Learning To Fly (Fated Love Book 1) Page 11

  I looked over my shoulder as Lucas and Daniel came to stand with me. “Do you know what song she is gonna do?” asked Lucas.

  I shook my head. “We only talked about ours. Maddie’s kept this one quiet.” We all went silent as her fingers began to pluck the strings, and she started to play ‘Burning House’ by Cam.

  Everyone stopped what they were doing and just watched her. She sucked everyone in and captivated them. My God, she was amazing. When she’d finished, Scott started to play our song. She handed Joe her guitar back and started to sing ‘Let’s Make Love’. I had a microphone thrust at me as she finished the chorus. I stepped out onto the stage and made my way over to her. When she heard my voice, Maddie turned and our eyes locked onto each other’s. I got to her side and took her hand, pulling her close to me as I wrapped my free arm around her back. Soon, the song ended, and we just stood looking into each other’s eyes, grinning. I stepped back, and with great difficulty, I turned my attention to the crowd.

  “Maddison Lee, ladies and gentlemen! Wasn’t she fantastic?” I turned back to look at her and grinned as I held her arm up in the air. “We did this unofficially last night, but tonight was the first time it was planned. Since y’all loved it, we might just have to keep doing it!” I pulled her back close to me and kissed her head. “Tonight, is our last night here in Arizona before we head off to our next lot of shows. I can honestly say I have never had a better weekend. Thank y’all for being so amazing. Now, because I like to throw my gorgeous fiancée in the deep end, I am going to keep her here for one more song. Whatya think?”

  They all started chanting “One more song” and I laughed. Thank God, my band knew this was happening, or I would be a dead man about now.

  After we made a duet out of one of my songs, Maddie left the stage and went back to the boys. I finished off my set, and once I did my encore, I left the stage and wrapped my arms around Maddie as I kissed her neck. “Shall we go?”

  The boys nodded, and we all headed to the bus out the back. Daniel and Lucas led us out with Thomas and Nate following behind us. Our bags and things had already been taken care of, so we just had to leave. The closer we got to the back door, the more unsettled I felt. Pulling Maddie closer to me, I tucked her into my side and stepped outside. As soon as my left foot touched the ground, I heard an explosion to the right of us, and we were all thrown backward. Maddie and I landed on Thomas and Nate, who hit the wall hard. Daniel and Lucas were thrown into us. I scrambled off Nate and made my way over to Maddie.

  “Maddie?” I heard a soft groan as I helped Lucas off her and checked her out. I could hear the faint sound of sirens and hoped to God one of those was an ambulance.

  CHAPTER TWENTY

  Maddison

  I tried to open my eyes, but the bright lights hurt. With a groan, I shifted and tried to move, but I felt a hand on my shoulder stopping me as a calming voice told me to just relax. What the hell happened? I heard beeping in the background and felt a hand moving along my arm. As the seconds passed, the pounding in my head got louder and louder. Moving my hand to my head, I whimpered softly and tried to swallow the ball in my throat as my emotions started to get the better of me. Morgan. My eyes flew open. I saw him sitting on the bed next to me and let out a sigh of relief.

  “Hey there. You really awake this time?”

  I nodded slightly and instantly regretted it as the pain hit again. “Fuck!” I closed my eyes and lay back against the pillow. “Baby? What the hell happened?”

  “Hold on, darlin’.” I grabbed his hand and opened my eyes as I felt him get up. “Darlin’, I need to get the doctor. Then I will explain, I promise.”

  I let go of his hand and whispered, “Hurry,” before closing my eyes again.

  A few minutes later, I heard footsteps coming back into the room and a door closing. Opening my eyes again, I took Morgan’s hand as he came back to sit down beside me.

  “Maddison, my name is Dr. Montgomery. Can you tell me where you are, please?”

  “Arizona, I think. That’s where I was before here.”

  “Very good. Can you tell me the last thing you remember?”

  “I was with Morgan coming off the stage, and we were headed out to the bus. When we got outside… I don’t know what happened. All I know is that I have a pounding headache, and I ache all over.” A thought suddenly dawned on me. “Doctor… Is my baby okay?” I could feel myself starting to panic until she finally nodded, and I let out a sigh of relief. I looked at Morgan, and he leaned his head against my hands. Moving one to rub his neck, I laid my head back. “So can someone please fill me in on what the hell happened?” As my hand moved down Morgan’s back, I felt his body tense. He sat up and looked over at the doctor. When she gave him a nod, he turned back to me and moved his hand to cup my cheek.

  “There was an explosion, baby… Someone had rigged the bus to explode when we stepped outside. We think we know who, but we can’t be sure because there was nothing left to be able to find them. They had taken out the security cameras.”

