Page 90 of Mile High Heist

“No, that’s okay.”

“You sure?” His grin turned savage. “I could distract her for a few hours. Break open some luggage, find some cool toys. Madoc told me Jax found a dildo…”

At the mention of Madoc, a strange rush filled my chest. It wasn’t fear. Not exactly. But it definitely wasn’t the warm and fuzzies, either.

“Where is Madoc?” I asked, trying to be all casual and breezy. I leaned on the door, then nearly faceplanted when the plane jerked violently.

Even the plane was an asshole.

If Ryle noticed my weird behavior, he didn’t call it out. “Him and Nate are sweeping the plane,” he said. “Apparently Jax knocked out a snake when he was getting into the cargo hold, so they have to deal with him and the other dead guy.”

I made a face. Casual murder. Cute.

“They should be done now, though,” Ryle added with a shrug. “Hopefully that’s it. No stupid final act.”

I punched him in the shoulder. “Don’t say that. Bad juju.”

He pouted and rubbed his shoulder. “Not you, too. Man, when did everyone get so superstitious?”

Lucille’s voice reached a new pitch of hysteria. Ryle and I shared a suffering look before I plastered on my fake smile and hobbled out to face the dragon.

“…and as you can understand, I cannot override the captain’s orders,” Lucille was explaining to a red-faced man who was clearly giving her a serving. Lucille stood tall, unmoved by his growing anger. As much as I hated to admit it, I had developed a kernel of respect for Lucille.

Despite the passengers dying, the plane losing signal, the severe turbulence, and the few hundred furious lawyers threatening to sue, she kept it together. Her scarf was still perfectly knotted to the left.

However, that crumb of respect was quickly swallowed when she whirled on me. “Emily! So good you could finally join us.”

Her tone was sweetly patronizing.

The man also turned, his eyes raking up and down my uniform like it personally offended him. When his eyes lingered a second too long on my chest, I cleared my throat. “Can I help you, sir?”

His cheeks reddened. “No, uh. Never mind.”

He turned and stormed back to his pod, leaving me alone with Lucille. Without an audience, she allowed her polite smile to drop and the claws to extend.

“Where have you been?”

“I felt unwell.”

At her narrow-eyed look, I crossed my arms. Surprisingly, not even her scornful attitude could dampen the happy fizzle in my chest. I wasn’t going to let her rain on my new parade.

“Look,” I said, and her eyebrow arched at my tone. “I’m not going to give you excuses. I know you think I’m a shitty flight attendant. And you know what? You’re right. I’ve decided I’m going to switch careers and never do this again. But,” I pushed on, cutting off her undoubtedly ringing endorsement of my sudden switch, “as of right now, you still need me. And I’m willing to help you.”

Her lips pursed. “Willing?”

“Yes,” I said. “The moment I step off this plane, you will never see me again.”

That part she clearly liked. She gave me another long, needling look. “You are a very strange girl, Emily.”

I smiled. “You don’t know the half of it.”

She sighed, resigned. “Alright. I already have the other girls doing the safety checklist. You will help me by preparing the cabin for landing. The turbulence damaged some of the overheads, so we need to relocate the luggage into this cabin. Can you handle that?”

I ignored the bite in her tone and nodded. “Absolutely.”

“Good. Now the captain has invoked a full lockdown because of the outbreak—”

“The what?” I blinked at her. Then it clicked. “Oh. Right.”