Page 131 of The Road to Ruined

I walk back to Declan's side and take his hand.

"Take care of her," Sebastian says.

Declan nods. "Always."

I squeeze Declan's hand tightly in mine as we approach the plane—as if he might disappear or leave me again if I were to let go. Once we reach the stairs, he ushers me ahead of him. My legs feel like jello as I climb the staircase. And when I look over my shoulder, Sebastian's car is still there waiting, just in case.

But like he said, there are no police sirens this time, no gunfire. No one shoves me down in the dirt, and I'm not alone. I step onto the plane and see Luca there, sitting in the row closest to the door.

"Hey, baby," he says.

I smile through tears, wrap my arms around his neck, and sit in his lap. "Hey, Luca. Am I hurting you?"

"Are you kidding?" he asks before pressing his lips to mine. "No."

Declan steps onto the plane, and one of the pilots takes my bag from him before returning to the cockpit. The engines start up just after he disappears.

"You okay, Teag?" Declan asks.

"Yeah, I'm okay." But I'm not so sure. There's a new hole in my chest now—a fresh bruise to press on. And I think I'm going to feel it for a while.

As if on cue, Luca presses his thumb into one of the bitemarks on my chest.

"Ow!"

"What's that, Teagan?"

"Luca, leave her alone," Declan says. He pulls a blanket from the overhead compartment and wraps it around my body. "If he doesn't want to be nice, you can curl up in my lap, kitten."

He smoothes my wet hair away from my face and kisses my cheek before sitting across the aisle from us.

"I'm being nice," he says. "I'm always nice to you, aren't I, Teagan?"

"Yeah, you are," I tell him, relaxing against his body again.

"You were mine first."

I look at Declan, who raises an eyebrow and shakes his head, mouthing the wordsno, you weren't.

I smile at him. "Yeah, you're right, Luca."

The lights in the cabin turn off, and the plane starts to move down the bumpy runway. Luca tightens his hold on me, and I turn to the window, keeping my eyes on those two headlights. The car doesn't move until the plane is off the ground. I watch it reverse, turning around before disappearing again on that dark, dirt road.

TWENTY-THREE

"Are you asleep?" Declan asks maybe an hour later.

"No," I say, opening my eyes. "I'm too nervous to sleep…like in the hotel in Vegas."

"Well, come here. Let me roofie you."

"No. Fuck no."

He laughs. "I'm kidding, Teagan. But come here…curl up in my lap, kitten."

Holding the blanket around my shoulders, I slip out of Luca's arms and cross the aisle to Declan, sitting in his lap and resting my head against his collarbone, in that space right under his chin.

"That's better," he says. "What's going on in your head, Teag?"

---