Chapter 5 Faith and Reuben
FAITH AND REUBEN
“Ican’t do this, Daddy. I just can’t.” Faith could feel herself starting to panic.
She hated flying.
It felt like she was trapped in a giant metal dart. Sometimes she imagined a giant hand picking up the plane and just throwing it somewhere, hoping it would land in the right place.
All right, Faith.
You’re being a bit dramatic, aren’t you? You’ve flown before without any issue.
But she just kept thinking about storms and bad weather and it was freaking her out.
She reached for her seatbelt, trying to desperately undo it as her breathing became shallow and fast. Sweat coated her skin even though she’d taken off her hat and coat.
“Faith, look at me. Look at me right now.”
Reuben's stern words calmed her slightly and she gazed at him as he crouched in front of her, taking hold of her hands.
“Do you trust me?” he asked.
“Y-you know I do!”
“Then you know that I will never let anything harm you, understand? Nothing is going to happen to you as long as I’m with you.”
“You can’t control the plane!” she cried.
“Of course I can. I can do anything.”
It was a ridiculous statement. So many things could go wrong and there would be nothing he could really do.
However, his supreme confidence that he could and would fix anything had her heartbeat slowing. And suddenly she could breathe easier.
Because even though he couldn’t control everything, she knew that Reuben would always do his best to keep her safe.
And that he would never put her in harm’s way. In fact, he spent most of his life doing whatever was necessary to keep her safe.
She squeezed Courageous Camel who she still held tight and she started to feel even better.
She could do this.
“Sorry,” she whispered in a hoarse voice. “I don’t mean to be such a wimp.”
“You know there’s a private bedroom on this jet, don’t you?”
Um, what was he saying?
That he wanted to have sex? Sex was the last thing on her mind right now!
Well, no, that wasn’t entirely true. A part of her always wanted him. How could she not?
The man was gorgeous. Tall and stern and handsome.
There was no resisting him.
“You want to fool around?” she asked. They hadn’t even taken off yet. The door wasn’t closed.
Urgh.
Had she really had a panic attack before the door had even closed?
“No, I don’t want to fool around.”
Oh. That was disappointing. “Why not?”
“Because I’m going to be too busy spanking your ass,” he growled at her.
“Daddy! Why would you be spanking me?” she asked. “That’s not nice.”
“You just called yourself a wimp. Are you allowed to put yourself down, Faith?”
Drat.
She bit down on her lower lip.
“No, Daddy.”
“That’s right. But this time, I’m feeling lenient, and I know you were still recovering from your panic attack. So I’ll let you get away with a lighter punishment.”
She eyed him suspiciously. “Or you could just not punish me.”
He grinned his evil grin. “Now, where would be the fun in that?”
She groaned. He was terrible.
“Faith! I’m so glad you’re here!” Alfie strode into the plane carrying a tray filled with drinks. He looked adorable in his long, bright red coat with white faux-fur trim.
“You are so festive!” she cried. “I love it!”
She had met Alfie several times when he’d visited Cat. He and Cat had become great friends. Alfie was a Little too, like them. He was also the flight attendant for the jet. She’d met him when she’d flown before.
Urgh. Why was she so worried about this flight? Stupid weather.
“Sorry I’m late. I had to pop out and get us some yummy drinks.
” He walked over and lifted one up. “This is for you, a peppermint mocha with extra whipped cream. Delish. Mine is a gingerbread cookie, and Ralph is getting a cookies and cream coffee. Hmm, and for Reuben we have . . . ta-da . . . black coffee.”
“Thank you,” Reuben said dryly, taking the offered coffee. “I appreciate you remembering what I like.”
“Well, it’s a tough one to remember. I was tempted to get you hazelnut praline. Sweeten you up a bit.” Alfie winked at him sassily. “Now, are you all right, Faith? I know you get nervous, so I have lots of stuff for us to do. Games, snacks, movies. You name it, I have it.”
“Oh, it seems like I won’t have time for what you had planned, Daddy,” she said innocently as Alfie walked away to give Ralph, the pilot, his drink.
“It will wait,” he told her. “I’m thinking lines once we get to Wishingbone.”
Awesome.
“Do you really think Charlie will be okay?” she asked as another worry popped into her head.
Reuben frowned at that question. She could tell he was worried about Charlie too. But the thing that was baffling was that she had no concrete reason to be concerned about him.
He had a new Daddy in his life. He was dressing better, appeared to be eating more, and he seemed happy.
But Faith just wasn’t so sure.
“He said he would be. We can check in on him regularly, though.”
Faith nodded, grateful that he was taking her concerns seriously and not just brushing them off. He’d had Nighthawk run a check on Charlie’s new guy and it hadn’t raised any red flags. It seemed he was just what he said he was. An accountant with a firm in Queens.
So why did he rub her the wrong way?
“Right, peeps, we’re going to take off soon,” Alfie said. “So we all need to be in our seats and belted in nice and tight.”
He moved past, whistling. You couldn’t help but smile when Alfie was around.
Reuben grabbed a blanket from one of the other chairs and put it over her legs before checking that her belt was buckled in
Nerves started to fill her stomach again.
She really wasn’t sure about this.
Deep breaths. You’ve got this.
Reaching for her bag, Reuben drew out Colin, her stuffie, as well as a pacifier.
Colin was meant to be a fish, but he kind of looked more like a dolphin.
He was huge and squishy and would help keep her safe.
She hugged him tight. She still had Courageous Camel in her other hand.
Reuben placed her pacifier in her mouth.
It was going to be difficult to drink her peppermint mocha latte, but she’d figure that out. Right now, the pacifier, her camel, and Colin were what she needed.
And Reuben.
She always needed him.
She just hoped that he forgot about his threat to punish her. This wasn’t the time of year to be naughty and she knew it.
Hopefully, Santa was too busy to pay attention to how naughty Faith had been.