Luke woke up with a pounding headache. He couldn't keep his eyes open, the bright light from above him forcing him to squeeze them shut.

He could hear a whirring sound, almost like a motor and feel the fact that he was gently being rocked. Was he in a car? He was lying halfway back, like the chair he was in was a recliner or something.

    He moaned as his eyes fluttered open, not focusing on anything. He blinked a few times, raising his hands to wipe the crust off his eyes, only to find his hands were stuck.

    Trapped, again, he thought solemnly, looking down to find the rope tied around his body.

Luke was still reeling over the fact that Niall had been helping Michael. Had they always been in cahoots? Was it recent? Did Niall ever want to be his friend, or was it a ploy the whole time?

He struggled in his binds to see if there was something loose that he could get out of, but the ropes held. They were biting into his wrists and ankles, rubbing the skin raw. He figured he might be bleeding if they didn't let him out of here soon. He was facing a wall, he couldn't see much around him.

"Oh, I see you're awake, baby," came a voice from behind him.

He couldn't see him, but he recognized Michael's voice.

"Mike, you gotta let me go," he told him. Maybe speaking confidently would help him realize this plan was insane.

"Hm," Michael paused to consider. "Nah."

Luke shook his head.

"What I need you to do though, is call up your buddy Calum. Tell him you've got a lead on where Ashton is, and you need him to meet us at this address," Michael rotated the chair he was sitting in and held a paper up in front of his face. Luke flinched, not realizing he was that close.

"Why?"

Michael sighed.

"You don't need to know why, you just need to listen to me, Luke. Do as I say and this can go much easier," he threatened, lowering his voice and bringing his face close to Luke's. The blonde did his best not to flinch away.

"F-fine, I'll make the call."

Michael stood up straight and grinned.

"Thanks, baby, I knew I could count on you!"

"Untie me, and then I'll call him." Luke tried to remain innocent. If he could get out, he could try to overwhelm Michael again.

Michael laughed, hugging his stomach as he cackled on for a long time.

"You don't need your arms. I don't trust you not to fight back. You've learned some new moves since I've been gone, very tricky. I wasn't anticipating that, Lu, that was impressive." He shook his head, messing up his hair even more than before. "I'm not falling for that again. I'll hold the phone for you."

Luke sighed. His wrists were getting sore from the rope, and his arms were numb from being in the same spot for a long time. He couldn't feel one of his feet, and knew the circulation was cut off. He was tied very tight. They were scared of him, he realized.

He looked down at his left hand, realizing Michael had put the engagement ring back on.

"Here, it's dialing. I swear if you act even the slightest bit suspicious, your precious Ashton will be gone."

Luke felt like he wanted to throw up, but he had no time to panic before Michael was thrusting the phone to his ear. The speaker played the ring until the other end was picked up.

"Hey, Lukey, how's it going?" Calum greeted cheerfully. Help me, Calum, please. Luke pleaded in his mind.

"Oh, it's g-good," he looked at Michael who was staring angrily at him, but he didn't react. "Uhm,"

"Niall said you were doing much better today. He said he spent the night at yours,"

Michael nodded, telling him to go along with that.

"Oh yeah, he's b-been with me for a while, I feel much better now."

"I'm so glad. What was it that finally connected? Why did you make such a 180?"

Michael made a face, mouthing 'blah blah' as Calum spoke and gave Luke the "wrap it up" sign.

"Well, actually, I uh have some news. I think I have a lead on where Ashton is."

"What?! Really? That's great!"

"Yeah. So uhm, you wanna meet me and h-help me look?"

Calum was silent for a moment.

"Where are you?"

Luke looked at Michael in panic. He didn't know what to say. Michael quickly turned the phone on mute.

"Tell him you're at your apartment and you're in the bathroom."

Before Luke could ask for clarification, Calum was calling his name.

"S-sorry, M-Calum, I was uh, using the toilet. Put you on mute." Luke cleared his throat as Michael glared at him.

He covered the phone and mouthed "Get it together," Luke nodded rapidly.

"Uh, so, anyway yeah, I'm home, but I figured we could meet up at the place and go from there?" Calum didn't skip a beat in his reply.

