Learning To Fly (Fated Love Book 1)

by Lauren Firminger

  “We need to hit the road. Josh is still out there. One of the guys has been keeping an eye out. He doesn’t appear to have bought it.” I nodded softly and Maddie shifted a little but stayed asleep.

  “Pick a number then, brother.” He nodded and left. I carefully moved, and Maddie whimpered in her sleep. “Shh, darlin’, I’ve got you.” Once she relaxed again, I carefully lifted her up and carried her out. Lucas grabbed our bags, and we made our way off the bus and down to the awaiting car.

  “We had to change her number plate. If he knew that, then he would go straight for it. Thomas will be riding out first, then Nate followed by Bryan, and then us. Paul will follow, and then Tyler, then Justin, and last will be Daniel.” I nodded and put Maddie in the truck. When she opened her eyes, I brushed a stray hair from her face.

  “Darlin’, I need you lie down for me, okay? All the cars are gonna have two guys riding in them, but if Josh sees a third, he is gonna come for us. Once the coast is clear, we can get you comfy.” Maddie nodded and laid back down, closing her eyes. She squeezed my hand and took a breath. It killed me to leave her back here alone, but I couldn’t let the team down. We threw the bags in the tray and got in. Lucas gave the all good, and Thomas drove off, followed a minute later by Nate, and then another minute by Bryan. Lucas looked to me, and I nodded. “Let’s do this.”

  He pulled out and we followed the others. The lights in the rearview mirror told us the boys were following. Once we got out of the driveway, half would go left and half would go right. Seeing a car as we reached the end of the driveway, the lights went on and it pulled out. We went left, and I saw him follow the trucks going to the right. He must have seen Maddie’s plate and followed it. “Who had Maddie’s plate?”

  I looked over at Lucas as he answered, “Daniel.” I couldn't help but laugh. God, I hoped Daniel got a hold of him. There was no way Josh was walking away from that brick wall with anything less than broken limbs.

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  Maddison

  I must have fallen asleep on Morgan’s bed because the last thing I remembered was him holding me close while we lay there. The next thing I knew, it was dark and Morgan was putting me in the cab of my truck. I opened my eyes and looked up at him when he brushed a hair off my face and I nodded when he told me I needed to lay down. I could do this. I wasn’t about to let everyone down.

  When Lucas gave the signal to go, it was a couple of minutes before it was our turn. The wait to find out if we were in the clear or not was killing me. I just wanted to be as far away from him as I could get. When Morgan looked over at Lucas to find out who had my plates, he seemed happy that it was Daniel. One day, I would see why. Morgan reached back and took my hand. I laced my fingers with his and closed my eyes again. When Morgan’s phone rang, he answered it.

  “Yeah?” He was quiet for a few minutes. “All right, thanks. You did good. Thank them all for me and tell them I am adding a bonus for this tour.” He hung up and turned to look at Lucas. “Daniel got him. Cops are with him now. They are keeping him overnight and will call you when they release him which should give us plenty of time to get away. Even if we head to the nearest airport and fly across the country.”

  “That’s an idea.” Morgan said as he turned and looked at me. "Maddie? What do you wanna do? Keep driving or leave your truck and have someone come get it and we fly out tonight?” I looked up at Morgan and thought about it for a minute. If we kept driving, then we could put some distance between us sure, but he could easily catch us with a flight. If we flew somewhere, we could get away before his flight even took off.

  “Let’s go to the airport and fly somewhere. We can put more distance between us that he will need to cover then." I sat up and took out my phone. Finding the number of one of my mates who lived up here, I dialled and waited for him to pick up. "Hey, Chris. I am sorry to call you like this, but I need a favour. If I leave my truck at the airport, would you be able to go pick it up for me?"

  "Yeah, babe. Anything for you. You know that. Everything okay?"

  "Not really but you need to know something… You may get a visit from Josh. He seems pretty hell-bent on finding me."

  "Don't you worry about that, I will take care of him! You just look after yourself." I couldn’t help but smile at Chris’ protectiveness. He had always hated Josh and was glad when I broke it off.

  "Thanks honey. I’ll let you know where I park it. It's got new plates, so I will send you that info too." I replied.

  "Maddie?"

  "Yeah?"

  "You're safe, aren't you?"

  I looked in the front at Morgan before I answered. "Yeah, I am. Never been safer in my life. Talk soon, yeah?"

  He said goodbye and we hung up. Letting out a breath, I sat back in the seat, occasionally giving Lucas directions when he needed them. I pulled up the app on my phone and started looking for a flight out of here. Deciding on Tasmania, I booked the flights. There would be a stopover in Melbourne overnight, so I booked us a hotel near the airport so we could sleep before heading to Tasmania. If Josh came after me, he would have to stop over in Melbourne just like we would, so once we got wind of it, we could be flying back while he was in the air.

