Ember's POV:

I was surprised when I woke up in the morning, to find that I was no longer locked tightly in Zayn's arms. Instead, as I sat up, I was met with the gaze of baby blue eyes, and a cheeky grin. Niall was seated cross-legged at the end up the bed, just staring at me. I wasn't sure how to react to his presence. On the one hand, of the five boys, he was the least mean, the least abusive, but he was still helping to hold me against my will, and from what I had heard on the way here last night, Niall was the one who had found me here in London. The way he was looking at me was a bit unnerving, and suddenly I felt slightly uncomfortable, so, frowning, I pulled the blanket up covering me more fully.

He just laughed at my actions softly, shaking his head, before reaching out and pulling the blanket back off of me.

"It's not like you're naked or something Ember, and even if you were, you forget that I've already seen every inch of you love," he said, his strong Irish accent standing out.

I tried to glare at him, but with that damn playful look on his face, it was hard. Before I could say anything in response to his words, my stomach growled loudly. He got up, and opening one of the drawers in Zayn's dresser, he pulled out a larg tee shirt and a pair of sweatpants, and threw them at me.

"You're obviously hungry love, but if you go out there in that dress, I don't think I'll be able to stop one of the guys from ravishing you right there in the kitchen," he said, "So change into those real quick, and then I'll bring you out there and get you something to eat, yeah?"

Nodding slowly, I quickly changed, trying to ignore the fact that he was watching my every move. I reminded myself that he was right, he had already seen all of me, multiple times. But that had been seven years ago, so I felt a renewed sense of personal invasion as his eyes moved over my body. His eyes widened as he took in the number of tattoos I had gotten since he'd last seen me, and I rolled my eyes. Finally dressed, after pulling on the tee shirt and sweat pants, I looked at him pointedly.

"Well? You said you'd get me some food?" I asked, trying to keep too much emotion from my voice.

He nodded and motioned for me to follow him out of the room. I did so, hesitantly, scanning around the flat with my eyes as we walked, searching for the others. As we entered the kitchen I realized why I hadn't seen the other four boys in any of the other rooms, they were all sitting in here staring incredulously at what looked like my mobile phone. I raised my brow as we drew nearer them, and looked from the four of them to my phone in confusion, before speaking.

"Are you all afraid its going to come alive and eat you or something then?" I asked, unable to keep sarcasm from dripping from my voice.

Louis was the first to look up at me and respond.

"Your phone has rung no less than one hundred times since we took you back last night. And always the same phone number. I think you have at least fifty voicemails," he said, "whoever this Ivy person is, she refuses to give up."

I couldn't help the loud laugh that I let out then. Of course Ivy was calling me, and wasn't stopping. First of all, we had a gig tonight, which was really our last live rehearsal before the big gig that weekend, and Ivy was the most OCD of the girls about the band. Also, she knew about my past, about the boys, and she knew me, she knew that I didn't just disappear out of nowhere, not even just for one night, without letting someone know what was up. If they thought her calls were bad now, it would only get worse, Ivy would not stop calling until I either answered the phone or called her back. And knowing this, that as always, Ivy had my back, I just couldn't stop laughing.

"What are you laughing at?" Zayn spoke up, snapping at me.

I forced myself to stop laughing, and turned to look at Zayn.

"What am I laughing at?" I asked him, fighting hard not to smirk because I knew that would piss him off and I didn't need that, "I'm laughing because that Ivy person as Louis so eloquently put it, is my best friend. She knows everything about my past, she knows about all of you, and she knows that I do not just up and disappear. You think over a hundred calls is bad? She won't stop calling until I call her back or answer the phone, and if I don't, she'll be calling my cellular provider and having them track my phone. that is why I am laughing Zayn, Because unlike way back when you first took me, when my parents didn't give a shit and let it happen, this time I have people who won't just sit by and let it happen."

They all just stared at me, taking in my words, figuring out how to react. I waited for one of them to say something, anything, expectantly wondering how they would react to this. Finally, Liam was the one to speak.

"So what you're saying... is that this girl is going to keep calling?"

I just nodded, fighting another laugh.

"So can I call her before she has the police at your door, or not?" I asked them.

Niall, Louis and Liam looked to Zayn and Harry at my question, the five of them seemingly having a silent conversation.

"Fine," Harry spoke, "but you have to have it on speaker phone during the entire call."

I nodded, before reaching out and grabbing my phone. Taking a deep breath, and preparing myself for Ivy and her unintentional loudness, and the yelling that was likely to occur, I found her number on my call list, and hit send, before quickly turning speaker phone on. The phone hadn't even rung for a full minute before she answered, and before I could even get a word in, the yelling began.

"EMBER ANTONIA LANCE! DO YOU EVEN KNOW HOW WORRIED I HAVE BEEN? WHAT DID YOU FORGET HOW TO ANSWER YOUR BLOODY PHONE?" she screamed at me through the phone.

"Ivy I..." I tried to speak, but she cut me off.

"I SWEAR TO GOD EMBER, I HAVE BEEN UP ALL NIGHT HERE. I THOUGHT YOU MIGHT BE DEAD OR SOMETHING! I THOUGHT THEY HAD FOUND YOU!!!"

"Ivy... can you please let me ta..." I tried again, but she wasn't having it.

