The Silence That Surrounds: Screams of the Damned

Narrator’s POV:

Zayn and Sophia were kneeling on the ground with the rain pouring down onto and around them heavily, the steady fall of the water bringing a sense of calmness to the girl’s otherwise troubled mind.

“Footprints won’t always be a carbon you can follow and therefore must rely on the detail of the ground, like I’ve been saying and trying to get through to you for the past two bloody hours!” Zayn finally yelled, fed up to his ears with the girl. He couldn’t kill her and he couldn’t seem to make her understand either. He was royally fucked to hell either way.

“I KNOW that! You are beating a dead horse now, Zayn. I’m aware that you can’t always see footprints and since we’ve covered that in tracking 101 for the past fucking two hours as you’ve so kindly stated, how’s about showing me what we CAN see?” Sophia snapped back, her head jerking up to meet Zayn’s intense honeydew eyes.

“I would so love to beat you right now; you know that?” Zayn asked rhetorically, his moist hands balling into tight fists to try and control himself.

Sophia smirked.

“Oh, I’m sure you would, Zayne, I have no doubt in my mind you would, but you can’t and if you do Harry will I’m sure make wonderful use of that cage. Especially if I told him you tried to strangle me.” Sophia hummed with an undertone of light warning, getting up from the mucky ground.

If Zayn’s eyes grew any darker they’d be almost as brown as the bark on the trees.

“Looks can’t kill, go back to the cabin; I’ll find the lad myself, you’ll just scare the piss out of him with your creepy looking ugly mug.” Sophia antagonized, her eyes carefully watching his fists.

They tightened the same time his jaw clenched.

When she blinked and even a fraction before she could open her eyes again, she found her body being forced back into a tree, the weight of Zayn crushing in on her a second later, followed by his hot breath on the tip of her earlobe.

“You’re weak! You can talk the talk, but you can’t walk the fucking walk, bitch! Harry lets you have a pass, lass, but guess what? If you fuck with me, I will hurt you very, very badly. I might even snap the fingers on your other hand. Mess with me and find – “Zayn was cut off by Sophia’s head smacking against his own.

The pain hit Zayn’s brain first, registering just a moment too late that Sophia had reached her knee up and forced it into his manhood before kicking the back of his feet from under him so his body fell forward into the mud.

“I can’t walk the walk? No? Who’s on the fucking ground like a bitch? Not me.” Sophia sing songed, her breath coming out a little winded from the exertion.

Zayn looked up and saw a sort of glint in her eyes – he wasn’t sure exactly what that meant, he just knew it was nothing good.

She came to stand in front of him, her hair dripping and her clothes soaked to the bone with the darkest blue eyes he had ever had the misfortune of staring back at. It was also unexpected when she helped him sit up.

“I really need you to help me here, Zayn. If you’re going to be a prat, then forget it. I’ll use what I got.” Sophie shrugged, standing back up and holding her hand down.

Zayn didn’t hesitate and gripped her good wrist.

What she didn’t expect though, was for him to pull her down with him and climb onto her chest, straddling her body with his skinny but strong thighs.

She felt his hands slink around her neck and squeeze slightly.

“Now who’s the twat?” Zayn gritted his teeth.

Sophia saw a shadow sneaking behind him, the rain hiding the sound of his footsteps from the unsuspecting man above her and watched the obscurity lift a rather large log over his head.

“Still you.” She chuckled, her eyes recognizing Louis. He too looked like he had been doing a rendition of singing in the rain…without the actual singing.

The poor bloke was drenched and his once perfect quaff was no more. His dead strands of follicles hung limp at the sides of his face and at back of his head like noodles boiling in the water too long.

“Goodnight, Zayn.” Sophia met his orbs again with the same glint, enjoying the momentary confusion that ran across his face before slowly turning around.

Louis swung the log into Zayn’s temple and knocked him off Sophia.

He didn’t stop there, his foot managed to get a kick to the side of the skinnier man’s side.

“You hurt her, I’ll bloody fucking kill ya you stupid fucking – “Louis brought his boot down atop of Zayn’s chest to further his point, not bothering to finish the sentence.

“Lou.” Sophia called softly, getting up from the ground when she saw Zayn was well and truly unconscious, putting her hands gently to her friend’s chest and pushing him back slightly.

Louis’s breath was uneven and his eyes burned with a hatred that could only be meant for the other gang member.

“Lou? It’s okay, luv. You’re gonna be alright, yeah?” Sophia tried to calm, putting her arms around him.

