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Music suitable for this chapter:

"Empty Space" James Arthur

"Stockholm Syndrome" One Direction

"I want to hold your hand" The Beatles

Niall

I woke early, for me that is, Liam had probably been up several hours already. I stretched and my arm brushed against something warm and soft. I smiled when I turned to Carolin, who was soundly asleep. Her bruises were visible even though the room was pretty dark; they had turned into a kaleidoscope of colours. My heart hurt a bit by the thought of losing her so soon. I let one finger glide down her good side, but she didn't notice. She was like no other I had met, and that was both good and bad. I never knew where the day would end.

Her eyelids fluttered, but she didn't wake. I continued staring at her, soaking her all in. I thought about the last weeks, and knew things were going way too fast but I couldn't help it. Somehow, I felt the clock ticking, I had to experience it all before she was gone. From the first time I saw her on stage, my whole body burned. I'm no Romeo but I wanted to shower her with flowers. Then again, maybe not flowers, I rolled my eyes. I knew she wasn't one for jewellery, or grand gifts. She told me that the day at the Tivoli was one of the best she'd had. Maybe I could take her on a weekend trip when I had some days off? I could show her Ireland... The thought about introducing her to mum could wait, we hadn't known each other that long. And so what if she is a stripper. This could work, couldn't it?

My mind was churning, and to no good. I knew Liam would be knocking on the door soon, so I decided to get up and beat him to it, so he didn't wake Carolin. She had an appointment at the hospital later, to check on her stitches, she could sleep until then.

Just as I had that thought the annoying sound of a vibrating phone gave off. I looked frantically around the room but couldn't find any. It wasn't mine, I had mine on absolute silence. I saw Carolin started shifting around in the bed and a slender arm shot out and took to the floor. A second later I heard her answer it, with her hoarse morning voice. I felt a twitch in my cock at the sound but overlooked it because it didn't sound like this was an appropriate moment.

"Sandra, listen to me, you have to slow down. I can't understand a word you're saying."

There was a short pause, Carolin sat up in bed and dragged the cover around her. She saw me standing awkwardly by the bed and smiled. I went over and gave her a quick kiss, just because she looked absolutely marvellous – dishevelled hair, bruises, bandage, plump lips. I heard Sandra on the other end of the phone, her voice was close to yelling.

"How do we know she is missing? She could have just taken some days off; you know how she is."

I raised my eyebrows questioningly, Carolin whispered "Anne" to me. I took a second to remember who that was, I had a vague image from the bar. I think maybe Harry had her for a private lapdance.

I listened to the conversation, but Carolin didn't say much, just listened to Sandra and tried to calm her.

"Listen, I will stop by after I've been to the hospital, we can talk more then."

They said their goodbyes and she put the phone away.

"What's wrong?"

She dragged her hands through her hair; "Apparently, Anne haven't shown for work all week, and nobody can get a hold of her."

She struck me like a diva, and I said that much to Carolin.

"I agree, but she love's her job just as much as I do, her ego feeds off it."

I saw her eyes darken with worry and gave her hand a squeeze.

"It isn't like her to not call in or go off the grid like that."

Carolin got out of bed and started pacing the room, picking up random things.

"Hey babe, you have enough to worry about. Most likely she is holed up with a dude." I was worried too, but I didn't want that to show. "Come, since you're up we can grab breakfast."

She nodded absentmindedly; I could see her brain was busy worrying. I took two steps and smiled when she jumped a bit by my proximity. Maybe I could get her attention otherwise.

I let my hands glide down her back and when I reached the dip by the hips, I dragged her closer to me. With a yearning for skin, I lifted the hem of the t-shirt she was wearing higher so I could feel her soft skin against my touch. I felt her hips sway against me, and I breathed softly against her neck. I heard her draw her breath sharply and kissed her gently where I saw goosebumps. Giving over easily she laid her head back and gave a small moan. She had her hands on my biceps and I smiled when I felt her grab harder.

"Nothing to worry about, ok love?"

She opened her eyes, they glowed like ember and her pupils were dilated.

Carolin gave a small laugh and leaned her forehead against my chest. I kissed the top of her head before laughing at the sound her stomach made; she was clearly hungry.

"Get some clothes on and I'll get some food in you."

Everybody was up except Zayn; he was a heavy sleeper. I thought he maybe had Sandra over but then I remembered that she had called Carolin.

