Crooked

trust. [chapter twenty]

Niall was hurt, I knew that much. Why? I had no idea. I mean, yeah okay, he thought that I was using him for my own personal satisfaction, which I understood because I had friends who had been used like that before. But wasn’t that what he wanted? Didn’t he just want a physical thing? If not, it seemed as though I had completely misunderstood him, which I found odd because I thought Niall and I were on the same wavelength.

But apparently not, it seemed.

I didn’t have time to focus on Niall and his feelings, as I was messaged early the next morning to meet the boys and their manager, for a meeting. It wasn’t so much of a formal meeting as it was held in the boys’ room. The meeting was at ten, and naturally I had slept in until 9.45, so in a rush, I pulled on a pair of blue jeans and a white peplum top, thinking that if I looked tired, at least I could cover it up with my professionalism. The closest shoes near me were a pair of tan wedged heels, and I knew that wearing heels would definitely make me wake up. It might also increase my clumsiness, but I couldn’t win at everything in life.

While waiting for the elevator, I only became aware of a hickey bruising that Niall have given me on my neck. With a frustrated sigh, knowing that at least one of the boys were going to pick up on it, I made a loose braid and swept my hair to the side, covering up the hickey completely. A job well done for me.

When I arrived to the boys’ room, I was about to knock on the door before I realised that I actually had a key to their room which I conveniently remembered I had. I slid the card into the card holder and the door unlocked open, the smell of fresh toast and bacon wafting through my nose. It was a pity I didn’t have time to order breakfast myself, but at least I could take the boys’ food, right?

“Hey Cass,” Zayn greeted me with a half-smile, his chest bare as he chewed on a piece of toast. I smiled, greeting him “hello” while simultaneously taking a piece of toast for myself.

“Niall’s going to be angry if you eat that,” Zayn warned me but I shrugged, sitting myself down on a seat next to Harry, who was also bare chested. I didn’t mind the nakedness, but it would be nice if they at least offered to put a shirt on.

“Have a good sleep?” Harry turned to me and smirked. “I heard it was great.”

I frowned. Niall must had not told him about what happened after he left, but I realised it was probably for the best. I didn’t want to be made out like some sort of bad person.

There was a good chance that if Niall hadn’t told Harry, he might have not told any of the boys either. This proved to be correct when Niall emerged from his room, dressed in pants and a t-shirt as he shuffled towards the food.

“Where’s the toast?” Niall questioned, looking at Zayn. Immediately, Zayn’s eyes flickered to me and I shoved the half-eaten piece of toast into Harry’s hands.

“I don’t have it.” I held my hands up in the air for the boys to see. “Harry does!”

“There are crumbs all over your mouth,” Niall informed me with an edge in his tone.

“That’s from last night,” I replied hastily. “I always get pizza crumbs around my mouth. You know. When I eat pizza?”

I was rambling, but Niall was making me nervous and I didn’t know why.

“You didn’t clean your mouth after last night?” Harry drawled. My head spun to glare at Harry. “That’s dirty.”

Niall and I were the only two to pick up his dirty innuendo, and while Niall didn’t say anything; my blush was probably giving away heaps right now.

“Morning, lads!” Louis’ happiness radiated the room as he entered my line of vision. “Cassie! Why are you blushing, you cheeky girl?”

Harry snorted. I took this opportunity to take my toast back and shove it into my mouth. “Hi Lou,” I mumbled with toast in my mouth.

“Louis, put a shirt on,” Randy, the boys’ manager, told him off as he entered the hotel room. “Boys, Cassie, come ‘round please.”

Liam was still sleeping, so Louis and Zayn decided to jump on his bed and scream in his ear until we heard a loud smack from the bedroom. A few minutes later, Liam walked out, looking extremely satisfied with himself. I wondered why until Louis and Zayn followed shortly after, rubbing their hands against their butts where Liam had hit them. I giggled, and watched as they took seats on the couches, with Randy sitting on the bench in front of us.

“Next week, the Comic Relief crew are hosting a huge benefit concert in London, on one of the days you were supposed to have off, sorry boys,” Randy tacked on. “Jessie J, Cher Lloyd and Little Mix are among some of the names performing, and Rihanna was supposed to perform but had to pull out, so you guys were asked to perform. What do you think?”

“Absolutely,” Liam decided, with the other boys nodding in response.

“Good,” Randy added with a smile. “Because I already signed you guys up. You’ll be performing last at around 10pm, and you’ll perform at least 5-6 songs. It’s a small set, but I’m sure the audience will ask for an encore so it’ll probably end at around 12 or so. Cassie,” he directed this last part to me. “It’s your responsibility to make sure the boys get to the event on time and are fed before their performance.”

I nodded, writing the information down onto my phone. I was glad I’d gotten something to eat; otherwise I would’ve made Randy repeat himself at least three times before I could properly process the information.

“Besides performances, some local designers will be hosting a fashion show where the audience can bid on certain clothing items, so Cassie, boys, you’re welcome to watch and bid if you wish.” Randy finished. “Any questions?”

I shook my head. I couldn’t wait to tell Angie about this. I wanted to check my bank account soon to see if Simon had paid me, and if he had, I knew where my first pay check was going.

“Have fun at tonight’s concert,” Randy told the boys. “See you guys later.”

As soon as he left the room, the boys began buzzing, not about the show, but about the models. Trust.

I wasn’t worried about the show next week, and I was definitely excited to see the fashion show. If I could get the boys to bid on a piece of clothing for me, the show would definitely be more exciting. Well, for me anyways. We could all sit in front row together, with Harry and Niall perving at the models….

I changed my mind. I didn’t like this modelling thing, not one bit. Niall was going to be damned if he thought he was going to get close with any of the models. I wasn’t going to let it happen, no way.

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HEY. Hi. I know it’s been a while, as in a long freaking while and you guys all deserve an explanation to why I kind of disappeared there. Let me explain.

Chapter 19 wasn’t part of my original outline, so after I posted it, I started freaking out because I didn’t know how to fit it into my original outline. So I figured I’d wait a week and then see how I could continue writing it. By the time I figured out how to fit it into the outline, I realised that this story was going to take a lot longer than I originally planned and thatreally discouraged me, because we’re 20 chapters in and we’ve just begun writing the tour, imagine how long the tour’s going to be if I wrote the whole thing out. So a few days ago, I was like ‘you know what, I’m going to scrap the old outline and make a new one and get this baby back on the road’, so that’s what I’ve done. I’ve kept the outline, but I’m confident that I can now fit what I want to in the next fifteen chapters or so. So this story will be finishing a lot earlier than I expected, but believe me when I say that this version is a lot better.

Considering my pacing, it might even take longer than fifteen chapters, but fifteen chapters is easier for me to deal with than say, thirty.

With all this in mind, I will now be updating this every second Tuesday, with the aim to update it weekly. I want to finish this so I can focus on my other stories, so there’s a good chance I’ll be updating it more often than just every second Tuesday.

It feels good to say that Crooked is officially BACK, baby! :)