Chapter 16

I woke up in Cody's arms, I smiled to myself as I watched him sleep. I reached for my phone, I picked up Cody's instead. I noticed he had a few texts.

Matt: You guys need to get up, we have rehursals for the award show at 8.

??: Just tell her you're going out, she won't know xx

That second one caught my eye. Tell who? Me? Who was it? I put Cody's phone back and carefully got up without waking him. I walked into the bathroom and showered, I dried my hair and put it into a messy ponytail.

I walked out and put on some sweats and a tank top. I figured as we were going to be dancing that would be a good option. I applied some light makeup and then filled a bag with skinny jeans and a shirt I could wear after rehursals.

I noticed Cody woke up, he picked up his phone and sarted texting someone. "Who won't know?" I asked without looking at him. "What?" "You must of read it." "Why did you read it?" "That doesn't matter." "Do you not trust me?" He asked, I turned and looked at him.

"I picked it up thinking it was mine and then I noticed you had texts so I read them, I'm sorry." I appologised. He didn't say anything. "But who won't know?" I added. "That's got nothing to do with you." He said and walked into the bathroom.

I decided to go round to see Alli and Jake. "So you're alive." Jake said as he answered the door. "Yes but in pain." I told him and walked in the room. "What happened to you?" He asked. I explained the story and showed him my bruised stomach.

"Anyway, I came over to ask you something." "What?" "Cody had a text from an unknown number, I read it and I wish I didn't because I'm paranoid now." I confessed. Alli furrowed her eyebrows. "What did it say?" She asked.

"It said 'Just tell her you're going out, she won't know.' Do you think it's about me?" I asked. Alli and Jake looked at each other, they looked worried. "I have no clue." Alli said. "Why did you guys look at each other like that?" I asked suspiciously.

"Did she ever meet his ex?" Jake asked Alli. "No, sh-" "Carrie?" I asked. They both looked at me in shock. "What? Do you think it's her." "She's following the tour, she's got a ticket to a show in each place." Alli told me.

I started to worry. "Do you think he's going to meet up with her?" I sat on the couch. "No, he wouldn't do that." Jake said. "But he might, he wouldn'y ever cheat but he might meet her." Alli said. The two of them whispered to each other.

"What, what, what?" I asked as I jumped up off the couch. "We've got a good idea." Alli said seriously. It was like we were at a business meeting all of a sudden. "You have to go on like you don't know anything."

"I already told him I read the message." I stated. "That's fine." Jake took over. "You have to act like everything'a perfect. You can't act suspicous." "I can do that." I told them. "If he tells you he's going out, don't ask where just tell us."

"But, you guys are going after here." "No, we'll stay. We'll cancel our flights, we hate this girl and we don't want her to mess with you guys." Alli said, I nodded. "You have to tell us if he goes out or is he does anything he wouldn't normally do."

"Okay.." I agreed. "But you can't get caught doing so." "How do I tell you then?" "Come to see us when he leaves, never text us because he'll be able to read your texts." Jake told me, I nodded. "We'll follow him when he goes." Alli said.

"This feels like we're in a movie, with all this planning." I laughed, they both laughed too. "When he asks where you just went say you came to get some lip gloss off me." Alli said and ran to her room. "Can't I just say I wanted to talk to you?" "No." Jake dismissed.

Alli came back and handed me some lipgloss, I left the room and went back to find Cody on the phone. "Hey." I smiled and walked into the bedroom. After a while he followed me. "Lon, we gotta go." He told me.

We left the hotel and went to a dance studio. "How long do we do this for?" "Five hours for the next three days." "Is that enough?" "It'll have to be." Cody said and walked off. I shrugged and watched as Flo filmed Cody for a few mintues and then I was needed.

"I ache!" I moaned as I collapsed into Matt. He caught me and laughed. "You got two more days of this yet." He said. "I can't wait." I said sarcastically. "We gotta get back to the areana, showers can happen then." Matt said and with that we all followed.

Once we got back to the arena, I got in Cody's shower. I quickly finished up and changed after. "All yours." I told him as I came out, he smiled and got up. I watched him walk into the bathroom and then I walked out.

I wanted to get out of the backstage area so I went for the doors. "Woah.." Jake put his hand on the door and it closed again. "Where do you think you're going?" "I want to get out of here." "Not on your own." "Why not?" Jake looked at me like I was stupid. I rolled my eyes.

"Lauren, you can't just walk around here like nothing happened yesterday. If you do that it's just going to happen again, do you want that?" "No bu-" "So you don't leave here without me." "What about Al-" "Alli is no source of protection."

