Accidental Tryst (Charleston #1)(4)

I depressed the home button and went to swipe up and select Airplane Mode when everything in me simply froze in confusion. I stared down at the foreign picture in front of me.

A screensaver of a bridge.

A long, beautiful suspension bridge I'd seen before. The beautiful, graceful, and delicate looking Verrazano Bridge that connected Staten Island to Brooklyn. The sky was red behind it. Gorgeous.

Had I accidentally saved a random picture as my screensaver? Maybe. I was a little distracted sometimes. And very under pressure at work.

"Ma'am. Airplane Mode."

"Got it." I swiped up and hit the small airplane icon and then gave her a tight smile.

She smiled back thinly. "Thank you."

My eyes went back to the phone in my hand as she moved off into the galley. The case, plain black, was mine. Right? The cord? The same. Standard. The crack—unfamiliar. With sinking dread, I pressed the home button again and then swiped right across the screen to open phone access.

A keypad appeared.

My heart pounded, and my stomach sank.

I never used a code.

Stupid, I know. But . . . oh shit.

This was not my phone.



* * *



Thirty Thousand Feet Above Sea Level

"Is this like a Jedi mind trick or did you forget your passcode?"

I jerked in surprise at the voice right by my ear. "Shit." I expelled a breath. And looked over to the kid on my left. "What?"

"You've been staring at the phone lock screen for twenty-five minutes. Are you trying to unlock it with your mind?"

I looked down at his phone that was in the middle of some game with little villages and people.

"You were distracting me from my raid," he said when I didn't answer, pulling his large earphones back to hang around his neck. "I kept thinking, if she's going to pull off this Jedi shit I don't want to miss it."

"Your language."

He shrugged. "Sorry to offend."

"Not offended. But don't your parents tell you not to swear?"

"I'm fifteen. And if they gave a shit they probably would. But they're too busy fighting over me and swearing at each other."

"I'm sorry," I said, looking around. "Are they on board?"

"No. My mom lives in Charleston. My dad lives in New York."

"So you’re heading to your dad's. Where do you go to school?"

"I homeschool. After social services got on our case about all my missed days, it seemed like a better option, you know? Anyway, school is overrated. So why are you staring at your phone like you've never seen it before."

I pursed my lips, then blew a small breath out the side of my mouth. "That's coz I haven't," I mumbled.

"Sorry?"

"It's not my phone." I winced.

There was no response. After a few seconds I glanced up to see the kid staring at me, an assessing look on his face. Now that I was looking at him, his eyes did seem a little more mature than a fifteen-year-old’s should. Maybe going through a family breakup would do that to you. I wondered if I'd looked the same.

"You steal it?" he asked.

"No. Jeez. No. I took it by accident."

"Uh huh."

I tried to explain to him what happened.

He shook his head. "That's one I haven't heard before. And I've heard a lot."

"I bet you have."

The drinks cart was four rows away. Was it too early to have a cocktail? I shook my head. How could I be so stupid? My whole life was on that phone. My calendar, my appointments, every meeting. Call in numbers for conference calls. My photos. Gah! My photos.

"So you lost your phone. And now you have someone else's. Did you at least back yours up to the cloud?"

My chest grew tighter and my nose stung. I could not lose control of my emotions right now. My eyes prickled. I blew out a breath. "Shit," I said. "'Scuse my language." It was no use, tears spilled over. "Dammit."

"So, I'm assuming . . . no?"

I shook my head vigorously. I'd been meaning to, of course.

"So you need your phone back. Any chance the person whose phone you have, has yours? Maybe they took yours first, that's why you thought that was yours."

A spark of hope flared. "Maybe."

"So just call your number when you land."

I nodded. "I can't be without a phone." I thought of work and my annoying boss, Steven. I thought of David. My stomach clenched with anxiety again, my breathing became shallow. God, even if I could get into this phone I wouldn’t be able to access our annoying POP server work email. Not that I could remember the password for that anyway. "I just can't."

"I feel you." He shuddered. "But use this one until you get yours back. At least you can use the GPS and browser and shit and make a phone call if you need to. There, see? Problem solved."

I held it up where the lock screen still showed number circles. "Duh."

The kid shrugged. "I can bypass that for you."

I frowned. "What? Really?"

"Sure. It'll cost you, but sure."

"Cost me?"

The kid winked.

"If you're going to ask me to flash you, I’d rather be without a phone."