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Chapter Two
Maddie
I swallow, making sure my dinner stays down.
“I don’t know how I’ll get back home to Colorado,” I say to Dave, “because I’m never setting foot on another airplane. Never in a million years. Once this plane is on the ground, my feet are staying on land.”
“Don’t be silly.” Dave grins. “You’re pre-disastered now.”
Dave is his jovial self, but underneath I see the truth. His complexion has faded to nearly white, and his lips tremble slightly.
“What’s that supposed to mean?” I ask.
He shrugs. “You’ve been through this once, so it’s statistically impossible that it will happen to you again.”
“The plane didn’t crash,” I remind him. Thank God, I add to myself.
“Which is also highly unlikely,” he says. “You’re safer in the air than in a car or on a ship, Maddie.”
I dig my nails into the armrests. “I don’t feel particularly safe.”
Dave and I aren’t an item, but I’m so glad he’s here. So far we’ve had a sort of friends-with-benefits thing going since he showed up, but Rory and Callie both know how attractive I find him. I wasn’t thrilled when I found out Brianna and Jesse were getting together. I didn’t see that coming, though maybe I should have. She always hung around him at Murphy’s Bar back home. I didn’t pay much attention because I was more interested in attracting Dave’s attention.
Dave Simpson may not carry the Steel name as the son of Bryce Simpson and Marjorie Steel, but he’s every bit a Steel, right down to his gorgeous good looks. He’s the prettiest of all the Steel men, but hardly a pretty boy. He’s masculine all the way, with dark hair, a rippling muscular body, and long-lashed eyes that sparkle a vivid crystal blue, like the clear sky on a bright summer day on the western slope of Colorado.
I grip my armrests until the plane finally lands in Paris.
A collective sigh of relief echoes throughout the cabin. A few people even clap.
The members of Emerald Phoenix are seated ahead of us, so they deplane first. Once Dave and I walk through the gateway and into the airport, only my cousin Cage and Jake Michaels, the guitarist for Dragonlock, are waiting.
Jesse and Brianna arrive after us, and then Rory and Brock.
Rory is clinging to Brock as if she’s afraid he’ll disappear into thin air.
“You okay?” I ask her.
She nods slowly. “I’m fine. Just shaken. I’m sure we all are.”
Brianna is hanging on to Jesse, of course. She and I have a room reserved at Le Narcisse Blanc, where the bands are staying in Paris, but I’m sure she’ll spend tonight—what’s left of it—with Jesse.
I don’t want to be alone tonight, but I’m honestly not sure I want to be with Dave, either. I like him a lot, but this has been traumatic, and I’m not sure we know each other well enough to be each other’s rocks in this situation.
I walk to Bree. “Hey, I hate to ask you this, but could you stay in our room tonight?”
She widens her eyes. “Why?”
“Because I don’t want to be alone. That’s why. I’m freaked out.”
She frowns. “I mean, I am too, but…” She draws in a breath. “Sure. That’s fine. I’ll stay with you. But then that leaves Jesse alone.”
Jesse is talking to Cage and Jake, and he seems to be doing okay. “I could probably get Dave to stay with me, but I’m not sure it’s appropriate.”
She cocks her head. “Why not? You’ve already slept together.”
“I know. But it’s not like you and Jesse. We’re not in love.”
She smiles. “Maybe you could be.”
