Stole My Heart (A Ziall and Larry Love Story)

Chapter 17 - Memory Shower

*Author's Note*

Greetings dear readers, here is a new chapter for you all to enjoy. I'd like to take this moment to say thank you all for reading my story but please don't be a silent reader. Just click the vote button on the side or leave me a nice little comment at the bottom or even a review. I love constructive criticism but I don't like people just being dickheads. I think this is obvious but I don't know if I have actually said this so: I don't own any of the characters in this story and all of the events are fictional. Well, a quick note about this chapter, it was going to be a lot longer but I like it like this because a) it leads nicely into the drama that will soon follow; b) if I continued writing it would have been really long and full of drama and it would have lost some emotion; and c) I got tired and didn't want to write any more (sorry). Anyway, enjoy this chapter and vote, comment, review and follow. Love you all, dedicated to @faisalscarlett - Scott xx

Beth's POV

A soon as I got the confirmation text, I started rushing round the house like a maniac making sure everything is in place for my next customer Louis, he can be quite kinky when he wants to be. I check the clock and see that I still have half an hour before he's due to get here so I time for a shower. I run the hot water and strip off before stepping in and letting the water burn into my skin. I always force myself to face extreme temperatures in the shower so that I can 'cleanse' myself from my sins. I hate my job but what else am I supposed to do to pay the rent and my dad's health care? He's the only family I have and he's well looked after in the care home but those places cost you know. I've tried to get other jobs but nowhere will hire me because I have no qualifications and no experience. This is the only thing I can do, I mean, who needs qualifications to get fucked? And experience? Well, I've got plenty of that. The time I spend in the shower gives me a break from my job and my dad. If I'm not working then I'm at the home keeping him company. I can tell he still misses my mum and I would too if I didn't know the truth...

*Flashback*

I got home from school waving bye to Zayn as he headed down the street to his house and stepped through the front door dropping my back and taking off my shoes and coat. I walked into the living room and saw the TV switched on and the ironing board in the middle of the room with a pile of clothes on the floor. I knew my dad was at work so I shouted my mum but I didn't get an answer. I could hear the washing machine running in the other room so I checked for her but there was no sign of her anywhere downstairs. I headed up the stairs, my stomach filled with dread and went straight to my bedroom to change. Once I was dressed I decided to check and see if my mum was asleep so I poked my head round the bedroom door but she wasn't there. By this point my heart was racing, I didn't know what to do. My mum never just leaves during the day without locking the door and turning the TV off unless something is wrong. I looked at the bathroom door knowing that this was the only room I hadn't checked yet and a lump rose in my throat. My hand was trembling as I reached for the handle to open the door and as I pushed it open I almost collapsed at the sight in front of me. The body of my mum was crumpled up against the toilet seat with one harm draped over the side of the bath and the other clutching on to a piece of paper. As I stepped closer to my mother's unconscious figure I saw an empty bottle of pills in the bath and a pen on the floor next to her other hand. I crouched down to check for signs of breathing and I checked her pulse. My own heart almost stopped beating as I realised that my mum was dead on the floor of our bathroom. I forced myself to breathe and fighting back tears I prised open her hand to remove the piece of paper and I unfolded it to read the typed writing addressed to my mum, it looked like a letter that must have came in the morning post:

Mrs. Irene Murray,

You can run but you can't hide. You might have left Mullingar 11 years ago hoping you could escape us but rest assured we never gave up looking for you or your family and now we've found you. We'll never forget what you did to our community and we're going to give you an option. If you turn yourself in now we'll punish you accordingly and leave your family alone. If you try to run away again we will kill your husband, and then your daughter, and then you. Your choice Mrs. Murray. We're watching your every move.

I read and re-read the note, trying to make sense of it all. I always wondered why we had to move from Mullingar all of a sudden when I was only 5 but this note frightened me. What would happen to me and my father now that my mother was dead? Would we be spared? Or punished for her mistakes? And what were her mistakes anyway? A thousand questions ran through my head before I turned the paper over in my hand and recognised my mother's handwriting. A short note scrawled on the back of this ominous letter:

Maz, I'm so sorry. I thought we were safe here but they found us. I can't keep running and I can't keep hiding. I love you so much never forget that and I'm eternally grateful to you for staying with me during all of this and trying to keep me safe but I can't put you or Beth through any of this any more. Take care of her for me and tell her that I love her. I know you'll miss me like I would miss you but you have to stay strong for her. She'll need you, now more than ever, I love you both so much. Goodbye x

Tears began rolling down my cheeks as I folded up the note and putting it in my pocket, making a vow to never let my dad see it. It would kill him and I can't lose both parents. The one word at the start of the note would be enough to break him 'Maz'. His pet name. I never did ask why she called him that, I mean, his name is Ken, it's not even remotely similar. But all I knew was that it meant a lot to them and that's why he can't see this note. I'd rather he thinks that her death was an accident. I walked back to my room and picked up my phone to dial 999 as one question swam round and round in my mind: What next?

*Flashback Ends*

The hot water scolded my flesh as tears began rolling down my face as I thought of my childhood in Mullingar, all the happy memories I shared with my parents over the years, all those times in Bradford with Zayn and my other friends, my mother's death and her funeral, my father's break down and our move to London, getting my job to pay for the rent on the flat, moving my dad to the care-home, all the times I've visited him not knowing what condition he'll be in, all the moments I've shared with Liam...

Whoa, what the fuck was that? I never think about my clients in the shower. My showers are my escape from all those sleazy horny dickheads. But Liam is different. I mean, he told me he loves me! Who the fuck says that to the prostitute? And I know he meant it, that's the worst bit. No. the worst bit is that I think I love him too. I shut the water off and step out of the shower to dry off. I just manage to slip into some underwear and wrap a gown around me when the doorbell rings announcing Louis' arrival. I head downstairs and open the door.

“Hey Lou-who the fuck are you?”

“Oh, erm, hi, I'm, err... I'm sorry, I mean, I'm Harold, er, Harry... Hi”

What. The. Fuck.