  Once that was taken care of, I sat back and took another deep breath. After about an hour later, we arrived at the airport in Brisbane. Hearing my phone go off, I looked down and saw Chris’s number. “Hello?”

  “Park in the pickup point out front. Look for me. I’m halfway down the line.”

  “Thanks babe.” I said, hanging up on Chris. “Don’t park in the parking lot. Head for the drop-off and pickup zones. Slow about halfway down until I tell you to stop. We will be jumping out there and someone is gonna take this from there.” Lucas nodded and followed my directions, driving slowly down the line. “Right here.” He stopped when I spoke, and I got out of the back. We grabbed our bags, and I moved to hug Chris. “Thank you so much this. I owe you.”

  “Don’t mention it. You okay?” I nodded not really sure how else to answer that question. He hugged me again and I squeezed him gently before letting him go. “I’ll let you know if I hear anything Maddie. Please don’t worry gorgeous.”

  “Thanks Chris. For everything. I’ll be in touch about my truck. I will have someone take it back to my place.”

  “I’m headed that way soon, so if you need me to, I can drive it down and have Jessica pick me up from there.” I hugged him tight again.

  “Have I told you how much I love you?” He laughed and nodded.

  “You have. Now go. Get out of here and as far away from him as you can.” He noticed Morgan and Lucas talking to each other. I watched as Morgan turned and looked at us. Moving to take Morgan’s hand in mine. “If anything happens to Maddie, Josh will be the least of your worries.”

  Morgan reached out and shook Chris’s hand. “You have my word she is safe with us.”

  Chris nodded, took the keys, and kissed my cheek. “Safe flight, gorgeous. Call if you need me.”

  I nodded and waved to him as he jumped in my truck and pulled away. Looking at Morgan, I smiled. “Let’s get out of here.” We only had carry-on luggage, so once we checked in and got our gate number, the three of us headed through security and made our way toward the gate. We didn’t have a long wait until our boarding, but it was still a wait, and I wasn’t the most patient of people, so killing time, I left Morgan to go and get some coffee.

  After I ordered my coffee, I looked back at Morgan and Lucas. They were having an intense discussion about something because Morgan had the same frown he had been wearing all morning. I couldn’t help but think about how I had put that there. When he turned and looked at me, his face softened, and he gave me a smile. I shook my head and turned back to the barista who had my coffee ready. I smiled and took it and added my sugars. Lucas walked away as I got closer to them. Raising a brow at Morgan, I asked, “Something I said?”

  He placed his hand on my back and rubbed his hand along my spine. “Nothin’ like that, da
rlin’. He’s just going to check the place out and make sure we don’t have any complications ridin’ with us.”

  A voice behind us said, “Yeah, that could be bad.”

  Morgan whipped around and breathed a sigh. “Jesus Christ, Daniel!” Morgan laughed lightly and shook his head. I looked over at Daniel, and he winked at me. I felt the heat rush to my cheeks as I took him in. Now I saw what Morgan meant about wishing Daniel got a hold of Josh. He was built like a brick shithouse! That was putting it mildly, though. Before me stood a 6 ft 3, 265 pound tank. How Josh ever thought that was me made me question just how bright he really was. I took a drink of my coffee.

  “So where we headed, boss?” asked Daniel.

  I looked up, and he was looking at me. I swallowed my mouthful of coffee. “Why are you asking me that question?” I took another mouthful of coffee and damn near choked on it when Daniel replied.

  “Because you have his balls now!” I bent over, coughing and laughing at the same time while Morgan just glared at Daniel.

  “You, Daniel, are going home with all the other guys.”

  “And miss out on the fun? Come on, M. Don’t be hatin’ on me like that. I promise to try not to hit on Maddie.” I lost it all over again, and Morgan pulled me closer to him and growled. He actually growled at him. I composed myself, or at least, I tried to and looked at Morgan.

  “Lucas will need the help, babe. He can’t post guard duty twenty-four hours a day. He will need to sleep. At least Daniel can take over while he sleeps.” Morgan looked from me to Daniel and back to me. He nodded and pressed his lips to my temple. Turning to Daniel he narrowed his eyes.

  “Make me regret this and you will be on the first plane home and looking for a new job.” Daniel held his hands up and gave him a cheeky grin. Lucas came back and slapped a ticket into his chest with a grin.

  “Better change that booking then, hadn’t I?” I pulled out my phone and wrote a quick email to both places I had booked. Once I was done, I looked up to find them all looking at me. “What?”

  Morgan brushed a hair from my face. “Maddie? Whose name did you put those bookings under?”

  I gave them a sly grin. “I may have used my imaginary friend from when I was five’s name...” They all burst out laughing. Lucas gave me a high five and said.

  “Already one of us I see.”

