“Miles...or whatever the hell your name is, look at me. I’m always hungry. And I’m thirsty too.”
“Preston. My name is Preston.”
“Yeah, right. Preston. I don’t suppose you have a last name?”
“Yep. It’s Mitchell.”
She looked at me really funny and then asked, “I don’t suppose you once had a sister named Terri?”
I squeezed my eyes shut. I hadn’t even thought about her making that connection. Damn it.
“Look, I have some things to tell you, but this isn’t the time or place.”
“Crap. What kind of people are you? I mean...fuck.” The plane suddenly bumped as we hit a cross wind and she grabbed my arm.
“It’s okay. It was just the air currents.”
“Is there anywhere I can get a liquor drink?”
I snorted. “I wish, but not on a military flight.”
“Fuck.” Her hands were clamped together and her knuckles were white.
“Look, as soon as we get inside, I’ll grab us something to eat and drink, okay?”
“Yeah, thanks.” Then she looked at me and said, “I’m sorry I went all psycho on you back there. I don’t know what happened. I’ve never hit anyone before.” She dropped her head and quietly said, “Well, that’s not quite true. I hit Little Dickie when he attacked me, but it was only with my stuffed dachshund.”
“Someone attacked you?”
“Yeah. He kinda forgot what ‘no’ meant. When he started to rough me up and hit me, my neighbor heard me screaming and saved me. She’s a sumo wrestler in training so she took him right down.”
“Wait. What? A sumo wrestler in training?”
“Uh huh. You oughta see that girl move too. She’s really something.”
“I didn’t even know women were sumo wrestlers.”
“Oh yeah. She had me on a training program for a while, but I was pitiful. I could only bench press four reps at thirty pounds.”
I was trying my best not to laugh, but it was really hard.
“You think this is funny, don’t you?”
I bit down really hard on my top lip. “Muh uh.”
“Yes, you do. You’re making fun of me.”
I vigorously shook my head back and forth.
“Muh uh.”
“You can’t even answer me. Go ahead, answer me. Say no.”
I just looked at her and when I let me lip loose, God help me, I busted out laughing.
“You know what? You’re an asshole.” She crossed her arms and stared straight ahead.
God bless the pilot, because right at that time, he came back to us and told us we could deplane.
I stood up and offered her my hand, but she batted it away. We exited out the back of the plane and went inside the terminal. I looked around to find the information desk. There was an airman standing there so I asked about our flight to Langley. He informed me we only had fifteen minutes before it departed and there weren’t any real seats. We’d be sitting in the cargo area. Great. Just what I wanted to hear. He pointed me in the direction of the canteen and I told Avery to hit the bathroom because we only had ten minutes until wheels were up.
The canteen’s offerings were minimal, so I grabbed a little bit of this and that and a variety of stuff to drink...bottled water, Gatorade and Coke Zero. Avery walked out of the bathroom and I waved to her. She met up with me and we headed outside.
When we got on board, there were two seats in the very back and I pointed to them. She raised her brows at me and I nodded.
She headed to one and I took the other.
“Yeah, and how long is this flight?”
“Three and a half hours.”
“You know something? You make it really hard to like you.”
“I know. I’m not asking you to like me. I’m asking you to let me save your life.”
She whipped her head around so fast and those perfect eyes of hers latched onto mine. I felt like she could read my mind...every thought I had about her. I watched her throat working as she swallowed.
Nodding, she said, “I’ll give you that much. For some reason I trust you Preston. I don’t know why, but I do.”
I buckled her harness as the plane’s engines roared to life. It wasn’t long and we were in the air. She started digging through the food I’d bought and then asked for something to drink.
“I’m so thirsty.”
“Here,” I said, handing her a purple Gatorade.
“Thanks.” She unscrewed the cap and guzzled the entire thing down. She made it look so good, I had to have one for myself.
“God, I’d pay good money for a toothbrush right now.”
“How about some sugar free gum instead?”
“For real?”
I handed her a piece and I felt like I’d just given her a diamond ring. She beamed.
“So tell me about yourself.” She wanted to know about me. I didn’t want to share all the gory details, so I skirted some of them. Like my scene in prison. I told her how the DEA recruited me. I had majored in criminal justice with the intention of going to law school. That didn’t happen. I ended up working for them straight out of college and my life went to hell right along with it. I couldn’t tell her everything, especially in a military aircraft surrounded by soldiers, but I did tell her what I could.
After I was done I asked her about herself. She was extremely bright. She had an MBA from Harvard. A finance chick. Came from big money but didn’t act it. Could’ve done anything in the world but wanted to work.
“All the guys in my family went into medicine and I wanted to do that too, but my mom discouraged it. She wanted me to find a man and get married. I think she wanted grandkids or something. My mom used to be this really warm person but lately she’s become so selfish. I don’t know. Anyway, she pushed me into the MBA thing. My family is part owner of Middleton Enterprises, which is a large corporation that has its hands in just about everything. She wanted me to work there forever. I had different ideas.”
“So you two disagreed.”
“Yeah, you might say that.”
