Shit, I had to resist.
“Goodbye,” she said when the kiss ended.
“I’ll see you soon.” The words choked tight in my throat, and I forced my body to release her.
She went like every step was on brand new legs, everything beneath her unstable. Her small frame ascended the stairs, her typically straight shoulders hunched over, and then she disappeared into the plane.
37
LAUREL
From the momentwe’d pulled up to the sleek, private jet, I had been sure I was going to throw up. This was the right choice, but it was such a struggle to control the enormous emotions flooding through me.
My shaky legs carried me away from my newly minted boyfriend, who’d professed his love just two hours ago. As soon as I was on the plane, an eerie acceptance washed over me.
Jason could do this.
He would get Frey, and then he’d join me. All I had to do was endure the next week or two until that happened.
Looking at the cabin of Shawn’s plane, it seemed like I’d endure in style. Large, leather chairs were spread throughout the front of the space, then an elegant desk, and beyond that, a pair of couches faced each other.
It should have been me, but he was the one who looked stunned, and it temporarily ripped me from my thoughts.
“What is it?”
“I guess I was wrong,” he said, “about him having a hard time finding the words.”
I pulled my lips into a sad smile. “Yeah.”
The flight attendant was young and beautiful, and shortly after she pulled the cabin door closed, the plane’s engines whirred to life. My heart bottomed out when I looked through an oval-shaped window to see Jason’s large form waiting beside theSUV. He stood in the wind, watching the plane as it prepared to taxi away.
Shawn gestured to the open seating. “Can I have Elsie get you something before we take off?”
“No, thank you.”
I took a seat closest to the window and kept my attention fixed on Jason. Once the wheels beneath us began to roll, the man I loved yanked the car door open and climbed inside.
Seconds and a lifetime passed before the plane turned and he was gone from view.
Shawn sat at the desk, opened a sleek, thin laptop, and set his phone down beside it. “Are you comfortable? Those couches convert into a bed large enough to accommodate me.”
I buckled my seatbelt, not sure what to say.
He made a face, realizing how his words sounded, and for a fleeting moment looked very much like his brother.
“I wasn’t suggesting I was going to get into bed with you.” He pinched the bridge of his nose. “Perhaps you don't mention that to him.”
The plane completed its turn, and the roar from the engines turned aggressive as it geared up for takeoff. Then we were rumbling down the runway, the plane shuddering and nosing its way up. The ground faded. There was a mechanical whine followed by a thump when the landing gear tucked away.
His laptop was open, but he didn’t seem to pay any attention to it. Instead, he studied me. Like he was waiting for me to start a conversation.
I scrambled to come up with something. “How long of a flight is it?”
“Two and a half hours to New York where we’ll refuel, and then eight or nine hours depending on wind speeds.” His focus went to his computer, and his fingers moved rapidly to type out a long sentence. “Would you like some dinner?”
It was difficult to pull my gaze away from the window, where amber-colored lines crisscrossed the dark land below. The lines that grew smaller and smaller, until I could no longer make out the sets of headlights on cars.
I’d been unable to eat the meal provided before the show, my stomach in knots, so I knew on some level I should be hungry. When heavy clouds blotted out the last of the view, I turned to look at him.
