Page 10 of With a Broken Wing
Yes, sir.
Three weeks ago,I’d envied people who could just hop on a plane and take off to anywhere they wanted. It seemed like the dream, a true symbol of luxury. I would imagine what my life would look like if I ever had that ability, but this was never what I’d pictured. The Carlisles’ private jet. Every person wants to take aprivate jet, but I didn’t get the flutter of excitement I’d expected to feel when climbing aboard.
The seats were comfortable, though. They were quite a bit larger than a normal airplane seat, big enough for me to curl up with my legs next to me. I let the seat swallow me whole, laying my head back and relaxing while Demetri talked with his team.
They sat facing each other, with Demetri and Erin on one side and Shelby and Scott on the other. From where I sat behind them, I could only see Demetri. He looked effortlessly powerful in a blue suit, and I looked down at the knee-length pink dress I wore. Judging by the way he looked at me and shook his head when I arrived at the office, he didn’t like it. He’d probably have called it distracting, but there wasn’t an item in my closet that wasn’t colorful.
I listened as they talked through their presentation and what they knew about the investor, and when I turned my head towards them, Demetri was staring at me. His stare was cold, and his dark eyes were bottomless. My blood chilled, causing goose bumps on my arms and neck.
As the plane landed in Seattle, their conversations came to an end, and even when the wheels bounced against the ground and the plane skidded to a stop, Demetri’s eyes stayed on me. One eyebrow was raised higher than the other; a look of distrust painted his features. I swallowed the anxious swell of bile in my throat.
I stood up and grabbed my bag from the overhead storage, setting it on the ground before running my hands down the cotton fabric of my dress in hopes of straightening out the inevitable wrinkles. Shelby and Erin had managed to keep their suits wrinkle free, and envy swelled in me when Demetri and Scott grabbed their bags for them.
Would they have grabbed mine for me if I had waited?
I assumed not, and when the door to the plane opened, I put on my signature smile and grabbed the handle. At the bottom of the stairs, we gathered as a group. Demetri looked around.
“Where is the car?”
It took until Erin turned to look at me to realize Demetri’s question was aimed at me. There was no car in sight, and panic filled me. I cleared my throat to speak over the thrumming of my heartbeat in my ear. “They were supposed to be here when we landed. I told them three o’clock.”
Shelby chuckled and Demetri narrowed his eyes, irritation radiating off him. He had all but told me he had a zero-tolerance policy for mistakes, and suddenly it felt like I might pass out. I looked at the clock on my phone.2:45.
“I guess we, uh, landed early. Maybe I should’ve told them an earlier—”
“Youthink?” The way his voice carried across the mostly deserted asphalt made me want to shrink in on myself. “I thought I made it clear, Ms. Johannson. Mistakes like this won’t be tolerated. Do not make me look like a fool for giving you thisopportunity.”
My jaw dropped, but when I met Shelby’s amused stare, the realization that we had an audience made my legs shake. “I apologize,Mr. Carlisle. I didn’t think we would land so early...”
“Did you think at all?”
“Excuse me?!”My voice was shrill, and I no longer cared who was watching.
“Don’t.” He put up his hand, holding a single finger in front of my face. “This is your one pass. The next time, I’ll put you on the next flight back to Grand Rapids. I don’t like mistakes.” He emphasized every word.
Before his threat fully sank in, the SUV I had arranged for pulled up. A perky older man climbed out, opening the trunk and filling it with our bags. It took the exchange of nothing more than a hello for the driver to see Demetri was not in the mood to be friendly, and he silently closed the trunk. I looked at him apologetically and climbed into the back of the SUV.
I could hardly breathe through the tension in the air, and my stomach sank with the same feeling I’d get before my dad would punish me. Demetri was in the front seat, but he glanced in my direction out of the corner of his eye once or twice. Would he really fire me over waiting a few minutes for a car to arrive? I was realizing he would.
When we pulled up in front of the hotel, I was quick to be the first to jump out of the SUV. Partially because I wanted to get to the counter and get the group checked in, but mostly because I needed to get away from the frustration that filled the car. As I stomped up the steps, my phone vibrated in my pocket.Mother.
“Ugh. Please not today,” I mumbled to myself, debating if I would hit the red ignore button on my mom’s call for the third time. It would be risky. She didn’t take well to being ignored, so if I did, I could almost guarantee the next call would be from my father. I looked behind me to see the group still unloading their bags and gathering themselves by the car, so I swiped the green button to answer the phone. “Hello?”
“Finally. Good lord. Are you avoiding me? What could you possibly be so busy with? I heard you lost your job. I want so badly to be surprised, but sadly, I’m just not.” My mother took off, lecturing me at a mile a minute. The disdain and general dislike were heavy in her tone.
“Mom—”
“I mean,really, Andrea. Who gets fired from a job that requires no actual training? What did you do?”
“Mom, please—”
“I’m just really disappointed in you. We raised you to be better than this.”
I swallowed the lump in my throat that made it difficult to breathe, but when I spoke, my voice broke. “Mom…”
“What, Andrea? What excuse could you possibly have?”
“I… I have a new job. A good one.” I hated the way I felt impossibly small when my mother was involved.