For a moment, they both stood statue-like until Louis finally reached around to return the embrace, a huge breath leaving his mouth in relief.

“I told you about picking fights with the other children, lass. When will you listen?” He asked tiredly, turning, but remained with his one arm around her protectively.

“Never?” Sophia chuckled, walking beside him when he started moving in the direction of a large open Oaktree.

Louis’s mouth twitched.

“I figured, but you need to stop picking fights. You know I won’t always be around to stop Zayn from killing you. You’re lucky you two were loud enough to wake the dead. Otherwise he would have strangled you.”

Sophia shrugged, figuring she would agree nor disagree – mostly because Zayn’s grip hadn’t been that tight.

“I got in a few good shots. Speaking of, where’s Daylen? Harry’s looking for him and it’s raining, he’s going to catch his death and so are we if we don’t go back soon.” Sophia sobered, stopping when Louis did.

He was quiet and let the rain do the speaking for him and it was intense. Sophia could feel it and it brought a slowly boiling doom to her stomach.

“Lou?” She swallowed, his grip against her back getting tense.

“I need your help, Soph.” Louis finally said, turning to her with a look that seemed to conflict between worry and helplessness.

“Anything.” Sophia assured, letting him lead her over to the hollow Oak.

“I need you to cover for me while I take Daylen back,” Louis spoke softly, grabbing Sophia’s shoulder and stopping her from approaching the tree. “I can’t do it anymore. I can’t kill them– I just can’t do it, okay? We both know Harry won’t listen and we know for a fact that Damien plans on killing them when he gets what he wants anyhow.” Louis rushed to explain, his panic slipping between trying to comprehend what he was saying and listening to the voice screaming in his head that it was a very bad bloody idea.

Sophia had a pretty ingenious idea, but she also knew that it may get Zayn killed and she had an issue with getting innocents hurt – even if they were acting like cunts.

“I may have something, but you’re going to have to trust me. How much does Zayn mean to you?” Sophia asked cautiously, holding up her hand before he could say something he would regret. “No, truly; because I might have an idea. I was gonna break Jace out of here tonight – I’m glad I don’t have to be alone in this.”

Louis turned back to where Zayn still laid unconscious.

“Zayn’s nothing to me anymore, what’s your plan?” Louis decided, his tone ringing with a hint of anger when he spoke.

“He’ll most likely be killed and we will most definitely be in trouble if anyone finds out.” Sophia dropped her tone to a mere whisper to make sure no one but the two of them could hear.

“Spill it, flower.” Louis ordered, hating that she was stalling.

“You drop Daylen off and I talk to Mr. Attwater to ask that he wait an additional day so we can get Jace back to him. Tonight, I can get Jace, blindfold him and drive him onto the main road and drive the car a few miles before giving it to him and directing him back to the city, warning him to go straight to his father. Not the police, not anyone BUT his father. I’m thinking, I can nick the keys from Harry and give them to Jace once we’re a safe distance. Taking the brothers was wrong, Lou. This whole damn thing has been bothering me.” Sophia finished with a sigh.

“Good plan – except where does Zayn fit into this? If we leave him here he’s gonna go Benedict Arnold on us and yell the British are coming.”

Sophia chuckled.

“I don’t think that was Benedict Arnold,” She gave him a sideways smile before continuing.
“Anyhow, you take Zayn with you – find something to tie him with if you can, put him in the boot, the new cars have a lesser percentage of carbon monoxide poisoning so he should be fine in Asher’s trunk for eight hours. Four there, four back. When you return, take him out and untie him, knock him out if he’s conscious and if you can manage, give yourself some bruises. Say you witnessed Zayn coming back with the car and when you confronted him he tried to kill you. It might buy some time to come up with something more concrete.” Sophia said, the words pouring out of her mouth the same speed her brain concocted the crazy idea.

Louis looked slightly impressed.

“I believe I take back every word I have ever said of you being a stupid, sheltered and rich little prat.” Louis nodded, leading Sophia into the hollow Oak where Daylen sat huddled shirtless in the corner, his blonde hair soaked, but at least the place they were staying was dry.

Sophia kneeled down and crawled into the hollow tree beside him, her gentle arm slipping around his shoulders to try and trap some warmth.

“Hey luv, are you alright?” She asked softly, her bad hand going to push some hair from his eyes.

“I wanna go ‘ome.” Daylen replied, his teeth chattering against one another from the frigid cold of the English rain.

