Generally, sitting around and waiting made Luke's anxiety worse. He hated having nothing to do, it often filled his head with the most horrible thoughts anyone could think of.

Sitting in the cab of the musty RV, there was only one thing on his mind—seeing Ashton. Unfortunately the man wasn't there, he'd discovered after a quick check. No one was there.

He had no idea what Michael had in store for them, but he knew he couldn't wait to see the brunette again. He knew that together, they'd be able to get through anything.

A noise at the door disrupted his thoughts. It sounded like someone was trying to smash through it, but it was locked. There was a bit of muffled cursing before Luke heard the click of a lock and a loud, "DID YA MISS ME, BABY?" as Michael climbed the stairs of the RV. He held his arms out wide, like he was expecting a hug.

He looked...normal. He was wearing black skinny jeans and a button down, his bleach blonde hair wildly out of control. He could have been coming home from the bar on any random day two years ago, and the scene would look no different. It was confusing.

Luke was instantly conflicted. His body couldn't make up its mind about fight or flight. He had the training knowledge if he needed it to get away from Michael. He didn't think Michael knew about that, but his mind also remembered the months of torture this man had put him through and it wanted OUT as soon as possible.

"I asked if you missed me, Lukey-Lu!" He walked closer, the door shutting automatically behind him. "You did a really great job of listening, baby, I was a bit concerned that I'd need to punish you," he pouted, speaking when Luke didn't. He couldn't form a sentence.

There were a few seating areas on the RV. The drivers seat was up front, where Michael had just passed. Two arm chairs sat across from each other, and Luke was sitting on the small bed that stretched across the back of the bus. There was also a small table with two little benches underneath, connected to the wall of the RV.

Michael sat down on the edge of bed near Luke and tried to put his arm around him. Luke shifted away, starting to bring his hands up. Joe always told him to keep his hands near where the target was, whether that be a person or a weapon. They needed to be close.

"Come on, Lukey. I got rid of all the distractions. We can pick back up from a year ago and finally be together!" He shrilled, bouncing on the bed and moving closer to Luke. Luke frowned.

He should have expected that's what Michael would want, but it was also hard to process the fact that he was actually back. Standing in front of him. Asking him to get back together...well, more like telling him.

"No, I'm already in a relationship, and you were horrible to me when we dated. I'm not going back to that."

Michael sighed happily.

"Ah, there's that wit and charm I remember. It'll be okay, Lukey, you'll fall back into place soon enough and everything will be right again." Michael tried to take his hand, but Luke snatched it away and stood up.

"No, Michael. We're over. We aren't going to date, we're not together. I have a real boyfriend who treats me right, who loves me for who I am, and trusts me."

The bleach blonde pursed his lips.

"Yes, I do think I fit all those boxes," he grinned manically. "I am the perfect boyfriend—no, fiance. Thanks for the kind words, baby!" he grinned.

He was either trying really hard, was stupid, or was actually insane. Luke wasn't sure which. It could be a combination of all of them.

"Cut the shit, Michael. You had to know I wasn't going to go along with this. Now, I did what you asked, so you need to let Ashton go now,"

Michael let out a small chuckle that turned into full-blown hysterical laughter.

"Aww, baby, that's so cute. But no, I'm not letting him go."

Luke felt the words getting caught in his throat.

"Let him go...let him go, and you can have me," He offered. He would gladly be treated like shit if it meant Ashton could go free. Ashton gave up so much for him daily, he could do the same thing in return.

"Oh, I know I can have you," Michael glared, standing up and walking in front of Luke. "I can have it all," the green haired man tried to grab him, but Luke ducked around his sloppy movements and ended up behind him. Michael turned around to face him, unimpressed, leaning against the table and watching Luke who was standing on high alert.

"Why don't you just take me to Ashton, let me see him, and then the two of us can go wherever you want and he can go back home,"

Michael smirked.

"How about I just kill him and take you with me?" Luke gasped. "Seems like less trouble to me,"

"You promised if I listened to your orders, you'd let him go."

Michael scrunched his eyebrows in confusion.

"I don't believe I ever said I'd let him go. I said if you didn't listen, you'd never see him again." Luke tried to speak, but Michael kept going. "Never said what would happen if you did listen. You actually believed me? I no longer need to keep up false pretenses about our relationship. Once we leave here, I can do whatever...I...want."

Luke opened his mouth, but promptly shut it. He had been too excited at the prospect of seeing Ashton again that he didn't even think about the fact that Michael might not be telling the truth.

He was trying to figure out what to say when the front door opened again.

Niall appeared in view, and Luke almost jumped for joy. He must have seen Luke leave when he was supposed to come over earlier and followed them. He was going to have help subduing Michael. Maybe Niall had his phone on him and they could call the cops.

"Niall! Thank god," Luke breathed a sigh of relief. "We've gotta—"

But Niall crossed the room, walking over to Michael and giving him a fist bump.

"Wha..." he trailed off. "I don't... I don't understand?"

Michael laughed, putting his arm around Niall's shoulders as both men stood watching the trembling blonde.

"Oh, silly little Lukey." Niall tsked, shaking his head. "It must be so hard to learn the world doesn't revolve around you, huh? When you've got literally every one of our friends at your beck and call? When they care about you more than any other person? Literally all of them."

Michael pouted sympathetically at his friend.

"Poor Nialler was left alone in the dust because of you, Luke. Just another way your selfishness hurt people,"

"I-I don't know what you're talking about," he stammered. His mind was reeling. This whole time, Luke thought Niall was his friend. Now it seemed he was scheming against him?

