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Chapter 20

Louis's pov

"Harry?" I whispered to the sleeping man beside me. His dark curls still draping over his closed eyes and his mouth cracked open enough to breathe through. He was completely knocked out from last night's events. It did feel incredibly selfish of me to want him awake, but it was far too long that I hadn't heard his voice. It's almost sunrise and he hasn't said anything since last night. I didn't sleep any really, so I'm glad all today is just traveling and no stopping. That way both Harry and I can rest. He did say he was tired last night so, I guess it is ok that he hasn't woken up yet. I just want to hear his husky morning voice, cracked and is all scraggly, saying my name. And I want to see his sparkling green eyes open and then pinch shut as his nose scrunches up and jaw drops in a yawn just after awakening from his slumber. I laid beside him all night just watching him breath. Sometimes he would stir a little and start groaning, the painful groans. I would rub his back and come in close to his face to whisper to him that I was there while kissing his nose and eyelids. I felt so terrible that he was put through so much pain, I should have done something, I could have stopped Richard. But, the question is how. I cannot fathom how many times that question has wracked my brain all night. What could I have done? I'm so weak against Richard, it makes me angry.

"L-Lou..." Harry whimpered, his voice rough and cracking.

"I'm here, I'm here." I reassured, pushing his curls behind his ear, "Can you wake up, baby?" I asked. His eyes squeezed tight, he was in pain, I knew it.

"I don't want to...hurts," He nearly cried telling me. His eyes cracked open to look at me, his green eyes cloudy, "really hurts."

"I know, lovely, but you have to eat. Will you let me help you up?" I was certain Harry hadn't eaten anything since lunch yesterday and even then he hadn't had much. He groaned but nodded his head. I slipped my arm under his front to lift him up and off the bed to his feet. "You ok?" He nodded and walked with me to sit on the sofa.

"Who bandaged me up?" He asked, still half asleep. He must have felt the tape pull his skin.

"Martha did, Joe brought some whiskey for you." I told him, gently rubbing his leg.

"Ugh..." he groaned, "Yes, alcohol, need some o' that." I chuckled at him then got up to poor two glasses.

"How are you feeling, besides your back, like, does your head, stomach, anything else hurt?" I asked, sitting beside him and handing him a glass.

"Nope, just the back." He took a sip of the liquid, hissing after he swallowed. I did the same, feeling the burn run down my throat. "You know, I heard some stuff last night, while I was out."

"What did you hear?" It wasn't that we said anything that was meant to be kept from him, I was just curious.

"I know Niall knows," he took another sip, "and I know why Richard didn't kill me. Apparently I'm too important to kill, just important enough to torture." He drank the last swallow of his glass. 

"I'm so sorry." I pouted, sitting my half drunken glass on the table in front of us.

"What for? Louis, you have nothing to be sorry about." He said softly, taking my hands in his giant ones and kissing my fingertips.

"I-I could have done something, I—"

"Louis, no," He cut me off, "There was absolutely nothing anyone could do to stop him." His voice was soothing me, "Angel, you did try to stop him. Do you have any idea how brave that was? I mean, you gave me shivers when you did that." He said, lightening the mood a little, with a smile on his face which made me smile as well. "You tried, that's all I can ask for, and I'm ok with that." He didn't give me a chance to say anything, he just leaned down and kissed me. Soft and slow kisses to my lips, giving me goose bumps. I found it ironic that we both have used the same phrase about each other, "You tried, that's all I can ask for." Because that is all we can say about Richard. We both feel like neither of us can stop him, so all we can do is to try.