Falling For You

Chapter 6

Liam stares out at the street in front of him. After dropping Zayn at his house, Liam couldn't make himself go inside.

What if he gets hurt? What if he needs me? Those are the only thoughts running through Liam's mind.

The boys inside were already asleep, so Liam was pacing back and forth across his front porch. Liam doesn't know if his dad is awake, if anything will happen to Zayn. So, Liam decided that he would stay out here all night to make sure Zayn was going to be ok.

It's the only thing he could do. The street is silent, so Liam can hear it when a sudden slam of a door echoes through the neighborhood.

Liam's head whips up and he sees Zayn and his father in the doorway of his house. Yaser throws Zayn onto the pavement of the driveway and slams the door shut, leaving Zayn to lay on the ground.

Liam is immediately in motion, running down the front porch steps and across his front lawn. He's across the street and up Zayn's driveway in no time.

His hand finds Zayn's shoulder, and Zayn twists in his grip, attempting to squirm away. Liam can see in his face how scared he is. Liam leans down and wraps Zayn up in a hug, whispering things into his ear. "It's me. You're safe now. It's just me, you're ok."

Liam can feel it as Zayn relaxes, his tears finally spilling over and soaking the shoulder of Liam's shirt. After a few moments, Zayn pulls away, and Liam flinches at the sight of his face.

His nose is bleeding heavily. Blood has rushed to his jaw, the makings of a bad bruise forming. Liam cups Zayn's face in his hands, running his thumbs across his cheeks.

He never looks this bad. What happened? Liam thinks, running his fingers through Zayn's hair as Zayn presses his face into Liam's chest, tears soaking into his shirt.

There's rarely ever a bruise visible when his dad beats him. Yaser doesn't want anyone to know, so he quickly started limiting the bruises to places that could be hidden. But Zayn will definitely have a black eye and a nasty bruise on his jaw tomorrow.

"I'm sorry, Liam." He whispers. "You were right." These 6 words break Liam out of his trance. Liam wraps his arms around Zayn's neck, pulling him closer.

"Never say that again." Liam says, his voice breaking. "Never apologise for his actions. This is not your fault." Liam can feel Zayn's tears soaking through the fabric of his shirt, but he could care less about the wetness against his shoulder. He has his boy back, safe in his arms.

Liam leans over and wraps one arm under Zayn's legs, the other supporting behind Zayn's back. Zayn squeaks at the movement, wrapping his arms tightly around Liam's neck.

"Li, what are you doing?" Zayn asks, but Liam just starts walking.

"You're gonna stay with me for a while." Liam says, but Zayn starts to squirm.

"No, Li, I can't." Zayn says, shoving half-heartedly at his chest. "My dad...he'll hurt you."

Liam just scoffs at that, looking down at Zayn as they reach the front porch of Liam's house. "Z, I don't give a flying fuck what your dad says he will do to me."

Zayn just stares up at Liam. Liam stares down at the small, light boy in his arms. Ever since that day 3 years ago, when Liam found Zayn bruised and battered, curled up in his own bed, he'd been underweight. Not being fed properly at home, he barely hits 110 pounds. Liam has tried to help him, but Zayn has slowly been eating less and less, even at Liam's house.

"I'm here to protect you." Liam says, setting Zayn down, but keeping his hands planted firmly on the smaller boy's waist. "Zayn, please stay with me for a while?" Liam asks, and he lets out a relieved sigh when Zayn nods. "Thank god, cause otherwise I was probably going to kidnap you." Liam says, rubbing soothing circles on Zayn's back.