Love Me for Me

Chapter Twenty Three

CARTER’S POV

“they know where he is now”

I stared at my phone in shock, unable to realize what I just read. I reread the text before it sunk in- Niall was caught; he isn’t safe anymore. I looked up from my phone and saw him paying for the ring. I walked quickly over to him and smacked his arm, motioning towards the door so we could leave. “Dude, we need to go… now.” I said, making it obvious we needed to get back to the apartment.

“Alright, give me a minute.” he said, putting his wallet in his pocket. I grabbed the bag with the ring in it and started walking towards the door.

“No- it’s an emergency.” I said, staring at him. “We need to get back to the apartment.”

Niall looked over at my friend and sighed, walking towards me. “Alright. Is everything okay?” he asked. I grabbed his wrist and pulled him out of the store. Once I heard the front door close, I pulled out my phone.

“You know how you said no one would call you so you left your phone at the apartment?” Niall nodded and looked at me confused and I was speed walking down the sidewalk.

“Yeah; so?” I handed him the phone so he could read the message.

“Well you were wrong.”

His mouth fell in shock and his eyes widened. “Oh my God.” he said softly. “We need to get back!” he said. I nodded and we both practically started running.

As soon as we got into the lobby we slowed down and got into the elevator to go up to our room. Niall whipped open the door and ran over to his phone, unplugging it and walking towards me. “No, no, no.” he said to himself. “This isn’t happening.” I closed the door and walked closer to him.

“What did he say?” I asked. Niall looked away from his phone, handing it over to me. I looked at saw that he had 4 missed calls- all from Zayn- and 5 messages from him:

“niall! call me when you see this it’s an emergency!!!!!”

“niall please answer! paul knows the truth I need to talk to you!”

“why aren’t you answering your phone?!”

“dude if you don’t answer they’re going to find you please pick up!”

“i need you to call me! paul knows you’re in the states and he’s planning on going there to get you. if you don’t answer I’m calling carter” I shook my head in disbelief. Niall was really caught and is in a lot of trouble.

“You should call Zayn.” I said, tossing the phone back to Niall. He caught it and nodded, dialing the number. He put it on speaker phone and we both waited for the phone to pick up.

“Niall!” we heard Zayn say on the other side. “Why didn’t you answer any of my calls or messages?!” Zayn practically yelled into the phone. I guess since the secret was out there was no point of whispering.

“It’s a long story.” Niall said, calmly but quickly. “But you need to explain to me what happened? How did management find out?”

Zayn took a deep breath as I sat on the couch next to Niall. “I don’t know, okay? I was sitting in my bedroom when Paul stormed into my room and started yelling at me because I knew where you’ve been and how I should’ve told him. The second he left I started calling you.”

Niall looked out the window, thinking about something. “Where are they now? What are they doing?” I asked, leaning into the phone to speak.

“Right now they’re busy trying to book a plane to go get Niall. And trust me when I tell you that they’re furious is an understatement. They are on the warpath looking for you, Niall.” I looked over to him and swallowed hard, hoping he had a plan.