  “Was anyone hurt? Lucas, Daniel, Nate, Thomas?”

  “Nate and Thomas are about the same as you. They hit the wall first and copped all of us landing on them. Lucas and Daniel are okay, too.”

  I nodded, and closing my eyes, I tried to focus on my breathing. My head was pounding harder now, and I knew it was because my blood pressure was rising fast. “Was anyone else around?”

  “No, darlin’. It wasn’t actually our bus…”

  I opened my eyes and frowned at his words. “What do you mean it wasn’t ours? Whose the hell was it?”

  Morgan gave my hand a squeeze. “Hey, calm down, baby, and I’ll explain, but you need to relax for me. Okay?”

  I took a deep breath again and nodded. “Start talking.”

  He brought my hands to his lips and kissed my knuckles. “It was a decoy. We couldn’t be sure they wouldn’t try something, so we had a spare bus brought in and sat it out in the open. Ours is safe and in one piece.”

  “So why the hell did we go out that way if we didn’t know what was gonna happen?”

  “It was the only way we could go, darlin’. Through the front would have been too risky with that many people. We couldn’t be sure they weren’t out there.”

  “What the fuck are you paying your guys for, then? Isn’t that what they are for?”

  “Yes, but we don’t know who Michael is working with, so until they know that, they couldn’t be sure someone out there didn’t have your picture and were just waitin’.”

  I let out a breath, pulled my hands from Morgan’s and said, “You know, this is getting to be a real fucking pain in my ass.”

  “I know, darlin’. We are doin’ everythin’ we can.”

  I couldn’t hold back the snort, and Morgan got up off the bed. “So you think this is my fault?”

  I opened my eyes and narrowed them at him. “Did those words come out of my mouth, Morgan? No. They damn well fucking didn’t, but while we are on the subject of faults, why hasn’t Lucas’s team moved in on Michael?”

  He matched my glare with one of his own and crossed his arms over his chest. “We move too soon and we could fuck it all up. Clearly, someone is pulling his strings, Maddison, and until we can work out where the other fucker is, we need Michael in the hopes he can lead us to him. We pull Michael in too soon and it could all blow up in our faces.”

  “Yeah, well it just did.”

  I took another breath and closed my eyes. “We need to come up with something, Morgan, because I’m not sure how long I can keep doing this. And me going into hiding isn’t an option because if I disappear, then so will they.”

  He nodded. “We have more manpower comin’ on it with us. We have bigger guns to help us try to track them down. They have gone ahead to set up, and we’ll fly out as soon as you get cleared.”

  I looked around for the doctor and noticed she’d left. Looking back at Morgan, I shifted again “Baby… Can you come lay with me?” Morgan no
dded and moved over to the bed. Lying down on his side, he pulled me in closer, and I nuzzled into his neck. We were quiet for a while before I finally whispered, “I’m sorry, baby. I know you and the boys are doing your best. I shouldn’t take my frustrations out on you.”

  Morgan didn’t say anything. Instead, he wrapped his arms around me more and rubbed my back. When I felt his lips press against my head, I closed my eyes and just tried to relax. With any luck, the doctor would come back with something for the headache I have, and we could be out of here soon. I fucking hated hospitals. Ignoring the pain, I tried to get closer to Morgan. Eventually, he shifted me and moved to lay under me the way we did in bed. Once he was comfy, I nuzzled back into his neck and let my body melt into his touch. I didn’t like his silence.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

  Morgan

  I must have fallen asleep listening to the sound of Maddie’s breathing. I was trying to ignore us being in a hospital, but the nurses coming to check on Maddie and the sound of machines stopped me from being able to do that. Josh had gone too far this time. The messages could be ignored, and security could be tightened, but to blow up my tour bus even if it had been a decoy—that was beside the point—was going too far. I wasn’t sure if he or I could hold out much longer. I was worried he may actually kill her. He was getting desperate and doing whatever it took. Hopefully, that would work in our favour. We needed to get to him before he made his next move.

  Maddie stirred in my arms, and I carefully pulled her closer. Pressing my lips to her temple, I ran my hand along her back to help her relax and hopefully keep her asleep. I so badly wanted to get us home where it was safe. Would anyone think badly of me if after this, I postponed the rest of the tour until they caught Josh and Michael? I couldn’t just sit around and wait for the next attempt to kill her. There would be no coming back from that for me.

  Rubbing a hand over my face, I sighed and shifted a little to get comfortable again. I needed to go and check on the others, but I couldn’t move from her side. This fear just wasn’t going to go away now. There wasn’t an argument in the world to get me to relax. Opening my eyes when I heard the door open, I let out my breath when I saw Lucas.

  “Ouch. Looks like you’ve been ten rounds with Mike Tyson, bub.”