Liam lighted up at the sight at Carolin, I felt the jealousy bloom in my belly, she had admitted she would have slept with him at the party. I shook my head at my silliness, we hadn't defined anything. And on some level, I knew I had nothing to worry about. Although Carolin was an avid fighter for the "This is going to fast" phrase, I could see her eyes when she looked at me. She didn't look at Liam that way, that's for sure.

Liam grabbed her and pulled her down to his lap. I walked behind them and gave him a smack in the back of the head. "Hey, don't hate on me, Nialler. She might be sleeping in your bed, but she belongs to all of us." He said in a fake grumpy voice. I tensed, thinking Carolin might take that offensively, but instead I saw her smile big. She leaned in and gave Liam a hug and a kiss on the cheek.

"Thanks, Liam, that was nice! It feels nice to belong to someone."

I guess it made sense, she hadn't had a real family. First her real father running away and then the dickhead that abused her, which led to her cutting all ties to her family. I swallowed my jealousy and faked a smile for her sake when they all agreed to adopt her into our One D family. As a pun I looked at them sternly when she finally was finished getting hugs from everyone and said with a serious voice: "She might be in the 1D family but she'll only be getting the One D from me, okey?"

They looked at each other and Carolin was the first to laugh, as I had hoped.

"Oh my god, that was so lame!" She had tears coming from her eyes and Louis was the only other that laughed with her, the others just shook their heads, complaining over the quality of the joke. I didn't care, I had achieved what I set out to, namely, to make her laugh.

I was a bit reluctant to let her go to the hospital alone, but we had a meeting with the record company that I couldn't dodge. She had called Lantry so the police officers on watch-duty knew what was happening. He had sounded stressed on the phone, she said. Telling her to get straight back here after the check-up, it seemed that everyone was on edge now. I didn't want to release her, and I found myself almost hurting her by the way I hold her. She leaned backwards so she could look me in the eyes. "Relax, honey. I'll only be gone an hour or so. Maybe I can sit in on some of the recording today?" I didn't answer at first, this was the first time she's called me honey. It felt good, like she had decided that maybe we could do this after all. I kissed her with all my heart, I loved the way she melted against me. Before it had felt like she screamed for me to touch her, but she was always out of reach. Now she held her ground beside me.

The meeting with the record company went well, luckily we were all older and wiser now and knew bullshit when we heard it. I was checking my phone every now and then to see if I got a text from Carolin, she said she would keep me updated. I'd gotten one when she arrived at the hospital, but she had to wait some for the doctor. I listened with half an ear to what the assistant was talking about, she was going over the schedule for the week. By the sound of it the time would be tight. Promo, press, recording, meetings, you name it. For the first time in my life, I wished I could be somewhere else. Or WITH someone else. No one had ever gotten under my skin that much that I'd rather be with them instead of making music, but here we were. We were on our way to the basement when the door rang. Usually someone takes it, but now Harry stood right beside the door, so he opened it. A courier stood there with a box in his hand. He looked at Harry but didn't recognise him it seemed.

"Delivery for Bayswater Street 32," he stated, and Harry took the box he held out. It wasn't big, a little bit bigger than a shoebox. The delivery-guy took his fingers to his hat in a salute and walked away briskly.

"Nice going, Harry," Louis exclaimed, "just take it, no questions asked. It could be a bomb." Harry smiled at Louis, "Unlike you, I tend to think people are mostly nice." He shook the box, and it gave a thudding sound, something loose in there by the sound. Harry looked at us, "Who want's the honour?" Liam sidled up to him, "There isn't any name to it?" "No, just the residents of this address." Harry shrugged. Liam took out a pocketknife, when was this guy not prepared? He sliced the tape as Harry held it and flipped the top off. Liam gave a strange sound and took a step back as Harry dropped the box.

"What?"

I felt my heart hammer and my brain panicked. How stupid was I? There was one person we knew liked deliver things in boxes. Harry wiped his hand on his shirt and looked at us with wild eyes. "I think... I think it's a hand." Louis gaped at him. "What do you mean, a hand?" Harry threw his hands in the air, aggravated. "A hand. A bloody hand. Look for yourself." Louis looked at me and together we crept closer to the box on the floor. Louis used his foot to pull the top aside and then we could all see it.

A woman's hand, severed by the wrist, holding one single rose in its grip.