Fall {Niall Horan} [Book One]

Chapter Eleven.

--The Next Morning--

-Third Person-

Leann woke up the next morning to the sound of knocking on her hotel door. She raked her fingers through her brunette hair, gazing over at the clock on the bedside table. In flashing red numbers, she read '4:30 AM.' She groaned, as she stood up and walked towards the door. She opened it, reveling Liam dressed in basketball shorts and a skin tight Under Armour shirt.

"Hey. You ready?" He asks her, walking into the room.

"Damn it. I forgot, can you give me a minute?" She says, walking over to her bag, pulling out a few articles of clothing. Liam nods, watching her walk into the bathroom. He sat down on the bed and cursed at himself. Liam wasn't one to keep secrets. Especially if that secret is to be hidden from Niall. He hated lying to him, but for Leanns' sake and sanity, he kept it hidden. Leann was like a sister to him now and he would do anything to protect and help her. And in this case, Le needs help. So, last night while the lads were sleeping, he asked Paul of he could take Leann somewhere. Paul, at first, was hesitant about letting them leave, but he trust Liam ans knows he won't do anything stupid. So, he got permission to leave the hotel with Le.

Almost five minutes later, Leann walks out in basketball shorts and a red t-shirt.

"I'm ready now." She says, grabbing her Nikes and pulling her brunette hair up into a messy bun. Liam nods, as they both exit the room.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Leann struck the black punching bag as hard as she could repeatedly. With each punch, she felt weight being lifted off her shoulders. She continued to punch, as the image of Carter took the bags' place. The thought of him made her want to scream. All the words he said and physical abuse her did to her made her want to work harder.

Liam watched Leann, monitoring her on her punches. He made sure she was striking the bag the way he showed her. He watched her face go from relaxed to really angry in less than a minute. He could only imagine what was running through her mind. Liam walked around her, shouting a few encouraging words to her every few minutes. She was doing good for her first time.

"Alright, Le. You can stop now." Liam said, resting his hand on her shoulder. She dropped her hands, bringing them down to her sides. She was breathing hard, sweat trickling down her face. Liam gestured her over to the bench, as they both sat down.

"You did pretty good. Are you sure that was your first time?"

"Yeah," Leann says, as she begins to pull the gloves off of her hands. "How did you learn to box, anyway?"

"Well, when I was younger, I got bullied. So, for self-defense, I had my sisters' boyfriend at the time teach me." He replies, passing Le a bottle of water. She gladly accepts it.

"Why did you want to learn to box again?" Liam asks. She sighs, setting the bottle next to her on the bench. She looked at Liam, catching his questioning gaze. She knew exactly why she wanted to learn.

"Don't tell Ni I told you this, okay?" She states. He nods, crossing his heart.

"When we got off the plane, I saw Carter walking into the airport."

"Wait? Your saying that you saw him get off the plane? You told me yesterday that you think you saw him."

"I thought about it for a minute and it all made sense if why I saw him. He's spying on me."

"So, you wanted me to teach you how to box because if he came near you and attempted to hurt you, you would protect yourself by self-defense?" She nods, taking another drink of water. Liam couldn't believe that she was actually a target to being kidnapped by her crazy ex-boyfriend. Why did Liam and the lads go through all that trouble with dyeing her hair and changing her last name just so Carter could find her?