It was on the right-hand side of the aisle, next to the window. I sat myself down and stared out, heart racing so fast I could feel the thump in my ears.
I could sense Lucian walk up the aisle between other passengers. I twisted in my seat just enough to see him walk right on up to row 37.
Yes.
He’d made it.
I couldn’t believe it when the same damn couple from the lounge came along to sit in the seats next to me. They got themselves ready for the flight, loading up their baggage into the overhead compartments. This time the woman actually looked at me and smiled as she sat herself down.
“Hey,” she said, and I smiled back.
“Hey.”
Then I did it. I tried it out for the first time.
“I’m Penelope.”
“Carrie-Ann,” she said back. “You off to London on vacation?”
I nodded. “Yeah, I’m off on vacation. Got family over there.”
“Cool,” she said. “We’re off on vacation, too. Been wanting to go since I was a kid.”
She got herself comfortable and then she started up conversation with her boyfriend. I let out a long slow breath of relief when her attention was gone from me.
We could do this. We really could.
In the face of two people literally talking about my abduction, I could introduce myself as Penelope Jackson and get away with it. That was one hell of a blessing I was grateful to receive.
The attendants did their safety demonstration and we got buckled in ready to fly. The takeoff was a brilliant rumble up the runway and soon we were up there, high in the sky and leaving NYC behind in the distance.
Under normal circumstances I’d be enjoying myself, but every second felt like a year as I begged the universe that we’d make it across the Atlantic and off at the other side.
The flight was long as we flew into the night. The sky was dark. Sleep was anywhere but with me as the lights dimmed down around me.
The couple next to me were pretty good at snoozing. They had eye masks and those neck pillows to help them sleep, and drifted off just fine. Eye masks and neck pillows would have done jack shit to help me. I was well and truly wired.
I tried watching bland movies on the back of the seat in front, but nothing held my interest. The only thing on my mind was my beautiful monster a few rows back. Being away from him, even just for a few long hours, felt like hell. That and the pain in my chest that was still hurting raw.
At least I’d survived it. Lucian had made sure of it.
The flight attendant came up and down the aisle offering hot drinks. I took a black coffee and sipped at the caffeine like it was some sacred fountain of life. That was my main addiction now—caffeine.
The thought of alcohol and cocaine abuse felt so removed it was alien. Insane. The thought of anything to do with my previous life felt so removed it was alien, even though in reality it was just a few short weeks ago that I was holed up in my hellhole of a world.
Mom, Harriet, Silas, Tinsley. Tristan. Jemma. I wondered if I’d ever speak to any of them again, let alone ever see them. It gave me a surprising lump in my throat when I thought of my mother. Harriet and Tristan and Jemma, sure, I’d be prepared to cry over, but my mom? I never expected to cry over her, but I couldn’t deny it. There was a tear in my eye as I pictured the smile I rarely saw from her.
Somehow I doubted she’d be crying over me anytime soon. That was the thought that truly made my tears fall.
Mom wouldn’t be crying over me. She’d be glad I was gone.
I think I must have finally managed to drift off to sleep in the very early hours of the morning. The sun was up and the morning was bright when I squirmed into life after a few hours of unconsciousness, and the couple next to me were already awake watching movies with headphones on. I stared right on out of the window and I saw the land under us, cities and roads mapping out the veins of the UK.
We’d done it. We had crossed the Atlantic.
The attendants did one more pass through the aisle and I took one more cup of coffee before asking the couple next to me to get up from their seats so I could take a pee in the bathroom.
I had tickles running through me as I walked up towards the rear of the plane. I held my breath as I passed right by him. Lucian. Only he wasn’t Lucian anymore, he was Jason Ryan Reynolds.
His smile was calm, but his eyes were anything but stoic behind his glasses when they met mine.
It sent my heart racing to see the truth in them, because there was no denying it. Lucian was as desperate for me as I was desperate for him. Both of us. Hungry. Needy. Horny.
Both of us happy, too.
Happy we’d made it.
I really, really wasn’t expecting his desperation to overload him enough to catch up with me outside the bathroom. I was just stepping into the lavatory when he grabbed hold of me from behind and shunted himself in after me.
“I’ve been missing you,” he told me, then locked the door behind us.
I barely let out a squeak before his mouth was on mine.
His hands were frantic as they tugged my sweater and t-shirt up and over my tits. There was no doubt about it, he sure had been missing me as badly as I’d been missing him, but it wasn’t what he was looking for. He was checking my wound all over again.
“This is crazy,” I whispered. “Lucian, this is crazy. I thought you said to stay away from each other at all costs.”
“I did,” he growled. “But I can’t stay the fuck away from you, Elaine. You drive me too fucking wild, and not only that, I’m too fucking worried about you.”
His cock was hard through his joggers and I squeezed him tight, working my fingers up and down him as he pressed me even tighter against the side of the cubicle.
It was him who came to his senses before I did. He took hold of my wrists and gathered his breaths and there was at least some kind of rationality in his eyes this time as he stared at me through his glasses.
I tried to gather my own.
“I’m Penelope Jackson,” I reminded myself. “I have to be Penelope Jackson from here on.”
“You’ll never be Penelope Jackson to me,” he said, and there was a whole fresh burst of fire in his eyes. “You’re Elaine Constantine and I love you for it.”
With that he opened the bathroom door just a crack to check the aisle.
“Just a few more hours to go, princess,” he whispered, and then he was gone.
14
Lucian
The UK was five hours ahead of NYC. My senses were fried when the plane began the descent—the day already marching on ahead outside. My interior clock was a mess, but I still managed to keep my thoughts together and my mind on high alert. I had to. We still had a long fucking way to go.
People were already bustling into action when the plane touched down onto the runway. The thank you for traveling with Jettison Air recordings were lost in the thrum as everyone went full throttle into gathering their things together. I stayed still. Quiet in the chaos. Waiting, poised.
My eyes were all on the woman a few rows ahead of me, getting to her feet with a smile at the couple who’d been sitting next to her.
I let the two guys to the side of me out into the aisle and held back even more, pretending to be busy with my briefcase as Elaine joined the line to get off the plane. I was one of the last people to step past the attendants with a smile and a thank you, and once again there was no flag as to my identity, they just let me right on by with a wave and a you’re welcome.