“Been listening to that for two hours, lass. Now you see why I just want to get rid of him as soon as possible? I just don’t have it in me. I’m out of fucks to give and right now I couldn’t care any less if Harry murdered me for it. My fuck-o-meter is busted and I just can’t,” Louis shrugged, climbing in after Sophia and sitting on the opposite side of her.

“While my mind is still coherent enough to think on this, if we’re gone for so long – Harry will most likely get suspicious and the day is dwindling. If I left now, I could make it home by midnight, but that won’t explain the lost time.”

Sophia remained quiet for a few moments, taking Harry’s phone out and dialing Colton’s number, waiting.

He picked up at the second ring.

“Colton Grear, speaking.” Colton answered, his tone slightly more stressed.

“Colton, it’s me, Sadie. Please don’t hang up on me, we need your help.” Sophia stressed to him, glancing at Louis, who was in turn giving her an incredulous look.

“What in the name of his unholy fuckness are you doing, lass?!” Louis hissed in a whisper, trying to make a swipe for the phone.

Sophia blocked his attempt and shot him a glare.

She put it on speaker for them all to hear.

“I’m afraid I haven’t been straight with you, Colton. For that I am truly sorry, but we need your help – we’re kind of in a jam jar here.” She dismissed Louis’s look of pure shock.

“What kind of Jam? What can I do to help? Sadie, does this have anything to do with Damien Styles? You mentioned him earlier – “Colton trailed off cautiously.

Louis was waving his hands back and forth frantically, shaking his head and mouthing no.

“Yes.” Sophia answered truthfully, making Louis slap his hand against his forehead.

Silence hung heavily from the phone after, followed by a sigh.

“Alright, what kind of trouble?” He finally asked.

“My name is Sophia Stone, the man you saw me with earlier, he isn’t my brother; his name is Louis and he’s one of – “Sophia was cut off.

“Louis Tomlinson!?” Colton screamed, the sound of his phone falling to his desk in shock, he quickly picked it back up.

“Well there goes the pickle - straight up the ol’ wazoo.” Louis muttered, looking at Daylen as he still sat huddled against the corner.

“About that, we need you to help us on a little matter. We took Daylen and Jace Attwater. We need to get Daylen back to his father, Jace we can’t get without being caught. The police are all under Damien’s thumb, this thing goes way deeper into the London streets than you realize.” Sophia revealed, the uneven breathing on the other line told her that Colton was not handling the news so well – though she did think he was a bit of a stupid git for not realizing it was her and Louis from the get go.

“What the hell am I supposed to do? Damien Styles is someone I have no intentions of crossing paths with – I know you may find this hard to believe, but I love breathing. In fact, I live for it.” Colton drawled sarcastically, making Louis chuckle.

“Oh, don’t even bloody get me started on you, Tomlinson. I want to know what the fuck is going on!” Colton yelled, slamming his hand down onto his desk in a rush of anger.

“Would you be willing to meet Louis outside of London? About three hours away from the city there’s a small intersection going four ways, he would meet you there for the exchange, I promise this isn’t a trap. We just need you to run Daylen back to his father at the Four Seasons hotel. Damien will never know, I swear on my life.” Sophia dismissed his question, hoping that would give him enough sense not to pry any deeper.

“You said something about his brother, Jace was it? What do I tell his father?” Colton sounded confused, which made Sophia look at Louis.

Louis shrugged wordlessly, making Sophia pause for a second.

“Tell him to give me an additional twenty-four hours, but to get his youngest son on the first plane out of London, immediately,” Sophia instructed, her inner strength shining like a star at the moment.

“What happens if he doesn’t listen?” Colton sounded doubtful now.

“Then tell him his sons are as good as fucking dead. I know from experience – there’s no escape from this life. I don’t want to see two kids caught up in this rut. It’s just bad for business and my morality can’t handle seeing another person die for my mistakes and – I just need somewhere to turn. I need help, Colton. Please help me.” Sophia pleaded, her arm tightening around Daylen subconsciously.

Louis reached over and gently pried Sophia’s grip from the younger lad, patting her hand in reassurance with a look that suggested that she was doing the right thing and that at the moment, meant the entire world to her.

“Alright, I’m leaving now. I really hope this isn’t a trap, Sadie. I just – I need to trust that Tomlinson won’t do anything.” Colton said, untrusting of the bloke as far as he could kick him.