  “About how it feels, M. How’s Maddie?”

  “She’s okay. When she woke earlier, she was sore, and her head was pounding. Won’t know now until she wakes back up.”

  “And bean?”

  “Doc gave us the all clear. She didn’t seem worried, so I am taking that as a good sign.”

  “You tell Maddie about the bus?”

  I nodded. “She lost her shit. He is getting desperate, Lucas. Next time... He could kill them. He was so close this time.”

  Lucas nodded, which didn’t put my mind at ease. “I won’t lie. It was pretty damn close. A few seconds and we wouldn’t be standing here today.” I closed my eyes.

  “I can’t let her go to Nevada after this. I know I said I wouldn’t be controlling, but I can’t sit back now. All of your guys are putting their lives on the line for her. I can’t put a bigger target on her back by keeping her on the tour.”

  “She ain’t gonna leave you.”

  I nodded. “I know. I am gonna see if they can postpone the next few weeks of dates.”

  Before Lucas could answer, his phone rang. “Speak.” I watched him as whoever was on the other end talked. Lucas grunted back a response before he hung up the phone. “Hold that call. The boys are moving in on Josh. They found the location where he was last seen. A camera caught him leaving from across the street, and we were able to track him with the license plate number. We’ve got him. We will pick Michael up, as well.” Without another word, he was gone, and I let out a long breath. Why wasn’t I relieved, though?

  “For someone who just got some good news, Morgan, you are awfully tense.” I looked down and saw Maddie’s eyes were closed, but her hand was moving along my side. She’d been awake this whole time. Pressing my lips to her temple, I moved my fingers to rest under her chin and tilted her head back to look at me. When she opened her eyes, I ran my thumb along her cheek.

  “I will never stop worrying about you. I won’t apologise for that. You can hate me all you like, but as long as you are safe, I’ll deal.”

  “I would never hate you for that, Morgan. I need someone to make my stubborn ass listen.” I shifted, turned on my side, and wiggled down to rest my forehead against hers. I closed my eyes. “What’s on your mind, baby?”

  “Nothin’, darlin’.”

  “Do I need to call bullshit, baby, or are you gonna fess up on your own?”

  I stayed quiet and let my hands move along her side. I knew Maddie though, and I knew she would wait however long it took me to get whatever was bugging me off my chest. She also wouldn’t say another word to me until I did. Maddie knew I hated her silent treatment. Pulling back and opening my eyes, I brushed a stray hair back from her face. “Don’t you think it was too easy? We have been looking for him for four months, and suddenly, he slips up, and we find him? I know this is Josh, but it’s Josh.”

  She nodded softly. “Then you should call Lucas and try to stop them.”

  It was my turn to nod as I reached into my pocket and pulled out my phone. Finding Lucas’s number, I hit call, and he answered on the first ring. “Lucas, just shut up and listen to me for a minute. I think you should be really careful going after Josh. Something doesn’t add up to me.”

  “Relax, M. We got this. I gotta go. We’re about to move in.”

  “Lucas, wait!” Before I could stop him, the line went dead, and I cursed, “For fuck! That boy never fucking listens when he damn well should. If he doesn’t come back…” I swallowed hard, and Maddie wrapped her arm around me.

  “He will, baby, and you can kick his ass when he does.” I nodded and moved to nuzzle into her neck. Please don’t let the phone ring. Please don’t let the phone ring. Please, fucking please, don’t let the phone ring.

  Hearing the door open to Maddie’s room, I didn’t even look up. “Hi, Doc.”

  “Maddison, how are you feeling?”

  “Better. I still hurt, but my head seems to have eased up some.”

  “That’s good. Now let’s see about getting you discharged so you can go home.”

  I felt Maddie nod against me as her hand moved to my neck. I heard my phone and saw Lucas’s number. I hesitated before answering it. Straightaway, I heard Lucas’s voice.

  “False alarm. He had moved on from here and dumped the car. We have a good chance, though. He shouldn’t be too far ahead of us. The team is gonna keep tracking him, and we are gonna head on back.”

  I sighed with relief. “We should be out of here soon.”

  “Okay. Daniel and Nate have your watch, so make sure you grab them.”

  “Okay, thanks.” We said goodbye and hung up. Sitting up, I moved from the bed so the doctor could do her examination.

  “You need lots of rest, Ms. Lee, so please make sure you get some.”

  “I’ll make sure she does, Doc.” Doctor Montgomery walked out of the room and went to get Maddie’s discharge papers while I helped her get dressed. “You know what’ll get rid of that headache, darlin’?”

  Maddie just raised her brow at me. “Sex.”

  I couldn’t help but grin when she cracked a smile. Despite it all, if I could make Maddie smile, then I would. Now we just had to figure out what happens next.