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“This is a terrible idea.” Liam glanced back at the young woman accompanying them for the night. At first, she had tried to get close, looping her arm around the nearest waist as she seemed to think was expected of her. When Harry had softly told her to wait until they reached a better place, something had flashed in her eyes, but she had obliged. The younger boy was standing closest to her now, in case something needed to be said.

“Of course it is,” Zayn commented softly, “but what choice do we have?”

“None.” Louis’ voice was uncharacteristically decisive. “We couldn’t just leave her there with that bloke.”

“We don’t even know who she is,” Liam reminded him carefully. “And what happens if someone catches wind of it? Management won’t care how noble our intentions were – they’ll care that we paid for a prostitute.”

“I don’t think she’s a prostitute.”

Liam looked sadly over at Niall. “What else would you call her, mate?”

The blond took a moment before answering: “Sad.”

Just behind his friends, Harry was watching Adeline out of the corner of his eye. Once he’d asked her to remain subtle until they were out of sight, she had become quite calm. Her eyes were tense, though – he could see it when the light flashed against them – and something about her seemed almost unbearably empty. He glanced ahead, where his friends spoke in hushed voices. Despite the problems it would undoubtedly cause, Harry was glad they had kept the girl from whatever would have happened to her that night. He just wished he could let her know that she didn’t need to be afraid.

“Adeline?” She glanced over in confusion as they continued walking.

“Oui, monsieur?” She was more polite now that the transaction had been made.

“Nous n’allons pas vous blesser.” As his green eyes met her blue, something like pain flickered through, gone in a moment. She gave a sad smile, and Harry knew the girl didn’t believe him. With a heavy heart, he wondered how many times people had whispered empty promises to her : “We won’t hurt you,” or “You can trust me”. A life like this, and he thought that she mustn’t trust anyone at all.



Adeline had never been in a car this nice. Barring the green-eyed stranger’s empty words, the young men who had purchased her for the night had said nothing to her. They had only muttered amongst themselves, and it worried her. Mutterings could very easily be scheming, and scheming never ended well for the girl. For now, though, she kept her mind on her job, pretending she was someone else, anyone else, because Adeline Bellerose would not do these things. She would not be so close to these strangers. She would not have wandering hands and hooded eyes.

But she was surprised when the boy at her side – the dark boy with the caramel eyes that shined in the dim light of the SUV – grabbed her wandering hand and placed it gently in her lap. She schooled her face quickly, though, concealing the shock and - in some part of her that she was ashamed of - the hurt.

“Suis-je insatisfaisante?”

He frowned, but the answer came from the boy in the driver's seat, the boy who spoke French. She thought she recalled his blue-eyed friend calling him Harry. “Pas ici.”

Adeline raised an eyebrow. Who was there to see them in the car? With a shrug she leaned back against the seat, relishing the comfort. It was not like Cal's car, with its hard seats and stale smell. This was smooth and clean, and warm. It was larger, too; three boys sat in the front, as well as one on either side of her. She would have taken this vehicle over the old church in an instant, were she given a choice. She and Michael could live much more comfortably in here - there wasn't a draft.

Her thoughts were broken when the car came to a stop. The young men exited the vehicle, and one - the only blond of the group held out a hand to help her out of the car. She was shocked but she accepted his help. He had recognized her, she recalled dimly. He and the other boy had recognized her from the restaurant. Somehow, it only added to her shame. When she was out of the vehicle, she was ushered rather quickly in the house, and she sighed to herself.

For all their talk, they seem quite eager. When the door was closed and locked behind them, Adeline leaned against it and affected a lazy smile.

"Qui est premier? Ou est-ce qu'un effort groupe?" The strangers all looked at her, and the one who understood her tensed.

"Adeline, nous devons parler un instant." She simply nodded and shrugged in response. Let them talk - perhaps that could help her prepare.



"Now what?" The boys had moved only slightly away from the young woman who had accompanied them.

"You can stop whispering, Zayn. She doesn't speak English."

"Well, I'm sorry, Louis, but it seems a little rude to talk about her when she can hear it."

"Guys! We need to figure out what we're going to tell management when and if they find out that we paid to bring a girl home." Liam ran his hand through his hair in exasperation.

"We'll tell them the truth." Niall said it as if it were the most obvious thing in the world, and it seemed as much.

