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“Just be at the plane by ten.” The bastard hangs up. Sometimes, I wonder how he landed the fun, outspoken girl of the group.
I throw off the sheets and find my suitcase. With a quick glance at my schedule, I see my next couple days are free. Anything past that, Bree won’t be happy.
Packing takes a whole fifteen minutes and now I’m lying in bed, wide awake. I don’t have a clock that ticks, but I swear with each passing second I can hear one. It could be the thumping of my heart.
I hope she doesn’t hate me. It’s been six days since I’ve seen her. Six days since her life has been flipped upside down. What if she blames me?
By morning, I’ve run every scenario through my mind. Hours of different ways this could play out. The last time I looked at my clock, it was five and I couldn’t do it anymore. I got up and showered, walked to the corner coffee joint and jumped in an Uber to the airport.
So what if I show up a couple hours early? I flick my wrist to check the time. Okay, three hours early. When I walk into the hanger, Max’s pilot sees me and his smile grows.
“Hey, Ryker.” I take his extended hand. “Max told me to expect you early.”
I chuckle. Am I that predictable? I take a sip of my lukewarm coffee and shake my head. Not out of my friends. I’m the spur-of-the-moment type of guy compared to their rigid and controlled lifestyle.
The pilot directs me to the sitting area. “It’s warm in there. And you can get some more coffee if you’d like.”
As if I need more. I was hoping to get some sleep on the way to wherever we’re flying. The sole reason I got this cup was because I needed something to do to waste time.
When my phone rings, I half-expect it to be Max, making sure I made it. But Bree’s name flashes on the front. I groan out loud. She was livid when I vanished last week to Max’s house. Wait until she hears who Aspen is. I haven’t told her, but I will right before it’s announced. With the pictures of us out there, she’ll be swarmed with questions. The least I can do is warn her.
“Hey Sunshine,” I answer. Silence on the other end has me glancing at my phone. She’s still there. “Bree?”
“Please tell me you’re at the airport to say hi to a friend.”
Standing taller, I slowly glance around the empty room. How the fuck does she know where I’m at?
“Hell woman, you put a tracker on me?”
“I should,” she snaps. “It seems your Uber driver was a fan. She snapped a picture of you walking into the airport and posted it already on every social media site she can. Where is Pete? And why are you there?” Her voice escalates with frustration. Damn nosy people.
“It was a last-minute trip, and I didn’t want to get Pete up at the ass crack of dawn.”
She groans. “You’re going to her, aren’t you?”
“Don’t be jealous,” I joke but then wince when a growl comes across the phone. I guess Bree’s not a morning person.
“Ryker.” She tries to control her tone. “I have a terrible feeling about this. About her. There’s something you’re not telling me.”
I sigh. “There is. But I can’t tell you right now.” She starts to interrupt, but I cut her off, “Soon, Bree, just not right now. I can’t. But I’ll give you fair warning.”
“Give me fair warning? Is this going to be big?”
A sarcastic laugh escapes my lips and I sit back in a chair, staring up at the ceiling. Catastrophic big. And yet, I can’t stay away from her.
“Let’s say, you’ll be busy.”
Chapter Thirty
Aspen
Tap.
A noise at the window pulls my attention from the TV. I stare at the curtain-framed window from my bed, darkness blankets it from the second-story bedroom and I wonder if I imagined it.
Tap.
Tap.
