Light. (Louis Tomlinson AU)

I was ready to collapse after I'd gotten my shower.

Until, of course, my phone rang.

“Hello?” I asked, easing my head off of my pillow.

“Hayden?” A soft voice asked. My eyes widened and I hung up the phone, my heart pounding.

Louis.

He had my number somehow. The phone lit up again and the same number as before was flashing across the screen. I stared at a moment before declining it.

Can't the guy take a hint? Granted, he was the most attractive guy I've ever met, but that didn't mean he could pull anything with me. He reminded me of that Twilight book, just with a more attractive male lead and a female lead that could actually hold her own.

I turned the phone off after Louis had tried calling two more times. There was no way I was answering.

Getting up slowly, I went to my closet and found a dark blue dress and black heels. Bethany was making the entire team go out tonight to some club she'd found online.

~ ~ ~

“Are you ready?!” Bethany yelled. The girls around me cheered, and threw back their first of many shots.

I winced when someone spilled a bit of the vodka on my skirt, and grabbed a napkin and wiped it quickly.

“Come on, Hay! Don't be a party pooper!” Bethany whined. She held out a shot toward me and I shook my head.

“I'm going to go get a Coke.” I mumbled.

She of all people should know why I don't drink. I can't stand it. Being out of control like that bothers me.

I went up to the bartender in the crowded, loud club and got a plain, unopened Coke. I kept it with me and watched it closely. I'd heard way too many horror stories from some of the other girls about being drugged at clubs. It was another reason why I didn't like it.

The music was good though, a bit mainstream. I liked American music better, Country and some rock. But pop was good, if it was the right people singing.

I sipped my Coke and made my way back to the table where the girls was, but it was completely empty.

I panicked, turning and searching around the room for anyone I knew. After a moment, I saw Cristy up against some guy, and Bethany hanging off someones arm. Breathing a sigh of relief, I slid back into the booth and sipped my Coke again.

For a moment, I'd thought that they'd left me. They we prone to do that at times, just forget that I was there. It was pretty annoying.

I was beginning to get a headache from the heavy bass in the room, and I decided to go home. I didn't feel like staying. I sent a quick text off to Bethany, who was currently shoving her tongue down some guys throat, and left.

It took me a while to get through the masses of people in and outside of the club. I decided not to call a cab, the walk wasn't that far and I was used to running at least twice this amount.

The wind blew and the clouds drifted over the moon, and I shivered. I pulled my jacket around me and turned the flashlight on my phone on. I hate the dark. More than anything. Ever since I was a child I've hated it. Everything about it makes me nervous and scared.

I began wishing that I'd called that cab.

My hair blew in the wind and I gathered the dark, wavy mess into a ponytail quickly.

A loud laugh made me jump, and my pace quickened. My heels were making a racket against the concrete, so I slipped them off and carried them.

Footsteps sounded behind me and I forced myself not to look back.

“It's just your imagination it's all in your head it's all in your head-” I chanted over and over under my breath.

The footsteps quickened, and a pebble hit me in the back of the foot, like someone had kicked it accidentally.

A heavy hand landed on my shoulder and I shook it off, biting back a scream.

“Oi, James, we gotta feisty one here!” A man yelled. I made a fist and swung blindly behind me, hitting something that felt like a jaw.

I blinked when I saw lights up ahead, and made a run for the street corner as quick as my bare feet could carry me. Someone yelled behind me and this time I chanced a glance back.

Two men, stumbling drunkenly were following me.

I got to the street corner,and pulled my cell phone out and called Jacob. I started talking as soon as I heard him pick up.

“Jake?! Can you come and get me? I'm on the corner of-” I checked where I was, “Seventh and Sixth, I need you like right now there's these two guys and-”

“Love?” A voice that was defiantly NOT Jacob spoke. “This is Louis.”

I froze.

“I can come get you, if you'd like.” Louis continued. I didn't speak, just pulled the phone away from my ear and looked at it in horror. Instead of going to contacts, I'd gone to call history and clicked Louis instead of Jacob.

Someone grabbed me around the waist and lifted me off my feet, and I screamed. My phone flew through the air and landed on the concrete, and all I could think of was Holy crap I'm glad I got a Life Proof case. I vaguely heard Louis yelling though the phone's speakers.

The man that had grabbed me was fat and old. But he was strong. I twisted in the man's grasp as he tried to walk bowlegged away from the light, and managed to kick him in the shin. He dropped me with a stream of profanities, and I ran.

But me being me, I tripped over my heels lying on the ground and landed heavily on my side. I scrambled to my feet, but the two men were already coming at me again. I backed up until I hit something.

It was a brick wall.

They had me cornered.

I accepted the fact that I wasn't going to get out of this without a fight, and took a defensive stance, trying to remember what my martial arts instructor was always telling me.

Calculate your movements. Don't randomly hit, time it right.

The men came closer and closer. I could smell the alcohol on their clothes, and swallowed.

“Bert, this one is mine.” One of the men growled. The other, Bert I presumed, began to whine. “But James, you said we could share this time!”

