AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Turning toward the man knocking on the window, I let go of Phillip's hand and open the car door. "We need to park the car here for a few days and don't have time to do it ourselves."
Smiling, he hands me a ticket. "I'll handle it for you then. You can show that ticket when you're ready to pick up your car."
"Sounds good." As I shove the ticket in the pocket of my black blazer, I step out of the car and walk to the trunk to grab my bags. Phillip is waiting in front of the entrance when I step onto the sidewalk, and he looks like a lost puppy.
"You still doing okay?" I ask, resting a hand on his shoulder.
"Yeah. I can carry one of those.” Sliding his arm underneath the large strap of my duffel, he tugs it off my arm and pulls it up onto his shoulder. "Let's get this over with. I'm hoping to be back in time to catch the next episode of my show." He's fucking with me. There's no TV at the warehouse.
Wearing a half smile, I follow closely behind him to the boarding area. His good mood lessens after we check my gun case and make it past security. Squeezing through large crowds of people has him shaking more. We stop by the closest cafe and I buy him a chamomile tea, and it helps him relax while we wait to get on the plane.
Once we are seated, I slide my bag under the seat in front of me, then hand him a pack of gum and a pair of earbuds from my pocket.
"What's all this for?" He eyes me wearily, as if I just handed him a red and blue pill to choose from.
"To keep your ears from popping when the plane lifts in the air."
He eyes the items in his hand again and shoves a piece of gum into his mouth before pocketing the rest. "It's notJuicy Fruitbut I guess it'll have to do for now." His soft smile is back as he places the earbuds in his ears. I hit play on one of my favorite playlists I use to help me unwind after a long day. Phillip reaches for my hand and closes his eyes while resting his head against the seat, tangling his fingers with mine. When his head rests on my shoulder, I don't move away or tell him to.
Whatever gets the job done.
Two
Phillip
I jolt awake when the pilot announces the plane is landing and Antonio releases my hand. I forgot he was holding it after a while, and too tired to keep my eyes open for long, I crashed beside him. I hope I wasn't snoring. I do that sometimes when I'm overly exhausted, and my younger brother Ethan used to give me shit for it. I never thought I'd miss his teasing until now. Pressing my back to the seat, I glance out the window, growing overwhelmed when everything outside looks like it's moving.
“Easy, burrito. Look at me.”
He keeps calling me that name and I can't make sense as to why, but the tone in his voice softens when he does, and it's hard to care since it’s so soothing.
Taking in a deep breath, I meet his eyes and release the air from my lungs slowly, grabbing his hand again while he continues looking at me like I’m a damn stranger. “Better?” Leaning closer, he removes an earbud from my ear, remindingme I still have them in. Who knows when the music stopped playing. His brown eyes are soft and warm, pinning me in place, no recognition found anywhere in them.
He doesn't remember me. Then again, why would he? When he last saw me I was only eight. When I last saw him, he was freeing me and Ethan from my monster of a father's clutches. Even after all these years he still looks the same, and time may have been kind to his outer appearance but grief has destroyed the rest of him. He's more dark and broody now, with sadness burning in his eyes, his smiles no longer genuine. They don't make me feel anything anymore. No happiness or hope. No love.
He's still him though—the man who appeared like an angel of mercy when we needed saving.
“I promised to help keep them safe and always will,”he’d said, kicking the chair from under my dad’s feet.
His words stayed with me all this time. They were there when I went to sleep at night and when I woke up. Due to tragedy after tragedy, everyone close to me is gone and he is the next best thing to family. He's all I have left in the world and I finally found him. Lucian would've wanted us to find each other. He wouldn't want two people he loved most to be alone, and Antonio is just as lonely as me. Maybe we can save each other this time.
Clearing his throat, he yanks the other earbud from my ear. “Phillip?”
Oh right, he asked me a question. “Sorry, was deep in thought I guess.”
“What about?”
I make up something on the fly that's also partly true. “I always wanted to look out of a plane window. You know, for the experience.”
His lips form into a half smile. “Is this your first time flying?”
“Yes. I always imagined it being for a vacation somewhere fun with my brothers or friends I met in college, but instead here I am about to risk my life for someone I owe money to.” Who I'll be paying in jobs for the rest of my life. Doesn't matter if they get all their money back. It's never fully about the money. I robbed so many of their trucks, and when I saw Antonio exit the back of the building, I let myself get caught. To keep him in my sights longer. Needing drugs was never my problem. It was him. My problem and solution.
“Maybe all the other plane trips can still happen someday.” His lips stretch a little more, almost as if he believes his words more than me. A guy like him is good at lying. I’m sure he's seen men like me come and go many times before. No doubt when they left, it wasn't to return home.
“Yeah, maybe,” I say, knowing very well those dreams were shot to hell a long time ago. My brothers would still have to be here for the first one to happen, but they're both gone, making the idea impossible. I yank at the chain hanging from my neck, remembering it being the only thing of Ethan’s they found after the fire that wasn't ruined. The fire that cost me everything. No one knows what caused it. The cops called the fire an accident, but I never believed their theories.
Though my dad’s been dead all these years, I can't stop thinking he had something to do with it. I didn't believe in ghosts until I saw his ring lying beneath all the ash of what used to be my room. A ring he was buried with.
