Grounded (Up in the Air #3)(33)

James was in the back changing as I saw that I’d missed several texts from Stephan.

Stephan: B, will you call me when you can?

Stephan: I’m heading back to the apartment. Please let me know when you’re free. I don’t want to be alone right now.

A little shiver of dread ran down my spine, and I felt instantly guilty for forgetting about my phone yet again. I tried to call him five times in a row, my heart pounding into overdrive when he didn’t answer.

His text about not wanting to be alone had really gotten to me. He shouldn’t have to be alone, not ever, not while I still breathed, because that was just how it worked with us, but he was obviously alone and hurting, and I needed to get to him.

I tried texting him, though I knew it was pointless if he wasn’t even answering his phone.

Bianca: Just saw your messages. Coming back to the apartment as fast as I can get there. Please tell me u r okay.

James was striding towards me when I looked up from my phone. He must have seen something on my face because his changed from smiling to alarmed between one step and the next.

“What is it?” he asked me quietly when he drew close.

“It’s Stephan. I need to get back to the apartment. He’s upset about something and he needs me.”

He nodded, shooting a quick glance to a spot behind me. He took my elbow and began to lead me out of the studio without further ado.

“Wait, Mr. Cavendish,” the director was saying. “We just need to conduct the interview portion. It won’t take more than thirty minutes.”

He didn’t even slow down. “Email the questions to me. We have some urgent business to attend to,” he said brusquely.

She didn’t protest. I doubted many would when he used such a Mr. Cavendish tone.

He wasted no time getting us into the car and traveling swiftly back to the apartment.

“Thank you,” I told him, my voice pitched very low, always conscious of the other people in the car. “I can’t bear the thought of him being alone and upset.”

He nodded and stroked a hand over my hair. “I know. We’ll be home in just a few minutes. Do you have any idea what happened?”

I gave my little shrug. “He and Javier were going out with some other flight attendants tonight. It was a crew that was friends with Javier, but not with Stephan. Something must have happened with them. He mentioned earlier that they were being openly hostile. I should have gone to him then. I feel terrible.”

“Did he ask you to come then?”

“No, but—“

“Did he ask you to come now?” he asked.

“Yes, but that was almost an hour ago—“

“Quit beating yourself up. You know Stephan wouldn’t. We’re going to him now, and everything will be fine.”

CHAPTER TWELVE

Mr. Understanding

I rushed into the apartment the second the elevator opened, moving towards the room the guys had been staying in. James was a silent presence—keeping pace at my back.

I only knew I was heading in the right direction by the raised voice echoing down the long hallway. I broke into a run.

Javier was yelling, his voice harsh and angry. It was so uncharacteristic for him that I stopped in the open doorway to their room.

“We will talk about it now,” Javier was saying in an awful voice. He was standing directly in front of Stephan, close enough to shout into his face. His tone and his demeanor instantly sparked my rare temper, but he wasn’t what made me lose it.

Stephan stood with his arms crossed in front of him, looking at the floor, his posture defeated. He had withdrawn from the confrontation, gone into that dark place in his mind where his family abused him and deserted him without looking back. I knew it at a glance. Something horrible had happened between the two men, something so bad that Stephan had checked out, and everything that Javier was doing was just making him go further into that dark place. That was what made me lose it.

I was moving to Stephan before my brain fully processed what was even going on, as though my body knew what to do before my brain did. I moved between the two men, and into Stephan, burying my face in his chest, my arms wrapping tight around his ribs.

He gasped as though he’d been holding his breath, hugging me back. Those were his only reactions. His face and posture didn’t change other than that. I knew it was a bad sign.

I turned my face just enough to glare at Javier. “You need to give him some space. Now.”

Javier pointed at me, growing visibly more furious. “This is the problem with you two. How the f**k is anyone supposed to get close to either of you, to have any kind of a relationship with you, when you only care about each other, only trust each other?!”

Javier had a rare but memorable temper. He was a clear-headed, sweet guy ninety-nine percent of the time. He was sweet, gentle, and amiable, if a touch cool for my taste. But that other one percent was an emotional typhoon. I knew from their past breakup that when he got like this he said awful things, threw out ultimatums, and burned bridges. I got it. I understood that dysfunction all too well, but it had wounded Stephan once again, and I had a real serious problem with that.

I pointed right back at him. “I said, give him space.”

His upper lip quivered. He gripped both hands into his hair as though he wanted to pull it all out. I couldn’t tell if it was anger or pain that moved him, but I frankly didn’t care at that moment. Priority one was Stephan, always.