I fought back a gag. This time?

James reached a hand out to caress my face, looking at Bert. “Well I'm taking that back, this little girls mine.” he growled.

In that moment I struck, sending a quick jab to the mans soler plexus, then bringing my knee in two kicks, one to his groin, and the other to James' stomach.

Bert tried to pulled me away from James, but my arm to his ribs fixed that.

Bert came towards me again as James wallowed on the ground gripping himself.

“Don't come any closer!” I yelled. Bert grinned maliciously.

“I don't think you're in a position to say what I do or don't do, little lady,” He growled.

I realized I was up against a trash bin, and slowly, not breaking eye contact with the brute in front of me, my hand crawled into the can and closed around something long and hard and heavy. An aluminum baseball bat.

My hand gripped it tightly, and I was thankful for the darkness for once. It hid my hands.

Bert suddenly lunged forward, swinging wildly and hitting me on the left arm, and I brought the bat out of the bin quickly with my right hand and dashed it across Bert's head.

He dropped like a rock.

I slowly let the bat drop to the ground, feeling sick. I made my way out of the alleyway pass a groaning James. Picking up my shoes, I saw headlights shining through the darkness.

I stumbled over my heels lying on the concrete, and I lent down to pick them up along with my phone as the car door slammed.

“Hayden, what the hell happened!?”

He was there. Louis. I gripped my arm with one hand and held my phone and shoes with the other.

“Nothing, Louis.” I snapped.

“It's not nothing either! I heard you scream, Hayden!” Louis snapped.

I stepped away from the alley and more towards the streetlight. Louis peered into the alleyway, his cold eyes widening when he saw the men on the ground.

“Did you do this?” He gestured to the old coots furiously. I nodded, shamefaced.

“Why?” He asked. I raised an eyebrow. Did he think that I just went around and beat people up?

“Well, self defense is normally recommended if you're being attacked.” I replied. My arm was throbbing furiously, and I knew it would definitely bruise.

Louis stared at me a moment, an unreadable expression in his eyes. I nervously shifted from side to side, and looked at the alleyway and the men.

I looked away again.

“Get in the car, Hayden.” Louis spoke. His voice was deadly calm.

I opened my mouth to object, merely because of his tone of voice, but he yelled, “GET IN THE DAMN CAR!”

I jumped into Louis' Porsche, frightened, and slammed the door closed.

Louis got in right after me and cranked the car and we peeled off, leaving tire tracks in the pavement. I gripped my armrests for dear life, until I realized that Louis drove like an old lady, never going more than five under the legal limit. My foot hit a open can of Coke on the floor and it spilled.

“Dammit,” I muttered. “Sorry!” I mumbled.

Louis shoved some napkins at me from the drivers side door. I wiped the mess up quickly, flinching when I had to use my left arm.

I sat back in my seat and looked out the window.

Louis pulled up to a stoplight and looked over at me, his eyes shining even in the dark. I realized he was wearing a beanie.

“Are you hurt?” He asked a few seconds later.

I shook my head.

“Yes you are,” He said. His voice was surprisingly soft and gentle. “Let me see Love.”

He reached over and softly trailed his hand over my arm, stroking around the lump that was forming, red and swollen on the tan skin.

My breath caught in my throat and I shifted away from him suddenly, leaving his hand hanging in the air.

“I'm fine.” I mumbled.

“No, you're not,” Louis growled. “You're not fine.”

“Louis, leave it.” I groaned. He did, tapping his fingers on the dashboard.

“ How did you even get my number?” I asked.

When he didn't answer I tried again. “LOUIS! How did you get my number, you deaf prick!”

Louis glared at me furiously, and not even waiting for the light to turn green he hit the gas.

I screamed as we narrowly avoided hitting a minivan, covering my eyes with my hands until the car felt normal again.

There was dead silence in the car.

I took my hands away from my face slowly and glared at Louis. His eyes were on the road, staring ahead intently.

His jaw, with a light dusting of stubble was clenched, and his knuckles were white on the steering wheel.

“How. Did. You. Get. My. Number.” I hissed slowly. Louis didn't look at me, but his knuckles tightened on the steering wheel.

“Did you hear me!?” I growled. “Answer!”

Louis snapped his head towards me. “I got it from Harry.” He deadpanned. He turned back to the road.

“You mean the guy you beat up?” I asked. I folded my arms as Louis' shoulders tensed. If he kept up that way he wouldn't be able to move tomorrow.

“Yes, that guy,” Louis muttered. “He's my mate.”

“Fine way to treat your friends.” I retorted, and there was silence in the car. I realized that I wasn't going to get anything else out of him, like why he'd beat Harry up, or why he came to get me.

But there was one thing that I positively needed to know, at that moment.

“Where are we going?” I asked quietly. “Are you taking me home?”

Louis smirked at me. “Nope.”

I tensed. “Why?”

Louis shrugged a little. “Maybe I don't want to take you home.” He said cockily.

“Maybe I don't want to go with you.” I snapped. Louis snorted.

“Yes, you do love. We're going back to mine.”

Notes