Page 99 of Saving His Heart
“We can’t do that. I’m so sorry, Ems. I promise this is for your own good.”
I feel the plane start to taxi.
“Lanie, let me out of here right now! I can’t go back to North Carolina. Not right now. Let me out.”
“I’m so sorry, Emory. I will, we will let you out, just not until we’re in the air.”
“Are you freaking kidding me right now? Are you kidnapping me?”
“No, of course not. We’re making an executive decision as your friends. Please, just trust us.”
“Trust you? You just shoved me into a bathroom and told a flight attendant to take off so I couldn’t get away. You want me to trust you?”
“Yes,” all three girls say.
What the hell am I supposed to do now?I can’t even call anyone because I tossed my purse on a seat as I walked toward the plane’s rear.
Sometime after the plane has leveled off, the bathroom door opens, and all three girls stand in the doorway shamefacedly.
Julia hands me a shot, “Never have I ever been kidnapped?” She clinks glasses with me, and we both knock back a shot of tequila.
“You guys have some explaining to do.” I say, pointing at each of them.
“We will, we promise. It will all make sense, but you just have to trust us for a few more hours. Please?” Lanie begs.
“Does anyone ever say no to you?” I ask, unable to stay mad at her stupid face.
“Not usually,” she replies, grinning.
“So, you promise not to run and let us get our jobs done? If you want to leave after everything is said and done, we promise we’ll take you to the airport ourselves,” Lexi says seriously.
I’m so freaking tired from life, I don’t have it in me to argue. Instead, I say, “Fine,” as I land face-first on the bed. All three girls climb in next to me, and someone puts on a movie. We spend the next hour laughing and crying at the antics in one of my favorite movies,10 Things I Hate About You.
We have to be getting close. Glancing around at the girls, I realize only Julia and I are awake.
“Jules?” I whisper.
“Yeah,” she smiles up at me sleepily. I think we’ve all hit our emotional limit.
“I’m really sorry about what happened with Trevor and his dad. I-I don’t know what came over me, but I should have been more sensitive to the fact that his father had just died.”
She rolls onto her stomach to face me. “What happened is, you were faced with the chance to save the man you love, and you did everything in your power to make sure it happened. Neither Trevor nor I fault you for that. Trevor had a really messed up relationship with his father, but I spent time with him not that long ago. He wasn’t all bad. He made bad decisions and then didn’t know how to get out of them. It cost his family a lot, but I don’t think anyone can judge until you’ve walked in their shoes, you know?”
“I sat with him every week for a year. I don’t think he was all bad either, but I will always be sorry for forcing Trevor to deal with his death the way I did.”
“Ems, if you hadn’t, he may have lost his dad and his best friend the same day. You did what any of us would have done. I promise you, we all love you for saving Preston, even if he is a pain in my ass,” she chuckles.
The plane touches down, and my stomach rolls like it just went over the cliff of a roller coaster.
“I’m nervous. I don’t like surprises, and I’m not sure what you guys are walking me into. I don’t want to force anything on Preston, especially not while he’s in the hospital.”
“Would it make you feel better if I told you we aren’t going to the hospital?”
“Ah, maybe? Not really, no. That just gives me more questions,” I admit.
Squeezing my arm, Julia says, “Never have I ever kidnapped someone who didn’t end up better for it.”
“Wait, you mean you’ve kidnapped someone else?”
