Or Dex.
I thought back to the first time I’d flown alone, when I was going down to meet him in Red Fox, New Mexico. It felt so long ago, not only with the passing of time but the passing of character. I was no longer that shy, insecure girl who stared adoringly at Dex and prayed that he felt the same thing for me as I did for him. Granted, I was still flawed, deeply and terribly, but when I looked back at how far I’d come, sometimes it was almost unbelievable.
It wouldn’t have happened without him. I wouldn’t have become the person I was without him.
I couldn’t lose him. I wouldn’t.
I tried to keep those feelings at bay while the cab took us to the airport. Every moment I thought about Dex, every time I felt that rush of anxiety and pain, it was a moment taking me out of the game. I had to stay focused.
Turns out, though, that you can’t just hop on a plane to New York. Well, you can - they took my money, after all. But we were put on standby, which didn’t help with my anxiety. While Ada took her time perusing the airport gift shops and snapping up bags of junk food and high fashion magazines, I started texting the crap out of Rebecca, Maximus and Dex again. I also started waiting for the dreaded phone call from my parents, the one they’d make once they realized everyone had suddenly disappeared. It would probably would have helped to have left a note, but what the hell would it have said anyway? Be right back, we’ve gone to New York because Dex was kidnapped by his long-lost brother whom we think is in cahoots with Satan? Not that my parents would be terribly surprised at this rate.
I thought back to my mom, about the medication I’d taken from her. I hadn’t meant to take it, just switch out a few pills and see what happened. But the pills were in the bottom of my purse and they were coming with me. I could no longer monitor her and see if she was experiencing anything, to see if she saw ghosts like I did. I could only hope that what I did would make her realize that I knew and that she needed to fess up to being just like Ada and me.
Thankfully it didn’t take too long for us to get on standby, even though Ada had to occupy another seat further down the rows from me. She wasn’t too happy about that but at least she was seated next to a thin, anti-social looking woman. I was seated next to some fat business man who kept jabbing his elbows into me, taking up far more space than what was politely possible.
It was just when everyone had boarded and the flight attendants started their safety demonstration that Rebecca called me. Even though the nearest attendant had just made a point about putting all phones in airplane mode, I quickly answered it.
“Thank god,” I said into the phone.
“Perry?” Rebecca asked. “I just got your text. What happened?”
“I don’t know,” I said, my voice shaking all over again. I was aware that bacon in a suit was looking at me with interest. I moved closer to the window, until I was smooshed up against it. “Dex…he’s gone. His brother appeared out of nowhere and I think he took him,” I whispered frantically into the phone.
“Miss, you’re going to have to turn off your phone please,” I heard the flight attendant say.
I looked over my shoulder at her and nodded. “Okay,” I said to her before I addressed Rebecca. “Rebecca, I have to go. I’m heading to New York with Ada.”
“What?” she screeched.
“I think that’s where Michael is taking Dex,” I said. “I’ll call you when we land, okay?”
“Bloody hell, Perry,” she said. “What the hell is going on?”
I bit my lip. “I wish I knew.”
I quickly hung up just as the attendant came back the aisle again, her narrow eagle eyes on me.
And my phone rang again.
“Shit,” I said, fishing it out of the seat pocket and fumbling in the contained space. It was from Maximus.
“Max!’ I cried out into the phone.
“Perry, what’s wrong?” Strange to say, but it felt good to hear that familiar drawl of his.
“It’s Dex, he’s in trouble” I said, now totally aware that not only was the guy next to me staring at me but the person on the aisle too. And the flight attendant was back.
She pointed to the phone, her lips pinched together. “Miss please, you must –”
I actually shushed her and went back to listening to Maximus who was saying, “You said Michael has him, are you sure? How is that possible?”
“Yes, I’m sure,” I said quickly. “We’re on a plane to New York, me and Ada. Please, you’ve got to help us. I know you’re busy and all but I’m really fucking worried and I feel like this is much bigger than it seems.”
“Miss,” the attendant snapped.
“This is a matter of life or death!” I snapped right back, glaring at her. Every head on the plane turned to look at me. I heard Ada groan in the background, obviously embarrassed. I sounded like a crazy person but for once I knew I wasn’t.
“Then it won’t make a difference if you’re removed from the plane or not,” she said. “Please shut down your phone or that’s exactly what will happen.”
I sighed, knowing it was a losing battle. “I’ll call you when we land,” I told him before I hung up.
I sat back in my seat in a huff as I put the phone in airplane mode. There had to be nothing worse than being out of contact for five hours when you were in the middle of telling someone something important. Actually, the only thing was worse was having to sit there and wait five hours until you could do anything to try and save the man you loved.
That and have elbows jabbed into your boobs every five seconds.
CHAPTER TWO
We got to New York late, as was expected when you were on standby and flying from West to East. Luckily, NYC was the city that never sleeps and we were still running on time from three hours earlier. The minute Ada and I stepped off the plane and into JFK, we were jumping from nerves. After being accosted by several wannabe rapists that were pretending to be cab drivers, we got into a legit taxi and headed to the Big Apple, Ada practically hanging her head out the window in awe.
It was odd to finally see the landmarks of the city up close and personal for the first time. Though I found myself marveling at the fact that I was there, I wasn’t enjoying any of it. How could I? I’d always imagined I’d see New York, but with Dex by my side – not going after Dex because I believed he was in danger.
Oh Dex, where are you? I thought as I rested my head against the window and watched the landscape slid past into a mess of twinkling lights. How could everything have changed so fast?
“Where are we going, by the way?” Ada asked, turning to face me, half of her hidden in the passing shadows.
Before we left Portland, I quickly found a hotel for us to stay at for a few nights. It seemed clean and safe (and, like all other hotels in the city, expensive), which is all I needed at a time like this, but even though I gave the cabbie an address, I had no idea where in New York it was.
“I don’t know,” I said.
I caught the cabbie eying me in the rearview mirror. “Uptown, Westside,” he said in his thick accent.
Normally I would have pretended to know where that was, just to save face, but I didn’t have it in me. Instead, Ada leaned forward in her seat and started talking the cabbie’s face off, seemingly delighted by our first “real” New Yorker. It should have annoyed me that she was acting like Dex’s life wasn’t at stake, but it didn’t. She was keeping me calm and sane, which in turn was keeping me focused.