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I hated that word.
5
“Whose plane is this?” Although I’d flown on a lot of private planes over the years, other than fleeing Russia aboard the small plane, lately I usually flew commercial. The seats were roomy in the somewhat larger plane, but I didn’t know if they had assigned seats or if I should just sit anywhere.
Michael lifted his good arm, pointing his thumb at his chest. “Mine.”
“Yours?” I didn’t know he owned planes.
Tito squeezed my shoulder. “That’s right, gorgeous. Michael is loaded. Our boy is super successful and employs the rest of us so we don’t all end up doing bad things to the world.”
“Don’t pat her,” Michael groaned as much as spoke to Tito before he sat down in a chair in the middle of the plane. Stephen and Roy were with us, but I didn’t see who piloted the vehicle. It wasn’t my first time flying with Michael by far, but normally we rode in my father’s planes.
Tito sat behind Michael with an exaggerated eye roll, and Stephen and Roy each seemed to take random seats. Stephen finally said, as he buckled his belt, “You’re nuts to do this. Certifiably, just so we’re clear. You should be in that hospital bed for at least another week.”
Michael looked down at his phone rather than bothering to shoot Stephen a glance. “When have you ever seen me in a hospital bed for any length of time?”
“It may be true, but that doesn’t make it less dumb.” Stephen shut his eyes like he intended to sleep. “We can’t even blame Bridget for this, since she thinks you should be in that hospital, too.”
I did; he wasn’t wrong. Of course, I hadn’t told Stephen that, so it was a little strange to hear him speaking for me. I finally sat in the empty seat across from Michael.
Michael shook his head, still not looking up from his phone. “I’m a grown up. I can decide when I need to be in the hospital and when it would be better to just go home and take care of things from there.”
“Bridget, if you need anything, let me know.” Roy leaned back in his seat like Stephen and closed his eyes. “I can be awake in seconds. Anything, okay, so don’t hesitate to wake me?”
Michael set his phone on his tray table hard. “She can ask me for whatever she needs. She knows that. Always has.”
I was missing undercurrents of conversation, and I knew it, but I wasn’t going to bother trying to figure them out. Instead, I locked my seatbelt. “I’m sure I won’t need anything.” I didn’t have a phone, so likely I’d sleep through the flight. “Where are we going?”
“Home,” Michael said and then looked at me. “Boise, or that’s where we’ll land. I live outside of town.”
“She didn’t know where you lived?” Stephen opened his eyes, his brows low and his expression disappointed. “Michael, word of advice? Women like to know things about us. It helps.”
“And you know this from your vast experience with relationships?” Michael rolled his eyes. “Ignore them. This isn’t about you, it’s about me. They give me shit, always have. We give it to each other, so just know you didn’t do anything wrong. Also, if you get scared, you can let me know.”
If I got scared? I narrowed my eyes at him. “I’m not the one with a fear of flying. That’s Layla.”
He shrugged a single shoulder, not looking up at me. “You just pretend you aren’t. You cover it. You let Layla be the one who is afraid, so she can get the care she needs in the moment, and you don’t take attention away from her.” He closed his eyes, leaning back with a sigh. “That said, takeoff doesn’t bother you as much as turbulence does.”
I leaned back in my seat, surprised because he was unfortunately probably right. I might not know small details about Michael, but he certainly seemed to know them about me. Still, I knew some secrets would remain buried deep within me no matter where I went.
Of course, none of them had anything to do with air travel.
“Don’t tell them anything else about what makes me weak, okay?” I leaned toward Michael. “I’m ashamed of the things that make me vulnerable.”
He blinked and stared at me. “You’ve survived things that make you vulnerable, yet they’ve only made you stronger, Bridge. But you’re right. I shouldn’t have said those things. I just…I’m not myself at the moment.”
That went for both of us.
* * *
Seven YearsEarlier
I slumped onto a stoop next to Michael Li. I hadn’t seen him lately, and I tried in vain to tamp down on the bubble of excitement I’d felt when I spotted him. He’d been watching my father’s back more and more, while we were assigned people who worked for him. Michael might be employed by the company, but they weren’t his only clients, which meant sometimes we had other bodyguards. My father was lucky he saw Michael at all, but I suspected he paid extra for that privilege. The other bodyguards were fine, but Michael always made me feel especially safe, not that I could have explained why.
When it came down to it, I didn’t really want to think about it that hard.
He looked up from his phone, and I loved the way his intense eyes seemed to focus so completely on me. My dad was inside getting ready to go to Mexico, although he didn’t tell me the reason for the trip. I wanted to know, and I promised myself someday I’d be on the inside of his company. I’d know how he ran things, and how he made his money.
