16. Hartley
16
HARTLEY
“I’m not cut out for this shit,” I muttered as we flew down the road toward the highway. This was insane, and I was smack-dab in the middle of it.
Vail gently elbowed me, causing me to look his way. He motioned with his head toward Jordan, who was on the other side of him.
Jordan’s knuckles were white as he held his gun. I knew that muscle in his jaw would be tense too, his teeth grinding together. I shouldn’t have said what I did. He took it the wrong way.
“Hey,” I said, reaching over Vail to tap Jordan on the arm. I didn’t worry he’d point his gun at me without thinking. Not once had he done that. Jordan was sure with a gun, like it was an extension of his arm. “Look at me, Jordan.”
He turned his head, his lips pressed together, eyes narrowed. But he didn’t fool me. I latched on to his eyes, looked deep into them, and saw the hurt there.
“I didn’t mean I’m not cut out for this shit with you. I meant this situation. Rushing away from a hotel because there are people after you. You know that. It’s not a shock to you, but you’re taking it personally like I don’t want to be with you, which is the furthest thing from the truth. So instead of thinking horrible shit, focus on protecting us and getting us onto the plane and home.”
He gave a firm nod and went to look away, but I tapped his arm again, so he’d keep looking at me. “I love you, Jordan. Do you hear me? I fucking love you. So does Vail.”
With Vail being closer, it was easy for him to ghost his fingers along Jordan’s beard. “He’s right. We love you. And while this isn’t ideal, we’ll be out of here soon enough. You couldn’t have known this was going to happen. We don’t blame you.”
“I blame me,” Jordan whispered.
“Yeah, well, don’t,” I said, knowing he’d still blame himself, regardless of what Vail or I told him.
Albert sat in the front seat, humming a tune I couldn’t recognize like he was driving Jordan through the streets of East Dremest, coasting along with traffic, not racing up the on-ramp to get onto the highway.
There was an SUV behind us with more of our party with them. We had Ava with us though. She was in the third-row seat, her bag next to her, worried but trying not to show it. Vail offered to sit back there with her, but she shook her head and said she’d be fine. None of us were fine, but we weren’t going to push her if she said she was okay.
“Ava, what’s your favorite show?” Albert asked from the front seat.
“I don’t really have one, but Mama and I used to watch house-hunting shows a lot, where they’d go to look at places to buy. Our favorites were the international ones. We’d dream about what it would be like to live in those cities. ”
Jordan opened his mouth, no doubt to offer to take her wherever she wanted to go, but Vail clamped his hand on Jordan’s thigh to stop him. It wasn’t the time to offer more trips when this one was going the way it was.
“Ah, yes,” Albert replied. “I enjoy watching those as well, especially when they go to places on the ocean. I love seeing the homes on the water and the views they have from the bedrooms.”
“You need a vacation, Albert,” I said. The man was on call for Jordan twenty-four seven. I wondered when the last time he took a week or more off was.
“When I retire, Mr. Weathers.”
“Sooo… never?”
He chuckled. “You know me too well. I enjoy my job and making sure Mr. Altair, as well as you and the others, get to your destinations safely.”
“Even when you’re rocketing down the highway, weaving in and out of traffic?”
“This is nothing. You should have seen me when I used to race cars on the side.”
My eyes bugged. “You used to race?”
“Not professionally, more of a hobby. It was before I got into this life. Long before I met Mr. Altair. It was something to do for fun. And you know what else was nice about it? I wore a five-point harness to keep me safe in the vehicle I raced. Much like regular seat belts, they were necessary.” He looked into the rearview mirror and sent Jordan a pointed glare.
“He always knows.” I laughed. Every time Jordan didn’t put on his seat belt, Albert knew.
“You should put your seat belt on, Jordan,” Ava said in a shaky voice. I was sure I wasn’t the only one who wanted to comfort her. This had to be scary for her. “It’s important.”
No one spoke. The sound in the SUV went eerily quiet. We were having this conversation, Albert gently urging Jordan to wear his seat belt like he usually did, and we forgot about how Ava lost her mother in a car accident.
“You’re right,” Jordan said somberly. “I should wear it and will from now on.” He reached for the belt and brought it across his chest and lap. The click seemed to echo in the silence, a loud enough noise to let us know how much Jordan cared for Ava without saying the words.
I had no doubts Jordan would wear his seat belt every time he was in a vehicle, because he would never want to disappoint the girl sitting behind us. Nor would he want her worried about something happening to him or any of us.
