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She would’ve been there for me, I know it; I just didn’t have the courage to tell her.
I still don’t.
I wrack my brain for ideas on what to do for the next couple of hours, but my buzzing phone gives me a needed distraction.
Sliding the bar on the brightly lit screen, I answer on the first ring.
“Hello,” I say dimly, anticipation building in my chest.
“Answering on the first ring… I could get used to that.” Jett snickers from the other end.
Out of habit, my eyes roll, but my heart does a new flip it’s been doing to the sound of his voice.
“I was right beside my phone. What do you want?”
“I was giving everyone courtesy calls. There’s been a change of plans with scheduling, so we’re going to head out a little earlier.”
Excitement prickles my skin. I practically jump off of the bed to finish zipping my luggage.
“Oh, okay. What time?”
“Take-off is at three forty-five. I’ve sent cars to the hotel. See you shortly, Sofia.”
His rough, rocky voice is like gravel on the other end as it spears through my speaker and into parts of me I wish it wouldn’t.
Parts of me that are now embarrassingly tingly.
With his command in my head, I roll my large suitcase out of my room and down to the lobby.
Just as promised, three Greenway Airline-labeled cars wait in the valet circle, but the only person waiting for them is me.
Hope and horror flash through me in the same breath, but still, I follow suit. Optimism latches tighter to my heart as I stow my bag in the SUV and hop into the back seat.
Hope in the form of bricks, because Jett has successfully fulfilled every promise he’s made to me. Horror, because why isn’t anyone else getting in these fucking cars?
After a silent fifteen-minute drive, the lavish SUV pulls onto the tarmac right beside our jet.
The comfort that usually comes from seeing the large plane diminishes on sight. Stepping out of the car, the stale breeze of the Boston air is eerily silent—voiceless.
An emerald-green runner allows my feet to follow a path up the steps until I’m finally inside the plane. Everything seems normal, but the churning inside my stomach is anything but.
Walking slowly, I put my bag under my usual seat and make myself comfortable before everyone else arrives.
If they even fucking arrive. What the hell is going on?
Within minutes, I hear a tussle from behind my seat, but I feel him before the noise of his presence makes its way through the close quarters.
Tensing in my chair, I smooth over the rhinestone-decorated sweats that are beginning to fray in various places with all the wear we give them.
“Good to know you follow direction.”
That sinful rasp that was created only for him slips its way into my ears and through the rest of my body, forcing me to shiver.
“Where’s everyone else?” My voice shakes in a frigid whisper.
“Have you eaten?” Jett disregards my question, and my stomach dismisses my need for control when it growls loud enough for both of us to hear.
Hovering over me with intentional sternness, his face scrunches with concern. Challenged by his glare, I rake my eyes over him in a mirroring scroll, but that’s when I notice.