"All right, sure. Text me the address."

Luke looked at his captor to make sure that was all right, but Michael nodded so Luke agreed.

"See you soon, buddy!" Calum said brightly. He hung up, which made Luke deflate. He was trying to figure out a way to clue Calum in that he was being kidnapped, but he wasn't clear and now Calum was going to end up in the same fate as him.

The curtain separating the front of the bus from the back where Luke and Michael sat was flung open, revealing Niall. He walked towards them.

"Morning, Mikey!"

"Hi, Ni. We just talked to Cally,"

Niall's eyes lit up at the mention of his love.

"How was he? Did he ask about me? How does he sound?"

"He had to get off pretty quick, Ni, you'll get to see him soon!" Michael informed him. He nodded, sitting down in the chair across from Luke.

Luke couldn't hide the look of disgust crossing his face as he watched Niall happily sigh, caught up in his head about getting Calum back. When Niall saw him, he rolled his eyes.

"Like you wouldn't be excited to see Ashton again,"

"I would, but I wouldn't need to trick him and kidnap someone to do it," Luke couldn't resist the jab.

The Irish man scoffed.

"Don't judge. I did what I had to, he wouldn't pay attention to me with you in the way,"

Michael shook his head, patting the seat next to him and gesturing for Niall to join him. He did, crossing the bus and allowing Michael to put his arm around him.

Niall looked to Luke and began explaining.

"Ever since I met you, you had taken the attention away from everyone in my life." Niall shook his head. "I was so close to Calum starting to grow an interest in me, and then you walked in and took him."

"Calum never liked me, Niall." In fact, when they first met, Luke had thought they were a couple. That felt like ages ago.

"I know, obviously you're not his type," Luke resisted the urge to scoff. That wasn't what this was about. "But with you around, he wanted to hang out with you, see you, visit your bar, and he hardly had time for me anymore. Even a couple of weeks ago when we went to dinner, Calum met and drove with you, not me."

"Well, that was different, it was--"

"Shut up, whore, he didn't tell you you could speak," Michael snapped, flicking his ear harshly. Luke closed his mouth. "Continue on, hon," Michael spoke kindly to his accomplice.

"Thanks." He cleared his throat. "So with Calum obsessing over you, Ashton literally kissing your ass at all moments of the day, Harry and Louis caught up in your drama, it left me alone, without the love of my life and my friends."

"I'm so sorry you felt that way," Luke shook his head. He knew it wasn't his fault and Niall was just jealous, but he felt sorry at the fact that the boy harbored those feelings instead of trying to do something about it. "I never meant to make you upset or feel left out."

"But you did, Luke. This is what I'm talking about," Michael scolded. "Your actions, all of the things you did hurt people whether you meant to or not. All of your lying, your faithlessness with me, it hurt our friends. That's why I was so hard on you, baby. I wanted you to learn that you can't do things like that."

Luke knew this was fucked up. Everything they were saying to him was crazy, they were crazy. But if he tried to follow their logic, it made sense why they did what they did, even if it was insane. It made him sad for them.

"So what's the plan now? You kidnapped me and Ashton, and you're going to take Calum as well? People are going to notice if we're gone, Ashton and I own bars, and Calum is in a show. You can't keep three people hidden for a long time,"

Michael and Niall shared a look before bursting into laughter.

"We're not planning to. We took Ashton so Michael could get you," Niall told him, shifting excitedly in his seat, almost falling off the edge before scooting back. "Because you're his, and he missed you. And we needed you in order to get Calum for me."

"And since I needed you, and Niall needs Calum...that just leaves..." Michael trailed off, catching Luke's eye. The blonde gasped.

"No, Michael, you can't do anything to him. I swear if you just let him go, I'll happily be with you, please," Ashton Ashton Ashton, he couldn't get hurt.

"Baby, relax," Michael ran his thumb over Luke's cheek. He forced himself not to react to the disgusting contact. "You know I can't do that. Ashton is the reason all of this went to shit. If it wasn't for him, you'd still be happy with me. As soon as he showed up, I could tell you were interested in him, he's the reason you got all those ideas in your head,"

Luke hung his head.