  I laid my head on Morgan’s chest and drank some more of my coffee, hoping to get rid of the tiredness that had been pulling at me since the truck. I knew once we were in the air, I would be out until Melbourne, and then I would probably crash again when I got to the hotel. Morgan began to rub my back again as we stood there. Finishing off my coffee, I let out a sigh of relief when they started to board the flight to Melbourne. Tossing my coffee cup in the trash, I went to pick my bag up, but Daniel already had it and he and Lucas were walking off. “Well, okay then.”

  Morgan chuckled. “That’s gonna happen a lot, darlin’. These boys are good guys.”

  I kissed his cheek. “I don’t doubt that, babe.” We started to make our way toward the plane and scanned our tickets before making our way onto the plane. Lucas made sure he was at the front of the plane while Dano made himself hidden, which was amazing in itself, at the back of the plane. Morgan and I took our seats in the middle. Stealing the window seat, I made myself comfy. Once I had my belt on, I rested my head against Morgan’s shoulder and tried to hide a yawn.

  “I heard that.”

  I snorted. “You’re right next to me. There was no hiding that one.” I curled into him more. “Thank you, Morgan. For everything you have done.” I felt his lips against my temple again before he rested his head against mine.

  “No need to thank me, Maddie. I wouldn’t have it any other way. You’ll always be safe as long as I am around.” I nodded and moved my hand to rest on his thigh.

  “So forever, then?” I asked as he trailed his fingers softly along my arm. I could already feel myself beginning to drift off to sleep.

  “Forever, Maddie, and then some. Sleep well, darlin'.”

  I mumbled something incoherently to him as sleep pulled me under. He just chuckled and kept me close. God help me, I was addicted already. This fall was going to hurt like hell when it ended…

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  Maddison

  I slept the whole way to Melbourne. Morgan woke me up when we landed, and everyone had already gotten off the flight. We made our way to the hotel I had booked, and most of us crashed. Daniel had first watch so Lucas could get some sleep. I didn’t realise how tired I was, but I’d slept right through the night and didn't wake until my alarm went off the next morning. Reaching out, I looked for Morgan, who had been laying right behind me when I fell asleep. I sat up and ran my fingers through my hair. Pulling back the covers and getting out of bed, I quickly brushed my teeth and moved through the hotel room. Where was Morgan? Was I restless last night, and he decided to sleep in with the boys? I was about to move to the balcony to see if he was out there when the door to the suite opened and he walked into the room. Letting out a sigh of relief, I moved to him and wrapped my arms around him.

  “You okay, darlin’?”

  I nodded gently and closed my eyes, muttering softly under my breath. “I’m not a fan of waking up without you in my bed.” I didn’t realise until the words had left my mouth how scary that fact was. I had gone months without needing someone beside me at night. There were times in my relationship with Josh when I couldn’t sleep next to him, so I would stay at my house while he slept at his. Did a part of me know he wouldn’t be the one who would be sleeping next to me for the rest of my life? I pulled back and looked up at Morgan.

  “Sorry, darlin’. Thought you could do with one of these.” It was then I saw he had coffee. Kissing him softly, I couldn’t help the grin.

  “Hey! You remembered!”

  “Of course I did, darlin’. I like my balls attached.” He chuckled and kissed me again softly after I took my coffee. I took a sip of my coffee and let out a soft moan. God, that was good. I felt my body relax completely as his hands slid down my side and moved to rest on my back and I leant into him again.

  “How are the boys?”

  “Givin’ each other hell which is normal for them. If they aren’t pissin’ each other off, then they’re sleeping.” I was glad I’d waited to take a drink from my coffee cup until he’d answered, or it would have been coming out of my nose when I laughed at that. I let out a squeal when he moved his hand to my ass and slapped it softly.

  “Go get ready. We need to head off if we are making this flight.” I narrowed my eyes playfully at him, and he flashed me that smirk. Fuck. That was gonna floor me for a long time to come.

  “Well, guess who's not joining me in the shower then?”

  He groaned and pulled me close to him. “Keep that up, darlin’, and we will be missing our flight.”

  I leaned in to kiss him but pulled away quickly and ran to the bedroom. I heard his groan as I shut the door and moved to my bag. Pulling out a clean pair of jeans and shirt, my body wash and loofah, I moved to the shower after downing the last of my coffee and tossing the takeaway cup in the trash. Turning on the shower and letting the steam build up as I got undressed, I stepped in and let out a soft groan when the hot water washed over me. After a good night's sleep, this was exactly what I needed. I let the water relax me for a few minutes before I started to wash up. Without thinking, I began to hum a song that had popped into my head. Turning off the hot water after I was clean, I grabbed the towel and dried off. Momentarily forgetting where I was, my humming had now turned to singing ‘Flashlight’ by Jessie J as I got dressed.

  Pulling open the bedroom door and seeing Morgan, Daniel, and Lucas all sitting there staring at me, I frowned. “What is it?” They looked at each other, and I swear if this had been a cartoon, their jaws would be on the floor as they looked at me. Looking down at myself, I looked back up at them.