Try.

Chapter 32: Runnin' With the Thieves

"You're not going anywhere near him, and that's final." Harry said as he walked past me to grab his baseball hat off the dresser. I dropped my hands to my sides in disbelief, following him out of the bedroom and out into the hall.

"Well, where do you think you're going?" I countered, putting my hands on my hips. "You're supposed to be resting, you can't practice."

"I can still be involved, Viv," he said, turning to face me. "I won't play, but I can still watch. Plus, I need to talk to Alex."

"He's not going to give you anything, Harry."

"And he won't give you anything either, and if I find out that you've even spoken to him or Tanner —,"

"What? Are you going to punish me? Take my phone away? What?" I pressed as he walked down the stairs, me following behind. The past few days have been slowly eating away at us; ever since I told him about Tanner being behind everything, I've been wanting to do something about it but Harry has refused to let me be involved in any way. "He's my ex-boyfriend, Harry, I have to get involved."

"He's also capable of hiring hit men to take me out, I don't want to find out what he would do to you if you pissed him off." He said as he grabbed his keys off the counter. "Please listen to me, Viv. I don't want you near him until things die down. I'll talk to Alex today and see what I can get from him."

He pressed a kiss to my forehead before heading out the door to go to practice. I groaned in annoyance before picking up my phone and hastily pressing the numbers on the screen.

"Hello?" Louis answered on the third ring.

"This whole thing is a mess," I sighed. "What do I do?"

"Are you talking about this whole mess with Alex? Viv, don't get involved — that's between him and Harry."

"Well, it involves Tanner too." I said, and I heard the clanking of falling silverware.

"Shut up," he said. "You're kidding."

"No, but you can't tell anyone. Harry would murder me if any of this got out."

"He can murder me any day."

"Louis," I said as I rolled my eyes. "This is serious. Harry won't let me get involved, but if I don't say anything, I feel like something bad will happen."

"You can't get involved, Viv. The World Series is literally around the corner. Let Harry handle this for now and wait to see what happens after the game is over."

"But what if something happens between now and then? I overheard Tanner saying he would pull something, I'm nervous."

"You can't go speak to him, Viv," Louis said, his tone the most serious I've ever heard him sound before. "He'll take advantage of you, probably use you against Harry. Just stay out of it but be watchful, okay?"

I sighed, pinching the bridge of my nose between my fingers. "I guess." I said goodbye and hung up, feeling helpless in this situation. I knew they were right; I shouldn't get involved, it could only put me at risk, but Harry could be in potential danger if someone didn't stop Tanner.

I was going against everything Harry had warned, and took the bus to my old apartment. All I had to arm myself in case Tanner pulled something was a pocketknife my dad got me when I was in college. It wasn't a lot, but it was something.

I took a deep breath, walking up the steps to the black, wooden door with a white number 4 printed on the frame. I knocked, hesitantly waiting on an answer. I almost turned and left before the door opened and Tanner stood on the other side of the threshold.