"It's true, when I first saw Ashton, I was a bit attracted to him."

"I knew it!" Michael cheered.

"But I never ever did anything about it. I was constantly reminding myself that I was dating you, that I loved you, still love you, I mean," Luke corrected when Michael's eyes flashed dark. "But I never acted on anything. I knew that would be wrong, I couldn't do that to you, and I never did. I forgot about him after a while, but you started treating me so poorly that other people started catching on. It was too hard to hide."

Michael shook his head, not wanting to believe that he did anything wrong.

"It was you who drove me to someone else. If you had just complimented me once in a while, appreciated the things I did for you, not put me down all the time, maybe we still could have been happy." Luke shrugged. He had been treated so unfairly, it wasn't all Luke's fault.

"We will be happy, Lukey. I'm going to ensure it. We're going to escape this city, this country even, and move someplace else. Niall helped me take some of the meds from the psych hospital and I'm going to dose you up with all sorts of things that'll make you easier to control. No one will think anything of the ramblings of a crazy man, but they'll admire me for staying with you after your "unfortunate accident"," he fake-pouted.

Luke couldn't react to this plan. They truly had thought everything through. Luke really hoped Calum would be able to help him, or else they were all screwed.

Michael looked at Luke's phone.

"Oh goody, Cally should be at the place soon, and so shall we. Ni, did you take Ashton where we talked about?" Michael asked his friend.

Niall nodded.

"Yeah, he's in--" Niall leaned close to Michael to whisper Ashton's location. Luke strained to hear anything, but only caught part of it. Store? Soaring? It was something like that, but it didn't make sense.

"Good, good. This is all shaping up to be perfect!"

"I'm going to go prepare for his arrival," Niall stood up and patted Luke's head. "Be good for Mikey, okay? I know you can be happy if you just obey, just like me and my Calum will be," He smiled before walking into the little room in the back of the bus that was separated by a curtain.

"Michael, please," Luke begged. He tried pulling at his restraints again. "Please, just think about how crazy this is, you'll never get away with it,"

"Yes, we will. We already have," Michael stood up, walking to the front of the bus, which Luke realized was moving. If Niall and Michael were both with him in the back of the bus, who was driving?

"Wyatt, how's it going, mate?"

"We're about six hours out from location B, only twenty for the meetup spot," the man, Wyatt said. Luke didn't recognize his voice, but why did something seem familiar about him?

    "Are you connecting the dots, baby?" Michael cooed. "Remember the other night when your soon-to-be ex-boyfriend went out with his friend who'd mysteriously appeared one day?"

    Wyatt, that was who Ashton went out with. And that was the same person Liam had been running into.

    "Wyatt here has been helping me for a while. Found out about him back when I thought you and Ashton were secretly seeing each other, which I wasn't too off about,"

    Luke shook his head.

    "I never did anything with him when we were together, Mike--"

    "Doesn't matter," Michael put his hand up. "You already know I don't trust you, so don't bother and let me finish." Luke shut his mouth. He wasn't going to win, anyway. "So I got Wyatt to agree to help me,"

    Luke looked over when Wyatt scoffed, glancing in the rearview mirror before quickly looking back at the road after the glare Michael sent him.

    "Agreed, maybe coerced, it's the same thing. At the end of the day, Wyatt has been a big help." Michael shrugged. "And if he decides he doesn't want to be helpful, we'll tell his wife and baby girl about his little secret," he taunted, smirking over in Wyatt's direction.

    Luke felt bad for the poor man. He was almost shaking in the drivers seat at the thought of Michael telling his wife about what he'd been up to. He felt awful about what he was doing to Ashton, but he couldn't risk his secret getting out. He'd worked too hard.

    "Yes, Lukey, did you know Wyatt here, even though he has a wife and daughter, has been seeing Liam for about a month now?" Luke didn't react. He didn't care about Wyatt's dirty laundry, he just wanted to see Ashton.

