Page 7 of Forever Flustered

“You have to land sometimes.”

“Not as a human puddle – no, thank you. I beat fate once, and let me tell you I do not have that much good luck. I’ve got my Boo-bear, my little snuggly babies, and my life. Which means that this kitten only has a few lives left on her calendar,” Glory announced like everyone and anyone could follow what she was saying – and that was not the case.

Maureen was lost. “Huh?”

“Okay, new girl,” Glory continued – ignoring her confusion and intent on making sure she was the center of attention. “We’ve gotta indoctrinate you like little ol’ Abbykins because that was much too easy…”

“Huh?” Maureen repeated, putting a few fingers to her temple that was starting to throb.

“Just go with it,” Abbykins chuckled, and Harley rolled her eyes, smirking before adding to the conversation. “It’s easier if you do.”

“Maureen… Maury – no, no… Reeney?” Glory started, working her way through different sounds of Maureen’s name for some reason. “Maury-Porry… no, that’s not it. Reeney-peeny… ooh, Peeny…?”

“NOOO!” Harley and Abbykins shouted in horrified dismay so loud that Maureen jumped. “Nobody gets a nickname that sounds like ‘Peen’ or anything remotely close to that.”

“What?” Maureen choked out – and then began cracking up laughing. She had obviously lost her mind and was in some nuthouse surrounded by others who were just as insane as she was. “You are not going to… no, no – you cannot call me… well, that. Just call me ‘Maureen’.”

“But if you holler ‘Peen’ in a crowd of women, it gets people’s attention real fast.” Glory shrugged, looking dejected, but there was a glimmer in her eye. Yes, these women knew exactly what she was doing. Glory was obviously teasing her, but the fact that Abbykins introduced herself like that meant those nicknames stuck – and the last thing she needed was to be stuck being called ‘Peen’ in town when she was trying to establish her massage therapy business. Oh, the jokes would write themselves - and so would the rampant sexual harassment that followed every time she turned around.

No. Thank. You.

“The wrong kind,” Maureen stressed firmly.

“Attention is attention, isn’t it?”

“Not all attention is good,” Harley volunteered in sympathy, obviously agreeing with Maureen. “And Paradox is getting started again. We’ve got to be quiet for the wedding.”

Glory leaned forward and hugged Maureen openly, whispering loudly in her ear. “Welcome to the Flyboys – nobody gets out alive, my own little secret Peenie.”

Harley groaned, “I just can’t take her anywhere…”

Abby chuckled. “You’re not right in the head, Glory.”

“Who’s to say what’s right and what’s wrong?” Glory asked openly even as several people around them shushed her. “And ‘right’ is up to the owner, beholder, or whatever ‘her’ you wanna label it. Maureen and I are gonna be besties. I just know it! Now, would everyone shush-up and let Sidewinder get married? Sheesh! Miracles don’t happen every day, yanno…”

Maureen was speechless.

CHAPTER 3

ARCHANGEL

“Why are you here?”

Elijah flinched despite having steeled himself for this moment the entire flight. He spent on the airplane, replaying this moment repeatedly in his head, running through various scenarios and wondering how his brother, Bode, would take his sudden appearance. He hadn’t been too thrilled in Ghazni when he showed up out of the blue. It wasn’t hard to imagine how his brother would react at his wedding.

“I already told you – I was invited,” Elijah said coolly, trying to keep his face neutral, not giving his brother anything to latch onto. If that was one thing they had both inherited, it was the ability to take a singular moment and let it explode wildly out of control with the slightest provocation. The only difference was that his tolerance was a little greater than Bode’s.

“So?”

“So – I came because I was…”

“No!” Bode snapped angrily, taking a defensive stance immediately. Eli was glad they were both in the hangar, out of sight for this impromptu reunion that might come to blows. “This is different, and we both know it – now no more games, no more playing it cool or acting tough. Why are you even bothering with coming here? Why are you showing up and acting like you give a flying flip about me?”

“Bode…” Elijah began, feeling something break within him. He was losing his chance to talk to his brother once again. This was blowing up like a wildfire, just as things always seemed to do between them. They were both on edge, both defensive, and both had so many scars to heal from. Bode tended to burn everything down around him when he got upset – and Elijah shut down, cutting off everything and everyone.

It wasn’t a good mix.

“It’s Sidewinder, remember?” Bode interrupted, obviously on the verge of losing his cool once again. His brother’s fists were clenched before him, and while they’d gotten into fights, this was different, and he could feel it. If one of them exploded first, there might not be any coming back from it this time. “You don’t get to do this. You just showed up and think that…”