Lost

Chapter 68: Falling Apart

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Zayn's temper flared despite his attempt to hold it in. It was all too much. He turned away from them only to end up kicking the small coffee table. It turned over, hitting the floor with a resounding crash.

"Stop being a beast!" Claire shouted, looking close to tears, "You know how childish and egotistical you are? Bitching out about a guy just because he is on the rival team?!"

"Yes I am bitching about a guy who is on the rival team!" Zayn thundered, "Will you just stop dogging his footsteps like a desperate little bi-!"

"Zayn!" Niall intervened, appalled. He could not believe his ears. Zayn was getting uncharacteristically brutal. Yes, it was like him argue and shout, but now, he always seemed to go straight for the kill.

Zayn had bit his tongue but it was already too late. Claire had already caught on to what he was saying.

"How can you say that to me?!" she accused. "He may be your enemy but I am your sister?!"

"Funny, how you chose a bitch over me and then remind me of you being my sister!" Zayn returned hotly, "Forgot who I am to you, did you? Forgot that your brother will never choose for anything other than what's best for you?"

Niall looked between the siblings nervously. He obviously had no idea how to play referee between the two who were equally right and wrong at the same damn time in their stance against each other.

Ever since the incident at the hotel, their relationship was deteriorating. Zayn had returned from LA to find out Claire was still seeing the hound. Derek had fed her some cock-and-bull story about how he faked his identity because he knew Zayn's dislike for him would ruin his chances with her, and that he had loved her from afar for a very long time.

What drove Zayn mad was that Claire actually bought his rubbish. She believed his story and all his lies about her own brother.

Zayn knew he should have approached the matter differently. He knew how persuasive Hilton was. That manipulative scoundrel was really gifted at it. Zayn himself had become a victim of his lies, but the gravity of the threat he posed to his sister chased all rationality out of his mind. He just wanted her to stay away from him. And she refused to.

Not until Zayn could convince her with a just cause. Claire stayed mute. Zayn scoffed at her lack of response.

"Don't you dare come at me with the sibling card when you can't carry the role yourself!"

"My brother would tell me why he wanted me to do something! He wouldn't just order me around!" Claire replied, "Do you have a reason why you hate him? Or is it just your pride hurting? What exactly is your problem with Derek?!"

"NOTHING!" Zayn drowned her accusations. "NOTHING AT ALL! JUST GO OUT WITH THE DOUCHE AND DON'T COME CRYING TO ME WHEN HE --"

Niall's mouth fell open when Zayn cursed her out. Claire looked like she had been punched in the gut. She took a step away from him, her features expressing the pain she felt from his words.

"You're just a jealous, miserable piece of shit!" She screamed with tears in her eyes, "Rejected by a veiled hag, you can't see –"

The shattering of china cut her short. Zayn had thrown a vase at the wall in his anger. He saw red in his periphery. His fists were clenched and back arched like a wolf ready to pounce.

"Take. That. Back!" Zayn growled.

"Claire! Zayn! Stop!" Niall intervened, terrified by how far things had escalated, "What the hell is wrong with you two?!"