In Flight (Up in the Air #1)(21)

“I can hear their voices, but I can’t make out what they’re saying at all,” Stephan said, watching James carefully.

Stephan was painfully tense. I knew he hated fighting more than just about anything else in the world. I had also seen him fight several times, though it had been years since he’d had to. He was exceptionally good at it. Whatever happened, he would be able to handle himself, I knew. But he would hate it. He abhorred violence of any kind.

James opened his eyes suddenly, looking more furious than I’d ever seen him. Apparently counting to ten hadn’t worked. His hands shot again to his seat belt and I watched in horror as he shot from his seat, striding to the troublemakers with violence in every quick step.

“Fuck,” Stephan cursed. “Stay here. Please,” he pleaded, going after James in a flash.

There was a very tense exchange. James was leaning down close to speak to the man who had addressed me earlier, and I couldn’t see his face or hear what he was saying.

Stephan was pointing at one of the other men and his voice was raised, though I couldn’t make out the words over the plane engine and the distance. I was surprised that Stephan didn’t even look at James, making no attempt whatsoever to make him return to his seat.

Shit, I thought. That probably meant his own temper was flaring up as well. It really would be a brawl if Stephan started throwing punches.

I saw the man who Stephan was clearly reaming out raise his hands, as though in surrender. That didn’t seem to appease Stephan, though, who just turned to the man who James had taken special exception to. I assumed he was still talking to the man, though I couldn’t hear him.

He was speaking quietly, while Stephan was just getting louder.

“I mean it. One more word out of any of you, and we are diverting this plane and there will be law enforcement waiting for you at the gate.” With that, Stephan stormed back to the seat beside me. He still hadn’t bothered to make James take his seat.

A few tense moments later, James straightened, walking stiffly back to his seat. He didn’t look at me, just sat, buckled up, and closed his eyes.

I felt a relief so huge it almost shamed me. Seeing that, although he’d really wanted to pound someone, he had restrained himself, was something I’d almost needed to see. Whatever else I didn’t know about him, at least I knew he could practice self-control.

Uncontrolled violence and aggression were the monsters of my childhood, and I felt almost limp with relief to see that I wouldn’t find them in James. Not in the way I had feared. The way I always feared, despite a decent amount of time and therapy.

“What happened? What were they saying that would involve law enforcement?” I asked Stephan finally.

He just shook his head. “I’ll tell you later. Please, just give me a minute to compose myself.” His voice was pleading, so I dropped the issue. If he said he’d tell me later, I knew he would.

I was up the second I heard the double ding that indicated we were at ten thousand feet. I started my usual routine, preparing my galley for our breakfast service. I liked the routine, liked routines in general. I found them soothing, in a way.

The chaos of my adolescence made me crave stability in my adult life. So my life, even with all of the traveling, followed a schedule and routine that I enjoyed. Saturday morning breakfast service out of New York was a part of that.

Our airline prided itself on it’s first class service, so our breakfast service was extensive. We would be busy until we landed. With first class full, Stephan stayed up front to help me.

I worked the galley, and he served. That suited me, especially today, with a volatile James, and some apparently degenerate men in the cabin.

Stephan and I didn’t even speak for the first hour as we worked. He was brooding, and we didn’t really need to talk to communicate.

We worked together effortlessly, after all these years. He took the passengers’ orders and I read them and made them. As he served, I worked on the next step. We were fast and effective even without speaking.

I loved this part of the job. I wasn’t even sure why. Just the busy feel in the air, the familiar galley routine, making sure everyone felt like they had received exceptional service, and like we had done a good job. I supposed I had just spent a large part of my life feeling worthless and lost, and this job, on a good day, made me feel like I had some worth. When I thought of it that way, it sounded pathetic, but that didn’t make it any less true.

I noticed everything we served to James, of course. He drank water exclusively, that I had seen. No ice, just the bottle and a glass. I started putting a slice of lemon in his glass, and he didn’t complain, so I continued to do so.

For breakfast, he ordered the only healthy thing we served on the first flight of the day. It was greek yogurt with fresh blueberries and raw pecans. I wasn’t surprised that he was the only one to order it. We usually didn’t have any takers, so Stephan and I often had it for breakfast ourselves. I could’ve guessed from what I had seen of his body that he ate healthy, but that confirmed it.

Could I ever be comfortable getting naked with someone that good looking, who had a flawless body, so far as I could tell? I didn’t know how. I tried to stay in shape but I had junk food sometimes, and I probably didn’t work out as often as I could.

I thought my thighs were too big, and my ankles were too small, like toothpicks. And my arms were thin, but my hips were a little wide and my shoulders were too broad, to my critical eye. Like every woman, I had body issues. Would James notice them when I was naked? I tried not to dwell on it, but I did anyways. I was relieved when we got too busy for me to think about it anymore.