Page 52 of The Red Rider
“Fess up, is there a Heaven for pets? The whole rainbow bridge thing?”
Leif kissed my hand.
“Your lost pets will be waiting for you when you get there.”
“I wasn’t allowed to have anything furry on my lease, but I did have a charming beta fish who would puff up when I changed clothes.”
“Smart fish,” Aeron grunted.
Leif looked far away.
“We could get a dog and a cat when we retired in Mexico. I’ve always wanted a pet. I think we should find a stray, rescue it, and tame it. I’ve always been big on animal rescue.”
“And that’s one of the many things I love about you.”
Whatever happened in D.C., I really wanted to beat my father. Not only would we save the world, but I really wanted my lovely house in Mexico with pets and my Horsemen.
Chapter 28
T
he day had arrived. We couldn’t magically appear in the hangar, so we took the horses. The angels got into a minor spat over whose horse I was going to ride on, and Leif actually got involved this time. I thought all three of them were going to get in one of the famous fistfights I’d heard so much about. I ended up settling it by saying I’d been on Aeron’s horse plenty of times, and I’d take Leif’s horse on the way there and Dice’s on the way back. They grumped, but they accepted it.
It was so lovely sitting on Leif’s horse with his muscular arms wrapped around me. Leif’s horse was more on the playful side, especially when he had sugar. He was always nipping at my ears in ways that were so ticklish.
The moment of truth had arrived. We were at the hangar. Everyone knew I was painting Dice’s plane for him, and I couldn’t wait for him to see it. His people couldn’t either. They had thrown this massive tarp over the nose of the plane and tore it off with this gigantic flourish when he arrived.
Dice scooped me up and spun me around.
“It’s beautiful. Will you tattoo this on my chest when this is over?”
“We should all have Ariel tattoo our horses on us. It’ll be a bonding moment. Talking Asher into that is going to be an enormous pain in this ass, but it would be special,” Leif said.
I tried not to think about Asher. He was still this massive mystery. I knew he didn’t want to be with me, and I wasn’t all that on board with having an orgy with him either. Still, I seemed to be collecting Horsemen at an alarming rate, and meeting Asher would probably be just as awkward as Dice because he knew about the painting.
Dice looked like he intended on flying the plane in leather trousers and kitten suspenders, but he wouldn’t let me on his plane until I’d put a jumpsuit on over my clothes and had been strapped into a helmet. He handed me a headset, popped his helmet on, and hopped into the cockpit.
“Any last words?”
“Um, don’t you need someone on the ground, making sure we don’t all crash into each other?”
Why didn’t I think of that before I hopped in the back of this plane? I knew Dice could handle himself, but what about all the other people out there flying?
Dice just chuckled and checked my seatbelt.
“Already handled. We’ve got a retired airport employee at the Orlando airport, and it has power. She’s got us, and I’ve got you. You ready?”
“Yes,” I squeaked.
This could only happen to me. Only I would have my first time in a fucking plane be a fighter jet driven by an angel to bomb Louisiana, Texas, and Arkansas. Seriously, if we got to retire in Mexico, I wanted a totally dull existence until I died after that. I wanted to play bingo with Miss Mabel and never have to deal with Antichrists and zombies ever again.
I squeezed my eyes shut when the engine roared to life. We had to wait our turn. Some of the people who were going as far as the West Coast and Mexico were leaving first. We weren’t going far. Aeron was taking care of New York and the surrounding states, and Leif was handling the Midwest. They both left before us.
When it was finally our turn, I was gripping the armrest and shrieking curses as we took off down the runway, but once we were in the air, it wasn’t so bad, even if it was loud.
“You good now, Speedy?”
“Much better.”
