Page 22 of Derek
“Perfect, you fucking idiot. Just fucking perfect.”
* * *
Sitting on my futon,I stare at the bracelet on my wrist.
“Why do you always have on long sleeves?”
I chuckle lightly at her question from earlier. “Apparently,” I sigh, talking to my empty room. “Because I have to wear this fucking bracelet until I die, and I can’t let you know.”
Today should’ve been the perfect schedule reset day: work, home routine, sleep. But I ran out of laundry detergent, forgot to preheat the oven, and then the food I cooked was burnt, and now I’m sitting here, spinning this bracelet around on my wrist, wishing like hell I could hear Indy humming in her room.
Groaning, I stand up and turn the futon into a bed as I blow out the candle burning on the coffee table before laying down and praying that I go to sleep soon.
Chapter10
Indy
“Can you try walking around?” Janie asks as I shift painfully in my seat. We still have an hour left on the flight, and I hurt so bad I’m literally sweating. I stupidly put my pain medicine in my luggage, so there isn’t anything I can do but wait it out.
“I think it’s too late,” I whimper softly. “I might just have to die.”
“Take one of the guys’ seats,” Ren says as she feeds her and Atlas’ son, Howie. Howie might be the most well-behaved baby in the world. There hasn’t been a peep out of him this entire trip. “I think Derek and Fox are awake.” I roll my eyes.
“Of course, the biggest two,” I mutter.
“Go tell Fox to come sit with me,” Janie says nonchalantly. “He needs to come and see how wonderful Howie is so that he will give me a damn baby.” Ren lets out a sarcastic “ha” as we both stare at the redhead.
“What happened to no kids?” Ren asks, and Janie shrugs.
“I said no kids in my twenties, but I think I’m as ready as I’ll ever be, and let’s face it, I love the guy, but he’s getting old.” I laugh lightly as I pull myself up, apologizing to the person in front of me as I walk down the narrow aisle that is doing nothing for my hip. The small plane is divided into two sides. My side is like the coach side, with two narrow seats per row, and then on the other side, it’s one passenger seat, and it looks twice as big.
Walking up to Fox, I give him a small smile, despite wanting to cry. “Umm... Janie wants us to switch.”
Fox looks from me back towards Janie and then to me again. He must see something on my face because his expression softens as he stands. “Sure, go ahead.”
Fox walks down the aisle, and I slowly lower myself, trying to steady my breathing. I’m so freaking hot.
“You alright?” I hear Derek’s voice, but I can’t turn to look behind me.
“Mhmm.” I manage as I close my eyes. “Just ready to land.” I hear shuffling, and when I open my eyes, Derek is kneeling in front of me.
“What hurts?” I huff out a laugh at his question as he gives me a dry look. “Smart ass. You know what I’m asking.” I wince at the stabbing, squeezing pain before sighing.
“Knees,” I breathe out. “Sitting bent like th–what are you doing?” I gasp as Derek’s strong hands work their way over my knee.
“What does it look like?” He deadpans as he continues. Oh my god, this… he has no right to be this good at massaging. I let out a small whimper when his thumbs run up the sides of my knee, and I instantly blush, though Derek doesn’t seem to notice. He is laser-focused on massaging me, and I’m not about to stop him.
On the other hand, the flight attendant is very much ready to.
“Sir,” the man says to Derek with his fake smile. “I’ll have to ask you to take your seat. You’re making some of the guests a little uncomfortable.” Derek’s movements halt, and I watch as his gaze trails up my body until his eyes land on mine, a small smirk plays on his face as he gives my thigh a squeeze before standing up. Wow, that was way too hot. I look up and see that Derek has six inches on the attendant, something the man doesn’t appear to be too happy about.
“Is that so?” Derek’s voice is slow and smooth as he turns to look at the rows of seats in our small plane, most of which are filled with our friends and a few other passengers who are sleeping. “Please, let me know which one it is so I can personally apologize for offending them while trying to help this young woman’s pain.” Okay,young womanwas unnecessary.
“Derek,” I grab his hand and look down at the intimidating wolf tattoo staring back at me. “It’s okay, it’s only an hour.” I give my best people-pleasing smile, but Derek takes one look at me and shakes his head.
“No,” he says simply, before turning back to the man. “See, here’s the thing.” His voice is still low, calm, and smooth. But it’s doing things to me that I’m not okay with. “This woman is the sweetest, most non-confrontational human you’ll ever meet. I mean, look at her. She is obviously in pain and is willing to suffer in silence to appease you, someone she’s never met and will never meet again.” He shakes his head. “Luckily, I’m here to stop that from happening. So, here’s the deal. I’m going to continue to try and help her chronic pain stay at a manageable level, and you are going to leave us alone.”
The flight attendant’s eyes narrow. “Is that a threat?”
