PRINCE CHARMING: A Stepbrother Secret Baby Romance(93)

“He wasn’t waiting. He was probably fucking the other woman throughout our relationship. No wonder it didn’t seem to bother him so much, and I respected him for it. Ugh!”

“Enough of this foolish talk, Claire,” Willow interjected. “Trent chose his path, and I am glad you became aware of it before you married him. Trust me, divorce is never easy. You know I went through that with your father. You need to move on. Whatever the reason, it’s already happened and you can’t fix it.”

At that instant, the aircraft dipped a few feet, surprising them and making Claire forget whatever response she had meant to give her mother. They looked at each other with horrified expressions. Some of the other passengers were whispering.

The plane started moving up and down haphazardly. The passengers were talking loudly and beginning to panic. The shaking continued, and some of the passengers began screaming as oxygen masks fell from the overhead compartments.

“What’s happening?” Claire asked as she looked out the window. She could see nothing but blue and white. Her heart hammered in her chest. The blood rushed to her head, and she could feel it flowing inside her as her palms grew clammy. She started hyperventilating. “We’re crashing!”

“Ladies and gentlemen, please make use of the breathing masks in front of you,” the flight attendant called over the microphone.

Claire tried to remember the instructions given before take-off.

“Come on, girls,” Willow told the girls as she began strapping on the device. Claire could see terror written all over her face, but her voice remained calm.

“Hey, what’s going on?” a man behind them shouted. “Is the plane going to crash?”

“No, far from it,” the flight attendant tried to reassure them. “We are experiencing some turbulence because of high pressure winds in the area. Please, remain calm and do as you are told. The pilot will issue an advisory shortly. Remain in your seats and fasten your seatbelts.”

There was a chorus of clicking as everyone on the plane simultaneously snapped their seatbelts. The plane rocked continuously, and Claire grabbed Amy’s sweaty hands as they clung to each other for support.

“She’s lying. This is it,” Claire said under her breath as she struggled to put the mask over her face. “I should have stayed home.”

“Calm down, Claire,” Willow said. Her eyes were closed and her head rested on the seat. She seemed to be breathing heavily as she held the mask over her nose.

The captain’s voice came over the intercom: “Ladies and gentlemen, this is your captain speaking. We are experiencing major turbulence at the moment. We are going to make an emergency landing. Please remain seated and calm as we get you to safety. Everything will be okay.”

The tension did not abate after the cabin grew silent. The plane made a sharp swing to the right, and Claire swore everyone in the cabin screamed. The screams were unnerving as the aircraft battled against the pressure outside. For the moment, Claire was temporarily distracted from her brooding as she focused on her life flashing before her.

After a few more bumps and jerks, the plane levelled off, landed, and rolled to a stop. Most of the passengers hastened to exit the plane before the captain or flight attendant made any announcements.

“Man, where are we?” a young man, a college student from the looks of him, asked as he looked outside. “This ain’t no airport.”

There were other murmurings to the same effect until an elderly man spoke. “Would you have preferred to stay in the air while the captain found a nice long runway?” he asked the man, then turned to address others still streaming from the plane. “Just be grateful we landed safely.”

“Yes to that,” a woman agreed. The young man shrugged his shoulders and dug his hands into the pockets of his shorts and put on his headphones.

When everyone realized they were all alright, the question resurfaced: where the heck were they? The flight attendant announced they could stretch their legs outside of the plane as long as they stayed nearby and didn’t wander off.

“Let’s get out of here,” Amy said to Claire and Willow. The other women nodded and followed her out of the plane.

As soon as they got out of the plane, Claire looked around, noticing that the airstrip was professionally done, but they weren’t at an airport either. They appeared to be somewhere in the Caribbean; she could make out a forested area behind them with the beach in front. There was a jet at the end of the runway, not far from what she assumed to be a hangar.

“I think this is a private island,” she said to Amy.

“Why?” Amy asked.

“Well, it has to be,” she said. “Look at the layout. If this place had an official airport then that’s where we would be. Not here. This is probably some old rich asshole’s private airport.”

“Makes sense,” Willow chuckled. “I better go find that old rich man then.”

The women laughed, and for a few moments, Claire forgot her sorrows. “I’ve never seen one of those,” Claire said and pointed to the jet. “Wonder what it looks like inside.”

“Probably nice,” Amy responded. “So if there’s a private island and a private jet, there’s hopefully a young, sexy billionaire close by.”

“Amy! You’re one crazy….” Claire laughed, but she didn’t complete her comment as they saw the pilot walking toward them. There were other people gathered around.