Thorn (n.h)

XVIII

"Oh," I try to think of some way to get out of this.

"What's last time?" Niall asks furrowing his eyebrows and looking into my eyes.

"Nothing, it's nothing," I stammer and look away from his gaze.

"Tell me or you're sleeping on the couch," Niall demands and I catch my breath.

"You can't kick me out of your bed just because I won't tell you," i counter and he gives me a knowing look.

"It's my house," he retorts and I roll my eyes.

"Fine," I try to gather my thoughts and I feel Niall's hand find my thigh to comfort me. I take a deep breath and look back up at him, "I don't know if you remember but in senior year i was out for a week."

"I vaugely do," Niall seems to try to recall highschool then looks back at me to continue.

"Okay, well my brother Adam had these friends, Vinny, this guy Marcus and Conner," I begin and feel a flood of horror wash over me. Niall nods for me to continue, "well uh I was walking from from a friends house a block away and they were leaving my house."

I pause to watch him and he nods to me and gives my thigh a squeeze of encouragement.

"Well they saw me and asked if I wanted a ride," I can see it all playing out in my head and tears begin to fill my eyes. "I said sure and got in the back with Marcus, Conner and Vinny were in the front," I feel huge tears fall onto my cheeks and Niall brushes them away with the pad of his free thumb.

"You're okay," he whispers and keeps one hand on my thigh the other on my cheek.

"Okay," I start and breathe out, "Marcus started...touching me," I pause and glance down to insinuate where he was touching me. I see Niall's face grow stoic and angry. "I told them to stop the car so I can get out and of course Vinny stops at an alley way and I tried to run but," my breath catches me and I have to pause to let the tears flow.

Niall removes his hand from my thigh and wipes at my cheeks, "well Vinny and Conner chase me down in the alley way and take my pants off then pass me in between each other," I rush my words as tears fall harder.

"The cops got there after a while because I was screaming and a neighbor called the cops," I remember seeing Vinny and Marcus out of jail and cringe. "They were juniors in college," I whimper and bury my face into Niall's neck. He is stiff as he rubs my back. Does he hate me now?

"Fuckers," Niall whispers and kisses the top of my head. The tears come to a slow after a while and I sit up in bed.

"So that's why I wanted to leave on New Years and I saw Marcus the other day when I was out with Zayn," I add and wipe weakly at the drying tears on my face.

"I heard Conner died a while back," Niall sits up beside me.

"You knew Conner?" I ask horrified, Niall knew everybody.

"Yeah he was a drug buddy," Niall explains and I look at my hands in my lap. "I hear Marcus is married," Niall whispers and kisses my shoulder. I jerk it away from him.

"I don't want to talk about this anymore," I get out of bed and go to this kitchen. I look for some chips I'd bought but Niall has already eaten those apparently.

"Wanna go get a burger?" I hear Niall ask. He looks angry but simpathetic. But genuinely concerned for me. He has his brown wallet in hand and keys in his other, already ready to go. I nod and follow him to his car, in just his shirt and panties and he in boxers.

"This is ridiculous," I smile and look at him, "it's 3AM and we're going to get fast food half naked," I explain and he smiles.

"It's not the first time I've gone out in my boxers for food," Niall turns a corner and I see the beautiful golden arches in the horizon.