Hostage

27. "Breathe, Rae"

"You cocksuckers killed my fucking mother, abducted and raped my sister, and you probably killed my fucking father" Spencer screamed , struggling against his restraints. God, he was so painfully wrong. What kind of lies had they been feeding him back there.

"I did not kill your mother Spencer" I groaned, sick of this constant back and forth. I've been down here for at least two hours just trying to get something from him, but he was so fucking brainwashed it was hard.

I couldn't really blame him though. They'd drilled it into his head so many times that it's practically natural instinct to go against whatever I say.

"I tried to save her you ingrate" I growled, fed up with all of his fucking accusations.

"They showed me pictures" He screamed. "I saw you going in there right after her"

"Oh really?" I snarled. "Then did you notice how the fire was already fucking started before I got there. Why would I run into a burning building right after her if I wasn't saving her?"

"I don't fucking know" He growled. "Don't flip this on me! It's your-"

"I tried to save her, goddammit" I kicked the wooden chair as I stood from it, sending it flying back against the wall behind me. "I tried to save her"

Spencer fell quiet as I turned my back to him, eyes trained on the wall as my mind replayed the memory. Those fucking bastards forced her to think there was a child in there, but it was too late once she realized there wasn't. The roof caved in on her, and the wood was too heavy for me to move it.

"I had no choice" I muttered to myself. The firefighters ran in and pulled me out, despite my cries of protests. I ran my hand ran through my hair once, straightening out the long locks before slowly turning back to face Spencer.

"Do you know what it feels like to be accused of all this shit and not be able to do anything about it because nobody fucking believes you? Your father betrayed you and your gang and he left and took the chip with him. I had nothing to do with it yet you kidnap my fucking sister who already hates me enough as it is, and tell me that you'll kill her unless I prove to you that I didn't kill your father" I laughed despite the fact that this situation was by no means funny at all.

"I didn't kill your mother. Your boss did! He set her up and I tried to save her. You weren't fucking there. You didn't have to just watch the house collapse on her. You-fuck" I shook my head, ridding my mind of the obvious pain on Rae's face when I told her. "You didn't have to tell Rae and watch as she practically broke down before you"

Spencer's stare had softened considerably, but I wasn't finished.

"I didn't rape your sister. I would never even think about doing that to anybody. The fact that you keep insinuating it makes me really want to fucking blow your brains out. But you know what? I'm not going to. And do you know why?" This time I waited for his eye contact.

"Because I care about your sister. And I don't want her to be disappointed with me. I don't want to hurt someone she cares about because it will hurt her. And when she's hurt I'm hurt" I said somewhat cordially to him.

"So I'd stop pegging things against me when clearly you don't have the slightest idea of the truth"

~*~

Raleigh

Something had changed with Spencer. He wasn't as evil and disgusted with me as he was the last time I was down here. He was being mindful and actually maintaining eye contact with me now, even as I was insulting him.

He wasn't fighting back. He was just...taking it.

"And it's your fault she's dead" I concluded, feeling a tear trailing down my cheek. "Maybe not directly your fault, but you support the people who killed her. You work for them. You work for the people who...who raped me" I finished, dropping my eyes to the floor.

"What?" He suddenly snapped. "Raped you? Who-who...what?"

Before Spencer could ask more questions the door swung open, and in walked Zayn, cocking his gun back as he stepped into the room. "Sorry to interrupt your family reunion but I need to have a little chat with your lovely brother" He smirked evilly. It was then that I noticed the metal fist ring wrapped around his fist. They had sharp edges, similar to a knife on the ends of each one.

I'd seen these before at fights in my school, and I was not about to let him do this to Spencer. I know, I know. Just a little bit ago I wanted to kill him myself. But it's one thing to think it than to actually do it or see someone do it.

And even though he'd taken part in the horrible events that both my mom and I had gone through, that didn't change the fact that he was my brother. No matter what, he was my brother. Whether I considered him one or not. He was.

And he was also my last family member alive. He had been brainwashed by those people, but Harry must have said something to trigger him, because he was acting so much different then the last time I came down here.

"Go on and run that pretty little ass up to Harry, Raleigh" Zayn snickered.

I could feel Spencer's breathing pick up at the vulgar way Zayn addressed me. If there was anything my brother was, it was a fighter. But so was Zayn.

And Zayn was bigger.

"Does Harry know your're doing this?"

"I stopped listening to Harry when he became a little bitch" Zayn growled, tucking his gun in his pocket and rolling his shoulders.

"I'm not going to let you touch him" I said shakily, broadening my shoulders as if that would make me any bigger.

"Need I remind you that his friend raped you" Zayn sneered. "They beat you. They killed your mom. And yet you still protect him? Fuck" He laughed without humor. "Harry must have fucked your head up more than I thought"

"S'fine" Zayn muttered, jumping around on his toes. "Guess I'll just have to go through you first"

Just as he swung the fist without the metal fist rings, the door opened. Harry watched as Zayn landed a heavy punch to my jaw, sending me falling to the floor as I cradled my jaw.

"ZAYN" Harry roared. Zayn ignored him and stepped over me, aiming a punch at Spencer. His knuckles barely grazed Spencer's side before Harry tackled him to the ground, the boys rolling around until Zayn came out on top.

Zayn removed his knuckle ring and tossed it behind him before shoving his forearm against Harry's throat. I stayed curled up on the floor, feeling my pulse through my jaw. My heartbeat picked up.

Oh god. Oh no. No no no no no. I could feel the panic attack approaching as my breaths hallowed and the room spun around me. Harry and Zayn's body became a blur as I pushed myself up, only to collapse right back to the ground.

"Harry" I cried, reaching for him, but all I felt was thin air.

"Raleigh" I heard Spencer's panicked voice. "SHRIMP" I could hear him struggling against the chair he was tied to.

"Fuck, babe, okay. Breathe, Rae. I know you can hear me. Breathe shrimp. In and out. Deep deep breaths" I couldn't see Spencer but I could hear him. I tried to listen, tried to breathe and calm myself down, but I could hear Harry struggling.

"Harry" I called again, but I couldn't even hear myself. I felt like I was going to throw up, but when I opened my mouth nothing came out.

"Fuck" Spencer said again. "HARRY" He roared. "Rae hang on -HARRY" He screamed.

The last thing I felt was a pair of wet hands on my body before my eyes rolled back and I fell limp.

~*~

I awoke with a start, shooting up and looking around quickly. The last time I had a panic attack was when I was at Spencer's gangs house. And I woke up to a strange man on top of me, grunting and groaning. And then I looked down and realized I was naked, and so was he, and our hips were connected.

"It's just me" Harry whispered into the dark air. His hand wrapped around my stomach, pulling me back down to lay beside him as I was previously. It took me a minute to settle back into Harry's arms.

"I almost killed him" He muttered into my neck, leaving a soft kiss afterwords. My back was to him, one of his arms wrapped firmly around my waist, securing me to him while the other I used as a pillow.

"I was about to but then Spencer screamed my name and I looked over and you were on the ground. And I freaked the fuck out, Raleigh. I just- I can't stand to see you suffering like that. It physically kills me to see you hurt"

I didn't know what to say. Harry had never been so open with me so I didn't want to ruin the moment and say something stupid. I only draped my arm over his, lacing our fingers together over my stomach.

"Zayn won't be a problem to you anymore" He said silently. "And he won't be hurting Spencer either"

It was in that very moment that I'd made up my mind. I was hopelessly in love with Harry.