“He won’t, I won’t either, but I need to trust you too. We’re being watched or we would return Daylen on our own, but with London being four hours out of the way – there’s no way without Harry becoming suspicious. We can get Jace back to his father, just give us tonight. Tell him that.” Sophia insisted, looking down on Daylen and offering him a small smile.

Colton remained silent, the London streets congested with noisy Londoners.

“I know the crossroads you’re talking about. My gran lives about six hours from London and I take one of them to visit her. I’ll meet Louis there, but after this, Sadie – “He paused, swearing when he seemed to run into someone. “Sorry.” He apologized, continuing his path.

“It’s Sophie.” Sophia frowned.

“You introduced yourself to me as Sadie; you’re Sadie to me, because frankly my dear? I don’t want to know the real girl behind the façade – I don’t want to get involved with someone I know I can’t help and Damien Styles…there is no mercy where he is concerned. I’ve seen his calling card and mercy is merely but a dream in his world. I don’t know how you got involved and I don’t want to, but after I complete the end of my promise, never contact me again; are we understood? I want nothing to do with them.” He chastised sternly, a car door shutting and starting.

Sophia felt her heart ache a little.

“I understand, Colton. I promise, this will be the last time. Thank you.” Sophia replied softly in understanding, dropping her head toward the ground.

Colton hung up and Sophia did the same, erasing the call history and pocketing the phone.

“Friends tend to not want to stick around when they find out Damien is involved. Trust me, most won’t talk to me due to a concern for their safety and others? Well, you can’t really blame them.” Louis tried, knowing she was feeling a little bit rejected.

Sophia shrugged away the feeling and looked up to her friend.

“Well, as long as I got you – you can be my friend or mentor or Master. I don’t really care at this point. As long as I have someone, then I don’t have to worry about being alone.” Sophia murmured, looking down when Louis sighed.

“As flattered as I am that you would consider me a Master, I’m not Harry or Damien and I don’t need a pet. They’re far too much work to care for, but that doesn’t mean we can’t hang out…if we live through this,” Louis smiled, but it wasn’t reaching his orbs and Sophia wished it would. His eyes were always so beautiful when they sparkled.

“Two hours. Make sure you secure Zayn in the boot so he doesn’t go telling Harry. Now that we have an outsider, two hours tops and that’s more plausible than eight,” Sophia nodded to herself, dropping her arm from around Daylen’s shoulders. “You’re going home, lad.”

Daylen didn’t respond with anything but a nod.

“What ‘bout Jace? He’s m’ brother, I can’t leave with ‘ou ‘im.” Daylen insisted, worry written clearly on his face.

“He’ll be along tonight, I promise,” Sophia calmed, looking to Louis. “Get Daylen in the passenger seat and Zayn secured in the boot. I’m going to go distract Harry.”

Sophia slowly skootched toward the outside, using her knees to stand.

Louis followed her example.

“Hey?” Louis called gently, placing his hand under her chin.

Her eyes met his, the rain around them somehow calming.

“I took you to London for a reason – I took you there to give you confidence when it really matters and you learn quicker than anyone I’ve ever known. You got this, just have that certainty and you can accomplish anything.” Louis said, his arms encircling her in the same protectiveness as his reassurance.

He was falling for her slowly and he couldn’t seem to know why, other than the kindness of her own wellbeing was second class when it came to her making sure everyone else was okay first. What he felt wasn’t romantic, but his heart could only feel slight guilt in manipulating her to stay in the first place. He knew that night at the dock that once she left, he wouldn’t have that light anymore and like a man desperate, he needed to keep the light caged…now he regretted it, because now it was all falling apart around them.

Leaning in his lips pressed fragilely against Sophia’s.

Her body felt instantly warmed and the small peace radiating inside was enough to keep her going.

She pushed Louis away with her good hand, their lips separating.

“I know you nicked the phone, Lou. I felt your hand,” Sophia chuckled, reaching up and pecking the side of his lip. “Take it, I doubt Harry’s going to notice it’s missing if he hasn’t already. Just be safe, hm?”

She moved away and started to trek back to the cabin, her body soaked and cold again, but she had an idea and it was imperative to keep Harry busy for those two hours so they could pull off a safe return – something that had never before happened, especially at the Styles cabin.

Sophia placed her arm across her stomach and etched her face into a painful wince.

“Harry?!” Sophia called out painfully, limping up the steps, screaming his name again and falling painfully onto her knees at the top.

