Page 166 of Steeling Her
Block her out. Don’t say her name again. Don’t do it.
When I open my eyes, I see her smiling up at me. She wipes her hand across her lips and sits back, biting on her lower lip.
“Thanks,” I say and fix myself again. I need to leave and grab my bags. I need to catch my ride to my sister’s house that’s she’s sharing with my best friend. They’ll kill me if I’m late; Haley in particular.
“Um, no problem?” She giggles as she adjusts her uniform again. As I reach up in the overhead locker to pull down the bags, she hovers beside me. This is the worst part when you hook up with someone. The escape. The awkwardness of leaving. I turn to face her to give her my usual speech but she cuts me off. “Here’s my number, if you want another round?” She smiles and leaves me to it.
That was easy.
That’s was very easy.
Maybe too easy.
I snap myself out of it and gather my things, racing off the plane with another quick goodbye from her. I run through baggage claim, collecting five of my bags from the flight. I throw them onto a trolley and race through arrivals, hoping to see someone with my name. Instead, I’m greeted with a ton of flashes in my face as I turn the corner, making it harder to see.
“Shit,” I curse and shield my eyes from the prying paparazzi. I blink so I can adjust to the unexpected brightness. I can hear nothing but my name and strangers bombarding me with questions. I swiftly look around to see if I can find the guy I hired to collect me from the airport. When I see someone waving with a sign that has my name on cardboard, I make my way over to him.
“Good afternoon, Mr. Jackson,” he greets me and places the sign under his arm, grabbing my trolley from my hold and pushing it out the sliding doors. Security has to help us maneuver out of the airport. This is what it’s always like for me. Chaos, and lots of it.
“Afternoon,” I mumble back and keep my head down and away from the cameras and people screaming at me. Girls usually scream to me and beg me for autographs and pictures.
“The car is this way. Follow me, sir.” He directs me with the help of the four airport security guards encircling us as we walk out and get greeted by the hot air outside of LAX airport. More people try to claw through the crowd to get to me as I ignore them and push my way towards the large Escalade. I slide into the chilled seats after helping with the bags and thank the four men for their services. I took some photos with them hanging out the car doorway. I shut myself off to the world when I gladly close the door.
As we make our way towards Brentwood, I bathe in the silence surrounding me, appreciating that the driver doesn’t want to talk to me. I could use the deafening silence. The noiseless journey sends me to sleep because I didn’t get much on the plane.Gee, I wonder why?
As I drifted off into a small nap, I feel a hand greet my cheek too many times to count. A palm slaps my face over and over again.
I wake up to my best friend smirking down at me as he peers through the open door beside me.
“Morning, pumpkin,” he teases me while pinching my cheek. Even though he called me pumpkin, I still miss his idiotic ways. I swat his hand away and smile at him. I finally get to see my best friend after a few months along with my sister. I have this feeling in my stomach that I suddenly feel like I’m home again.
My new home.
Chapter Thirty-Five
Milestone
Carter
“I know, I know. I know I’m late, I’m sorry. Can you guys just distract her until I get there. We can pretend I was in the bathroom or something?” I beg my brother and Danielle to keep it tight-lipped that I’m so late.
I knew I would be too. Mr. Harold wouldn’t leave. He kept talking when I was trying to get out of the office on time. As much as I adore the man when he comes in, I hate it when books his appointments far too late in the day. It’s exhausting to try and get him to leave. I can chat to him when he’s got an early morning appointment, but when it’s late, it’s a struggle.
“Well, that’s going to be hard because she’s just gone to the bathroom. TJ hasn’t even arrived yet, though, so you’re good. Plus, she’s in a good mood today, so I think you’re safe,” Danielle says to me down the line as I speed up to get to the restaurant. I hear the grumble of my engine as I roll down the street. As long as I get the next few green lights and manage to avoid knocking someone down, I should make it in the next few minutes.
“Alright, I should be there in . . . ten minutes?” I swiftly calculate, wondering to myself more than anyone.
“Okay, cool, text me when you’ve arrived,” she sings down the line. I end the call to focus on not dying tonight in this crusty old car I’m driving. Sometimes, it’s easy to give in to my dad and brothers generosity, but then my determination squashes that thought as quickly as it comes. I can do all of this on my own. I may not be rich, but at least I have shelter, food, and water.
Swerving briskly into the car park I almost drove past, I hit a few bumps and pot holes in the road, making the car bounce. I almost run into a man jogging too. I send him a sheepish smile and wave as an apology. I find the nearest space to the doors of the restaurant. Luckily, I already changed into a nice lemon dress that stops mid-thigh and doesn’t reveal much, covering me up quite nicely. Haley asked us to dress up and look formal, so I obliged.
I rush through the main doors, fixing myself as I greet the hostess. “Good evening, do you have a reservation?” she asks me at entrance.
“Um, it’s either Haley Jackson or TJ Anderson? I’m not sure.” I smile at her, a little embarrassed about not knowing who reserved the table for the party tonight.
“I know who you’re looking for. Follow me.” She grins a little too harshly at me and nods into the restaurant. That’s a fake smile. I’ve noticed that a lot of people have become very good at that as they get older. I thought it was genuine when I was younger, turns out I was more naïve than I believed.
As I rush to keep up with her in my heels, I finally see Haley, Danielle, and my brother sitting at the table they booked for the night. I can see two seats are free but get completely sidetracked when Haley cloaks her arms around me to greet me. I hug her back. It’s been a couple of weeks since I last saw her. She and TJ went on a vacation and arrived back only three days ago. They traveled to the Bahamas for ten days and flew back because training camp is about to kick off.