"YOU BETTER HAVE A DAMN GOOD EXPLANATION WOMAN I MEAN IT. AND YOU BETTER GET YOUR ASS IN GEAR AND GET YOUR PRETTY BUTT HOME, WE HAVE A BLOODY GIG TONIGHT! AND LAST I CHECKED THE BAND CAN'T PERFORM WITHOUT OUR LEAD GUITARIST AND SINGER!"

Finally, with a sigh, I yelled right back at her.

"IVY WILL YOU SHUT UP AND LET ME ACTUALLY TALK PLEASE??" I shouted, fully aware that the boys were watching and listening to this conversation intently.

"Fine. Talk."

I let out a breath of relief before speaking again.

"First of all, I'm sorry I didn't answer... I didn't actually have my phone... one of your previously shouted theories was correct," I said to her calmly.

"Well you're clearly not dead, so they found you then? Should I get Mattie and the boys..."

"Ivy no. You are not involving Mattie and the boys in this. And yes... they found me... at the club last night...after everything with Daisy. Speaking of which? Is Daisy okay?"

"Daisy is fine," Ivy responded, sounding slightly calmer, "Malik didn't show up at the flat or anything. But she's worried about you."

I nodded, though I knew my best friend couldn't see me do so.

"Good. I was worried about her."

"Worried about her? Ember what about you? Are you ok?" she asked.

"I'm fine... well, as fine as I can be. Apparently there's no limit to the shit I can get through," I attempted to joke slightly, though I was clearly failing.

"Where are you? I'll come and..."

"Ivy you can't come get me," I sighed, "they only let me call you so you'd stop calling and wouldnt track the phone and show up here with the cops."

"Those Fucking Assh..."

"Ivy... you're on speakerphone... don't..."

"I don't give a shit if they can hear me or not! They're a bunch of bloody assholes!" she retorted.

"Ivy can you please not do that?" I asked her, trying not to let her hear how upset I really was about the situation I was in.

"Alright, okay, I'm sorry, but if they hurt you Ember I swear to god!" she said.

"I know."

"And what about tonight? Ember you can't not be there! We can't perform without you!" she exclaimed.

I frowned. It was true, without me they couldn't go on. I hated this. The Band meant everything to me, and now they were taking this from me too.

"You're... you're probably going to have to cancel tonight Ivy," I said, my voice close to breaking, "and the gig this weekend too... I... I doubt they're going to let me go."

"Let me talk to them right now Ember."

All five guys stared at the phone and at me in surprise at this turn of events.

"We can hear you," Zayn spoke up.

"Good. I don't care what you have to say about this, but Ember needs to be at this gig and on that stage tonight. We have worked too hard for this, she has worked too hard for this," she said, "you need to let her go. Our band cannot go on without her, and even if we could, we wouldn't."

I looked at them, biting my lip, and wondering how they would react to her demand. Zayn was looking at me thoughtfully, before he spoke up again.

"Fine. She can go. But all five of us are going too, and she leaves with us when you're done with whatever it is you have to do."

My eyes widened in surprise. I honestly had thought he would say no. But he hadn't. I didn't know what to to make of this.

"Ember are you still there?" Ivy's voice spoke.

"Obviously Ivy."

"I'll get together with Daisy beforehand, and get you a change of clothes and your guitar, and bring them to the pub with us. We'll meet you there tonight, yeah?" she said.

"Yeah... just make sure Daisy brings a few extra clothes for me to bring back here with me afterwards too please."

"Alright. I'll see you tonight love."

"See you tonight Ivy."

The line went dead as she hung up, and hanging up myself, I put my phone back down. I looked up and stared at Zayn.

"Did you mean it?" I asked softly.

He stared back at me.

"I wouldn't have said it if I didn't mean it Ember. You know me better than that."

And then I said two words that I never thought I would say to him ever.

"Thank you."

Niall chose this moment to pull a chair out for me, and place a plate full of food in front of me, and in my hunger, I forgot about everything else and just focused on the food.

Zayn's POV:

When the words thank you came out of her mouth, I raised my brow in surprise. This... band... must mean quite a lot to her if she was thanking me. I had to admit I liked hearing it, I liked that she felt the need to thank me. At first, I had been meaning to say no straight out, but her friend's yelling about this band, and how they couldn't go on without Ember, well it had me a bit intrigued. And so I had said yes.

I watched her now, eating her food, and I couldn't get over how beautiful she was. Even with messy bed hair, and her make up from the night before smudged on her face, and wearing my own baggy sweatpants and tee shirt, she was beyond sexy. In fact, I quite liked seeing her in my clothes. My mind was going places that had nothing to do with food, oh the things I wanted to do to her. It was all I could do not to pick her up right then and there, and carry her back into my room.

But looking at her, it was obvious that she was hungry, and even I wasn't that cruel. I'd let her eat, let the other guys have some time with her before we had to leave for this gig of hers. And then when we got back home tonight, then I would have my way with her.

Notes

OK GUYS HERE IS CHAPTER FIVE!!

I am so sorry for the wait on this update guys. Things in my real life were kind of hectic and busy and I just got caught up.

I want to thank all of you that have commented telling me how much you love this story so far, it means a lot to me :)

Please tell me what you think so far!!

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