I waited {L.S}

1.8

Harry
"He needed to know."

"That could have reset all of his progress!" Lottie yelled. "He... he's finally getting better, Harry. And this..."

"He needs to know he wasn't alone. He deserves to know that I fucking know what he went through, Lottie. Because you have no fucking idea what that guy did."

"So tell me!" She yelled, grabbing my arms. "What did he do? Why won't you or him ever say his name?"

"Because he didn't have one. He barely talked to me, it was mostly to Louis. That was our... agreement."

"Agreement?" Lottie questioned, letting go of my arms. "What do you mean, agreement?"

"I was a kid, Lottie. I wasn't always nineteen and protecting him. I was fifteen, trying to keep a thirteen-year-old from- things and-"

"Like what?" She let out a frustrated groan. "I thought you were going to explain it, nor make it vaguer!"

"You try waking up from that shit every night, Lottie! I still feel his hands on me, the bruises, the broken fucking arm that I felt with for weeks without anything! You fucking live it and tell me how easy it is to talk about it on a whim!" I rubbed my face. "Telling him is going to help."

"You don't know that," she argued. "It could hurt him more."

"He has someone to talk to now. He doesn't have to try to explain how badly he got hurt, being... forced..." I hated to think it happened to him. He was thirteen. He had no idea what was even going on.

"Forced to do what, Harry?" Lottie asked, her voice much gentler.

"What the fuck do you think? To bake fucking cupcakes Lot!" I ribbed my face. "He raped us, he beat us, he tortured us. Just because we were kids. Because his son got taken from him. The reason he doesn't eat? Because we only ate twice a week. Less, if we fucked up even once."

"Stop," she whispered. "I can't-" I hugged her, and she started crying into my chest. "How? How did you...?"

"Him. I... I'm older, I had to protect him. And then we moved here, and I met you and... it was some type of sign. Like... like I should have went and looked for him." I shook my head, forcing memories back of the day I realized he took only Louis, out of ten boys, only Louis. "I should have done something."

"You were a kid too, Harry. It's not like anyone expected you to watch over him..."

I stepped away and ran my fingers through my hair. "I need to be there when he wakes up."

"Then go," she agreed quietly. Lottie nodded once before leaving the room. I shouldn't have told her that, for her sake, but she needed to know why Louis was important to me.

I sighed and went up to his room, leaving the door open. When I faced Louis, he sat up. I turned on a lamp and walked over to him, sitting down besides him on the bed.

You... you were there.

I nodded. "Yeah."

He opened and closed his mouth. After a few seconds of quiet, he said "I waited."

"For what?" I asked, moving closer.

"You." He looked away. "You promised."

"He took you and left, Louis. I didn't know where you were. I looked for you." I grabbed his hands and squeezed them. "I never would have left you alone there on purpose."

His eyes flicked up to mine. "You were the only thing... I needed you."

"Come here," I mumbled, opening my arms. He moved against my chest, curling into me. "Go back to sleep."

"You won't be here," he whispered.

"Yes, I will. I'll be right here."

"Don't leave me with him."

"You're not there. You're at your real home. Your house, Louis." But he was already asleep. "You're never going back, either."