“I went to work for another company and then this job opened up in Seattle. She was not happy about me leaving Charleston. I had to though. I was stuck in a nightmare of a life. Especially after my former boyfriend beat me up and tried to rape me.”
I felt my whole body tense as she told me that story. It’s a good thing I wasn’t close to this guy or I would’ve beat the shit out of him.
“Please don’t look at me like that. I know I’m lame and all but I didn’t think he was like that.”
Jesus, did she really think she was the loser? “Avery, I’m looking at you like this because I’m angry that someone would try to hurt you.”
She raised her brows and just said, “Oh.”
I was getting all sorts of strange signals here.
“I think it’s wrong on every level for a man to hurt a woman. That’s why I was looking at you like that.”
“Oh.” She nodded. “Well, Little Dickie got his due from Melissa.”
“Why do you call him Little Dickie?”
She let out this huge bubble of laughter and it was the greatest sound I’d ever heard. Then she giggled some more and held up her pinkie finger and wiggled it. But then, she took her forefinger and thumb of her other hand to indicate an inch and held it next to her pinkie finger.
“No way,” I said.
“Way. And he was wielding that thing at me, or trying to anyway. It was so funny that I laughed at him, but that’s when he became really violent.”
“Are you exaggerating about his size, or lack of it I should say?”
“No, I even have a picture. You wanna see?”
“You took a picture of it?”
“Yeah, next to a ruler to give it perspective.”
I started laughing as hard as I ever laughed.
“Oh no!”
“What?”
“The picture is on my phone and it’s at Justin’s.”
“Don’t worry. It’ll be fine. You can get it when the storm passes over.”
“I hope so.”
We finished eating and I watched Avery’s head as it began to drop down as she dozed. Every time her chin would hit her head, it would startle her awake. I finally reached out my arm and put it around her. “Use my shoulder Avery so you can sleep.” She tried to pull away, but I held her tightly. “For once, can you not fight me and just relax? I promise I won’t bite you.” I unbuckled her shoulder harness and she leaned against me, even though I knew she didn't really want to.
I felt the tension leave her body and soon after I heard her breathing even out. Not long after that, she was purring again and I just sat there and smiled.
Chapter 11
Avery
For some reason, I was finding it difficult to breathe. It almost felt like I was having an asthma attack, only I didn’t have asthma. I pried my eyes open and found myself staring into darkness. That was odd. There should’ve been some kind of lights on in this plane. I wiggled my head around and I realized my face was smushed into something. Oh dear God, I was face planted in Preston’s lap, and there was something decidedly large and hard directly beneath my mouth. I jerked my head up and found myself eye to eye with the owner of such appendage.
He didn’t have to tell me, I already knew I had drooled everywhere. My chin was dripping with the darn stuff and I didn’t dare look at where my head had just been. I tried to speak, but nothing came to the surface. He just stared at me, with those damn sexy eyes of his, half closed and all golden brown.
Fuck! Why had he let me sleep like that? I dragged my hand across my mouth, wiping the drool off my face. Then, much to my dismay, or maybe it was my pleasure, he reached out his hand and took his thumb and ran it across my chin.
“You missed a spot,” he murmured. His voice was deep and husky and caused shivers to run up my spine.
I licked my lips because my mouth had suddenly gone dry.
“You look very...” he began, but I interrupted him.
“Oh don’t bother telling me. I’m sure I look like something the cat dragged in.”
“That’s not what I was going to say.”
I hadn’t noticed at first, but we had a bit of an audience. When I sat all the way back in my seat, several men around us were giving Preston that look that guys give each other. Then I made the mistake of letting my eyes drop to his crotch. I couldn’t stop the gasp that escaped from my mouth. He had a giant circle of wet drool right smack dab in the center, courtesy of yours truly.
“Oh crap! Why didn’t you wake me up?”
“I wouldn’t have dared.” That’s all he said. Now what the heck did that mean?
Now I was surrounded by a bunch of men, chuckling, Preston included. I flashed him the meanest look I could muster. Then I added, “Go ahead and keep that up mister.”
Then some rat bastard sitting a couple of people away from me leaned forward and said, “Oh, and what are you gonna do to him? Drool some more?” There were other comments that started flying around, but I couldn’t hear all of them for the noisiness of the plane. It was probably my saving grace, because I was filled with mortification. There was not any hope of extracting myself from this embarrassing predicament. Should I try to dab the drool from his crotch? Or would that draw even more attention to my major faux pas? Crap. What to do? Where was Melissa when I needed her most? I decided on silence as my best course of action. Apparently, I had a pouty look on my face because Preston leaned over and whispered, “I wouldn’t stick your lip out that far if I were you. Those men over there would probably give you good money to get their lips on it.”
“Ah! Of all the...”
“Hey, I’m not the one pouting Avery.”
“Hrmpphhth!” That was it. No more talking for me. This man was sending me so many mixed signals, I didn’t know if I was up or down anymore. Cheezits, and then there was that little thing about some mean people out there that might want to kill me. What the hell had happened to my normal, mundane boring life? I mean, one minute, I’m living in Charleston, bored to death, killing myself with fried chicken and chocolate covered donuts, and the next, I’m flying in a humongous military jet, with some hot DEA agent, fleeing from some evil Mexican drug lords that might want me dead.
