Canon

‘What’s with that look?’ Niall raises one of his thick, dark eyebrows toward me curiously.

‘Look who just came in.’ I casually nod my head towards Louis, John, and the others that I never laid eyes on before today.

‘Shit.’ Niall mutters, tensing up in his seat instantly. ‘Come here.’

‘What?’

‘Goddamn it Lizette.’ Niall complains quickly getting up and slides in next to me.

He places one of his hands protectively on my thigh as Louis and his pack near us. Louis shows up a pleased smirk obviously noticing Niall’s tension. I look at Niall who was now gripping my thigh – if he squeezed any harder I would have bruise in the morning I was sure of it.

‘What’s wrong?’

‘Don’t look at em.’ He growls, never taking his eyes off the group of guys.

‘What’s wrong Niall?’ I whisper, getting a sick feeling in the pit of my stomach.

‘Hey,’ one bellows loudly, ‘It’s fucking Irish.’

‘Do you know those guys?’

‘You could say that.’

‘Do you not have time for any of your old pals, huh Irish? After all those shit pranks we pulled back in the day. I thought we were blood brothers. You, Johnny, Malik, Tome, and I.’ The largest one chuckles nudging John, who stood silently next to him.

‘Damon.’ Niall nods his head keeping his eyes forward on the empty booth across from us.

‘Mind if we sit?’

Before Niall could part his lips Damon and John sit down in the booth while Louis makes his way to the counter for a drink. I sit there uncomfortably while Damon’s eyes travel up and down my face with an intrigued smirk on his face.

‘She’s a bit, clean, for you isn’t she Irish?’ Damon tilts his head back with obnoxious laughter.

‘You could say he’s turned a new leaf.’ John scoffs poking his thick finger at the shake in front of us, the two straws leaning against one another.

‘I think he’s gone soft.’ Louis chimes hovering over the booth, ‘Hey Lizette. Long time, babe.’

‘Too bad I didn’t fucking break your goddamn face at your house that night.’ Niall hisses, his hand gripping my thigh even harder.

‘I’d like to see you fucking try.’

‘Look at you two going at it like a couple of little school girls.’

‘What do you want?’

‘I need your help with, something.’ Damon speaks in a hushed tone eyeing me with cautious eyes.

‘I don’t have time for that shit anymore.’

‘Yeah Malik tried to pitch the same shit in front of his little girlfriend just like you are now but I think we all know better – once you’re in, you’re in. We had an agreement. This isn’t boy scouts, you don’t leave when you want.’

‘I don’t think you understood me – I’m done.’ Niall speaks slowly making sure to enunciate his words.

‘I didn’t catch your name, pretty face?’ Damon speaks to me and I could tell that Niall was almost at his breaking point.

‘Lizette.’ Louis answers before I could and Damon turns back at him with a devilish grin.

‘The infamous Lizette? Irish’s most prized-possession.’

‘That would be her.’ John winks at me using his large fingers to pick at a napkin.

‘I’ve heard many, many things about you Lizette. I heard that you were quite fit, which I can see that they are not exaggerating there. I also heard that you have quite the protective watchdog, with you. Look at ol’ Irish there with his teeth clench just like one of those angry German Shepard’s. I heard that he loses his shit when it comes to you. I heard that he goes absolute mental when any lad comes around. I heard that it’s very easy to push his buttons when Lizette comes into the conversation.’

‘I swear to fucking God, if you don’t get out of here right now I’ll-…’

‘You’ll what?’ Louis grits his teeth moving closer to Niall.

‘I will beat every single one of your asses to a fucking pulp. The only way they’ll be able to identify you is by your goddamn teeth.’

I look around the diner and several people were staring in our direction. One of the workers was whispering to the manager, who I’m sure would be making their way over here any moment. Niall’s hand is no longer on my thigh, now it was formed into a tight ball underneath the table as his foot shook uncontrollably. Niall was about to implode in the diner, right here and now. Not an ounce of me doubted Niall but there were three guys standing in front of him, while the other two stood anxiously at the counter.

‘Oh Irish, there’s that raging temper that we all love to see. The one that keeps up all very entertained in our most dull hours.’ Damon smirks before standing up in the booth, ‘I guess they weren’t exaggerating about that either. I will be in touch – and before you say no again, remember you owe me. Never forget that. By the way – how’s Greggy? He still on those pesky drugs? Tell em Damon asked about him.’

With that Damon whistles and the two by the counter rush out of the building behind him while John and Louis glare at Niall before finally following. Niall reaches his hand out and smacks over the napkin container sending the thin white sheets all over the dark-tiled floor.

‘You need to leave, now.’

‘Can I at least get the food I paid for?’ Niall stands up pulling me with him in the process, ‘That’s only fair, isn’t it?’

The manager sighs before disappearing in the back to retrieve our food.

‘I’m sorry about this, Rick.’ I whisper to the waiter, which happened to live right down the street from me. Our parents played doubles with each other in tennis every third Wednesday of every month.

