Page 12 of Paradise

I look up at him, catching his lips in another quick kiss before I get comfortable again. He wraps his arms around me and kisses the top of my head. “Love you.”

* * *

After sleeping for five hours and playing travel scrabble with Levi for two while Carson watched Spiderman, the flight attendants finally start passing out dinner. My stomach is rumbling since all I’ve eaten are the bags of snack pretzels they passed out earlier, so when I smell the food, I pop up to look over my seat like a meerkat.

When I see the attendant is three rows behind us, I drop back down and play my last word in scrabble.

“C-O-M-B-U-S-T. Combust. Thirteen points and I’m on a triple word tile, soyoucan eat my ass.” I grin at Levi.

Levi laughs, rolling his eyes. “Has anyone ever told you that you’re a sore winner, Lo?”

“Yes.” I move all the tiles to the side with my palm. “Now put all of this away. The lady is bringing dinner, and I’m so hungry I could eat a cow.”

I elbow Carson, who’s sitting forward in his seat so his face is about three inches from the TV screen, and he jumps before pulling off his headphones. “What?”

The attendant arrives at the end of our aisle, answering him for me. “Good evening, chicken or steak?”

All three of us saysteakat the same time, making the woman chuckle before she digs around in her cart. Pulling my tray down, I sit up straight in my seat in time for her to put the meal down in front of me. My stomach growls as if to saythank you, and once she’s given us all our food, she moves on to the next aisle.

My plate steams when I remove the foil on top, and the smell hits me even harder, making me grab my fork to start eating. All the lights in the cabin are on for the meal, even though outside the sky is black, and the entire plane seems to eat in silent unison.

After ten minutes, I’ve cleared my plate. I suck on my fork to get the rest of the taste off, moaning in pleasure that my tummy is finally full.

“I hope Hayden got to New York okay,” I say to no one in particular, since the boys on either side of me are still engrossed in their meals.

“I’m sure he texted one of us when he landed. Why don’t you connect to the Wi-Fi and check,” Carson says, his mouth full of potatoes.

I shrug. “I will later.”

Hayden headed to New York just about the same time as we left for Hawaii, so he’s long been landed in the Empire State. He was excited to get out of Luxington for a little while, but I know he’s worried about running into his father while he’s there. It’s a big city, butit ain’t that big, as he said before he left.

I’m sure it’ll be fine. From what he told me, his cousin doesn’t fuck with the Monroe’s either—only in last name.

I never thought I would like Hayden as much as I do—since he’s such an unlikable prick—but he’s really become my brother just like he is Carson’s. There’s more to Hayden than what meets the eye, I’ve learned, and after a few too many drunken conversations, I feel like I get to see more than most. He’slonely, he’s loyal and wild. Sure, he’s a dick that makes questionable decisions, but after what I’ve learned about his past… I would be too. He can’t be faulted for the trauma that clouds his mind on a daily basis.

“That was actually really good,” Carson says, bringing me out of my thoughts.

“Really good,” Levi echoes, crumpling his napkin and throwing it on top of his empty tray.

After another flight attendant comes around and takes our garbage, Levi announces he’s going back to sleep and covers himself from head to toe in a blanket. Carson grabs the remote that controls his TV and starts scrolling through the menu. “You want to watch a movie, or are you tired?”

I grab my blanket from the pocket in the back of the seat in front of me. “Let’s watch a movie.” Shaking the blanket out the best I can, I lift up the armrest between us again and cover both of us so I can snuggle down with him.

“What kind of movie are you in the mood for?” he asks, still scrolling.

“Anything.” I lay my head on his shoulder, looking up at him and focusing on his face while he concentrates on the screen.

Lights start going off all around the cabin as people prepare to rest for the evening, so I reach over and press the button for ours as well. I can still see Carson when I settle back down, the light from the little TV casting shadows on his face enough for me to admire his features. His face has tanned in the warmer months, making little freckles come out underneath his eyes and on his nose. It’s something you would miss unless you were actually looking for them, but they’re one of my favorite things about his face. His lips are rosy from biting them over the last couple of hours, making them look swollen and puffy.

“You’re staring,” he says without pulling his attention from the screen.

“Uh huh,” I hum, reaching my hand out to trace a line from freckle to freckle with the tip of my finger like connect-the-dots.

“Jurassic World?” he questions.

Nodding, I slide my finger down the slope of his nose. “Sure.”

He chooses the movie, then puts the remote down at his side before wiggling down a little to get comfortable. From his nose, I trace along his top lip with the tip of my finger, then around the shape of his bottom lip.

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