Learning To Fly (Fated Love Book 1) (12 page)

Sitting in the dressing rooms, I watched Morgan as they went through his prep before going on stage. His openers were just about done, so it was nearly show time. It was weird not to be watching this one. Normally, by this time, I would be out in the crowd waiting with them for him to come on. This was the right decision, though. I smiled against his lips when he bent down to kiss me.
 

“Be safe, baby.”
 

“I will, darlin’.”
 

I kissed him softly again, and he left me alone with Daniel and Lucas. Taking a kindle from my bag, I opened it to my last chapter and settled back to start reading. I needed to try to keep my mind occupied. Lucas stood up and moved to whisper something to Daniel before turning to look at me. It took them clearing their throats to get me to look at them. “Yes?”
 

“You don’t really want to stay cooped up in here do ya, princess?” Daniel wore a sly grin, and it made me raise a brow.
 

“No, but it stops people being in my face and keeps me safe.” They looked at each other.
 

“What if we could stop both?” Daniel asked.

“You’d still have to deal with Morgan.”
 

Daniel just snorted and moved over to me. “I’ll deal with him. Come on, princess. Let’s go watch the show. You won’t want to miss
this
one.”
 

Bookmarking my place, I raised a brow and I grabbed my phone and looked at Lucas. He grinned at me, and I nodded. Leaving Morgan’s dressing room and following alongside them, they led me through the hallways and up toward the back of the stage. These two were up to something. What that was exactly I wasn’t sure.
 

When we reached the side of the stage, I could hear Morgan and the crowd. “This isn’t something I do every show,” he said to the crowd before turning and looking at Daniel and Lucas. “I want to bring a special someone out here on stage.” My stomach dropped, and I turned to run when Lucas put his arm around me to stop me and led me out onto the stage. “Everyone, let’s give Maddie a warm welcome!” I forced a smile on my face and moved over to Morgan. “She is probably going to kill me for this,
but
for the last four months, she has been putting me to shame. My girl...can sing.” I glared at Morgan and went to move away, but he kept his arm firmly around my waist. “Maybe if we ask real nicely, she might join me up here for a few minutes.” The crowd started to cheer with Lucas’s encouragement. I hid my face in my hands and groaned. He was right, I was gonna kill him for this.
 

I nodded with a sigh and took my hands away from my face.  I took the microphone from him. “I’ll do it,
but
you are going to sit and watch for this one.” I turned to Scott, who was Morgan’s keyboard player. “Scotty? Think I could borrow your keyboard for a few minutes?”
 

“Sure thing, Maddie.”
 

“Lucas, wanna get Mr. Young here a stool? He may want to sit down for this.” I moved out of the way as Scott and the crew moved the keyboard closer.  I gave Morgan back his mic and moved to sit down. I took a deep breath and looked over at Morgan. “This is all on you, baby, if they want refunds.” He rolled his eyes playfully, and I shook my head. “This song is a cover I have just recently fallen in love with. I know it’s not what you would normally hear, but then again, neither am I, so here goes.” Moving my fingers over the keys, I began to play ‘If I Could Fly’ by One Direction.
 

I had kept my eyes on Morgan the whole time. I didn’t dare look anywhere else in case my nerves got the better of me. By the time I’d finished, the crowd was cheering and going crazy. Morgan just gave me that smug grin of his, and I stood up. Letting Scott move his keyboard back into place, I crossed the stage and kissed Morgan’s cheek before moving to walk off the stage. Before I could move away though, he took my hand and carefully pulled me back to him. Wrapping his arms around me, he kissed me properly before whispering against my lips.
 

“I’m not done with you yet.” He directed me to the now empty chair, and I sat down. “Wasn’t she amazing, everyone?” They all started to cheer again, and I felt my face heating up. Yep, definitely gonna pay for this. After Morgan was done making me swoon with a new song he’d written for me, I headed backstage to where Lucas and Daniel were waiting for me. I punched them both as hard as I could and let out a huff when they just laughed. I couldn’t help but grin, though. The rush it had given me... I could see now why Morgan did it. Not many people got the chance to do that. I was blessed.
 

