In Flight (Up in the Air #1)(25)
Brenda smiled, grabbing her bags and saying goodbye before hurrying off. Our employee bus was on a twenty minute timer. She’d have to get down to the bus stop in three minutes or wait another twenty, I observed as I checked my watch.
It was a plain metal watch with a dark blue face. It was looking a little the worse for wear, I noticed for the first time. It had lasted two years, and it looked like I needed a replacement, by all the nicks and dents in it. Watches in good condition were actually a job requirement for us, so I’d have to buckle down and go shopping for once.
I’d been on a super tight budget for the last six months. This would be the first time I’d gone shopping for anything besides food in that time. Shit. That gave me an uncomfortable thought.
I looked up at Stephan, who was staring at Melissa. I could tell he was wondering why she hadn’t left yet.
She just beamed at him. “I’m gonna stick around for a bit, make sure you guys get everything squared away okay.” She put an awkward arm around my shoulders. Especially awkward considering she was six inches shorter than I was, even in her ultra-tall heels.
Stephan and I shared a look.
“She’s been through an ordeal, poor thing, with those men saying those awful things about her,” Melissa said, her voice dripping with false sympathy.
I ignored her, talking to Stephan. “I forgot to pay for my drinks last night. I’m sorry. What do I owe you?”
He’d been on a budget similar to mine lately, and for the same reason, so I knew he couldn’t afford to be buying me drinks at the bar.
We had both saved money from working steady amounts of overtime over the last four years. We had taken that savings and found two nearly new houses that had recently been foreclosed on, right next door to each other. We’d both been able to successfully buy the small houses, and were now proud homeowners. And neighbors.
It had been something we’d fantasized about as homeless teenagers. We’d talked about it endlessly, how someday we wouldn’t be homeless. Instead, we had promised, we’d always live right next to each other. And we’d been serious about it.
We’d worked and saved, and it had been one of the happiest days of my life, the day we moved from our small shared apartment and into our small, side-by-side houses.
He grinned at me. It was a shit-eating grin. “You don’t. James bought out the bar for the night. That’s why it emptied out so fast. He covered all of our drinks for the night, and Melvin said his tip for last night was a month’s worth of his normal pay. And all thanks to you, Buttercup.”
I stared at him, stunned speechless, my mind racing.
“Why thanks to her?” Melissa asked him, her voice sharp. “What is going on with you two? It almost sounds like you’re pimping your girlfriend out.”
Stephan looked at her, and his eyes were as cold as I’d ever seen them. I’d never been on the receiving end of that icy stare. Melissa took it better than I would have.
“Bianca is the most important person in the world to me,” Stephan told her coldly. “She’s my best friend and my only family. She is not, however, my girlfriend. And it’s thanks to her because James Cavendish is crazy about her. So crazy, in fact, that he rented that entire bar out for the night. All just so that he could get her number, and spend some time with her.”
Now it was Melissa’s turn to look stunned, but she recovered almost immediately. It turned into a catty glance at me.
She gave me an insulting once over. “I bet you misunderstood. Stephan just thinks you’re special because you’ve been BFF’s forever.” And with that heartwarming assessment, she stalked out of the galley.
Stephan and I shared a look that communicated what we were starting to think about the little red-headed gold-digger.
The mess that awaited us outside of the plane was dealt with more quickly than I would have thought possible.
They were holding the loud-mouthed men somewhere in the airport, questioning them extensively. Probably scaring the hell out of them, I thought. One police officer was waiting for us when we deplaned, and interviewed me briefly about what I’d seen and heard personally.
My part was short. And I got to hear Stephan’s account first hand, so I got a pretty clear picture of what had gone down.
It had started out as raunchy chatter by the men, though Stephan had heard about that second-hand from James. Comments about my body, things they’d like to do to me, graphic and disgusting, but nothing we’d call the police about, usually.
And then on takeoff, one of them had apparently gotten especially loud and graphic, talking about some drugs he had with him just for women like me, and that they should follow me through the airport and buy me a drink. And drug it. And then try to get me alone in their hotel room.
That encouraged the others to add in what they would do to me when I was drugged and unconscious, and there I got a clearer picture of why the police had been called.
I doubted the men would get arrested, unless the drugs they had mentioned really were in one of their suitcases. I thought it more likely they would lose a few hours of their precious vacation time and get the hell scared out of them by the police.
Stephan finished telling his version of the events shortly, and without any unnecessary embellishment.
The police officer nodded and wrote as he went on. Just as he finished up, I saw James approaching with another police officer. Neither of these officers had been there to meet the plane.