Learning To Fly (Fated Love Book 1)

by Lauren Firminger

  “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.

  CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

  Morgan

  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.”

  I nodded softly as she bent down slightly and pressed her lips to mine. Closing my eyes, I pulled her back with me onto the bed and just wrapped my arms around her. “So have you decided where we are going to live, darlin’?”

  “Like you even have to ask.”

  “Tennessee?” Maddie just nodded, and I closed my eyes. All of our family was there. It’s where our baby would be born and raised. Just like their daddy.

  CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

  Maddison

  Once we finally decided to get up again, we headed downstairs. So far, there had been no update on Michael or whoever was pulling his strings, but I guess no news was good news, right? When we left here tonight, we were headed for Carson City. The tour organizers wanted him in Vegas, but Morgan hated that idea and refused to play in Nevada unless they booked somewhere else. Instead, they booked him in the middle of the
desert hoping to get him to change his mind. After the last few weeks though, he knew he’d made the right decision.

  After he told me about his conversation with Lucas in the early hours of the morning, I had to wonder why they all thought listening to me was a good idea. I was offering myself up as bait, for Christ’s sake. What sane person does that? A few times today, I almost told him I was wrong, and I should have, but I didn’t. I didn’t because somewhere deep inside was that strong, tough as nails, graduate of the school of hard knocks, and they were letting her come out. Josh never did that. He’d always kept me down so I would be submissive to him. I guess it was so that when he cheated on me, I wouldn’t have the guts to question it. I would just let him walk all over me and screw around behind my back. He was wrong though, and I was not about to become that girl now. Not again.

  Morgan had brought up about me going on stage again. He really wanted to see me up there. Saying no to him after all he was doing for me, didn’t really seem like an option, so I agreed. Two songs. One for him and then one with him that would lead into his set. I didn’t want their shows to be cut short to make room for me, so we would cut the intermission short. Everyone agreed to that, so now we were just trying to find our songs. Because the band had been around for a while, they knew how to play almost every song you could think of. The idea of the duet being an acoustic with both of us playing guitars was thrown in the mix, and it didn’t sound like a bad idea. If we found the right song, that is.

  I sat up straight from where I was lying on the couch. Morgan and Lucas stopped talking. “I’ve got it.”

  “Oh? Whatcha got, darlin’?”

  “Our song.” I had been going through my iTunes to find the perfect song for us when it dawned on me. “Tim McGraw and Faith Hill.”

  “Which song?”

  “All of them! Well, the love songs, anyway. Maybe each state we could do a new one. Maybe start with ‘Just To Hear You Say You Love Me’ or ‘It’s Your Love’ or ‘I Need You’.”

  “I like that, but can we change the first song we start with?”

  I nodded. “Which one did you want to start with, baby?”

  His lips curled into a smirk. “Let’s Make Love.”

  I could feel my cheeks heating up. “Dammit, I was hoping I could get out of that one.” He raised a brow questioningly, and I just shook my head. “All right, we can do that one first. I am in no way responsible for wanting to jump you afterwards, though. Just saying.”

  Morgan pulled me closer. “We’ll just have to take a little longer getting to the bus then, darlin’.”

  “GUYS! I’m right here.” I turned to look at Lucas, who was now covering his ears, and I laughed.

  “Sorry.”

  “Way too much sharing going on,” said Lucas.

  “Then you may want to leave before more starts to happen,” said Morgan.

  I swatted Morgan’s chest. “Morgan! Be nice!”

  “Oh, he is. Could have just come out and said ‘Get the fuck out!’”

  I laughed because it was true. Lucas closed the door behind him, and Morgan moved to lock it. He scooped me up, and I wrapped my arms around his neck and pressed my lips to his. “Aren’t you gonna tell the guys?”

  “Nope.”

  He silenced me with a heated kiss, and I closed my eyes. Laying me down on the couch, he hovered over me and kissed down along my jaw, his lips softly brushing over my neck as his hand slid beneath my shirt. His fingertips trailed lightly over my stomach. He hadn’t really touched me like this since he found out about the baby. Granted it had only been a few days, but that was just unheard of for us. I bit down softly on my lip as Morgan’s hand slid beneath my shirt. The tips of his fingers slid between my lips, applying pressure when he got to my nub.

