Eric smirks.
“Don’t worry about paying for the roof,” he says. “It’s been a pleasure seeing you again.”
I cannot say the same. So I don’t.
I leave Mr. Red’s house, and get into the waiting car. We are swept up individually to the airport, where we board the private jet. Everyone has gotten on ahead of me and the pilot has the engines idling. When I get on board, Ella is sitting at the front in the jump seat. She looks pale and slightly anxious. Luke is stationed behind her. The doctor is across the aisle, tending to Leo.
As soon as I get on, the door is shut and the pilot begins taxiing. The sooner we get off this foreign soil, the better.
Ella gets up and practically runs to me, bubbling over with apologies.
“I’m sorry. I don’t know how I got all mixed up with that guy. I swear I had barely gotten here.”
“It wasn’t your fault,” I tell her. “This one was my fault, all to do with me. I am sorry you were involved.”
“It wasn’t my fault?” she gasps. “It wasn’t a me thing?”
“It was a me thing,” I explain again, because it seems to be taking some time to sink in. “I’m sorry you got messed up in all of this. We have enemies, and those enemies are sometimes dangerous. The game is over. You can’t run anymore. The world just isn’t safe.”
“It really isn’t,” she agrees. “It’s like there’s a never-ending series of evil factions waiting to sweep me away and sell me for parts.”
“So we’re going to take you home now, and when issues arise, we’re just going to have to talk about them.”
“Like normal people,” Luke says. “Like a normal family that all shares one bride.”
Ella is smiling now. She looks better. I take her by the hand and draw her down into one of the seats. The plane is about to take off and the last thing we need is more injuries.
Once the formality of taking off has been undergone, Ella kneels up on the seat and looks back down the plane at Leo. I’m surprised they didn’t talk before, but I suppose the tension ofeveryone rushing back to the plane didn’t allow for much in the way of good conversation.
“What happened to you?”
“Luke shot me,” he says.
“Oh,” she replies. “Fair enough. Understandable.”
“You don’t even want to know why?” Leo says.
“I assume you were being an insufferable asshole as usual?”
“I am not going to be roasted as well as…”
“Skewered?” Ella pipes up.
“You’re going the right way for a spanking,” I warn her. “Leo has been very unwell.”
She looks at me with a faint frown.
“Seriously,” Luke says. “He got fucked up. He should be in hospital, but the psycho who took you demanded we all be here, so he came to save you. Even though it could have killed him.”
“Oh,” she says, looking at Leo’s feet. “Thank you.”
“You’re welcome,” he says. “Aiden, tan her ass for me, would you?”
“With pleasure,” I say, tugging her over my lap.
“What? Why?”
“Because you need it, and after that little snide outburst, you definitely deserve it.”