Harry’s footsteps came pounding to the front door, the hinges nearly coming off when he whipped it open.

He saw Sophia on the ground and instantly scooped the injured girl into his strong arms.

“What happened?” Harry demanded, making his way back inside and straight into his room to lay the girl on the king-sized bed.

“Z-Zayn, he attacked me.” Sophia answered weakly, watching Harry leave the room and return with a towel almost ten seconds later.

“Why were you with him to begin with?” Harry demanded, sitting down and gently removing Sophia’s nightshirt from her soaked body, towel drying the seared flesh underneath.

“You told me to for tracking when I insisted on helping.” Sophia moaned, her arm pressing to her stomach in mock agony.

Harry noticed and removed it with a silent look of concern.

“No.” Sophia pleaded, sucking in a sharp breath to make herself look even more pathetic, replacing her arm over almost immediately.

“Shh now – it’s alright, let me have a look.” Harry calmed, grabbing her arm again and moving it in a way to show Sophia he meant no harm.

Of course, she already knew that, but she also needed to keep him distracted.

“I’m sorry I didn’t listen to you.” Sophia swallowed her pride, smiling on the inside that she could pull off such a realistic trick.

“And Dylan told me I’d never make it as an actress.” She thought smugly, throwing a mental image of a raspberry to her brother, knowing he’d be just as proud.

Harry didn’t say anything, he just went to his closet and got a new pair of pajamas.

“I’m sorry I – “Sophia began to repeat, but Harry didn’t want to hear it.

“Just don’t, okay? I tell you something for your own good and you think you know better. Zayn is a loose cannon right now and you wanted to go track. There’s a reason I wanted you to stay here, but Sophia knows what’s best for her as always.” Harry muttered, sitting on the bed again and helping the injured girl into a dry shirt.

Sophia swallowed, using her good hand to stop Harry’s actions.

“I know you won’t be able to always pick me up from the dirt. I know you won’t, but that doesn’t mean I’m not trying. If I want to have a chance with the rest of you, why can’t you let me fail? You had to learn to sink or swim – I can do the same thing.” Sophia insisted, flinching when she went to stand up.

She pushed her weight forward and fell purposely forward onto her knees once more, though she was feeling lightheaded from all the exertion earlier.

Harry was up and scooping her from the ground again, laying her on the bed this time so her back molded into the memory foam of his mattress.

“That’s enough of that, lass. Just lay down, you’ve already disappointed me enough today.” Harry snapped, his hands going to her soaked pajama bottoms and pulling them off her legs before continuing to pull her arms through the nightshirt.

Sophia let him help her, it was the distraction she was counting on.

“What can I do to prove to you that I’m not weak?” Sophia offered, figuring maybe if she knew she could comply.

Again, Harry said nothing and redressed her; which in itself was getting tiresome as she forgot what it was like to be able to do things normally for herself. She truly could not wait until her fingers were healed. Although she did momentarily forget that this was mere a distraction and pulled the thought quickly from her mind to focus on what she could do to maintain Harry’s attention.

“I’m going to go find Zayn and Louis, they should have been back by now.” Harry ignored her query, standing up and covering Sophia with his blanket.

Her mind went into panic mode.

She began to breath out hard through her mouth.

“No!” She jerked up from bed and grabbed his wrist before he could move.

Harry’s brows furrowed.

“Sophia? What’s going on?” He demanded, sitting back on the bed cautiously, watching as she gave herself a panic attack.

“Louis went hunting for Zayn, there was something off when he was teaching me to track and I tried to pry to find out, but he attacked me instead. Louis chased him off and went after him – we had no luck in finding Daylen. I don’t know what’s going on, but you need to stay out of it or he’ll turn on you too.” Sophia cried, using his wrist to pull him closer.

Harry frowned, a few pieces of the puzzle not adding up.

He sat down beside the frantic girl, taking his wrist back as her pulling was beginning to hurt.

“Alright, tell me what happened.” Harry commanded patiently, scooting a little from Sophia in case she decided to grab for him again.

“I went out to the clearing and where the cars were, Niall and Liam can confirm this as they were with Zayn. I told them about the cage we were to put Daylen in when we found him and Zayn asked if it was his cage. I shrugged, because I don’t know if it was and I told him about tracking and he seemed to sober, but he complied and we spent two hours tracking. He got frustrated with me for not learning the difference between a carbon footprint and one that doesn’t leave one. So, I said something then he said something and then he beat me up and tried to strangle me.” Sophia blurted out in a rush to explain in case Harry interrupted her as he was prone to doing.

