Learning To Fly (Fated Love Book 1) (17 page)

“Speak.”
 

“I’ve got him. What do you want me to do with him?”
 

“Do what you do best. Make him disappear.”
 

“Done.” I hung up without saying another word and downed my drink. Now comes the fun part...

Packing up my hotel room, I loaded everything into my van and headed over to the hotel where Josh was staying. Parking in a lot near the front of the building, I made sure I could see the entrance clearly, but anyone looking from the upstairs rooms couldn’t see me. Taking one of my cameras, I moved around to the back of the hotel and planted it where no one would look so I had all my angles covered. I wouldn’t put it past him to sneak out another entrance so that hotel staff would think he was still in his room if someone came looking for him. That was good, though because then they wouldn’t see him disappear, either. It was a win-win. Once I was happy with the placement, I moved back to my van and waited for him to come out.

24 hours later…

I looked down at the table where I had all of my toys laid out before me. My hardest job now was picking which one was going to be playing with Josh. Josh had fucked up a few hours ago and left his hotel in plain sight. No trying to disguise himself with a hoodie, beanie, or hat. Not that I was going to complain. Idiots like him made my job easier. The easier my job was, the quicker I could get to the part I really wanted, and the quicker I could get back under my rock and forget this whole job. Could I really forget now that I had seen Maddison again? I had to try. Pulling my van out of its spot, I drove a little way down the road and around the corner that Josh was headed to. Getting out of the van and putting some chloroform onto a cloth, I moved to the corner. When he walked around it, I wrapped my arm around his neck like we were two old friends greeting each other, and I put the cloth against his mouth as I moved backward toward the van. When he was out, I quickly threw him in the back and shut the doors before taking off to my new location on the outskirts of Nevada where no one could hear him scream, and there was no chance of him getting away.

Hearing a small groan coming from the chair, I looked up from what I was doing as Josh started to come too. “Well, hello, sleeping beauty.”
 

Josh opened his eyes, and they went wide upon seeing me. Oh, to be in his head right about now. My lips curled into a smirk. “So, pretty boy. How’s things?”
 

“Drop dead, asshole.”
 

“No, I think I’ll leave that to you.” I saw the flash of fear in his eyes as he tried to work out if I were serious or not. My eyes flicked over to my table of tricks before I looked back at him. His eyes did the same. However, when they landed on the table, he started to struggle against the chains I had wrapped around his wrist. “The more you struggle against them, the tighter they’ll get.”
 

“What do you want?”
 

“Apart from you dead? Nothing.”
 

I moved over toward the table and put on my gloves. Pouring some acid into a smaller container, I moved over toward him and set it down beside him. Pulling a chair closer, I grabbed his hand. “This is for all the years of hurt and pain you’ve caused Maddison.” I didn’t let him speak before putting his hand into the acid. I was burning off his fingerprints, one by one, so they wouldn’t be able to get an ID from them. Letting his hands rest in that as he screamed and cussed me out, I poured some more acid into another dish and did the same to the other hand. Standing back up, I moved back to my table of tricks.
 

Taking a knife from the tools in front of me, I returned to Josh. The pain from the acid burns had made him blackout again, so taking a cup of ice-cold water, I threw it at his face and slapped him back awake. “Oi! Sleeping beauty. This is no fun for me if you aren’t awake.”
 

“Go to hell.”
 

“Not before you, asshole.” Josh glared at me, and all I could do was laugh. Nothing about the little bitch in front of me scared me, so it was a waste. Grabbing a fistful of his hair, I pulled his head backward and made him look up at me. “By the time I am done with you, the devil himself won’t even be able to recognise you. You may be able to beat women around Joshua, but you are shit to me.”
 

Releasing his hair and pushing his head back away from me, I took the knife that was in my hand and drove it into his stomach. “Right, pretty boy. I can make this real easy, or I can make this the hardest moment of your life. Your choice, but you
are
going to tell me who you are working with because I know you aren’t smart enough to do all this on your own.” Josh’s only response was to spit blood at me. Wiping my face as anger coursed through me, I twisted the knife a little to the right. “Wrong answer, asshole. Who's helping you?”
 