  “Fuck, darlin’. So wet for me.” His lips found mine again, and he kissed me hard. Moaning softly against his lips, I rocked my hips against his hand as I silently begged for more. My need for his dick to be buried inside me grew as my release began to rise. My walls tightened around his fingers as he slid them inside my core.

  “Oh God! Morgan! Just fuck!” I arched my back off the couch and another soft moan escaped me. He thrust his fingers deeper, which caused another moan, only this time it was louder.

  “Come for me, darlin’, and you can have what you want.” I shook my head, and Morgan just smirked. “You can try to take control, but I will win this one. Come for me. Don’t make me stop.”

  “God, no!” I swallowed hard. He wouldn’t dare.

  I looked up at him, and his brow rose, his smirk growing. “Five… Four… Three… Two…” When he got to one, I closed my eyes and cried out his name in pleasure as I let go of my release. I opened my eyes and looked up at him. He wore a satisfied grin. “See now, that wasn’t so hard, was it?”

  I put my hands on his shoulders and pushed him back so he was sitting. Moving to straddle his waist, I undid his jeans and slid my hand beneath his boxers. My lips curled into a smirk against his skin when I leaned in to kiss his neck. “About as hard as this.”

  He groaned as his hands found my waist. He lifted me up just long enough to wiggle out of his jeans. Curling his fingers around my panties and moving them out of the way, he wrapped his hands around my wrist and pulled me closer. Raising my hips to hover over his cock, I slowly lowered myself down until he slid inside me. A small moan escaped my lips, and I closed my eyes. I wrapped my arms around his neck as I slowly began to raise my hips back up before slamming down hard. I heard him groan again before he moved his hands to my hips and our pace picked up. I kissed along his jaw and down to his neck where I hid my face as our bodies moved together.

  The waves of pleasure were coursing through my body and I could feel my release building once more. His harder thrusts inside my core told me he was close to coming, as well. Pulling my face out of his neck, I pressed my lips hard against his as my body began to shake. Letting my head fall back as I reached my peak, I slammed down onto his cock one more time and cried out his name in pleasure as I let go. My walls tightened around his cock as I came. Feeling his lips against my neck, he slammed his cock hard into me for a few more thrusts before he grunted. I could feel his seed filling me as he came, too. Grinning, I met his lips as I tried to catch my breath.

  “Thank you, Tim and Faith.” He chuckled, and I collapsed against him, burrowing into his neck as I relaxed in this blissful moment.

  CHAPTER NINETEEN

  Morgan

  Once Maddie and I cleaned ourselves up and got ready, we found the guys and told them our song selection for the night. Maddie also told them what she planned to do with the other shows so they could be prepared. She said she still wasn’t sure which songs she would do solos of, but she would plan them out and tell them. When we were done with the guys, we got her microphones set up and got her ready as the girls who were before her finished. Lexie and Abby walked off the stage, and I turned to Maddie. She was white as a ghost.

  “Darlin’. I need you to breathe for me. You’re gonna be great.” I squeezed her hand, and she gripped mine tight. “They’ll love you, darlin’. We’ll be right here. It’s just a few minutes, and then I will be out there with you.” Maddie just nodded and took the juice Lucas handed her. Hopefully, we could keep her from passing out and get her through this.

  When Neil, our tour manager, gave me a nod, I moved to stand in front of Maddie. Lifting her chin so she looked at me, I grinned. “I love you, darlin’. It’s show time.”

  She gave me a nervous smile and kissed me. “I love you too, baby. See you in a few minutes.” I kissed her nose and moved back around her. I slapped her ass as I passed her, and she turned to glare at me.

  “Go kick ass, darlin’.” Maddie took a deep breath and held her hand out for her guitar. Taking it from the roadies and putting the strap over her shoulders, Maddie stepped out onto the stage and moved toward the front. I couldn’t help but grin as I moved to a spot where I could see her better. The way she was talking an
d handling herself, you would never know she was the same nervous wreck who was just here.