annika that has her hand tightly curled around a candlestick she'd found under the bed, "W-was, is this your weapon of choice?" Niall muses easing it from her grasp with a gentle smile.

Annika whimpers stepping back from the men, "L-let me go home-"

The man in the slippers sighs, "I-I'll be downstairs," the brown-haired man that had spoken to her this morning chews the inside of his cheek gesturing to the room, "I used to stay in this room when I would come and visit my grandmother." 

Annika furrows her eyebrows, "A-are you, Louis?"

"No that's my brother, your uncle," Liam admits, "I'm Dad, and-and this is Papa," the tow-headed man steps forward, "This is your home now, Anna."

Tears prick the girl's eyes, she shakes her head bringing a hand to her head, "A-are you Carter's friends?"

"No,"

"N-Nikole's?"

"No." She sniffles nodding, "W-why me, why us?" Who she assumes is Liam's (Brown-haired man) sighs, "We wanted a family, and you needed one," 

>small, cute, not-planned, kind of a filler, chapter. Expect a longer, planned one next week! all the love, Emma :)