46. Chapter Forty-Five
Chapter Forty-Five
Xane
She was sleeping soundly when I eventually crept back inside, intent on checking on her and bringing whatever she needed. I placed her heels on the floor under the table, her jacket over her like a blanket, and her purse, with the notepad full of lyrics on top of the table.
She didn’t stir, so I crept away, into the cockpit, to pretend to be working on the jet’s problem while keeping an eye on her.
An hour went by, and I got used to the soft sounds of her breathing in the cabin.
A second hour passed, while I wondered how drunk Riley might be getting.
That might have been a mistake. The sedatives are still in my back pocket, and they’re still the back-up plan, but maybe they should have been the primary plan. It takes a lot of alcohol to make him pass out.
That cooler looked pretty full, but it’s all just beer. It might take a bit more than beer to get him drunk enough to go for the kind of sleep Scarlett is taking out of exhaustion.
It makes me wonder again about what happened to make her so upset.
I know Kian would never have made her cry on purpose.
I suppose it could be a side-effect of those pills.
Omegas are sensitive to a lot of things.
That probably includes suppressants.
I sit up straighter in my seat when I hear her breathing change.
She’s stirring, stretching, waking up.
I glance into the cabin to see her leaning forward in her seat.
I turn back and check the time on my watch.
Two hours and thirty-four whole minutes.
It’s longer than I expected her to nap for.
That should have given me the time to work on a plan better than just getting us all back to Cressidan City, but I’ve got nothing.
I put on a fresh T-shirt, but I’ve been sweating like crazy.
I want to tell her the truth about everything.
Kian asked for her to be the one to interview us, and I stranded us instead of taking us to the resort, which makes everything a million times worse.
She could sue us for kidnapping or something, if she knew.
Not that we wouldn’t deserve it.
I want to be honest, but it doesn’t feel right to tell her exactly why she ended up here with us.
At this point, that would only make her worry more, and she’s already been upset enough to cry.
Protecting her is all I can think about, and that means getting her home, where she can feel safe.
It doesn’t matter what I want.
I hear her get up and go into the bathroom.
A few minutes later, I hear her walk back into the cabin.
Getting up, I commit to telling her the plan, even if it’s basic as hell.
She’s standing beside her seat when I step out into the cabin, her purse in one hand.
“Feeling better?” I ask.
She gives me a small smile. “Definitely.”
I doubt she’s telling the truth, but I nod anyway.
“If you’re ready to be in company again, I’m about to go see if Riley’s drunk enough to be man-handled back onto the plane. We can get back into the air and head back to Cressidan City.”
“Oh,” she murmurs. “So, the jet’s working?”
“It is, so all we need is to be able to get Riley on board without too much hassle, and then we can get moving. You’ll be home before dark.”
“What about …” she starts, frowning lightly.
“We can do the interview over email, if you want. I think that’s probably the easiest option.”
“Uh, sure.” She nods slowly. “That works.”
“Great. Let’s go see the guys.”