I’ll meet her at the airport with flowers or something, but this isn’t working for me.
Remington, picking up on my nerves through our newly developed mating bond, lifts her head from the magazine she’s been calmly flipping through. “Don’t even think about it,” she warns.
“Do what?” I grit, my hand tightening on the armrest. I’m pretty sure I’m going to leave a permanent mark in the leather.
“Use your power to leave this plane.”It would seem she’samind reader.“It’s just some turbulence. Phillip has flown a thousand times.”
I blink slowly at her. “Who the fuck is Phillip?”
“The pilot” Remi gestures toward the closed door of the cockpit.
Still not convinced, I question her further. “How do we know Philip and how do we know he’s a ‘good’ pilot?”
“Winslow hired him when she purchased the plane. Don’t worry, he’s good at his job.”
She is clearly far too trusting. I would leave this plane now if she wasn’t on it with me. I can’t just go leaving the life of my precious mate in the hands of fuckingPhilip. “I’ve met many people who were, in fact, not good at their job. They were just good at bullshitting people into thinking they were.”
“Drama queen,” Remi mumbles under her breath before finally putting her magazine away and giving me her full attention. “Would you like me to distract you?”
Color me intrigued…“What did you have in mind?” I ask slyly, with a smirk.
Once we redressed last night in our dirty and ripped clothes, we’d returned to the hotel Whisper had booked for Remington. We got many worried and appalled looks when we waltzed through the lobby covered in mud. Remi was embarrassed, I found it hilarious. After taking a shower, we’d climbed into bed to go three more rounds. By the time the sun had risen over the horizon, our bodies were so coated in sweat we had to take another shower which led to more showeractivities.
“I was thinking we could talk about your hellfire.” Remi’s face is oddly serious as she turns in her seat to look at me.
“My hellfire?” I repeat, feeling disappointed. “Are you sure I can’t offer you a morestimulatingconversation?”
She winks at me. “I’ll take a rain check on that.”
“Fine,” I reluctantly agree. “What do you want to know about my hellfire?”
She twists her lips as she thinks over what she’s going to say. As I wait for her to finally say what’s on her mind, my eyes zero in on her neck. The white hoodie she wears covers a majority of the mark I left, but I can still make out a piece of it. The mark, still pink and healing, looks beautiful in contrast to her tanned skin. Unable to help myself I reach out and caress my thumb over the mark. A move I have a feeling I will be doing often.
I haven’t had a lot of things in life that I could call ‘mine’. There was the yellow ball, my only toy growing up, at the facility I was raised in and then I have my favorite pair of leather boots that are scuffed, and laces frayed, but they’re mine.
And now I have Remington and I know without a doubt I’ll never need anything more than that.
She relaxes under my touch and leans into it. “Does your hellfire affect everyone the same way? Does it always hurt?”
I frown at her question. “For some people it takes larger doses, but yes, in the end, it always hurts.” Always. Pruitt needed more than anyone else for it to truly take effect, but in the end, she still screamed just like the rest of them. “Why do you ask?”
Remi turns and reaches for my hand, tangling our fingers together. “Do you trust me?”
“With my life.” I learned the hard way what happens when I don’t fully trust her and I’ll never do that again.
What she says next nearly knocks me over in shock. “Use your hellfire on me.”
She’s been begging me for years to try it on her. She’s always been morbidly curious about what it feels like, like a crazy person. What part of soul-deep pain does she not understand?
I look at her like she’s grown a second head. “I just swore to you last night that I was going to spend the rest of my life keeping you safe, and ten hours later, you want me tohurtyou?”
Remi shakes her head. “No, that’s the thing. I don’t think you’ll hurt me.”No, it will without a doubt hurt her.“I lied last night. I did touch Kaius when he was full of hellfire, and Jax, it didn’t hurt.”
I pause and stare at her, thinking over her words. There’s no way it didn’t hurt. “Maybe you were confused and didn’t actually touch him.”
“No, I definitely did,” she insists.
“Remi...”