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“Thanks Ralph, I need to get a shower first, but maybe I’ll come up there after,” I chuckled to myself. Ralph was the only one who knew I was getting my flying license. I wanted to be able to fly or land in an emergency, plus it would look cool to the ladies.
What ladies? My assistant or my secretary? I need to date more often than twice a month. Why should Asher have all the fun?
The hot shower restored my stiff muscles and cleared my brain a little. I figured now was a good time to read that email from Asher. Then, I would have to deal with mom. I buckled into my chair for descent, then flipped open my laptop. I had ten emails from Asher. I scrolled the oldest one from last night.
It was short: “August, man, I got partying with some friends in the city and realized I was going to miss the flight. I’ll catch up with up you. I promise.”
The next four emails were about the same - Asher giving reasons for missing the flight and assuring me he would meet up. It wasn’t until email number six that he said he was flying to Australia with a group of friends, and that he would meet me at the airport or the hotel before noon. The rest of the emails gave more information on his being on the way, but none gave an exact time.
“Make sure your seat belt is fastened for landing, Mr. Hawthorne. Unless you want to come up here and land this thing yourself?” Ralph coaxed from the front of the plane.
I could feel my shoulders and neck getting tight from Asher’s emails and needed to relax. I unbuckled my seat belt and walked the twenty feet or so to the cockpit. Flying always made me feel happy.
“Thanks for pushing me to fly today, Ralph, I needed that.” I said, slapping him on the back as I leaned back from the controls. “I’m going to be here for twenty-four to thirty-six hours this time, but then we’re off to Paris. Are you good on hours for Paris?”
“Yes sir, with the hours off while we’re here I’ll be good to go,” Ralph said, switching everything off. “Shoot me am approximate so I can get clearance as soon as you know.”
Kellan was waiting in his limo as I exited the plane. I scanned the area looking for any sign of Asher. I wasn’t really expecting him to be there, but I couldn’t help but want to have faith that he would show up. Gunner, Kellan’s driver, wasn’t the same one I was familiar with, but he gave me a friendly nod and opened the door.
“What’s the deal with the tank driving you around today?” I asked, before said tank got in the car. “He looks like a serious kinda guy. You piss someone off or something?”
“Well, good morning to you too. I’ll tell you about that in a minute,” Kellan said quickly before he put his cell to his ear.
When his call ended, I looked up from my own cell. “You don’t seem surprised that Asher isn’t here with me. Let me guess, Trey called you?”
“More like Parker told Mia, Mia called Poppy, Poppy alerted me, and here I am to find out what’s going on,” Kellan said. “I got a text from Asher that he has been trying to get ahold of you since last night. All I said in response was that you were arriving around ten this morning.”
“Yeah, I saw his ten emails. He says he’s on his way, so we will see.” I stared out the window watching cars pass by. Tell me about this,” I said, nodding toward the driver.
Kellan hit the button to put the dividing window down. “Gunner, meet my cousin August. August, this is Gunner, my new driver and bodyguard.” Kellan smirked at me, he knew darn well he couldn’t drop a comment like “meet my bodyguard” without following it up with more. He wanted me to go wild thinking about it. I kicked at his foot like when we were in grade school and he would do this same kind of thing.
“Fine, don’t tell me. I’ll find out from Poppy and Mia anyways,” I said, laughing. “Is our meeting still set for noon?”
“Meeting changed to one pm. so I thought we’d go back to the hotel. There’s a few design things that Poppy and I were thinking about and I wanted to look at them with you,” Kellan said, sheepishly. “You don’t have to use them, but I think they might be good for the new branding.”
“Look at you acting all nervous about an idea. Since when is our tough Hawthorne attorney sheepish? Oh wait, is it because the new wife had the idea?” I teased.
Kellan looked away. He’s only been married a few months, but I had been hearing good things from the rest of the family.
“Her background is fashion and she has a good feel for things before people know they like it,” Kellan said. “Just hear it out before you judge who it’s coming from, okay?”
“I like this protective side of you. Is she the reason you have a military ops guy driving your limo?” I spoke softly so Gunner wouldn’t hear.
“Seal special ops, sir. Did a stint in the green beret too,” Gunner answered from the front of the car. “At your service, as well, sir.”
“Holy crap Kellan, this guy is legit and probably has, you know...,” I really whispered now, “killed people!”
“Yes sir, I have killed many people, but only bad ones,” Gunner answered before Kellan could.
I felt my eyes grow wide as I stared at Kellan. He sat there quietly laughing, but not intervening.
“You need someone killed, sir?”
Chapter 13
IMOGEN
“Strewth Crickey, I need to shoot through.” I ran to the bedroom for some shoes.
