Lastly (L.T.)

Chapter 22

Louis and I arrived at the club just as it was starting to get crowded. It had been a little over half a week since he had kissed me and he hadn't tried anything since. I was beginning to wonder if I had done something wrong or he just wasn't interested. Maybe he had only kissed me because he was bored.

Or maybe his kissing you was just a distraction for another plot. A voice in the back of my head whispered.

I was wearing the skirt and top Louis had brought for me, I had no idea where he had gotten it, but it fit me perfectly.

Louis led me through the crowd to where, Niall, Liam and Harry were sitting. Liam had a pretty, young, brown-haired girl sitting next to him that I didn't recognize. I wondered if it was Maya, the person who had been texting him the day Louis had locked me in his apartment with Liam. Harry and Niall were both sitting alone.

"Kestrel!" Niall threw his hands up in greeting when he spotted Louis and I, he was very clearly already very drunk.

Louis cleared his throat, sounding a bit uncomfortable as he sat down next to Harry, and I sat on his other side.

"Kestrel, you know the boys, and then this is Maya!" Niall piped happily waving his arm around to point at Maya and nearly smacking Harry in the face as he did so.

Maya leaned around Niall to give me a wave and a smile. I smiled back, she seemed incredibly sweet, she reminded me of Andrea a bit with her angelic innocence. She also didn't seem at all bothered by her noisy surroundings or the fact that she was sitting with three very large gangsters, one of whom was very drunk.

Louis and Harry still hadn't said a word, though Liam and Maya were deep in conversation, and Niall was staring so hard into his half-finished beer that it looked like he was having a conversation with it as well.

"I'm going to go and get us drinks." Louis blurted out suddenly, making me stand up so that he could slide out of the booth.

I sat back down next to Harry, suddenly feeling very awkward next to the tall curly-haired man. Harry seemed not to want to acknowledge my presence, though as he pulled out his phone and began scrolling through it.

Maya looked up though, and noticed my discomfort sitting next to Harry's cold shoulder.

"Kestrel come dance with me!" She nearly shouted over the ruckus of the club, giving Liam's shoulder a shove to make him let her out of the booth. He graciously moved and she walked around and grabbed my hand, dragging us to the dance floor.

As soon as we were out of earshot of the booth, I whispered to her, "what's his problem?"

Harry had seemed so nice earlier, a bit shy, but still nice. I had noticed tension between him and Louis in the basement when he had been hashing out the plan but it didn't seem like anything serious, now it was like he couldn't stand me or Louis.

"Who? Harry?" She asked, and I nodded.

We reached the dance floor and began bopping our heads to the music and swaying, neither of us really dancing.

"Truthfully I don't know the whole story, I only know what Liam told me." She explained, and I moved closer so I could hear, eager for her to continue.

"They used to be best friends, roommates actually, they were both going to be in charge of this gang, but then I guess they got in a fight about something serious and have kinda been on the rocks ever since."

I frowned, that didn't sound like Louis at all. He was always in control, the thought of him willing to share his title as leader with someone else, even his best friend just didn't add up.

"That's weird," I responded. "Louis doesn't strike me as the type to want to share a crown.

"It is weird," she agreed, "and they still get along fine most days and I have no idea how the decision came about that Louis would be the one in charge, they were already frenemies by the time I started dating Liam and got wrapped up in all of this."

"How long have you and Liam been together?" I asked.

"Three years," she responded with a happy smile that I couldn't help but return, she was just so sweet.

So Harry and Louis had been on the rocks for at least three years, I wondered what it was that had ruined their friendship so severely, and why was it that they had both good days and bad. It was a weird dynamic, that was for certain.

Maya and I danced happily for several more songs before heading back to the table. We had only gotten just into the line of view of the table before we both beheld an interesting sight.

Niall was standing up as far as he could without flipping the table, which left him in an awkward half-standing, half-sitting position, and was belting out an Irish folk song while Liam and Louis were roaring with laughter and Harry was frantically trying to pull Niall back down into his seat. Maya snorted with laughter as soon as she saw what was going on and I couldn't help but grin as I watched Louis clutching his stomach and laughing.

Niall stopped his horrid singing as soon as he saw Maya and I, and shouted at the top of his lungs, "KESTREL AND MAYA!" While waving us over like a madman.

Louis immediately stopped his crazed laughing, and sat back up straight. I could tell he was making an effort to look professional, but his resolve finally cracked when Niall knocked a glass off the table, causing it to spill over the front of Liam's pants and shatter all over the floor.

I had several drinks as well, so that by the end of the night, everyone except Harry was rosy faced and clutching their stomachs.

It was a night like one I would have had with my friends back at our headquarters. It was a wonderful feeling, and I couldn't help thinking I wouldn't mind being around these people for a year; and sure, I still had questions about the vaults, and the Russian mob, and Harry and Louis's strained friendship, but it felt good to let it all go for the night.