Hearing my phone go off, I took it from my pocket and saw notifications from Instagram, Twitter, and a few messages. Checking the messages before everything else, I saw a new number I didn’t know. This one was different to the last one.
 

“Hope you’re having fun. Time is running out. Time to decide how you are gonna die, Maddison.”

I hit Lucas, and he stopped mid-sentence with Daniel. Showing him the message, he rested his hand on the small of my back. “We need to get you out of here.” No sooner had the words come out of his mouth than Morgan appeared after his encore, and they all closed in around me. They showed Morgan the message, and he nodded. Taking my hand, we headed back to the dressing room to get our stuff so we could leave.
 

“The guys haven’t let Michael out of their sight since they found him. He hasn’t left the hotel.” Lucas told Morgan.

“Are you sure about that? He seems to have a new fucking number!” Said Morgan

“He could have gotten it before, Morgan!”
 

“Do you have eyes on all entrances?” he asked.

“Yes, Morgan, I do. This isn’t my first job, ya know!” I was watching the two of them, and I could tell Morgan had just about reached the end of his patience. I was sure Lucas had too, but he was better at hiding it. If they didn’t end this soon, they were both gonna snap. Taking Morgan’s hand again, I squeezed it gently.
 

“Let’s just take a breath. Our hotel is still safe, yeah?” I asked.
 

Lucas nodded. “It’s closed to the public, and we have men staying behind to make sure everyone sticks to that.
 

“Okay.  Well, we have one more show tomorrow, so we pack tonight, and everything comes with us in the morning. We’ll get on the bus after the show tomorrow night and drive through. If they think we know something, then we’ll spook them.”
 

“They?” asked Morgan.

“You don’t think he is alone in this, do you? I know he isn’t Morgan’s biggest fan, no offence babe, but he wouldn’t do this. Someone is pulling the strings. Someone doesn’t want us together, which is why we need to be stronger than ever and act rationally. Force their hand so they make a mistake, and we can end this our way.” They all turned and looked at each other and nodded.
 

“Scary how much you think like them, darlin’.”
 

I winked at Morgan. “Bound to happen eventually. We have spent 4 months together.” After we gathered our stuff together, we got the all clear from Lucas and headed out.
 

Lying with Maddie in my arms, I couldn’t sleep. It wasn’t from the high of the show that I normally felt. I should be. Seeing Maddie up there singing was like nothing I had ever felt before. I could see the pure joy on her face when the crowd was cheering for her. My manager called after he saw the video the tour manager sent him and wanted to meet with her. She thought I was kidding when I told her. After everything, she still didn’t think she was worthy of being up on stage. With bean on the way though, I don’t think she would sign on for anything.
 

Despite all of that though, it wasn’t why I couldn’t sleep. It had to do with Maddie and her safety. Something just wasn’t sitting right with me. What would happen once we stopped moving? Could I take her and completely hide her away? Take her off the radar? I didn’t know if she would do something like that. It would mean no phone, no laptop, nothing that could be traced. Was I being paranoid? Possibly, but I would rather be paranoid and have Maddie safe than to let my guard down and have something happen to her. The problem was if I did put her into hiding, then whoever was watching would see Daniel and Lucas not with me and know Maddie wasn’t with me either. Could I trust the other guys with her?

Carefully slipping out of bed and laying her gently against the pillow, I put on my sweatpants. Quietly leaving her asleep in the bedroom, I slipped out into the hall and give Daniel a nod. I took comfort in the fact the two boys made sure it was always them outside the door. “He awake?” Daniel nodded, and I squeezed his shoulder before making my way down the hall to where they had set up the temporary security room. Putting in the code, I let myself into the room and sat down on the couch. Lucas was the only one in the world I could be in a room with and not have to say anything to and he would just know.
 

