Save Me (A Niall Horan FanFiction)

Ch. 12 - Telling Liam

Niall just stared at me. And I stared at him. We seemed to communicate the urgency of the situation silently. After several moments of concerned glances, it was Niall who spoke. "I'm going to tell Paul about this. He will probably come to see you... Paul I mean. While I'm gone I am going to ask one of the lads to sit with you."

I just nodded my head. We stood up and walked down the hotel hallway to another door. Niall raised his hand to knock, but the door opened before he could.

"Nialler! Hollie! What are you doing here?" Liam seemed genuinely surprised to see us. He just shook his head and motioned for us to enter his room.

"Liam, I have to talk to Paul about some things. Can you sit with Hols while I'm gone?" Niall spoke to Liam, but only looked at me.

"Sure lad, she's always welcome here. Go ahead." Liam smiled kindly at Niall and walked him to the door. While the two guys stood in the doorway, I walked to the sofa and sat down. Pulling out my phone, I sent Paige a quick text.

To Paige: thx lovely! i appreciate ur help with the info

When I looked up Liam was sitting on the bed looking at me, frowning. "Hollie, why is this guy after you?"

I sighed. "I probably embarrassed him. Even though I didn't mean too. You can't help who you love, and who you don't."

Liam raised an eyebrow. "Okay, can you explain this to me? Why are you afraid of him?"

"Liam, it's a long story. No one knows besides my friend Paige." I kept my eyes glued to my feet, knowing full well that if I looked at him my tears would fall mercilessly.

Liam took my hand gently and smiled. "It will help us to help you. Please try, love."

I took a deep breath and said, "I'll try..."

Liam sat silently as I told him about my past. He didn't see parts of the story coming, I'm sure. But that's how Dave was, and is. He's confusing and tricky, always hiding the bad parts of himself from the outside world.

I told Liam about the Dave that I met three years ago; he was kind, generous - making me want to be near him. Although he traveled internationally for business, I saw him every other weekend. The times I did spend with him, Dave had expected all of my attention, and back the. I'd been happy to give it.

We'd lived together when I had a job in Dallas, but when I was promoted to my Knoxville job he couldn't go with me. This had caused a massive strain on the kindness he showed towards me. My move to Knoxville changed our relationship; he became controlling and abusive.

My eyes met Liam's and I stopped my story. "Do you remember how old I am?"

He smirked, remembering the game from the night before. "Yes, 'Miss 32'."

I nodded. "Liam, when I met Dave, I was 29 years old and I was a virgin. I'd always been brought up to wait until I found the person that I was going to marry."

He just watched me. I could tell that he was wondering when I was going to say something unpleasant. "Dave didn't like that philosophy very much. One night, about three months ago, he told me that we were going to get married so we might as well have sex. I said no. Obviously it didn't matter."

Visibly flustered, Liam got up and walked to the window. After staring blankly out the window for a while, he said, "Hollie, you're saying that he raped you."

Those words cut me deeply and the tears that I'd been holding in fell down my cheeks. All I could do was nod my head in agreement.

As Liam sat next to me on the sofa, my tears eased and I looked up at his calm face. "Liam, what am I going to do?"

His answer was nearly instantaneous. "Paul will help you. We will keep you safe." He sounded so confident, that I sort of believed him. "But Hollie, you have to tell Niall all of this. And maybe Paul, too."

"Can't you?" I whispered.

"I'll try." Liam hugged me and sent Niall a text.