Suddenly, I couldn’t seem to get any air into my lungs, and it wasn’t because my face was squished in hot DEA agent’s crotch. I seriously could not breathe. I was sucking in air like crazy, but my lungs didn’t seem to be working properly. My head started jerking around, and then I hopped up to my feet and started running. I didn’t have a clue where I was going. I just was getting the hell out of wherever I was. A roaring filled my ears, way more than what the plane was making and my vision was starting to get covered in little dots. Someone’s hands latched onto my shoulders and I tried to scream, but again there was that no oxygen thing, so I cowered and fell to my knees instead and curled up into a ball. God, where had all the damn air gone? What was happening to me? My hands covered my ears because it had become so noisy in there I couldn’t stand it.
Someone put something over my mouth and I felt a warm hand on mine moving it away from my ear. “Take some deep breaths Avery. Long and slow.”
I tried, but I didn’t think I was able to. Then I heard that soothing voice again. “That’s a good girl. Take another one.”
That voice kept coaching me along and all of a sudden, my throat and lungs opened up, and voila! Precious air flowed in.
“Not too fast honey. Stay with the long and slow breaths for a bit.”
Whatever had been on my face was removed and the cool air hit my mouth. I opened my eyes and Preston’s face was hovering over me.
“Hey. You back with me?”
I kept blinking, trying to figure out what the heck had just happened to me.
“I’m not sure. Where are we?”
“We’re on a plane flying to Andrews. Remember?”
“Ugh.” I rubbed my face. And then I did the most God awful thing ever. I started bawling. I mean the kind of crying where snot bubbles out of your nose and runs everywhere and you start hiccuping and all that crap. He patted my back and didn’t say anything. What a goober I was. I could not for the life of me pull my shit together either. This was so unlike me. My attempts at apologizing sounded so stupid. They came out like those damn gurfing noises that pigs make when they’re eating. They made me cry even harder. And then when I thought about where I was, the floodgates really opened up. I’m pretty sure I cried for two hours because one of those military guys came up to us and told us we were about to land and that we needed to get off the floor and into our seats.
Well, didn’t that make me feel all proud of my behavior?
“Oh my God. Can it possibly get any worse?” I said it out loud, not intending to.
Preston, hearing my question, answered me. “Avery, this is nothing honey. You should see some of the predicaments I’ve found myself in.”
Before we could make it back to our seats, the plane hit an air pocket and we both went flying. Of course, hot DEA agent recovered admirably, but not Extra Large Avery. I landed on my ass, in front of God and everyone else. That was the whipped cream and cherry on top of the other incident. I had finally hit the bottom of the Avery barrel.
********
Leaving that plane was the greatest feeling in the world. I think I hit that ramp at a full on sprint.
“Avery, wait up,” Preston yelled.
I paid him no mind. I wanted to get the hell out of that metal tube and go somewhere so I could hide my head in the sand like an ostrich. Maybe it would make me forget all of that stuff that happened. I doubt it. You don’t ever forget being humiliated like that. I knew I would take that with me to the grave.
The pounding of feet got closer and then he grabbed my arm, forcing me to stop. I was so winded, I would’ve stopped any minute anyway.
“Where are you going?”
“Anywhere,�
�� I gasped out between breaths. “Away from here.”
“We have to get on the next flight.”
“I don’t want to. I want to go home. Back to Charleston. I want to wake up and know this was some crazy dream and that none of this awful stuff really happened to me. I want my old boring and sad life back. In fact, I take back all the bad stuff I said about it. It wasn’t that bad now that I think of it. You can leave me here and I’ll get my own ride home. I’ll be fine. Really.”
“You know I can’t do that. You have to come with me. Now Avery.”
“Please Preston. If those men come and get me, I’ll just tell them I don’t know you. I really don’t. I mean I only now just learned your name isn’t Just Miles. Please,” I begged.
“Avery, you know I can’t.”
My body was really shaking all over and I couldn’t seem to make it quit. I rubbed my hands together and then folded my arms around me. My leg shook as I thumped my knee up and down.
He turned me around and we headed toward a small jet that waited on the tarmac with its door opened. It resembled the jet owned by Middleton Enterprises, the corporation my family was part owners of. We climbed the stairs and were met by a flight crew of one. I asked for a glass of bourbon, neat, but the man just gave me a strange look.
Preston buckled my seat belt and we were airborne moments later.
“Is it possible to go insane in twenty four hours?” I asked him.
“I suppose so.”
“Then you might need to check me into the mental institution.”
“That’s not even funny Avery.”
“I’m not joking Preston.”
He looked me hard in the eyes and then he lifted up the divider between our seats. He put his arm around me and pulled me as close to him as he could, considering we were wearing seat belts, and hugged me.
“I’m so sorry all this has happened, but I promise it will get better.”
“Do you really think so or are you just trying to make me feel better?”
The pause, the hesitation indicated what he was going to say, even before he said it.
Kissing Fire Page 8