My heart raced and blood roared in my ears louder than the constant hum of engines. The sound of the cooling fan slowing was subtle, and even if Ethan noticed, he probably wouldn’t think anything of it.
Outwardly, I remained composed, but inside, panic poured into my stomach.
Did he know I’d just become the most dangerous thing on my plane? As Gio’s brain was starved of oxygen, he’d become disoriented. Perhaps his speech would slur and he’d speak nonsense, although I wouldn’t understand either way. Maybehe’d experience euphoria, as some people reported they did, but—God, I hoped not. He didn’t deserve it.
All I wanted was the loss of consciousness the hypoxia was likely to bring.
Ethan scrutinized me when I turned to him, but I kept my face blank.
“Let me worry about what to do when we land,” he said. “Maybe you don’t trust me, but you need to listen to me. If I tell you to be quiet, that means you stay absolutely silent. Understand?”
His voice was harsh, and I got the sense he was overcompensating. Trying to take command of an uncontrollable situation. I didn’t give him any response.
“Do as I say,” he said, “and I can get you out of this. You were in the military, so I know you can follow orders.”
My lips parted to suck in a breath, and I suddenly couldn’t wait to see him panic when the warning alarm sounded and the plastic bags and tubing sprang from the compartments. It couldn’t come soon enough.
“You don’t know a thing about me,” I said.
It was a lie. He knew plenty about me, and he probably saw right through the front I was so careful to put up. It took a bull-shitter to know one.
It was dark outside, and the lights were dim in the small space I shared with this man I’d slept with. That felt like a lifetime ago. How upset was he going to be with me when he realized what I’d done? And why did I care?
“You’re right,” he said. “I don’t know anything about you.”
He lapsed into silence, but I could feel his intense gaze on me, and unexpectedly, his breathing picked up. Like he was nervous about whatever he was going to say.
“I know that I need you to get through this,” he said.
The uneven cadence of his voice was shocking, pulling my gaze to him like he had gravity. His face had changed, taking on the same look of longing he’d given me right after ourencounter in the bathroom this afternoon. My heart thudded.
“Why?”
His voice was low. “Because maybe when this is over, we could?—”
A loud horn blared, cut off, and then rang again in a steady pattern, and the dread that filled his face was devastating.
15
ETHAN
I watchedOlivia’s focus snap back to the controls. She’d barely seemed surprised when the alarm had sounded, but it had startled the hell out of me. I’d never been all that comfortable with flying, and I had to steel myself now to remain calm.
“What’s happening?”
“We’re losing pressure.” She snapped up the steering column, and there was a flurry of activity. Another alarm sounded and was silenced when she stabbed a button in the center between us.
“Why are we losing pressure?”
“We must have a leak.”
The answer came far too quick and tight. Everything inside me was already on alert, but this set me even more on edge. What was her play here? To claim a malfunction and try to force Gio into jumping with a parachute?
She’d so obviously been planning something since our boss returned to his seat. Her whole body had gone rigid, and she’d been carefully measuring out her breath so as not to seem anxious. She’d failed miserably.
“What’s going on?” Gio yelled, storming up to the cockpit.
“Turbulence,” I lied. “Go back to your seat and buckle in.”
