Aiden smirked as he brushed a hand over the large beige seats and sat in the one at the end. It was the perfect spot for a megalomaniac like him. The bedroom was behind him, so he had full view of all the other passengers on the plane. i.e. Me, Thea and Alyssa.
“You definitely don’t want to sit in that chair then.” He raised a brow, his gaze looking at my hand pointedly.
I yanked it away so fast, my shoulder nearly dislocated. “What the fuck, Matthews? Don’t you have staff on this plane? What about the pilot? He could walk in any minute.”
He shrugged. “The pilot is busy flying the plane. The staff have a room in the front. They’ll come if I need them. It’s not a big deal when it’s your own plane. Besides, you literally fucked your best friend’s sister while he was walking into the apartment heartbroken from his tutor girl break up.”
Well, shit. I didn’t realize he knew about that. Admittedly, it wasn’t my finest hour, but Tanner wasn’t really heartbroken. It was just a misunderstanding. We were all good now. Had been for the last five years. Sometimes, with the amount I saw Aster and Tanner, it felt like we’d never left college.
“He’s joking,” Alyssa said, scooting around me to sit in the seat next to him. She was holding a blanket, which seemed odd, until I thought about how cold it can get with the air conditioning. “We haven’t had sex on those chairs.” She pointed to the ones across and opposite them.
Was that supposed to make me feel less icked out? Was that her way of saying that was the only place they hadn’t fucked?
“I think you’re just going to have to deal with it Baseball Cap,” Thea said softly as she dropped into the seats Alyssa said were ‘clean’.
I joined her and grumbled when I noticed Aiden had snuck his hand under the blanket Lyss had put on. His eyes connected with mine, and I knew it was his way of taunting me.
As we settled in, the low hum of the engines filled the background, and I did my best to ignore the queasy feeling in my stomach. I’d flown in smaller planes before, thanks to all the traveling we did with the Covey Wildcats, but this was the first time I was flying on a plane quite so small, and without any medication to relax me.
Should I have been weighed before I got on? I was a big guy. What if my weight could pull the plane down.
Thea took my hand and curled in beside me. With her legs tucked under her, she read her document as though she couldn’t feel every bump and move of the flight.
“How long have we got?” I asked, gripping the arm rest tight.
“In the flight?” Alyssa asked. “We haven’t taken off yet?”
“Wehaven’t?” Okay, now I was making it obvious. Usually, the drugs calm me and my thoughts down. Why, oh, why hadn’t I taken them today?
“No. it’ll be around four and half hours once we’re up.”
I nodded. Four and a half hours in this tiny sardine can. I can do it... I hope.
When the air hostess came around with champagne, I took two and downed them immediately. Don’t the effects of alcohol increase on a flight? Yeah, this will work.
“Are you scared of flying?” Thea asked, her brows crossed. I’d flown with her plenty of times, but it was always commercial. Those flights were easier to handle.
I shook my head way too fast. “I’m good. I’ve just never liked rollercoasters much, and this plane, well, it reminds me a lot of that ride at Evermore Studios you forced me to go on that one time.”
“You mean the one you cried like a baby on?”
“Wow, Pyro. We going straight back to insults?”
“I’m sorry.” She squeezed my hand. “We’ll be okay. I promise.”
She gave me a quick peck on the lips, but it didn’t do much to ease the tension still coiled in my chest.
“Coming from the girl who accidentally set her dorm on fire?” I said, raising a brow. “Not exactly the comforting vote of confidence you think it is.”
She slapped me on the thigh. “You’ll be fine, and I guess if we go down, we go down together.” Her eyebrows wiggled, only serving to make my stomach churn more.
“Not a funny joke, Pyro.”
“Oh, I forgot to tell you.” Thea turned to Alyssa, balancing her still full glass of champagne in her hand as the plane started to take off.
I closed my eyes, pretending I was in a better place. I was in my bedroom, siting in my Gamer’s seat. Thea was there. Sitting on top of me as she made the seat vibrate while she playedRide or Die.
“So fucking hot,” I muttered under my breath.