Contentions(A Liam Payne AU)

Chapter 11-Gentle

“How do you know about my dad?” I asked quietly, my body now relaxed into Liam’s strong chest, his hands no longer restraining me but trailing up and down my arms, soothing me.

“Your screaming woke me up,” he informed, letting out a tired sigh. “I ran in to see what was wrong and you were just…crying and yelling. It didn’t take much to figure out that you were dreaming about your dad. And from there I just kind of put the pieces together – you living with your sister and all that.”

“I’m sorry,” I mumbled, feeling terrible for waking him up. “You should go get some rest.”

“You’re right, I should…but what about you?” he questioned. “Are you gonna go back to bed?” The mere thought was revolting, just even to think that the memory could come back made you cringe.

“I-I don’t think that’s a good idea,” I smiled shakily. “The nightmares tend to come back if I go back to sleep.” There was a small puff of air on the back of my neck and he turned my body around so I was facing him. His brow was furrowed and chocolate eyes pained as he saw my frightened features.

“Do you get these a lot?” he asked, beckoning for the truth. At my nod, he ran a hand through his hair, trying to think of some sort of solution. He finally sighed and rubbed a hand over his eyes, nodding.

“Well…I’m not going to let you stay up; you have to at least get a little bit more rest,” he said tiredly, holding up a finger when I began to object. “But I also don’t want you to be scared. So how about I sleep with you tonight and I’ll wake you up if you start having anymore night terrors, yeah?” I chewed on my lip, looking away from him as he gave what he thought was a reasonable solution.

“Liam, I-I appreciate it and all, but you should probably just go; I don’t really want to sleep anymore,” I mumbled, trying to brush him off as subtly as I could manage.

“And why’s that?” he pushed, obviously not going to let it go. I attempted to slide off of his lap, but his arms suddenly tightened, holding me there.

“I just don’t want to see my dad, okay? I don’t want him to hurt me,” I said, my voice small and almost childlike. Steady fingers suddenly slid under my chin and tilted my head up, my eyes remaining stubbornly glued to the duvet.

“Brin, c’mon…look at me,” Liam coaxed, his voice so gentle that it caused my gaze to snap up to him, wondering if it was the same person. His caramel eyes held not pity, but a sort of…understanding.

“I know it’s hard,” he murmured, his thumb running soothing lines across my jaw. “It’s hard to leave that behind. And granted, I don’t know your story, but what I do know is that he will not be coming near you ever again, alright? I’ll protect you.” I chuckled humorlessly at that, rolling my eyes that were suddenly filled with tears.

“Why are you doing this?” I cried quietly, so confused at why he was offering this. He didn’t know me. He didn’t know my story. Hell, I had been nothing but a pest to him every time he met me, and yet he was still offering to protect me?

“Because,” he said seriously. “No woman - especially young woman – deserves to be hit. It makes me sick to think that a man laid a hand on you, that he hurt you.”

“But that doesn’t explain why you’re helping me,” I said exasperatedly. “Why are you helping someone like me?” His eyes darkened at that, his fingers tightening around my chin, not painfully so, but enough to get my attention.

“We are having a serious talk about this I the morning,” he gritted out. “You need to get some rest, but I sure as hell am not forgetting this.”

“Forgetting about what?” I squeaked, a bit frightened.

“About the fact that you see yourself as anything less than I see you as,” he murmured, his tone suddenly gentle again as he tucked a stray strand of hair behind my ear. Gosh, this boy could go from furious to sad in .2 seconds.

“Now, let’s go to sleep, yeah? I’m right exhausted,” he mumbled, moving to lie down and tugging my body with him, his arm slipping around my waist as he did so. Even if I was laying there, it didn’t mean I was going to sleep. I could just relax a bit until morning.

“Brin, close your eyes,” he yawned, squeezing our intertwined hands.  “I’ll keep away the nightmares.” At that, my heart suddenly pulsed so fast I swore that he would be able to hear it. He was being so sweet and…gentle, so unlike what I knew him to be. It had to be the lack of sleep. Yeah, he was just tired…