"It's simple, Luke," Niall rolled his eyes. "You kept getting all the attention. You had Michael all to yourself, and still saught after Ashton, and then you got him. You had Harry drooling over you, and then Louis too once they became a thing." Niall shook his head. He was starting to get angry, Luke could tell by his drawn eyebrows and the harsh set of his jaw. "And then, Calum." His voice cracked.

Niall took a shuddering breath and Michael drew him closer.

"Hey, it's all right, mate. Take your time," he mumbled.

He nodded after a few moments.

"It's okay, thanks." Michael let him go and they both looked at Luke. "You even took Calum from me. You'd already had all of our friends obsessed with you, and then you just had to go and steal my Cal away."

Something clicked in Luke's mind.

"You like him,"

Niall scoffed.

"I more than like him, I'm in love with him. And you just waltzed into our lives and grabbed his attention. I never even had a chance," he seethed.

"Until now," Michael said giddily, wiggling his fingers together.

"Correct, Michael. Until now." Niall took a step towards Luke, who backed up until he knocked into the bed and fell. He didn't stay down, instead rolling over the side of the bed and popping back up a couple feet from Niall. Unfortunately there wasn't a lot of space in this small RV. Luke was only grateful he could stand. Niall looked slightly impressed by his agility, but quickly changed his expression to that terrifying smirk. "Now, we have a plan."

Luke kept looking back and forth between his two attackers. He had some training on what to do if you're met with two people in an unsafe situation, and the best chance he had was making it out of the room. There was one exit, and no windows that seemed big enough to climb out of. He looked up. No hatch in the ceiling. That meant the door was his only way to escape. If he could push them off of him and then run out, he would likely succeed.

"And what plan would that be?" Michael asked Niall knowingly.

"Well, my dear Michael," Niall took a step closer to Luke. "Now that Ashton is out of the way, you have your shot with Lukey,"

"And with my baby out of the way, you get your friends back, and more importantly, Calum."

They grinned at each other before turning on Luke.

"You know this is crazy, right?" Luke tried to reason, side stepping towards the door. "Just because you kidnapped Ashton doesn't mean I'm willingly going to go with you, you know that?"

Michael shrugged.

"Who said it had to be willingly?" He charged the smaller blonde, raising his arms up to grab him. Luke got into stance and kicked squarely into Michael's chest. The blonde haired man groaned as the air was knocked from his chest and he crashed into the table. Niall looked at him in shock.

"Damn it, Luke. If you were just good, we could have had much better circumstances!"

Michael struggled to get up, using the table to support himself while Niall inched around the edge, attempting to get behind Luke. He kept his eye on both men, but pivoted his body so his back stayed to a wall and both of them were in front of him. His hands were balled into fists by his cheeks.

Niall hesitantly moved forward, also keeping his hands up to protect himself from an attack from Luke. Should he attack Niall or wait for Niall to attack him? He kept making his way toward the door, then the Irish man struck.

Luke focused on Niall, swatting a couple of the blonde's punches while firing a couple of his own. He was doing good fending him off, even getting a couple kicks in, but while his back was turned, Michael approached from behind, grabbing Luke around his elbows.

Luke dropped his weight so he was squatting and attempted to break through by bringing his elbows back to hit Michael in the gut, but before he could break free, Niall came around with some rope and threw it around his arms, pinning them to his side.

"You won't get away with this," Luke seethed once he was properly wrapped up and sat on the bed while the other two got their things together.

"I'm afraid we already did. Your precious Ash is as good as gone, and he's in awful shape." Michael gloated.

Luke tried not to let emotion show on his face, but couldn't help the panicked look at the thought of his boyfriend.

"Ohh, that's upsetting to you?" Niall taunted, leaning against the bed. "Why don't we show him some of the pictures we took?"

Michael grinned that sick grin that twisted Luke's stomach. "Yeah, we had some fun with your little boy toy," He pulled his phone out of his pocket and pulled up some images.

The first few featured Ashton tied up in a similar position that Luke was in, and the next ones got a bit worse where he had clearly been beaten up. Luke closed his eyes and let a tear slip.

"Aww, that got you a bit emotional?" Michael put the phone away and wiped the tear from his eyes. Luke jerked away, opening his eyes and glaring. Michael sneered. "You know you're not to pull away from me, Luke. You need to remember the rules, baby,"

"Don't call me that. I'm not your baby, I never was. Let me go,"

"Yeah, I don't think so. After all this trouble I went through?" He laughed. "Now, we have to leave. Are you going to cooperate or do we need to make sure you will?" Michael tipped his face up so he could look at his lover. Luke tried to bite the fingers as they came close to his mouth.

Michael shook his head.

"I warned you," He went over to the drawer in the kitchen and pulled out a black bottle and a rag. He poured a bit of the liquid onto the blue fabric and brought it up to Luke's nose, keeping his own breath held, just in case. "Chloroform," he told the already slipping boy. "To make sure you don't make a fuss. You ready, Niall?" Michael asked, throwing him the keys.

"Let's go, boys."

***

Thoughts on Niall? Did anyone guess it? If you go back and see the chapters Niall is in, he's constantly being talked over, ignored. At the end of book 1, he gets all weird at how cute Ashton and Luke are. It was planned all along lol 🧐

Hope you're doing well my loves! Keep voting and commenting, it makes my day ❤️

~ashtonfortherwin