Page 11 of Flyboy
Her gaze snapped up and locked with Jack's. A quick look at her sister standing close kept her mouth shut but he had to know she had something to say. His next words confirmed it.
"Let me get her in the car." He tipped his chin toward the opposite side of the plane.
When she gave up trying to telegraph what she wanted to say through mental telepathy, she turned to see a red Mustang parked beside the hanger they'd stopped in front of. A man she'd never seen before leaned, arms crossed, against the shiny hood. "Who's that?"
"Roark."
Bringing her gaze back to Jack, she asked, "Friend of yours?"
"Yep." He didn't elaborate and she wasn't sure she wanted to know anyway.
The long weekend she'd spent with Jack in Vegas last year had been filled with strange men—strange as in she didn't know them, but Jack certainly did—and closed-door meetings she hadn't been privy to. The secrecy only added to her misgivings when it came to the man her sister thought she was marrying.
They couldn't go through with it. No matter what she'd said while under the influence of more than her share of alcohol, there was no way they could get married.
"Stop worrying about it and hop out," Jack called from the pavement outside the plane.
When had he moved away? She had to stop checking out; alcohol assisted or not, she had to keep her head clear, stay focused. Penny had to be her priority.
Alyssa clamped her eyes closed.Fuck.What the hell would social services say if they knew she'd flown her sister to Sin City in the middle of the night on a drunken adventure? They had to go back to Sunnyville.
Eyes open again and on him, she called, "Jack."
He sent Penny over to the car then moved back to her. "Lys, get out of the plane."
She opened her mouth to speak but he beat her to it.
"Trust me. I'd never do anything to hurt you or Penny."
Trust. It was such a hard thing for her to give. She'd given Jack more than most and knew he'd never broken it in the time they'd known each other but with the holes in her memory and the echo of her lawyer telling her the quickest and easiest way to get permanent guardianship of Penny was to get married, she couldn't help thinking she'd forced Jack into this.
"Alyssa!" His hand waved in her face. "C'mon."
Not wanting to draw Penny back to the plane, she took the moment they had a sliver of privacy and voiced her fear. "This has to be the dumbest idea I've ever come up with while drunk."
"I don't know, I like the idea just fine."
"Why? You can't want to get married, Jack. In all the time I've known you, you've never talked about settling down." Putting her hand in his, she let him help her out. "And a drive-thru ceremony? With Elvis singing? That can't be how you would want to get married."
"One, the topic of settling down never came up, and two, I think it's more about the person saying I do with me that's important, not the where or how we say it."
Standing next to him, she searched his face for answers to questions she couldn't form. Her muddled head still pounded, and her legs were a little unsteady as well, and now that she was awake, her stomach made weird gurgling sounds that she'd be embarrassed about if she stood here with anyone other than Jack.
"Maybe food before Elvis?" Jack asked with a grin.
"We could stick with the theme of the night and get drive-thru." She grinned back.
"There she is." He wrapped an arm around her shoulders and pulled her into his chest. "I promise on my life, Lys. Everything is going to be all right."
"How?"
"We sign some papers and file them, then we contact your lawyer and get the ball rolling on another permanent guardianship application."
Sliding her arms around his waist, she cuddled close and pressed her face into his warm chest. "I can't believe I suggested this or that you agreed to take part in my most crazy drunk idea yet."
"If you'd told me last week when the permanent order had been denied that things would be easier if you were married, I'd have suggested getting married then. We're doing this for Penny. To keep her with you."
She knew it was the fastest way to keep Penny safe from their mother until her sister was an adult and could take care of herself, but there were so many other things to worry about. "And how do we explain this to everyone?"
