Yes!
With all the courage and focus I manage to gather, I run up to him and peek inside from behind his muscular bulk.
My jaw drops to the floor.Oh, shit. No, no, no, no, no.What is this? Why? This can’t be happening. I don’t believe my eyes.
Niko holds me back with his arm, his body tensing up like a spring wound too tight. I blink at the scene in front of us, my mind thrown into utter chaos. Because this is impossible, it just can’t be. The two pilots are sitting motionless with bloody necks while four men with snake-heart tattoos loom over them as if entranced.
My stomach sinks to my feet, and my heart tries to poke a hole through my chest and escape.Fuck, fuck, fuck. I know these people, there’s no way I’d mistake them, because that tattoo is etched into my mind. There’s just one thing I can’t put my head around…
What are members of the Crimson Crew doing on this plane, and more importantly,how the fuck did they get here?
7
Nikolas
Complicationsareanormalpart of life, especially the kind of life I led before I became Father Gabriel. I’m used to dealing with them. But what I witness in the cockpit is worse than the plane taking a nosedive from 30000 feet, or us losing an engine or all of them. Not only is nobody piloting this tin can, but we also have visitors who are, no doubt, out for blood. Literally.
I blink at them, not believing my eyes. How the hell did they get on this plane? I triple-checked when we boarded to make sure nobody was hiding anywhere. Besides, Tommy and I had quite a significant head start. So how come?
Tommy squeezes my arm hard. He’s breathing so haphazardly I can hear every needy inhale and shuddering exhale. God, I don’t know why, but I hate it when he’s afraid or hurt or generally not his sassy, cheerful self. It’s irrational, I realize it, but every time it happens, it feels like a stab to my flank I can’t defend myself against.
Maybe I was just that lonely. I thought I was doing fine, but ten years is a longass time for a man to spend alone. Despite the shitshow I got dragged into, the truth is that since Tommy burst into my life, I’ve felt alive in a way I haven’t since my days as a mercenary.
“Niko,” the man responsible for the craziest two days in my life says, aiming those irresistible blues at me. I swear, when he looks at me like this, I don’t think I can ever refuse him, no matter how insane his request might be. “I think—”
The four Crew goons pick exactly that moment to snap out of their hypnotized trance and level their gazes at us. Tommy inches in closer, gluing himself to me as tightly as he can manage. My eyes roll back a bit from how good that feels, but I also clench my hands into fists and take on a defensive stance.
This is bliss, even if now is so not the time for it.He’s embracing me like he means it. Like I am his. No one has hugged me like that before, ever. It’s pure pleasure with the shittiest timing ever.
The men size us up, smirking as they take a step closer. The plane continues to spasm in the air, shaking and banking like it’s trying to throw the intruders off.
“Listen, gentlemen,” I try, slowly taking a step back as they continue their threatening advance. One I might be able to take on. Two I might successfully hold off. But four? That’s a bit beyond me, especially with the way I’m struggling to maintain my footing. “Maybe we can discuss—”
The closest man charges at us. Tommy yelps, ripping his arms away from me and thus breaking the hug. I grab his wrist and shove him back into the cargo compartment, smashing the cockpit door closed behind us.
“Tommy! Get me something long and lean! Hurry!” I yell, hoping he’ll find something amidst the cargo on the floor that I can use to lodge the door in place.
“Like what?” he asks, his eyes shining from what must be an adrenaline rush.
“Anything that can fit through the handle! A knife, or a bar, or a rod, or even a crash axe! Even an extinguisher will do as long as I can wedge it under!”
Tommy nods and disappears into the back of the plane. The four men in the cockpit growl and grunt, making these weird animal noises as they bang on the door and try to force it open. My shoulders strain from the effort it takes to keep the thing in place, and it feels like they are about to pop out of their sockets if Tommy doesn’t come back in the next ten seconds.
Luckily, he does, panting and sweating like he’s sprinted a whole marathon. He’s holding a crash axe. “Where do you need it?”
“Through the handle,” I grit out. Pain radiates through my right shoulder down my arm, the pulsing so bad it makes the entire world spin around me. “Fast. I can’t keep it closed for much longer.”
Tommy shoves the axe in place. Thank fucking god this plane uses the older door model that comes with an actual handle and not with that weird recessed grip thing commercial airliners use.
Panting, I plop on the hard floor and cradle my face in my hands. I can feel every thump of my heart along the side of my neck as I try to catch my breath. My legs have turned into jelly, my shoulders pulsate with burning agony. But the door is secured. The four attackers can’t get to us at least for a couple of minutes.
“What now?” Tommy asks, his long, elegant fingers kneading my right shoulder ever so gently.
My eyes flutter closed, and a tension-releasing sigh leaves me, sucking the rigidity out of my body. I slump further, letting my hands fall to the sides of my body. When I twist my head sideways, I find Tommy crouching nextto me with a soft but determined expression on his lovely face.
I can’t help it—I must reach out. I must touch him and make sure he’s really here. That I am not alone, that I have somebody by my side even if that was never part of my plan. Father Gabriel was supposed to lead a peaceful, dull life, to help people, to listen to them, to have followers but never friends. He was destined to die alone of old age, or one too many arguments with the village administration, to do as much good as he could.
I grab Tommy’s silky hair and pull him into me. He stumbles and loses balance, yelping as my mouth finds his only partially by accident. Then he moans, the most obscene and sexiest sound I have ever heard in my life.
