Total pages in book: 68
Estimated words: 68735 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 344(@200wpm)___ 275(@250wpm)___ 229(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 68735 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 344(@200wpm)___ 275(@250wpm)___ 229(@300wpm)
My son.
My beautiful, amazing Damon.
God, the pain would never abate, would it?
I’d always feel this gaping, sickening, sinking feeling inside of me that felt like a bottomless pit.
“I met her son, yes,” Audric said. “He was a beautiful boy, and the world is less bright without him in it.”
My heart broke in two.
He so was.
And it made me feel remotely better that Audric felt the same way.
“You weren’t the father, were you?” he asked. “We’ve been asking her who her baby daddy was for a while, and she never answers. Just gets all icy and tells us to mind our own business.”
“It’s likely that she has a hard time bringing Damon up because it’s still a raw wound that will never heal. It’d be best for you not to mention it, if you ask me,” Audric ordered.
And it was an order.
It wasn’t a threat, but it was damn close.
“I guess that makes sense,” Kory said insensitively. “She always gets in the worst mood after I ask.”
Silence.
Utter silence.
I was sure that Audric was just as appalled as I was.
Kory was Gen Z.
He hardly worked, then threw a fit when they threatened to fire him. He showed up late, and we were constantly trying to figure out if he planned to come, or if he was interested in taking a vacation that he felt like not telling anyone about.
When he wasn’t acting like he was a dumbass with his job, he was acting like a jerk face when it came to me and almost all of the “hot” flight attendants.
Luckily, there were quite a few on the shift with me. Unluckily, I was the lead flight attendant who had to deal with him the most.
“I can’t imagine why,” Audric drawled, his eyes flicking into the cockpit. “You need me for anything in particular, Little Monster, or do you mind if I sit down? Getting airsick here.”
My brows rose, both at him calling me my old nickname that I hadn’t heard in years, and also because of him saying he got airsick.
I’d never known.
Then again, at this point in our lives, I wasn’t sure we even knew each other anymore.
“Nope,” Kory said. “You can sit, man. Just wanted to meet the man who knew how to thaw dry ice.”
I gritted my teeth.
Audric gave Kory one long, penetrating look then said, “She doesn’t need thawing with me.”
I flushed, trying to keep my mind from going to anything too scary.
I couldn’t have a panic attack in flight.
That would be no good, and everyone would know that I barely hung on throughout most days.
Kory waved him off and grabbed his tray, heading back into the cockpit.
Danial came out next, grabbed his food, read my mood, and headed right back into the cockpit.
I liked Danial. He was always very considerate and read the room quite well.
Nothing like Kory.
The moment the door closed, I backed into the corner of the galley and dropped my head to my chest. I took several long, deep breaths before bringing my head up and catching Audric’s gaze across the space.
He could barely see me, but he saw enough.
Though, it wasn’t like I was trying to hide anything from him.
He probably knew better than most about my issues, even if he didn’t know what caused them.
I looked away, dropping his gaze, and went back to work.
It was on hour five that he came up to go to the bathroom.
I was sitting on the galley seat, eyes on my book, when he dropped into the seat beside me.
My body didn’t always do the freakout thing when he sat down like it would’ve with anyone else, and I was sure that was because he was one of the longest standing people I knew.
Only five people could do that with me, and three of them were dead now.
My dad and Audric were the only ones left.
“Can I help you?” I asked stiffly.
“Is it him?” he asked.
I turned to give him my full attention. “Is who him, what?”
That was complete jibberish, but it seemed like he understood because he started to explain.
“The man that Laney slept with.” He rocked my entire world right off its axis. “Is it Cakes?”
I froze, unsure what to say or do, and my breath started to come in fast pants.
“I know that she slept with someone from the club,” he said. “And I know whoever it was has no fuckin’ clue.”
Guilt and anger started to rise up out of my throat before I could stop it.
“Fuck.” I let my face fall into my hands. “I didn’t know what to say or do. I didn’t know how to go about even bringing this up. When I found out, with my mom…I just…I couldn’t handle it. I should’ve said something but…”
“Wasn’t really your place to,” he admitted. “I know that you think that you should’ve, but in the end, this was Laney. All of this was Laney, and it never should’ve been anyone else but her explaining.”