Page 86 of Boss Me

I buckled my seat belt. Across from me, Cooper scowled at his phone.

“Is everything okay at the office?”

He swiped something away, then set it on the table between us. “Weston scheduled a meeting early this afternoon. I’ll have to go straight there.”

“And Jackson?” I hated asking, but I needed to understand their relationship, too. The thought of Cooper and Jackson working together, hanging out—goddammit, drinking together—while Cooper fell back under Jackson Jones’s spell stabbed me right in the heart. Would he still care about me with Jackson around?

“What about Jackson?”

“Don’t you think you should clear the air?” I held my breath.

“It doesn’t matter anymore. He’s with Alicia. And I’m with you.”

My lips wanted to curl up. I’m with you. But—

“You should tell him how you feel. Felt. You’re best friends, and it’s not fair to hold something like that back.”

“I”—he scrunched his eyebrows together—“okay. Maybe not today, but sometime soon.”

I had to accept it. It was his friendship. His relationship. And I had to work on my own relationship.

“So if you’re going to the office, I’ll…” Shit. I hadn’t thought that far ahead.

“I’ll get another car to take you…ah.”

I couldn’t tell if the shiver that went up my neck was joy that he’d almost said the car would take me home to his place or a warning that we were moving too fast, that he was trying to grab control. “No, I’ll go to the office with you. I’ll check in with Marlee. There’s probably a few things I should deal with before I—before I clear out my desk.” I’d miss Synergy, but being with Cooper was worth giving up my job.

“And after that?”

I should’ve known better than to think he’d let me push that conversation to later.

“I think I should go back to my sister’s. Don’t you?” My voice was Mickey-Mouse high. I gulped my juice.

“If you need to get your things. Or I can send someone to get them for you.”

“High-handed much?” But I spoiled my snarky comment by gripping the armrests when the plane started to move. My heart raced.

“I am, and you’d better get used to it.”

Fuck. I needed a fan. And a Dramamine. I swallowed. The plane juddered as it lifted off the runway. Cold tingles ran across my skin.

“Are you all right?” Cooper wedged himself into the seat beside me and dumped Coco into his vacated seat.

“Aren’t you supposed to be wearing a seatbelt?” I clutched his hand and fixed my gaze on the table, anywhere but outside the window where the jet tore through the black clouds.

“You didn’t tell me you were a nervous flyer.” He chafed my hand.

“I guess I didn’t know. The first time I ever flew was when I came here.” The front of my shirt trembled with the force of my heartbeat.

He slipped his hand out of my grip. “I’ll be right back.”

“No, you’re not supposed to move around the cabin!”

But he was already gone. A moment later, he was back with a bottle of vodka. He poured a glug into my glass of juice. “Drink up.”

My fingers trembled as I reached for the glass. But I did as he asked, sucking back the sweet juice that masked the alcohol flavor.

When I’d drunk it down to the ice cubes, he put his arm around me and eased my head onto his shoulder. “Everything’s going to be fine. Emily makes this trip all the time. Look outside. We’re away from the storm. Do you feel how steady it is now that we’ve leveled out? It’ll be like that all the way to California.”

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