Harry rubbed his temple with his finger in slight annoyance.

“Why doesn’t that part surprise me?” Harry muttered.

“Louis happened by and pulled Zayn off. He threw a punch at Zayn, Zayn threw one back and then ran off. Louis gave chase and I came back here. I’m so sorry! I’m so bloody sorry, sir. I didn’t mean to fuck up!” Sophia panicked and threw herself at Harry, hugging him tightly.

Harry tensed. He hated how his gang was falling apart and he most definitely despised the thought of it being because of a mere girl.

“You need to stop hugging me, it won’t and doesn’t do any – “He was cut off abruptly by her lips pressing against his in desperation, softening slightly so she could get his mind to focus on her touch.

Harry’s frigid body relaxed almost automatically to her kiss, his mind screaming at him in panic that this was beyond wrong.

The longer she held the kiss and the longer he reacted to it was when he could feel the logical side melt away in a bliss of excavated emotions that only she could manage to uncover from deep within him.

In fact, the more blood that rushed to his head to warn him of his unfortunate situation, the more it seemed to be detouring straight to his dick almost immediately after.

His mouth moved with hers hungrily, moaning in a euphoria of sexual release that gave his phallus a semi hard erection.

Sophia broke the kiss and pulled her gaunt body to his and leaning over into his lap with careful maneuver.

She groaned sensually, moving her hips to keep the blood circulating to his neglected member.

The peak of his fabric was tenting near his crotch and when her lips met his again, he hungrily accepted them, moving Sophia from his lap and back onto the bed.

Her heart pounded wildly in her chest from the nervousness that had settled within her flipping stomach. This man had raped her and the logical part of her was screaming to pull away, the same time Harry’s mind kept nagging him that this shouldn’t be happening, but despite the alarm bells going off inside both of their heads, they didn’t break away. The desire was overwhelming the need they both had.

The only problem was figuring out if this attraction was merely lust or if somehow, someway it was more.

Harry made the first move, using his body to carefully maneuver himself to the side of her, his lips finally breaking their dance, his breath wayward and deep.

For a moment, he said nothing.

“This doesn’t change anything.” He breathed out breathlessly, the silence lingering for a second too long, Sophia’s good hand making its way to the buttons of her nightshirt Harry had just changed her into.

“I accept that.” Sophia whispered, not bothering to argue, figuring it was just him denying change, because let’s face it – he had been on a routine schedule until Sophia came along and disrupted it.

“Good, because it doesn’t.” Harry growled, reaching his palm over hers and forceful but gently moving it away, his own large hand taking control of the action.

Sophia felt the material of her clothes come undone in one swift movement.

She gasped quietly in momentary panic, but then she remembered she needed to keep this going. She needed to provide Daylen a chance at freedom, something she would never have again. Not unless death took her and he proved not to unmerciful.

“I know, luv.” Sophia assured with softness, her chest heaving with the fear and excitement she felt. For some reason, she too wondered the attraction.

Harry gazed down at her exposed chest, the peak of his thumb going to the vertex of her breast, pressing down slightly on the fleshy mound and rubbing.

Sophia’s stomach exploded in bliss despite the feeling or morality weighing in on her. The emotion was quickly overtaken by the elation of sensuality at his touch and in return a moan escaped her parted lips.

“Oh, God fuck a parrot.” Sophia whimpered, making Harry pause.

“Do me a favor?” He breathed, using the weight of his legs to straddle the bottom half of her thin frame. “Don’t talk.”

She grunted lowly in response, his mouth seizing hers again quickly to keep her silent while his fingers expertly ran down the side of her breast, massaging her side.

The tent in his pants was slowly tightening to a full erection and strained against the material of his pants.

Harry pulled away almost dejectedly.

“Christ.” He muttered in complaint, his hand leaving Sophia to remove his jeans.

Sophia stopped him and forcefully put his hand back to her side.

“No.” She insisted with a grunt, a small hidden look in her eyes.

Harry felt his member harden almost completely, especially when her good hand reached for his zipper.

The feel of her hand moved over the fabric of his manhood in an underhanded tease as her bad hand simultaneously grasped the zipper and slowly undid it.

The sound of the zipper coming undone was bliss and unable to control himself, Harry viciously pulled the constrictive denim from his legs.

Sophia sucked in a sharp breath, his hard-on now constricting against her clothed thighs.