“Thank you, Ava,” Albert said from the front. “We have more in common than you know, but that’s a story for another day when we’re not trying to get away from the bad guys.”
Jordan turned sharply and stared out the back window, biting out a curse. He glanced at the screen in the SUV to see we were minutes from the airport. Sheldon and Oleander were already trying to keep a vehicle away from us, attempting to block their path so we could get ahead.
“It’s a good thing you’re buckled in, sir,” Albert said. “Because we’re about to test the limits of the SUV we’re in.” He swerved across two lanes to take the exit, the SUV swaying as he did so. At least we didn’t roll over. Not that I thought we would. Albert might drive fast, but he wouldn’t risk our lives by doing something that would get us into an accident. At least on purpose, anyway. He handled the vehicle easily.
Putting his phone to his ear, Jordan called ahead to his pilot, who said things weren’t ready yet, but he was working as fast as he could to get us set for takeoff. It wasn’t like he could just start it up and fly. There were other planes to consider, other air traffic. There were checks to make sure the plane was safe and ready. What the fuck did I know though? Absolutely nothing about planes.
Jordan ended the call. “There’s a room in the airport we can go to where we’ll be safe until the plane is ready. Miles already got it reserved for us without raising any alarms. He said we needed it to rest in. Whoever is behind us can’t get onto the runway because of the fencing unless they want to plow through it and have multiple agencies on them for doing so.”
No, they wouldn’t. They were still staying off the radar as far as we knew. If they did that and got federal agencies after them, they wouldn’t be able to hide.
“When we pull up, I need you three out of here fast,” Jordan said. “Get inside and away from the windows.”
“I can’t pull up like a bat out of hell, sir,” Albert reminded him. “That will draw more attention. We don’t want to frighten anyone else at the airport.” He turned into the entrance, slowing his speed.
I watched out the back, noticing Sheldon pull in behind us at a distance. The vehicle that was following us didn’t continue. Instead, they turned away. Smart move on their part and lucky for us. We could hopefully get out of here without further incident.
Albert pulled up to the curb outside the airport. We filed out, trying to act like it was just another day and we didn’t just land here this morning. Albert exited to unload our belongings. Oleander would return this rental and then Sheldon would the other one. There was an area here to do that. It wasn’t a private airport, more like a small regional one. The closest major airport was a longer drive. With Jordan’s small jet, we didn’t need to fly into there.
We walked into the airport with a wall of guards at our backs and got everything handled, so we were ready to leave when the plane was. None of this was ideal, but staying was more dangerous than leaving. If things had been different, would Jordan have stayed to put an end to this? Probably. He didn’t take shit from anyone, and he didn’t flee either. But it was different with Vail and me in his life. With the addition of Ava, things got much more delicate.
By the time we were sitting in the room, we all let out a collective sigh of relief. Sheldon and Oleander joined us soon after. Then Vincent and Julia. They appeared more pissed than shaken.
Vincent stalked around the room. “Fucking coming at us. Who the fuck does he think he is?”
“My brother, that’s who,” Lane spoke up.
Oh, right. I kept forgetting about him since he was new to our group. He leaned against the wall with his arms crossed. “He won’t give up, although he’s going to have to plan much more carefully if he’s going to come for you at home.”
“He won’t have to,” Jordan stated. “I’m going to be the one who finds and kills him first. They shot at my guards. They followed my family and threatened us.” Jordan growled out the last words. “I’ll fucking?—”
Sheldon pushed himself in front of Jordan, blocking him from the rest of the room. Jordan stopped what he was about to say. Sheldon was the reality check Jordan needed to remind him about the room’s audience and where we were.
Ava had been around enough death. She didn’t need to hear Jordan talk about it, or Vincent for that matter. We also didn’t know if there were cameras in here. It was an airport. I imagined there were.
Julia left with Oleander to grab food for us. The last time I had something to eat was on the flight down. They returned with drinks and decent food, not stuff from vending machines. We needed to eat because even when we got home; we had to drive back to where we lived, and we would most likely be too wired to sleep right away.
Fuck, was it still Friday? It was like the never-ending day.
By the time we boarded the plane, the sun had gone down, and a chill had formed in the air. I saw the house, relived wonderful memories, and ran from scary shit. I was more than ready to go home.
I sat beside Jordan on the plane while Vail took the couch and had Ava next to him. She was asleep soon after taking off. Vail tipped his head back and closed his eyes. When I looked at Jordan next, his gaze was out the window on the night sky, no doubt plotting the various ways he was going to torture Lane’s father and brother and watch them bleed.