The President's Daughter (Liam Payne) Book 6

Chapter 45

Liam’s POV

By the time I woke up the next morning, the 5SOS boys were already leaving. I could tell based on the screams from girls outside who caught glimpses of the boys piling into the car to take them to the airport. I didn’t begrudge them that trip. They’d have to get through regular security and deal with possible fans on their plane. It was times like this when I was glad we’d gotten a private plane. Don’t get me wrong, I love our fans. But being mobbed and grabbed at was awful. I used to come out of those encounters with scratches or sometimes even torn clothing. I can’t help but grin as I start imagining how Elodie would’ve dealt with that. She’d probably start cursing up a storm, telling people to back the fuck up and flicking off any camera in sight. My smile disappears as I realize what I’m doing and I silently berate myself for even thinking about her. I wouldn’t be the one running after her this time. I wouldn’t make excuses for her to dismiss her actions. This was just plain selfish and she was going to have to change. I just had to keep her off my mind.  I head out of the hotel to the bus to find Niall haphazardly throwing things in his suitcase, rushing to pack. This was just like Niall, waiting until last minute to finish packing.

“Hey, whats the craic?” he asks, glancing up when he hears me come in.

“Couldn’t sleep,” I answer with a shrug. “What about you? You’re up early.”

“More like haven’t gone to bed yet,” he says stifling a yawn. “Only got back from the party an hour or two ago. Said goodbye to the Aussies and now I’ve got to pack.”

“Christ mate, get some sleep. I’ll finish up for ya,” I tell him.

“Thanks,” he replies, flashing me a grateful smile and standing up. He hesitates before leaving the bus though, turning back to look at me. “Have you talked with Elodie? I heard about her dad…”

“No-” I say stiffly. “She made her choice”

“But did she know-?

“Yes.”

“Oh…” he trails off obviously as confused as I was about how someone could put anything over their family. “Ok. Well… I’m glad you’re coming back home with us…” he offers and I feel my shoulders relax at that.

“Go get some sleep,” I repeat and he gives a nod of his head and leaves the bus.

Packing up Niall’s things is mindless, albeit slightly disgusting, work. Especially when I found a balled up pile of dirty underwear in the corner of his bed. For how clean he looked on the surface, he sure did a great job of hiding what a messy person he actually was. Packing all his stuff did give me a chance for my brain to shut down a bit though and for that I was grateful. By the time I’m finishing up, the others are starting to appear to finish packing the last of their things  also.

“Who’s got my american flag headband?” Harry calls.

“Why would anyone want that?” Louis retorts

“Yea mate, I don’t think you have to worry about anyone stealing those,” Zayn chimes in with a laugh,

“I can’t find it anywhere,” he complains, turning over the pillows and blankets in his bunk.

“What a loss that is,” Louis jokes.  

“Oh stuff it,” Harry replies, grinning so everyone knows he’s kidding.

When Paul and a sleepy looking Niall appear, we know it’s time to go and everything is packed besides the still missing headband.

“Come on boys. We’ve got 3 different flights to catch. We need to get moving,” Paul orders.

“Wait, I thought we were all going back home?” I say. I hadn’t realized I’d be saying goodbye to the boys also.

“Sorry mate. I’m taking Em on a last minute holiday for our anniversary,” Zayn says with a shrug.

“And we are going to help Lauren’s mom pack for the move,” Louis explains.

“Oh…” I say feeling a bit disappointed. Even after spending months on a bus with them, I’d miss not being around them every day.

“Aww are you going to miss us?” Louis teases. But before I can respond, Paul is once again telling us to get moving. Grabbing my backpack, I head out of the bus to the black cars that’d take us there, knowing that others would be in charge of our actual luggage. It was time to go home.

 

Elodie’s POV

“Hey! Finally!” my friend says as I walk into the small trashy apartment. It was only 3pm but the smell of booze and weed could be smelled down the hall.

“Thanks for letting me crash here a while,” I say, dropping my bag in the corner, trying not to look too grossed out as I look around the room. It definitely wasn’t a 5 star hotel room.

“No probs,” she answers, handing me the joint being passed around. “You know Snake, TJ, and Lex. This is MJ, Becky, and Fingers,” she says doing a quick introduction.

“Fingers?” I ask the guy at the end, cocking an eyebrow at him.

“Got it from my liking of the 5 finger discount, but they’re pretty good at other things also,” he says with a sleazy wink. I roll my eyes, ignoring his seedy attempt, and lean against the wall, passing off the joint. Conversations are resumed and I’m only half listening as I watch everyone. This is what I’d been looking forward to coming here for. People who wouldn’t pry into my life, being completely out of my mind all day, and not having to pretend or try to be someone I’m not. And yet I found I wasn’t really feeling this party and wondering if everyone would be here all day. Probably, by the looks of it. At least until it got late enough to hit whatever illegal party it was they would be headed to tonight. But then again, they might be too wasted by that point to move, let alone leave the house. I should probably find a place of my own if I was going to stay here awhile. But at the same time, this was free and I didn’t have a job. And I sure as hell wasn’t going to ask my family for it. If they were even speaking to me...

“So whats the plan for tonight?” I ask.

“We were thinking of hitting up Avenue,”  one of them, I don’t remember their name, says.

“Avenue?” I immediately repeat, raising an eyebrow. “Isn’t that a bit… exclusive?” I ask, eyeing the people around me. They weren’t exactly Avenue material.

“Not with you there,” my friend smirks. I feel a twinge of annoyance at being used to get into a club, yet I let it slide. It was how it worked around here. You use people and they use you back. At least it wasn’t anything illegal.

“We’re going to make a fortune slinging there. Do you know how much those snooty bastards will pay?”

I spoke too soon. Oh well.

“So what do you say?” my friend presses and soon all eyes are on me.

“Yea, whatever,” I shrug. They all grin and resume their conversations again. And that’s essentially how the next three days went. Crashing at my friends, getting drunk or high and then going out at night to the hottest clubs, getting papped both inside and out and winding up on the cover of tabloids. Just like old times.

At least it was. Until one night, while trying to ignore another one of Finger’s lewd attempts for sex, a tap on my shoulder makes me turn around and I lock onto the green eyes of the guy with green hair.

“Do you know how hard it is to find you?”