Forever Winter//NH//

Three

"Or like the deadly bullet of a gun, his meaning struck her ere his words begun."
-Shakespeare, Venus and Adonis

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Louis Tomlinson
June 8th, 2015

We got back to our hotel at 12 after an interview this morning. I was sitting in my room for about an hour until a knock sounded at the door, followed by a call of my name from the other side.

I opened it to find Liam, Harry and Niall, who let themselves in once the door was open. Liam went to speak, but Niall quickly cut him off.

"J needs us to sort one of Ashley's mates again." Niall summed up before Liam could even get a word in. Liam shot Niall a look, then nodded with a sigh.

"J said he's already talked to him, so he's expecting us at this club." Liam flashed me his phone, showing an address not far from our hotel.

"Is it an exchange today?"

"Mhm. But if it goes south he said we can do anything else we need to get the money out of him." Liam said.

"It seemed as if he'd rather us just kill the guy. He didn't sound as if he liked him." Harry picked up a bottle of something off the floor, shrugging his shoulders and taking a swig of it.

I cringe, looking away and back up to Liam.
"So when is it?"

"Tonight. We'll need to sneak off after the show though, just say that we're all tired tonight to Carlos- he's gullible enough to just let us go back to the hotel." Liam walked as he spoke, taking the bottle of unknown contents from Harry and making his way to the bathroom, pouring it out in the sink and binning it.

I take a glance at Niall and Harry, who had taken it upon themselves to go through the items on my dresser. "Was there any need to take both of them here just to tell me that?" I point to them both, who had taken an interest in the cigarette papers on the dresser.

"He also wants us to go pick up something from a colleague of his. It's across L.A. and recommended we go before 3." Liam went to the door, holding the handle.

"I have the keys to the minivan. No one should notice it's missing." I grab the keys from my dresser, throwing them to Liam who catches them effortlessly. Liam had to usher us out of the place quickly, naming himself as driver. The four of us had drove the hour to the address J texted, and ended up outside of a small motel on the outskirts of L.A.

Liam parked the car near the back of the parking lot, picking up his phone to call J.

"What room is your friend in?" Liam asked as Harry in the passenger seat was nudging him to put the phone on speaker.

J said something inaudible to the rest of us, and Liam nodded, unbuckling his seatbelt and opening the door. Liam hung up the phone, stopping Harry as he tried to get out of the car.

"I'll be back in a minute. J said he only wants one of us to go up to the room to avoid suspicion." Liam shuts the door, making his way over to the stairs of the motel and up to a room.

"What would J even need us to pick up anyway? We did all of last tour getting through people without weapons or whatever the fuck Liam's picking up." Niall scoffed, leaning back in his seat uninterested.

"You heard him the other day. Saying something about more important people to deal with or whatever." Harry picked at his nailbeds, letting out a relieved sigh as Liam left one of the motel rooms only a moment later, black backpack over one of his shoulders. He came back to the car, handing the backpack to Harry carefully and starting the engine.

"What's inside?" Harry asked.

"I'm not sure. The guy didn't say anything except verify I was the right person," Liam backed out of the parking lot, simultaneously getting directions back to our hotel. By the time we would get back, people would be starting to come get us for the show, so Liam had to drive faster than he did on the way over. "Open it."

Harry gladly unzipped the bag, sifting through the contents. "There isn't a lot. There's a few knives, and other general melee weapons,"

"Pocket knives or kitchen?" Niall asked.

"Few of both," Harry went deeper into the bag, carefully avoiding the blades even though there were protective sleeves over them. "There's also like, stacks of cash in here, look." He handed one back to Niall who only needed to take one glance at the top bill before handing it back.

"It's fake money, Harry."

"Why the fuck would we need fake money? We have plenty." Harry shrugged, moving the stacks aside.

"Just keep looking, Harry. Or is that everything he's left?" I look over his shoulder as he goes to pull the next item out.

"Oh shit, he's given us guns-"

"Harry, not in broad daylight," I took the bag from him immediately, shoving the handgun back inside. "Everyone on the road has probably just seen you."

"Calm down! It's legal." Harry shot back.

"In other states. Not California." I take another look in the backpack before zipping it up, 3 other handguns inside- likely to be one for each of us.

"What's he thinking giving us guns anyway? We can't use them." Niall scoffs, holding his hand out to me for the bag.

"We can just teach ourselves." Harry suggests, turning around in his seat.

"Absolutely not. You will kill yourself." Niall digs through the backpack, before closing it again and leaving it to sit on the floor.