In Flight (8 page)

I approached the two tall men who looked to be having a serious conversation that I was positive was all about me.
 

James sent me a wide-eyed look.
 
He looked shocked about something.
 

I stalked up to Stephan and bumped his shoulder with my own.
 
“What are you telling him?” I asked him, my voice angry.
 
“Go sit back down at the bar, Stephan.
 
I am just fine.”

Stephan leaned down to me.
 
He seemed visibly upset, and I was on alert at once.
 
What the hell was going on with these two?
 

He hugged me, speaking into my ear.
 
“Please don’t be mad at me.
 
I know it’s not my place to butt in, but I just had to see what kind of a guy he is.
 
I think he’ll treat you well.
 
And if he doesn’t, I told him I’d kick his billionaire ass.”

I scrunched my nose up at him.
 
“That’s why you thought I’d be mad at you?”

He didn’t look any less upset, so I knew that wasn’t it.
 
He couldn’t look me in the eye, and he was trembling a little.
 
He hated it when I was mad at him.
 
He had serious issues with people being upset with him, and especially with me being mad.
 
Issues that stemmed from some truly horrible things that had happened to him when he was a kid.
 
I’d been his only family for years, so he feared my anger.
 
He had this irrational fear that if he ever made me really angry with him, I would desert him, like his family had.
 
I’d told him many times that it would never happen, but he still didn’t know how to cope with any kind of conflict.

He was shaking his head, and I could see a certain panic in his eyes that I dreaded.
 
It did a great deal towards sobering me up.
 
“What is it?” I asked him.

“I told him that you were a virgin,” he whispered in my ear.
 
I stiffened.
 
“I just didn’t want him to hurt you.
 
Or to…have the wrong impression of you with the way you were acting.
 
Please don’t be mad.”

I couldn’t seem to help it.
 
I was instantly mad.
 
I pushed him back, pointing at him.
 
“Go. Back. To. Your. Seat.”
 

He obeyed, doing a pretty good impression of a ‘Charley Brown walk’ back over to Melvin.
 
I had probably just ruined his whole night, but he had no right to share personal information about me.
 
Especially not with Mr. Beautiful.
 

I turned back to James, glaring.
 
“So, are you done yet?
 
You can see now that this is not going to happen.
 
My V-card should be more than enough of a reason to make someone like you run screaming in the other direction.”
 
Maybe Stephan had found me a better final solution to this strange problem
,
 
I realized, even as I spoke.

The shock was long gone from his face.
 
Now his face was carefully blank.
 
The blankness didn’t quite reach his eyes, though.
 
They were as intense as ever.
 
“Come here,” he told me.
 

A few feet separated us.
 
I closed the distance before I thought to defy him.
 
He fisted a hand very, very carefully into my hair, pulling my head back slightly.
 
He leaned down to my ear.
 
“I’m going to ruin you,” he breathed.
 
“I’ll be your first, and I’ll fuck you so thoroughly that I’ll be your last, too.
 
You won’t want any other man after I’ve gotten my hands on you.
 
Every last inch of you.”
 
A shudder ran through my entire body at his roughly whispered words.
 

My brow furrowed.
 
Had he somehow sensed I was a virgin even before Stephan told him?
 
Is that why he was pursuing me?
 
Did he have some weird fetish?
 
“So you prefer virgins?” I whispered the question back at him.

His brows shot up in surprise.
 
“I’ve never been with one, so no.
 
But I can’t say I’m displeased with the notion.
 
In fact, I love it that I’ll be your first.”

I didn’t even bother to tell him that he was assuming a whole lot right there.
 
I was suddenly very tired.
 
Tired enough to pass out.
 
And we had to be up at five a.m to get ready for the morning flight.
 
“I’m ready to go,” I told him.
 
His face brightened instantly.

“Good.
 
Let’s go tell Stephan.”
 

Stephan wouldn’t even look at me as we approached.
 

“Bianca is calling it a night,” James told Stephan.
 
“I’ll see her to her room.
 
What time should I set her alarm for?”
 
I rolled my eyes.
 
There he went, talking about me in front of me again.
 

“Five,” Stephan and I answered at the same time.
 
The men nodded at each other cordially, Stephan never looking at me.
 

I knew it would bother him all night if I didn’t tell him he was forgiven.
 
I stepped forward, kissing him softly on the forehead.
 

“I’m not mad at you,” I told him, and was surprised that it was true.
 
He’d had no right to do it, but I knew he was only trying to protect me.
 
It had been his job for years now, and it was a job he took very seriously.

He sniffed a little, and I was shocked when I saw one tear slip down his cheek as he looked at his lap.
 

“Thank you,” he said, and I heard the relief in his voice.
 
He was so relieved that he was crying, when he never cried.
 
That was how strongly my anger affected him.
 

“Please don’t,” I told him.
 
It broke my heart to see him like that.
 

He lifted his head, and he looked better.
 
“I’m good.
 
Really.
 
Go get some sleep.
 
I’ll see you in the morning.”
 
He smiled and waved me off.
 
I smiled back, and we left.

James held my arm on our short walk back to the hotel.
 
He had a firm grip on the back of my arm, just above my elbow.
 
