Jacked Up (Bowen Boys #4)(15)

Eve waved him off. “It’s just an itty bitty pill. How bad can that be?”

Famous last words. Especially when the person taking the itty bitty blue pill was already paranoid enough.

The flight attendant handed her the drink and then turned to him. “Can I get anything for you, sir?”

He shook his head. “Not thirsty.”

“Something to snack on?”

He shook his head again. “Not hungry.”

“Be sure to let me know if you need anything at all,” she replied with a smile, then left.

Elle jabbed him with her elbow. “Dummy, she wasn’t talking about drinks or food. She was checking you out, and what she was offering was herself.”

“She’s right,” Eve mumbled after downing her Scotch. “Even I noticed it and I’m a bit…absent.”

Absent. Sure.

“Not my type,” he replied curtly, hoping the conversation would end there.

Fat chance.

Elle turned her inquisitive eyes toward him. “What’s your type? And what’s not to like about her? She’s a gorgeous blonde, much like the one you brought to James’s wedding. Smaller rack but stunning nevertheless.”

“That blonde from James’s wedding was a babysitting job I got stuck with. Pretty much like now,” he growled.

She let out a giggle. “Boy you’re rude. Good I’m a bit buzzed or I would be frigging offended. Now answer, what’s your type? You said that you wanted to get married. A guy as task-orientated as you must already have a list of attributes your future bride requires.”

It looked like this crowd was not going to let it go, so he opted for the shorter way to end this conversation. “I want a traditional wife, whose priority would be our children and me. I want a homemaker, not a career type.” Or anything closely resembling the irresponsible, party-crazy woman he’d had at home while growing up. He wanted his kids to have a mother greeting them with a smile and a plate of cookies when they came home from school. A present, involved mom.

“You mean one of those women who bake their own bread and sew their own underwear?”

“I don’t care about the underwear but, yeah, I’d like my wife baking our own bread. Growing our own produce. I’m an old-fashioned guy.”

Elle looked at Eve and both burst into laughter. “You should ask Violet if any of her friends are available at the Eternal Sun. If that fails, you can always try Amish communities.”

Ha-ha.

The flight was three hours, but it felt like thirty.

He recalled his eleven-month stint in Afghanistan more fondly. And that had gone faster.

When they started descending, they hit a pocket of air, and the whole plane rattled and jumped.

The captain’s voice came over the speaker, announcing turbulence due to strong winds.

Great. Bumpy landing on top of everything else.

“Shit,” Elle mumbled as the plane trembled. All the relaxation and chatter were gone. She was tense, clawing the armrests again.

“They’ve taken the plane,” Eve whispered almost in tears. “The captain is just trying to keep us calm.”

“I neutralized them,” Jack muttered against his better judgment.

“What?”

“When I went to the bathroom. I neutralized the hijackers,” he lied shamelessly. “I have them tied down and gagged at the end of the cabin. Nothing to worry about.”

He caught Elle’s smile, and for some reason he felt ten feet tall. And that her smile mattered to him one way or the other pissed him off to no end.

Eve sighed. “I guess that means that my grandson’s system was wrong and we’re just crashing.”

Yep. No good deed went unpunished.

The flight attendants were hurrying around, picking up the drinks that the passengers were holding in their hands. Well, the glasses, because the liquid had already gone flying all over. One cart got loose and went careening down the aisle, scaring the living shit out of everyone.

With the landing maneuvers and the opening flaps, the sounds grew exponentially louder while the plane bounced up and down and swung sideways.

Elle was frozen in place.

Jack grabbed her hand and shrugged at the question in her gaze. “Look at it this way. If we crash, by holding on to me you ensure you drag me down with you.”

“Fair enough,” she said with a wavering smile.

The turbulence became worse and everything started shaking, so Elle clutched his hand. Hard. Man, for such a tiny woman, she was strong.

Then Eve latched on to his free hand. She was terrified so he tried to smile reassuringly. He was so out of practice comforting people that it probably came out as a grotesque grimace, but she didn’t seem to mind because she didn’t release him.

“I…I think I’m going to be sick,” she said.

Getting better and better. Jack looked up.

Jesus f*cking Christ. Let the plane crash and put him out of his misery.



While driving to Elle’s place, Jack heard his cell ringing. He threw a glance at it. James. Since turning the device on after landing, he’d done nothing but get calls from him, and some colorful messages too.

“Yo,” he said, answering.

“Finally. You already in Boston?” James asked.

“Yeah, we landed a while ago.”