"But I want to be alone." "Cody's orders." He leant against the door. "Live a little." "He'll kill me if I let you walk out of here alone." "Why? I'm not going to get hurt." "You know that for sure?" "Jake! Just let me go!" I raised my voice.

"Don't shout at me." "I didn't shout." I stated, I tapped my foot on the floor impatiantly. "Don't get smart with me." "Leave me alone!" I pushed past him and ran through the door. I ran out the entrance of the venue.

I made sure no one was following me, I found a bench and sat down. I pulled out my phone, I had two missed calls from Jake. "Great." I said out loud. It was starting to get dark so I checked the time, 6pm. Cody goes on stage in a bit.

After a few hours of wondering around London, I went back to the venue. I sat on a bench that was just around the corner, I had uncountable missed calls from everyone. I pulled my knees up to my chest as it started to pour it down.

"English wheather's beautiful." Cody's voice sounded, I looked around for him. He jumped over the back of the bench and sat next to me. "Are you mad at me?" I asked without looking at him. My eyes were fixed forward.

"I was." I looked at him. "I'm not anymore." He didn't look at me. "Why did you run off like that?" He asked as he turned and made eye contact with me. "I don't want to be told what I can and can't do, I don't care what the situation is. No one can tell me what to do."

"Jake was trying to protect you." "He doesn't need to." I stated with no emotion. Cody sighed. "You're not as strong as you think you are, Lauren." "Who are you to tell me what I am?" "I know you." "You don't know me like I know me!" I raised my voice.

"I know you better than you think I do." He kept his voice low. "How? I'm not exatcly open, I-" "Lauren." He interrupted. "No, I'm talking. I-" "Lauren!" He snapped. "What?!" "You need me, you need Jake. You need everyone! You don't understand it but you do!"

I scoffed and got up to walk away. "Fine, but when you admit to needing me I-" "You what?" I turned back and walked towards him. "You won't be here for me? You won't help me when I need you? Is that what you're saying?" I asked.

"You're acting stupid." He dismissed. "What were you going to say then?!" I asked. "Let's go back to the hotel." He got up and walked towards the arena. He stopped when he noticed I wasn't following.

"Lauren." "No." "Lauren, get here now." "No." I refused. Cody turned around and walked over to me, he picked me up and put me on his shoulder. "Put me down! Get off of me!" I punched his back, he ignored me and carried on walking.

Once we got back to the hotel I got changed and took off my makeup, Cody walked into the bathroom. "You could knock." I told him. He sarcastically knocked on the wall, I rolled my eyes and walked out.

Cody caught my wrist and pulled me back. "Why won't you let me protect you?" His voice was soft. "I'm not talking about this now." I pulled my arm away from him but he didn't let go. "Yeah you are." "No! You can't make me do anything!" I pushed him backwards as hard as I could.

Cody stepped back a little and then stood up straight, he clenched his jaw. That was a bad move. "Don't do that." He told me, he looked really mad. "I ju-" "No, don't ever do that." "I only pushed you, it's no bi-" "Lauren!" He shouted.

I walked to the door, Cody pushed it shut with his hand. "Leave me alone!" "I need to know why you wo-" "You're trying to protect me but right now you're the only person who's hurting me so leave me alone!" I pushed him again, his whole face turned hard.

I watched as his body tensed up, I was scared. "What did I tell you?!" He shouted as he stepped closer to me. "Hurt me Cody, I dare you!" I tested, he looked at me. His eyes searched mine before he opened the door and walked out.

I watched him as he left the bedroom, I followed him. I watched the hotel door room shut behind him. I checked the time, it was late. I picked up my phone and rung Alli. "What happened between you and Cody?!" She answered straight away.

"Wha- Why?" "He's just come in here, he's really angry. He's talking to Jake, well shouting." "What's he saying?" "Things about you, what just happened?" "I tested him, he didn't like it." "Clearly." "All I did was push him off me and he turned into some angry guy I've never met before."

I layed on the couch with the phone pressed up to my ear. "He's got some kind of thing with that, he hates it." She told me. "I figured. I did it a second time and then tested him." "What did you say?" "I told him to hurt me, he couldn't. He just looked at me and then walked out without saying anything, it was quite scary."

"You know he would never hurt you right, Lauren?" "I know, that's why I told him to." "Just go to sleep, Jake will calm him down." "Promise?" "Promise." "I love you, Alli." I confessed. "I love you too, Lon." I smiled and hung up the phone.