"That we did so because we know she's also a thief? Good plan, mate." Harry rolled his eyes. A quick glance told him that the girl, Adeline, was looking at the pictures on the wall. She had also removed her jacket, leaving much less to the imagination in her tight, cropped tank top. He bit his lip and turned back to his friends.

Louis spoke up. "No, Haz. We did it because she's obviously in a bad situation, and we can help."

"How do we make her understand that? I told her that we wouldn't hurt her, and she looked at me like I was a child saying that I'd be Superman one day."

"We'll all explain it to her," Liam answered. "You can translate. We'll tell her that we don't want her... services tonight. That we just want to help her."

"And she can sleep here," Louis added looking over at Harry for confirmation. "We have plenty of room, and there's food if she needs it - which she does, given yesterday."

Suddenly, without a word to them, Niall rose from his seat and crossed over to where Adeline stood. She was no longer looking at the pictures; she had frozen slightly, and her head was turned just a little from the wall. He put his hand on her arm, and she tensed before turning to him with questioning eyes.

"Quel est le problème, monsieur?" She smiled at him, and it was a sly sort of smile that said she was onto you. He simply watched her with furrowed brows as his friends looked on in confusion.

"Niall, mate -"

"Maybe you'd like to change into something more comfortable." Niall ignored whatever Zayn had been ready to say, keeping his eyes locked on the strange girl's.

"Well, blimey, Niall! It's a good thing she can't understand you, because in most situations that's like asking her to get naked!" Harry was standing now, crossing the room to his friend's side, intending to apologize for Niall's strange behavior.

"But she can understand me," he answered quietly. "Can't you, Adeline?"

Adeline was caught terribly off guard, and she merely looked at the young Irishman dumbly. How had he figured it out? She had been so careful! Cal would be furious. He would hit her and call her worthless and she would never get the money for the night.

You should have known better, Adeline. You shouldn't have listened. You gave yourself away. The thought made her both angry and upset with herself.

The young man - Niall, they had called him - still held her gaze, and it was hard to look away. She was surprised to see that there was no anger in his bright blue eyes, only a hint of confusion.

"What are you going on about, Niall?" Another boy was coming up now, the one who had first approached her, the one who had offered her his hand the day before. Louis, his name was. The other boy didn't answer him, and Louis turned his attention to Adeline.

"Is it true?" he asked gently. "Do you understand us, or is Niall just daft?" She said nothing. "Listen, if you do understand us, then you heard what we said. We're not going to hurt you. We're not even going to sleep with you. We just want to help you."

Adeline looked at him skeptically, and it was hard to tell if it was because of what he said or because he was speaking English.

"Adeline." Harry's voice was soft, as were his eyes when she turned her attention to him. "Je vous promets. S'il vous plaît, dites la vérité."

Adeline bit her lip. "Your blond friend is right. I can understand you. But that doesn't mean I believe you. I only speak now because it is my job to listen to you."

The boy named Louis smiled at her. "Well, that's a start, love. My name is Louis." She nodded.

"I'm Harry."

"Yes, I know." He gave a small smile at her answer.

"My name is Liam." This was the young man who had gone off and spoken to Cal. He had friendly eyes, she decided as he shook her hand.

"And I'm Zayn." The boy from beside her in the car had approached them now. His eyes really were the color of the caramels she saw in the sweets shops, and right now they were warm. She nodded at him and turned to the last boy.

"Niall Horan, at your service."

Adeline raised an eyebrow. "Actually, I am at yours." She cut him off when he started to argue. "How did you know?" She decided the night couldn't possibly go any more off course, so she felt no guilt when she became herself again.

He frowned at the change of topic. "When Louis was talking, you froze. Then you turned your head to hear better when Liam started."

She bit her lip. "Zut. Cal will not be pleased with me."

"He tells you to just speak French, doesn't he?" She nodded at Louis, who frowned. "Well, that made things unnecessarily complicated. Niall was right, though. We should get you some more comfortable clothes."

"Oh, no, it's fine. I -"

"Adeline, you are an incredibly fit specimen of girl, and it is distracting to speak of you while you're nearly naked. I am going to get you different clothes." As he walked deeper into the flat, Adeline shocked herself by laughing lightly at his words.

"Come on, Adeline." Liam held out his hand to her. "We would like to talk to you, if you don't mind."

She looked at his hand suspiciously despite what they'd told her to this point, and he noticed. He withdrew the hand and gestured for her to come with them.

This was certainly not the way she had expected the night to turn.