“I know you are worried, man, but we’ve got this.”
 

I ran my hand over my unshaven jaw. “Do we? I know we agreed, but I really don’t like this idea. We are essentially using my pregnant fiancée as bait!”
 

“She isn’t bait, Morgan. I don’t think you realise just how strong she is. She won’t be made to back down. If you try, then she is just gonna push back harder. If Maddie wants it this way, then that’s how we are going to play it. You may pay us, but we protect
her
.” I just looked at him, and he shook his head. “You are a stubborn ass, M, but if you don’t back down on this, then you may not have to worry about it.”
 

I raised a brow. “What the hell does that mean, Lucas?”
 

“What I mean, and clearly this is going in one ear and out the other, is that if you put up walls around her, she is gonna disappear. Go against what Maddie wants to do and start thinking you know better than her, and she will leave your ass in the dust. She is a strong girl. She doesn’t need someone to take care of her, but she’s let you in. Don’t make her regret that.”
 

I glared at, him but I knew he was right. Despite my own fears, Maddie had taken care of herself well enough to this point and had survived Josh. Letting out a breath, I said, “If it’s what she feels is right, then I will go along with it,
but
the second it gets too dangerous then I am getting her out of there. No arguments.”
 

Once Lucas agreed, I put my head back and close my eyes as Lucas said, “Try not to stress. I know we would be foolish to underestimate them, but this is Josh we are talking about.”

“You think Josh teamed up with Michael? I thought he didn’t know about her uncle.”
 

“He didn’t when they were dating, but people can learn things. Enough money and a P.I can find out anything. If he threatened her safety, he could get Michael to do just about anything. Wouldn’t you to keep her safe?” I nodded. It made sense if you thought about it. “Go get some sleep, bubba, and think about what songs the two of you can do tomorrow.”
 

I couldn’t help but grin. “She really was amazing, wasn’t she?” He nodded. “Maybe after bean, she might think about it.” Pushing myself up and standing, I squeezed Lucas’s shoulder on my way past him and headed back to the room feeling much lighter than when I’d gone in. I needed to hear that. I needed to see that while I had Maddie and bean’s best interest in mind, for Maddie, it was suffocating.
 

We were constantly looking over our shoulders, waiting for them to do something or pop up. At least this way, we would be ready when they did. We had eyes on Michael, which meant if he met with Josh, we would have them both, but the likelihood of that happening was very slim. I’m sure everything was done in phone calls. Climbing back into bed with Maddie, she stirred, but as soon as her head was on my chest, she relaxed and went right back to sleep. God, she was perfect, and fucking oath, I knew just how lucky I was.
 

The next morning as we packed what we had used over the past few days, I walked back into the bedroom.
 

“Did you go somewhere last night?”
 

I nodded. “I couldn’t sleep, so I went to talk to Lucas.” I knew if she was asking, she already knew the answer, so I wasn’t even gonna deny it. God, I couldn’t wait for all this to be over with so I could sleep peacefully again.
 

“Everything okay?”
 

I nodded, again. “He made me see a few things a little clearer.”
 

“Like what?”
 

I moved to sit near her on the bed. “Like how, as much as I don’t like the current plan, it’s not about me and what I want. You need to control your own decisions and don’t want me doing it for you. I don’t want to lose you because of my own stupidity and stubbornness. You have kept yourself safe up until now. I need to trust you know what’s best for you.” I pulled her closer to me and let her rest between my thighs. “I love you so much, Maddie. Please, never forget that. Even when I am being a massive pain in your ass.” I looked up at her when her hands cupped my cheeks.
 

“You might be a pain in the ass, Morgan, but you are
my
pain. I won’t hesitate to tell you to chill when you get to be too much. I am not going anywhere. I just want this all over, and I really think this is the way to do it. It’s me they want, so let’s give them that. The boys will always be close by.”