He seemed to like that spot.
 
“Stephan and I spoke at length.
 
He knows I would never take advantage of you when you’re impaired.”
 
James seemed to feel the need to explain this to me.
 
“If I didn’t know otherwise, I would think he was your older brother,” he continued.
 
“How long have you two been close?”
 
he asked.

I sent him a sideways glance.
 
He was fishing for information about me, I could tell.
 
I didn’t play that game.
 
Especially when I knew next to nothing about him.
 

“A long time,” I answered vaguely.
 
That’s the best he would get.
 
I had already sobered up considerably, so he’d missed the boat on any carelessly thrown information.
 
Especially since I was planning to never drink again.
 
I was already mortified by some of my antics that night, and I wasn’t even completely sober yet.

“You need to get on the pill.”
 
He abruptly changed the subject, his voice authoritative.

I sent him another sideways glance.
 
This glance was on it’s way to a glare.
 
“My body, my business,” I told him stiffly.
 

“When we’re having sex, it will be my business as well.
 
And you need to get started.
 
It can take weeks to months before it becomes effective.”

My glance became a glare.
 
“For your information, I’m already on the pill.
 
I have bad periods, and it helps make them milder.
 
I’ve actually been on them since I was a teenager… for personal reasons.”
 
Reasons I would never tell him.
 
Like the fact that Stephan and I had lived in an abandoned building with a bunch of other homeless people and I’d been terrified of being raped and getting pregnant.
 
I hadn’t been able to sleep for the fear.
 
A trip to the free clinic had given me a great deal of peace of mind.
 
About the pregnancy aspect, at least.
 
“But you are outrageous, you know that?
 
I’ve never agreed to have sex with you.”
 

“What personal reasons?” he asked.
 
Of course he would zero in on the thing I was the least willing to talk about.

“I prefer to keep those reasons personal.”
 
I stuck my tongue out at him.
 

His hand squeezed my arm in a warning.
 
“You are exasperating.”

“Let me bombard you with a bunch of personal questions and see how you like it,” I shot back.

“Give it a try.
 
I think the tradeoff might just be worthwhile for me.”

I fell silent at that.
 

We made our way into the hotel without a word.
 
I nodded at the girl working the front desk as we walked by.
 
Her name was Sarah, and she knew Stephan and I.
 
We’d even gone out with her a few times.
 
She gave me wide eyes.
 
She probably thought Stephan and I were a couple, as so many people did.
 

“Hey, Sarah,” I called out, without stopping.

“Hey, Bianca,” she called back.
 

“The security here is deplorable,” James said as the elevator doors closed on us.
 
He was shaking his head in dismay.
 

I giggled.
 
“What did you expect?
 
It’s a crew hotel in downtown manhattan.
 
The security isn’t deplorable.
 
It’s non-existant.”
 
I giggled harder.
 
Rich people could be funny.
 

He gave me a disgruntled look.
 
“It’s terrifying.
 
Anyone could come in here.”

I just kept giggling.
 
“That’s what locks and police are for.
 
If you think this is bad, you should see some of the places Stephan and I have stayed.”
 
Oh shit
.
 
I hadn’t meant to say that out loud.

His intent eyes searched my face.
 
“Where?
 
What do you mean?
 
Do you still stay in those places?”
 

I shrugged, trying to blow past the whole thing.
 
“Um, not really.
 
I guess this is our least secure crew hotel at the moment.”
 
The thought made me start giggling again.

He held a hand out for my key card, and I gave it to him without a word.
 

“I would prefer if you stay at a more secure place when you visit the city.
 
I’ll arrange it,” he said, shocking me.

I shook my head.
 
“No.
 
No.
 
No,” I told him clearly.
 
“I don’t know what you think is going on here, but you are not going to take control of my life.
 
You can just rule out that scenario right now.”

His mouth set in a hard line.
 
“We’ll talk about it when you’re sober.”

He was crazy, I decided.
 
“You can talk all you want.
 
That is not happening.”

He noticed the open connecting door as we entered my room.
 
He gave me a questioning look, going through the door, as though he had the right to search the place.
 

“Stephan’s room?” he asked from Stephan’s room.

“Yes,” I answered.

He came back in, closing and locking the door without asking.
 
I just went to the bed and lay down, closing my eyes.
 

“I need to set my alarm,” I told myself out loud, reaching for my little bag.
 
I had dropped it on the floor somewhere between the door and my bed.
 

“I’ve got it,” James told me, and I heard him moving around.
 

I heard the little sound that meant my phone had been plugged into a charger.
 

“Thank you,” I murmured, eyes still closed.
 
“You can go now.
 
I’ll wake up on time.
 
I’ve never been late to work.
 
I’m not gonna start the habit tomorrow.
 
As soon as my head stops this spinning, I’ll be falling asleep.”

He didn’t respond, and I heard him moving around my room.
 
He went into the bathroom, coming out just a moment later.
 
The bed dipped as he sat beside me on the bed.
 
I felt
 
and smelled a cool, makeup removing wipe on my face.
 

I tensed up in surprise.
 
What’s he doing?
 
He gently wiped my entire face, even wiping my eyelashes carefully to remove my mascara.