“Go to hell!”
 

I twisted the knife again, and he screamed in pain. I pulled the knife out of his torso and drove it into his groin, causing him to howl in pain again. “What about now, pretty boy? Gonna spill the beans now?”
 

“Fuck you!”
 

“I’ll pass thanks.” I pulled the knife out one more time and gripped it with two hands.
 

“Kill me, and you’ll never find out.”
 

“You aren’t saying shit now, so what’s the difference, pretty boy? You’ll be dead, and I will be the one who saved Maddison. You picked the wrong side, asshole. Can’t you be the decent guy for once? Help Maddison before they kill her!” He shook his head and stared up at me.
 

“He promised me if I can’t have her, no one will.”
 

His head slumped forward, and I repositioned the knife. I was losing him. I needed to end this. Crouching down in front of him I asked, “Josh, who is he?”
 

“He’ll kill me if I tell you!”
 

“And I’ll kill you if you don’t. What’s your choice?”
 

He lifted his head and mouthed, “I’ll never tell!” Then he laughed before choking on a mouthful of blood.
 

Grabbing his hair, I pulled his head back and held the knife to his throat. “Goodbye, pretty boy.” As the knife slit his throat, the word uncle gurgled out of his mouth before he slumped in the chair.
 

“Uncle?” I let go of his head, and it hit me. “Fuck!” I crossed the room in quick strides and picked up my phone. Dialing Morgan’s number, he barely had a chance to answer before I screamed, “It’!” Josh was Morgan’s cousin, which meant Morgan’s father was behind it all.
 

“What the hell are you yellin’ for? What’s my father? Pops, can you come here a second?”
 

What happened next happened all too quickly. I heard shots being fired on the other end and Morgan screaming Maddison’s name as the phone dropped, and everything around me went black. Not Maddie. Not my snowflake.
 

To be continued…
 

Lauren Firminger grew up in a small country town only a couple hours away from where she currently resides in Sydney, Australia. 

During high school, Lauren fell in love with books and reading, and like most, was a potter-head then turned Twi-Hard, Vampire Academy soon followed by the Mortal Instruments. 

However, it wasn't until she got her hands on Sylvia Day's Crossfire Series that Lauren fell in love with reading again. Soon after, her new writing journey began, bringing her to her official debut release of Learning to Fly.

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Website:
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First off I want to start by thanking you, my reader! (Eeep. I have readers! Sorry, moving on.. Lol). Thank you for buying a copy of Learning to Fly and hopefully enjoyed reading it as I did writing it. Maddie and Morgan hold a special place for me. They stuck with me and made me see this through until their story was heard. It evolved a long way from my original idea but I couldn’t be happier.
 

To my mum; Thank you for always supporting me in everything I do. I love you. To the moon and back.
 

To my best friend and partner in crime, Rhiannon. You have always been in my corner no matter what. From running around as little kids to all our antics as
 
we got older. You always hear me out when I need to vent and need talking off the ledge. I am sure that will happen for a long time to come yet. Love you chick. Like crazy xx

To my better half, Barbra. I love you. To infinity and beyond. You have been there to kick my ass and get shit done. This book wouldn’t be ready if it weren’t for you. Thank you for everything you do.

To my amazing cover designer Shari for not just this cover but my others as well. Working with you has been a dream. Thank you!

To my beta team, Barb, Emmy and Claire. You have all been there since I first started writing, not just Learning to Fly but all my writing. You encouraged me with Maddie and Morgan’s story. You watched them come to life and told me from the very beginning that I should put this out in the world. Thank you for having my back.

A big thank you to all the authors that I have bugged over the past few months. Thank you for taking the time to answer my questions and help me get to where I need to be. I am eternally grateful. Xxx

Last but not least, to my family and friends. Thank you for all your support and believing that I could do this. MWAH!