She reached her hand from under him and put it to behind his neck, pushing his head down to meet hers again.

When Harry was within each, she forcefully kissed his lips once more, enjoying the petal-like feel of his mouth over hers. Sophia didn’t care, she enjoyed the rush of adrenaline.

“My luv.” She gasped out, her vagina growing warmer with the blood rushing so quickly over her body, but none more than the flow traveling to her already heightened nether regions.

“Shut up.” Harry growled, taking control of her body in one quick movement by forcing his body down over hers and kissing her bare chest.

However, that was shortly lived when Sophia’s hand yet again went to behind his neck.

She used his neck to arch up of the bed, breath hitching in and out erratically.

Harry deepened his osculation and moved his head to her mounds, his mouth opening to suck gently at the tip of her bright red nub.

Sophia’s mind snapped and before she could stop her fingers, they found the pressure point on his neck. Her fingers lingered there to feel his heart and it too seemed to be beating the same fast rhythm as her own.

He too was caught in the moment and had no idea what Sophia was contemplating, he had no idea the plan or her motive. He just knew he had an erection and that the redheaded demon bitch was the cause of it…though he had no fucking clue what happened next, because Sophia was pressing the pressure point on his neck as Lois had taught her.

Just like a light, Harry collapsed, his full weight now laying on her and his mouth still in his mouth.

“Lovely,” Sophia grunted, her chest heaving in and out, although it was bittersweet because now her chuff was wetter than Niagara Falls. “Sweet Jesus, that’s not fair.”

She begrudgingly pushed Harry off her, helping the bloke to rest on the right side of her in his giant King sized bed.

“Why didn’t I wait?” Sophia complained, her neither region throbbing for the want to release. “Fuck my life.”

Realistically, she and him would have made it around twenty minutes and that was if Sophia made Harry hold out, being a guy he was only good for three to five minutes and when he was done, it didn’t matter if Sophia was or not, he would have continued the original task of going to find Louis and Zayn.

She didn’t know a lot, but she knew she couldn’t allow that and with a pressure point being so quick to render the person unconscious, Harry wouldn’t know what hit him.

“That should give them a few hours,” Sophia told herself, getting up and redressing her bare chest. “I need a cold shower.” She decided and got up from the bed.

When she walked out however, she saw Niall paused at his door in a trancelike stare with the solid wood in front of him.

“Niall?” Sophia called gently, seeing him jump a good foot off the ground.

“Kevin saw nothing! HE WENT BLIND!” Niall blurted in a panicked yell, turning his doorknob, rushing into his room and slamming the door in Sophia’s face, which left her to stare oddly after him.

“Niall? Harry’s asleep and it’s just me, come on, what did you see?” Sophia encouraged, reaching out to the knob and opening his door.

She stepped in to see Niall already sitting nervously on his bed.

“Did you know a male pheasant will mate with three to seven female ones? They’ll lay anywhere from twelve to twenty eggs, how cool is that? That could be why they’re so inexpensive here.” Niall desperately changed subjects, his hands shaking slightly.

“Niall, luv? You’re giving yourself away and Harry is going to smell the stink of fear on you when he wakes up and then he’ll be pissed you’re hiding something.” Sophia warned, trying to get him to tell her.

Niall blinked, swallowing thickly.

“I don’t think that’s fear you’re smelling, angel. I am damn near pissing meself.” Niall admitted, clasping his hands together so they quit shaking.

“Jace escape, didn’t he?” Sophia asked, her hand going to Niall’s knee reassuringly, seeing him gap at her in shock.

“How did you – “He began, but she silenced him with a sharp hush.

“I left his cuff loose, do you know where he went?” Sophia asked.

Niall’s shoulders drop.

“Perfect timing, actually. I was doing some kitchen work and I heard a door in the hall creak open, didn’t think much of it, but when I turned around, Jace was tiptoeing towards the front door.” Niall explained in a whisper in case Liam happened to be nearby.

Sophia nodded, gesturing for him to continue.

“He saw me and I saw him, we both looked at one another and then I just nodded toward the door. I didn’t try to stop him and he didn’t hurt me. Jace nodded his thanks and about the time he rushed outside, Harry’s new car happened in front of the cabin. I heard Daylen telling Jace they were going home and to get in and then he ran down the steps and got into the car. Louis was driving.” Niall explained in one long breath.

Sophia smiled.

“Why didn’t you try to stop him?” She asked cautiously, shifting a bit to try to stop the throbbing in her who-ha. “God, fuck a leprechaun.” She murmured, using her hand to rub her thigh awkwardly.

