Page 19 of Hell In A Handbasket
“I’m bringing my wife along for the ride, which places me in a particularly difficult position. If the world is burning, I have a list of people I’m gonna save. Your name ain’t on it.”
“So long as you don’t have a list of folks you intend to fuck over, then I’ll take care of mine. You take care of yours. You’re bringing your brother on board. And your wife. My brother is here too, and we’re heading toward more of them.”
“Are we done yet?” Jess ducks under my arm and takes point, flashing a friendly smile as she passes. Then she slips under his arm, too, and disappears into the darkness of the plane until my heart slams inside my chest. “Oh my gosh!” she explodes, drawing me forward with the ferociousness of a man possessed. I shove past Malone and inside the plane, only to skid to a stop, knocking Jess forward a step.
“Holy cow, lady. You’rebigpregnant.Fullypregnant.” Jess busts past Micah Malone, Felix’s next line of defense, and heads straight to a heavily pregnant Christabelle Cannon. She flops onto the seat beside hers and places her hand on her belly. “Oh my goshhhhh. Has anyone told you that traveling right now isnota good idea?”
“She won’t listen.” Felix follows me in, bristling at my back and firming his jaw.He’s waymore vulnerable than I am today. Understood. “She’s eight months and refuses to stay home, so I’m keeping my weapons, too. My eyes are on you lot, and Iinsistthat we all get along. Because if the actions of you or any of your men—or women,” he adds, as Sophia steps through the door. “Brings harm to my wife or child, then the world burns anyway, and none of us will survive my wrath.”
“Oh, shit.” Soph draws a licorice whip from between her teeth and smirks. “Christabelle Cannon is crowning, huh? That’s cute.”
“I’m not crowning!” Christabelle abruptly bounds from her seat, brushing Jess’ hands away—which annoys me. But then she dismisses Felix’s worried advance, too.That isn’t nearly as annoying. “I’m pregnant. You people need to get over it. I’m not crowning, the baby’s staying inside for at least another month, and if one more person looks at me sideways, I’m gonna riot.”
Jen swings through the door ahead of Corey and whistles when she finds our standoff. “Sheesh. That’s a baby belly, huh? You need a hospital, or?”
“That’s enough of that.” Jess jumps to her feet and places herself between Christabelle and the rest of us. Glancing past me, she waits for Spence and Troy to follow us in and for the door to close. “We’re all here, and it appears the alpha species is feeling a little testy.” She peeks over her shoulder at Christabelle and murmurs, “You having a boy? Because there may be an overflow of testosterone or something going on here.”
Christabelle stares. Dangerous, deadly.
So Jess brings her eyes back this way. “Nope. Okay. We’re all gonna get along. We’re gonna be nice to each other. This isnotthe first time we’ve been in the same room at the same time. In fact, I know we’ve worked harmoniously in the past, so the peacocking is superfluous and dumb.”
“You called us.” Micah steps forward, approaching Jess like she’s the one in charge. “You said our family’s in danger. So why don’t you explain what the fuck is up with that, so we can formulate a plan and be ready to take care of business when we land again?” And I guess, since it’s on his mind, he stalks to the cockpit door and bangs once, twice, three times in quick succession. “Wheels up. Let’s go.”
“Let’s sit down.” Jess comes to me, turning and pressing her back to my chest to force me backward. “He can’t take off till we’re sitting.”
“Fuck he can’t.” Felix snatches Christabelle’s hand and pushes her into her seat, whipping her seatbelt across her hips and securing her in. “And we don’t have enough seats for you all, so some are gonna be on the floor. I don’t care enough to feel bad about it.”
“Oh, dibs!” Soph bolts past Jess and me, slumping onto a comfy chair, and though Jen follows, Soph shakes her head in warning and waits for Jay instead. “How long till we arrive?”
“Two hours,” Micah rumbles. Looks like he didn’t bring his girl, though I know he has one. Which makes him one of the more dangerous, focused motherfuckers on this flight.
That’s okay. We brought Spence for the same reason.
I lift my head and meet his eyes, making my orders without saying a single word out loud. And because he understands, he backs up until his shoulders touch the door, and his broad form guards us all.
“The tension’s kinda sticky, huh?” Jen grabs Corey’s hand and saunters to the next set of vacant chairs. “Do you think the pilot would let me steer the plane if I asked really nicely?”
As one, Micah and Felix rumble a hard, “No.”
MINKA
“What in theHills Have Eyesis this?” Our plane taxis down the runway, slowly rolling along while, outside the window, cows eat their grass and drop piles of shit on the field.The field!“Archer!” I grab his arm and yank him closer. “There are cows out there.”
“Looks like.” Equally curious, he leans in to my space, pressing his elbow to our shared armrest and his chin on my shoulder. “I’m not sure I’ve ever seen cows in real life before. On my plate,” he clarifies. “Sure. Not with a heartbeat, though.”
“That’s because you’re a rich boy who never stepped outside the city,” Fletch counters. Already, he flips his phone off airplane mode, the buzzing and beeping of incoming notifications giving him away. Never mind the fact that Mia isn’t even out of school yet. “Maybe the cows killed the girl,” he continues. “It’s entirely plausible.”
“Cows don’t eat meat,” Tim drawls. “Cows aren’t aggressive animals.”
“I have a dozen texts but none from Sera yet.” Fletch pulls himself up, holding on to the back of my chair. “She promised to keep constant contact.”
“She’s at work, dipshit.” Cato rolls his eyes. “And Mia’s still in class. Why the hell would she text you about the kid not even in her care yet?” He unsnaps his seatbelt, though the seatbelt light remainson, and twists in his seat. “Besides, you had the chance to havemethere, keeping them both safe. Twenty-four-hour security,for free. And your jealousy got in the way.”
“I panicked.” Swallowing, he taps out a text anyway.
Probably something along the lines of, ‘Are you okay? I miss you so much! Take a picture with my daughter and show me so I can breathe again.’
But what do I know? He says they’re just friends.
