Fire Starter

Chapter 8

Previously in Fire Starter...

He gently squeezed and I almost melted right there. Niall smirked, knowing the effect that he had over me and pulled away. "Will you tell me now?" I don't know what came over me, maybe I was drunk off his kiss or something, but I just blurted it out.

"I saw you dealing drugs last night?"

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Niall stepped away from me and just started at me with wide eyes and an open mouth. "Did you follow me?" He spat. Niall didn't even try to defend himself against my accusations. "So you admit that you were dealing drugs?" I fired back. "Answer my question!" He replied, the volume of his voice growing. I knew that I wasn't going to get an answer to my question unless I answered him first, so sighing, I answered him. "No, I didn't follow you. I went out with my friend Ella and I saw you." "You couldn't have seen me. That alley is guarded." My face flushed remembering what went on in that alley. Subconsciously I rubbed the side of my neck where Chad's lips had been. "I-I have my ways" I stuttered.

Niall ran his fingers through his hair and paced around the small cafe. I took a deep breath to clear my mind of what just happened. I still had not gotten an answer to my question and that made me nervous. "You still haven't denied it, Niall." Niall tugged at the roots of his hair. "That's because I can't deny it!" "If you weren't then you can," I said, reaching for his hands. He pulled away. "If I deny it, then I'd be lying to you and that is something that I can't do." It felt as thought the wind had been knocked out of me. This was not the man that I knew. If he was dealing drugs, then he could have been doing other things. More dangerous things. "Anna, don't do this." I looked at him and noticed that I was a distance away. I don't even remember backing up. "Let me explain," Niall pleaded. I shook my head. "What is there to explain, Niall? You were dealing drug, I don't know what more you could tell me." "There is so much more." "So tell me." I was getting frustrated with this evasiveness and secrecy. Niall looked up at me with sad eyes. "I can't Anna. It's for your own good." "Bullshit!" I yelled. I immediately covered my mouth. I had not meant for it to come out that violent. Niall smiled slightly, but I scowled at him and his smile left his lips as quickly as it came.

I grabbed my things preparing to leave, when Niall pulled on my hand. "Anna, the less that you know the better. I don't want you getting in the middle of this. My feelings for you and deep and real. I want nothing more than to protect you. If anything ever happened to you, I would never forgive myself. I want to tell you, I really do." Part of me wanted to scream because he admitted that he had feelings for me. The other part of me wanted to demand that he tell me. He had to be involved in something very serious if he couldn't even tell me because it would threaten my safety. Could I get over this? Could I forget that this even happened and make things go back to normal. I shook my head. What was happening to me? Why was I like this over a boy? I was brought back to reality by Niall rubbing his thumb over the back of my hand. "What's on your mind love?" He shot me that sparkling smile and for the second time that night I almost melted. I shyly smiled at him and sat down. "Niall, I really like you and I want this to work, but what you're doing is illegal and you can get in so much trouble." "You think I don't know that?" Niall said, sighing. "Then stop doing it." I said, plainly. He shook his head. "If only it were that easy. The only way anybody leaves is in a casket and I'm not quiet ready for that. Especially because I met this lovely girl and I haven't had the chance to take out yet." I rolled my eyes. "Now is not the time to talk about going out, Horan." He grinned at me wickedly.

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I locked the cafe and looked over at the blonde boy next to me. Niall agreed to walk me back to my apartment and talk with me. I still didn't know what to do and I wanted to hear what Niall had to tell me, well as much as he could anyways. "So when did this start?" I asked. "A few years ago, back in Ireland. I told you, I got involved with some bad people over there." "How did you end up in America?" Niall looked around us, to make sure that people weren't close enough to hear. "They sent me over here. They wanted me to head their operation over here." "If you're the head of the operation, why were you selling drugs? Wait, what operation? How can they just send you over here? I really don't think you should be a firefighter if you're doing illegal things." Niall chuckled lightly. "Only so many questions at a time Anna." I blushed and shoved my hands in my pockets. Niall cleared his throat and then began to answer my many questions. "I was dealing drugs last night because the guy who's shift it was never showed up. I can't tell you the operation, you should know that that is too in depth and I don't want to get you more involved. As for them moving me over here, they threatened my family, and I knew that listening to them would buy my family more time. The firefighter part was my idea. I figured I would be better disguised as a member of society that people trusted."

I couldn't believe what I was hearing. The more I heard, the more afraid I was. What was I getting myself into? This sounded very serious and not like the kind of stuff that you wanted to be mixed in with. I looked over at Niall and saw that his cheeks and nose were flushed from the cold. His blue eyes were darting around as if he were watching everyone's movement. Broad shoulders were covered in a leather jacket and his jeans hugged him perfectly. God, I was really falling for him and I knew that I couldn't let that go. Seeing him everyday and knowing that I had turned him down would kill me. If I could only stay as far away from the bad side of him as I could. He was perfect, besides this one minor fault.

Niall's hand brushed against mine and I jumped slightly. He frowned. "Don't be like that. I'm still the same guy that you met weeks ago. You just know about the bad parts of me. I can see that you're debating whether to keep this thing up that we have. I hope that you're going to stay because I think that we can have something great. I promise that everything will be normal. We can go out drinking and hang at the park. Go to the beach, the movies, eat dinners. We can sit on your couch and have lazy days whenever you want. I haven't gotten to see your bedroom yet, so you can show me that." I bushed at that and he smiled cheekily. "Anna, I promise that I will protect you if you ever become too involved. I will do my best to keep you out of it, which would be rather easy if you didn't ask questions or pry. I know that this sounds selfish, but they've been controlling my life for a few years now,and I want to try and get it back to normal and I think that I can do that with you. We can take things slow, we don't have to rush. Anna, I guess what I'm asking of you is to try not to worry and still think of me as the good guy who met you a few weeks ago. Give me a second chance and I promise that I will never let you get involved in this again. I know that I have made a lot of promises tonight and I intend to keep them if you give me the chance too. Please Anna."

He looked up at me with eyes that pierced my soul. I knew what my heart wanted to tell him. I wanted to scream yes and kiss him as he stood there under my apartment light with a slight pout on his lips. I just wanted to kiss away his worry. The logical part of me knew that I had to think this over. This was a big thing. What if Niall ever got arrested? Would I be an accessory to this crime? Sighing, I gave him my answer. "My heart wants to say yes, but my head knows that this is a big deal. Give me a night to think about it. I want this to work out too, but I need time to think." Niall nodded. "I understand." He kissed my forehead. "Just give me a call whenever you have your answer and you're ready to talk." With that he turned and began walking back down the street, leaving me at my door. I unlocked the door and walked in. Boy did I have a lot to think about tonight. I knew that I wouldn't be getting much sleep.

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A/N: Hey guys! Comments, votes, and follows are still greatly appreciated and always will be. Please tell your friends about this and get them to read this. I would be very greatful. I will be away next week for thanksgiving, but I will try to update whenever I can. I hope that this is getting more interesting for you. I also went back and put a picture of the characters in each chapter. I hope that helps you visualize it more.

Remeber to vote!

The picture at the top/side is how I picture Ella