33. Flynn
Chapter Thirty-Three
FLYNN
Daphne’s words played on a repeating loop in my mind. My schedule was nonstop. The stolen hours I had with her at night were something I didn’t want to give up. At all. I felt like a coward. Because I did love her, and somehow, I was stumbling over just getting the words out. It all felt so permanent. I feared I might ruin what we had by labeling it.
Between replaying her words, I recalled Gabriel tapping his fist over his heart and reminding me what was true and right. I was terrified I was going to let Daphne down. I was also terrified she would suddenly wake up one day and realize she just didn’t want a man like me and the life I had.
Daphne—because she was a bigger person than me at heart—didn’t turn me away at night. Three more nights passed until everything went wrong within the span of three minutes.
I was flying across the bay to pick up some tourists. Elias had tagged along because we had a large delivery to a village on the way. The sky was blue, and the wind was down. It was three in the afternoon because we needed to be back in time to land before sunset. Considering that it was October, that needed to happen soon.
Lucky for us, we were over land and not the ocean when a bird flew straight into the engine. I knew we were fucked right away when the engine sputtered and quit. I radioed our location immediately and stayed calm, just hoping like hell I could manage some sort of controlled crash landing.
“Hang on,” I said to Elias over the rush of sound.
As I steered the wobbly plane, we hit the trees first and then landed with a loud crunch against a hillside. Blessedly, we were at a low enough elevation that there wasn’t any snow. I just prayed the rescue crews could get here before darkness fell.
There was a thud in my side, enough to take my breath away as the plane settled into the ground. I closed my eyes, letting out a sharp gasp. Once I could breathe, I opened my eyes again and looked around, taking stock of our situation. My eyes sought Elias immediately. He was knocked out with a trickle of blood running down his forehead. My heart thudded in a sick beat, and worry rolled through me. I quickly confirmed he had a pulse.
A branch had punctured the window beside him. Beyond the blood on his forehead, I couldn’t see if he had any other injuries from here, but his position implied it. He didn’t reply when I called his name several times.
“Hang on, buddy.”
Although the window was cracked, I could see clearly where we’d landed on a sloping hillside. There was snow in the distance above. There were scattered spruce trees, and the forest thickened maybe a quarter of a mile away. I tried to guess where we’d landed based on the geography around me. The plane’s nose was crumpled.
This plane would not be flying again without major repairs. All things considered, I was in okay shape. One of my knees was throbbing, and I guessed I’d cracked some ribs. The door had crumpled inward when the plane landed, driving into my side.
Blessedly, I heard the distinct crackle of the radio in my headset. They knew our plane had gone down, and they had a bead on our location because the locator beacon did its job.
“We should be able to get to you in about an hour. We’re coming by helicopter,” the radio operator said.
“Send medical backup. My passenger is injured. Any chance I can speak to my family?” I asked.
Of course, he couldn’t make that happen. However, he did offer, “You should be within a mile of a cell tower for the town nearby. You probably have reception at your elevation.”
Once the stress and the immediate rush of adrenaline faded, I assessed getting out of the plane. With worry about Elias threatening to overtake me, I forced myself to think of something to stay calm. Daphne was the first person I thought of. Because I wanted to talk to her. Now .
Unfortunately, I couldn’t reach my cell phone. It had fallen out of the spot where it usually rested between the two front seats. I could see it on the floor behind me. First things first. I needed to check on Elias from where I could see what was up with him.
“Elias,” I repeated.
Silence was his only answer. Moving carefully, I unclipped my seat belt and began to see if I could get myself out of the plane. Knowing they would be here within the hour eased my worry, but it was cold. I needed to get a jacket on and a blanket to cover Elias.
A few minutes later, I’d determined it was likely the branch that knocked Elias out. He came to when I opened the passenger door. His eyes opened, glassy and confused at first.
“What the fuck?” he muttered.
“Bird flew in the engine. How do you feel?”
Elias cracked a grin. “Like hell.” He started to lean forward and fell back with a grunt. “Fuck.”
With a quick scan, I saw blood seeping from his side. His legs were crumpled. He tried to move again, and I spoke sharply. “Don’t move. They’re sending medical help. I’d prefer you stay right here. I can get some blankets on you while we wait. Moving you might not be a smart plan.”
Elias opened his eyes and glared at me. “Fuck you.”
His attitude eased my worry, if only a little.
I fetched blankets from the back of the plane and found my jacket. Once Elias was as comfortable as possible while also miserable, I wanted to talk to my family. And Daphne. The past few days flashed through my mind. All of my doubts about loving Daphne suddenly seemed entirely inconsequential.
It didn’t matter if she didn’t want the life I had and didn’t want to share the burden of my family. I couldn’t bear her not knowing how I felt.
Moving carefully, I circled to the other side of the plane. It took some work and the help of a broken tree branch that was lodged through the back of the plane to pry the back door open and finally fetch my phone.
My side was throbbing, and it was hard to breathe. With my knowledge of emergency first aid as an occasional backup firefighter, I feared one of my lungs might’ve been crushed. There was no way for me to know if there was internal bleeding.
I started to laugh, but then winced when I saw the reception bars on the phone. In so many areas in Alaska, cell reception sucked. But if you were high enough, the cell towers were mounted at those elevations. The cell reception here was excellent.
“Want to call anyone?” I asked when I returned to the pilot’s seat beside Elias.
He rolled his head to the side. “Nah. Just tell everyone I’m okay.”
I pulled up Daphne’s name on my phone, my heart cracking slightly when I saw the name I’d given her in my contacts. Princess .
Tapping the number, I waited. There was no answer. She had no idea what had happened. When her voicemail came on, just the sound of her voice spun the tension inside me. I hesitated to leave a message, but I did it anyway.
“Princess, it’s me. This will make sense in a few hours, and I don’t know when you’re gonna get this. I just needed you to know I love you. If something happens, don’t forget that.”
Elias spoke after I hung up. “About time.”
We settled in to wait for the rescue crew.