    "That's wonderful for him, I know Liam has been geeked about some guy," Luke said flatly. Luke wasn't sure what to do now. How was he going to communicate with Calum? He knew they were arriving soon. What was going to happen to him? And where was Ashton? "Who care—"

    "Mike, we're here," Niall came back into the main section of the bus, tucking a small silver item into his back pocket. Luke's eyes widened when he recognized the shape of a gun.

    "Oh, you saw what Niall has for your precious Ashy?" Michael sniggered. Luke shook his head, tears pouring down his face.

    "Please, you can't. Do whatever you want to me, but don't hurt him, please," he begged. He didn't care how desperate or pathetic he seemed, he just wanted Ashton to remain unharmed.

    "Aw, baby, I'm going to do whatever I want to you," Michael tugged his hair, jerking his head back and making Luke look in his eyes. "I'm just also going to have Niall kill Ashton. It's inevitable. Once you get over him, you'll only have me. Those drugs are going to mess you up, baby. You're going to be dependent on me, and I'll be the only thing you have left," with that sinister promise, he dropped the crying boy and nodded to his partner in crime. "Let's go, we got someone to meet."

    "And something to get rid of," Niall grinned.

    The two walked out, ignoring the cries and pleas of the blonde inside the bus.

"Wyatt, gag him," Michael commanded as he shut the door of the bus.

    The black haired man got up from the seat and looked around for something to quiet the captive.

    "Wyatt, please, you don't have to do this. Ashton would forgive you, you can be gay if you want, it doesn't matter. Can't you see what's happening here?"

    Wyatt sighed.

    "Luke, I'm sorry. I can't cross him. I come from a super conservative family. My dad is the district 5 city counsellor, his entire platform is conservative. Having a gay son would ruin his entire political career. I'm not the only person that my decisions affect."

    "So you're going to let your best friend die because you don't want your daddy to lose his job?" Luke snapped. He probably shouldn't snap at the only person who could help him, but the man was being ridiculous.

    He bit his lip.

    "I don't want him to die...but this would destroy my wife and my daughter. I can't let them live a bad life, even if it means something else has to be sacrificed,"

    "Something that doesn't affect you! Think about what you'd want if you were in my shoes,"

    Wyatt shook his head.

    "Sorry, Luke. I really wish I could help, but I have to listen to him. He's got me in a corner. I can't do anything," Wyatt grabbed a bandana from a drawer and knotted it so he could stick it inside Luke's mouth. He walked closer, expecting Luke to put up a fight, but he only opened his mouth. "You're not protesting?"

    "Nothing I can do if you won't be part of my plan," Luke shrugged. "I want you to be fully aware of what you have to do, of every justification you have to make. I'm not going to make this hard for you. Do what Michael said."

    Wyatt furrowed his brows as he tied the cloth around Luke's mouth. He wouldn't look in the prisoner's eyes, knowing what he'd see in them. Wyatt felt bad, he really did, but it was either his life or Luke's life, and Wyatt knew what he had to pick.

    The bus began rocking back and forth, and Luke looked over at the window in confusion. Something was covering part of it.

    "It's the door to the storage container on the bottom of the bus," Wyatt explained, sounding a bit pained. "They've got some...things there."

    Luke heard rustling as the bus shook before righting itself again. If he strained his neck, he could see out the window a bit.

    It looked like they were in a warehouse or some big building inside. There were harsh overhead lights casting a stark glow over the room. Luke couldn't see anyone, but he heard some voices. Even when he held his breath he couldn't hear what was being said.

    And then there were two gunshots. Luke screamed, even though he didn't know what happened. He felt his breathing speed up, and then dark spots danced in front of his eyes.

    "Luke," He heard Wyatt call, he saw him but it looked like he was speaking from the end of a tunnel. He closed his eyes, feeling really tired.

***

Well. That was a wild ride.

Sorta kinda hate how this book ends :/ I'm not sure about it, but we're almost there! I hope you're enjoying this so far! I've got a new book coming out soon, when this one is done, so I'll have the info about that one uploaded soon!

I hope you're all having a lovely holiday 🥰 I know times are hard right now, so if anyone needs someone to talk to, vent to, or if you just want me to tell you something nice, message me and I'm happy to help in any way possible. I love you all ❤️

~ashtonfortherwin