Page 217 of Composed
Too fucking right.
A car screeches to a stop behind us.
I crane my neck as Axel steps out, sunglasses swinging around his finger.
He stops at my side, looking between me and Saint with dipped brows. “Why are you two just standing around like spare parts?”
“Our girl is feeling a little nervous,” Saint says.
Axel hikes a brow, a knowing grin on his lips. “And why would that be?”
I rock his shoulder and grumble, “I’ve never been on a plane before.”
“How did you get to thirty without going on a plane?” Axel grabs my shaking palm in his. “Did you never go on holiday?”
A high-pitched whine echoes through the air as the engine whirrs.
I gulp. “Travelling wasn’t exactly a priority in the Moore household growing up. The whole parents hating me thing really put a dampener on family holidays, you know?”
“God, your family sucks.” Axel’s fingers tighten around mine.
I tug my tongue stud as warmth spreads over me. “They were never my family. Not really. I found my family when I found you guys.”
“And aren’t we fucking lucky for that, huh?” Axel grins, squeezing my hand once before stepping back.
Saint slinks off as Theo slips out of a blacked-out car. Suitcase in hand, she saunters across the tarmac, the soft click of her shoes swallowed by the rumbling plane.
Riley comes out next, bag swinging from one hand, glittering ball tight in the other.
Carter shoots across the tarmac, hot on the heels of the two tiny humans sprinting up the metal steps. “I told you to walk!” He spies me on the way past and winks before he’s gone.
My chest thunders.
Riley comes to a stop beside me, drops her bag to the floor, and brushes my fingers with hers. “Are you okay?”
“Absolutely not.” A choked laugh spills from me. “What if this is a terrible idea?”
She shrugs a shoulder, her fingers wiggling. “It might be.”
My lips twist.
“But what if it isn’t?” She hooks her pinkie around mine. “You deserve this, Hendrix. But more than that, you’ve earned it. You’ve given so much of yourself to others in your life. It’s your turn now. Live for you, and fuck everyone else.”
I chuckle. “You’re spending way too much time with these lot.”
“I think so.” She hugs a laugh. “But I like your people, Hendrix.”
“I like them too.” I squeeze her pinkie. “But you’ll always be my favourite person, you know that, right?”
“I know,” she says, readjusting an ear defenders as her gaze trains on my nose. Her face wrinkles a beat. “We should probably get going.”
“In a minute,” I tell her.
Another hum from the plane.
My gut clenches. “Riles.”
“Yeah?”