“You been keeping Louis company for too long.” Niall chuckled, some of his nervousness falling away, realizing Sophia was just as guilty as him and feeling not so bad about that.

“I’m turned on and hornier than a cat in heat right now. I was having sex with Harry, I pressure pointed him and he took a nap – nose first. I should have let him finish, but to get the brothers dropped off to their destination, it was going to take two hours and I know I can’t keep Harry busy that long.” Sophia complained, feeling slightly regretful.

Niall pulled a face.

“I didn’t mean I needed details, flower. What you do in the sack is your own business.” Niall raised his hands in the air in a sort of mock surrender.

“Why didn’t you alert Harry?” Sophia digressed, figuring she wasn’t incriminating herself anymore then she already did.

Niall scratched his head awkwardly with a sigh.

“Maybe because I didn’t think them getting caught up in this mess was fair? Maybe because I didn’t want to see anyone die? There’s so many reasons.”

Sophia reached over and hugged the Irish bloke tightly. He may have been older, but he also appeared to be the most logical when he wasn’t flipping a switch and trying to dig a knife into her, but he hadn’t attempted that in a long while.

“You’re a good person, Niall. Don’t ever forget that.” Sophia whispered, kissing his cheek.

Niall smiled, feeling slightly better.

Sophia broke off the embrace and stood up again.

“I’m going to go and take a cold shower. Try to relax, Niall and if Harry asks, picture the events happening different. That way you’ll be able to lie efficiently without stuttering and blaming Kevin for your problems. Louis says the best way to lie is look them in the eye and speaking confidently, you don’t do that. You scream nonsense and therein lies the issue.” Sophia chuckled, walking towards the hall.

Niall watched her go, a smirk also playing on his face.

“Lie confidently,” Niall nodded, walking to his closet mirror to practice. “Look them in the eye.” He noted, glaring at himself.

“I’m Irish,” He said to himself through the mirror, glaring even fiercer, which unnerved even himself. “Kevin saw nothing.”

His eyes automatically dropped to the ground, immediately following a swear.

“Pug-bunnies! Okay, eyes straight, glare…I wonder if I should glare at Harry if he asks – which he will considering two hostages are missing. Okay, you can do this Niall.” He phycid himself up.

He cleared his throat and glared at himself again.

“I think Damien is Satan’s spawn in human skin.” He spoke confidently, getting used to letting the truth flow – which was sort of missing the point as he was trying to be convincing while he was lying and passing it off as truth.

“Don’t we all?” Liam spoke up, his wet frame leaning against Niall’s door.

“KEVIN DID IT! BLAME HIM! I SAW A PENGUIN AND FRANCES LOST HER SHIRT!” Niall jumped and screamed.

Liam’s eyebrow simply corked.

“Yeah, you’re gonna be up another tree when Harry wakes up. I heard everything and you really need to work on yelling out bullshit, Niall,” Liam shook his head, not even bothering to hide his annoyance. “You know those kids don’t have a chance. When Harry wakes up he’s going to go ballistic and when Louis gets back he’s going to be shot dead by out wonderful leader. Speaking of which, I witnessed Lou stuffing Zayn in the boot of Harry’s new stolen car and driving off, also saw him with Daylen. So, that means Louis and Sophia had planned this from the get go.” Liam decided, sitting down on Niall’s bed and laying back into the mattress with a wistful sigh.

Niall swallowed, turning around to stare down at the doctor.

“Does that mean you’re going to rat them out?” He asked nervously.

Liam gave a small snort.

“Like I want to be responsible for signing Louis’s death certificate,” He rolled his eyes. “No, my business is to keep my nose to the ground. I enjoy Louis’s company too much as of late and Harry has to know keeping those kids’ hostage was a terrible mistake.”

Niall sat down next to Liam.

“If Damien gets wind of this, it’s not just them who will be in trouble. We’ll be worse off.” Niall’s head dropped to the ground with defeat.

Liam sat up, pausing in the silence for a few moments.

“Then, I suppose we should throw a prayer out there that this was all for nothing and that the brothers get out of London as quick as possible before they lose the chance, because if Harry fails and Damien gets wind of it – well, we’re all up piss creek without a rowboat.”

Niall swallowed and watched Liam get up from the bed and walk out of his room without another word.

“I need to lie.” Niall decided with determination, standing up and going back to his mirror.

Notes