‘Don’t worry about it, Liz.’ He replies handing me the Styrofoam containers in a plastic bag.

‘You’re staring.’ Niall points out as he drives back to his apartment.

‘Because I’m confused.’

‘Oh, God please. Don’t start with this question shit Lizette. I’m really not in the mood for it.’

‘I just want to know what all that was back there. How do you know them? What did he mean when he said that you owed him? Who is he Niall?’

‘Do you need to know every single thing about me and my life?’ he groans pulling into the complex’s parking lot.

‘If it’s important, yes.’

‘Well it’s not.’

‘It seemed pretty important to me Niall. He wasn’t taking no for an answer.’

Niall doesn’t respond as he rolls out of the sleek black mustang and shuts it behind him. I trail behind studying his body language. His shoulders were tense as he walked with his head down. He silently touches the button for the fifth floor once I was in the elevator. Thankfully, Greg and Denise were nowhere to be found once we made it to the apartment. This gave me the chance to press the issue even further.

‘Nice burger.’ Niall takes another huge bite watching some D-Rated actors in some D-Rated horror movie on Syfy. ‘Still not better than McDonalds.’

‘You don’t think any thing is better than McDonalds.’ I laugh stuffing a handful of fries into my mouth.

‘You’re a pretty close second.’ He replies not taking his eyes off of the screen.

‘You know that I hate feeling like I’m invading your personal history but I’m curious.’

‘Of course you are.’ Niall chimes finally placing his eyes on me, ‘What do you want to know?’

‘Who is Damon?’

‘The biggest fucking mistake of my life. I’d give up everything except you to take back the days I wasted on that waste of human life.’ Niall stands up to throw away his trash and I follow. ‘Damon was one of Greg’s friends. Him and Greg were always taking turns in jail – one would be out and the other would be behind bars. Every single time. When they were both out, they’d break in to empty houses while the families would be on vacation. Sometimes I tagged along. I don’t know why I thought it was cool back then. I was a fucking idiot. One day Greg was driving a little too late at night, the cops stopped him to tell him about stupid ass taillight. They saw the cocaine right in the middle console. Greg was too high on his dope to actually give a shit at the time. Anyway, the judge decided to use him as and example to all of the others – gave him ten years in the state jail. The longer Greg was gone the more I started to fill his mold in Damon’s eyes. He started taking me around with him and crew, they showed me the ropes. It was a time in my life where I was breaking into houses, busting out car windows, and stealing from stores. I didn’t do it because I needed any of the shit – I did it because I felt the rush of excitement when I was with them. I didn’t want it to end.’ Niall explains picking at his thumbnail as he sits down on the bed. ‘Damon had recruited Zayn, with my help, who recruited Louis. The prick John was already there because Damon was sleeping with his sister at the time. We were all young as hell and stupid as hell. We were doing every single thing Damon asked us to do. One night he asked us to go into this house that he had been checking out for a few weeks. He said that no one would be home. Zayn and I take the downstairs while Louis and John went upstairs. I’m in the kitchen, grabbing all of the silver and fine china that I could find. The light flicks on. There’s the man of the house, standing there with his shotgun pointed right at me. I swear to God I saw my life flash before my eyes in that moment. He told me to say any last words that I had and I just held my hands up thinking that was the end. Damon comes up behind and knocks the guy over the head and takes his shotgun. He told me to get out of there and that’s exactly what I did. I ran, for miles. I didn’t stop until I made it to my house. I remember that I didn’t sleep that night. I laid in bed waiting for the phone to ring but it never did. The next morning, the news was talking about how some guy was shot and killed in his house the night before. I stared at the TV looking into the same eyes of the man that pointed his gun at me. The police didn’t have any leads or suspects. The neighbors were all old and all sleep. I thought I was in the clear. A few weeks later Damon comes knocking on my door – he tells me that the police were starting to get suspicious. He said that he was going to leave the state for a while and suggested that I did the same. But I was only sixteen at the time. I couldn’t leave. I sure as hell wasn’t going anywhere with him. I told him to never come back looking for me again because I was done with it all. With him, with Zayn, with Louis, and the rest of those lowlifes. He just laughed, standing on my front porch with a crooked smile and said, “I saved your life - you owe me.” That was the last I saw of him until today.’ Niall explains quietly. Once he was done I realized that not only his hands but also his entire body was trembling. He rocked back and forth causing the bed to squeak.

‘Why didn’t you tell the police?’

‘I wanted to – every day for a year I thought about it. I would stand outside the station for an hour before walking home. I told Damon that I was going to go to the cops. He just said that they wouldn’t believe me and he’d be long gone by then after he killed me. He said how easy it was to take a life and that he wouldn’t mind doing it again. He said that I would either spend the rest of my life in jail or the rest of my life six feet under the ground. Look, I did some real sick shit growing up but I never killed anyone. I could never do anything so cruel.’

‘I know.’

‘I try not to think about it much but it’s something that I could never forget.’

I wrap my arms around Niall soundlessly holding him in my arms as he stared at the blank wall in front of us.