Page 11 of Made for Us

“About having safe sex?” Gabriella replies. “Absolutely, it’s so much better playing Russian roulette with my ovaries.”

I can’t help but laugh out loud as Matthew’s vein in his forehead goes bigger. “Get on the plane,” he grits between clenched teeth

We walk away laughing, stopping when we come face-to-face with Dylan. “Why are you late?” I look over at him, and he just laughs.

“This isn’t our first rodeo,” he reminds, as Alex looks at Maddox and says something to him. He’s wearing blue shorts with a white shirt, a Stanley Cup baseball hat turned backward, pushing his ‘hockey flow’ hair back, and gold aviator sunglasses cover his eyes. He bends down and kisses her cheek. “I’ll be fine, Mom.” He smirks at her. “I’m going to hang with Christopher and Stefano.”

“Absolutely not,” Dylan declares, putting his hand on his hips, and I see they are dressed alike, just Dylan isn’t wearing a hat.

“The legal drinking age on the island is eighteen, which means…” Maddox smirks at Dylan.

“Which means I’m going to be watching you like a hawk,” Dylan warns him.

“You look like my father”—Alex tries not to laugh at Dylan and the way he stands there—“and Uncle Matthew all wrapped in one.”

“Dad, what’s the worst that can happen?” Maddox asks.

“One year, your father and Uncle Michael got so drunk your father fell asleep in the bathroom,” I start to say, and Dylan just groans out. “I went to the bathroom and thought he was a home invader and kicked him right in the balls.”

“Dad, you didn’t?” Maddox says out loud, gasping.

“I was eighteen, and you should learn from me,” he advises, and Maddox just shakes his head.

I walk toward Maddox. “I’ll take care of him,” I reassure, putting my arm around his waist. He places his hand around my neck, and we turn around and walk toward the stairs. “Would you go easy, please?”

He just laughs. “Always,” he says, jogging up the steps to the plane. I walk up the steps, holding on as the wind now blows my hair across my face. I turn the other way when I get to the top, pushing it away from my face as I step into the plane.

“Hi,” the flight attendant greets me with a smile. “Welcome aboard.”

“Thank you,” I reply, turning and looking into the plane. There are three seats on each side of the plane and even in the middle.

I look around, and my eyes find him right away. The minute I look at him, everything inside me stops as my head screams, “What in the actual fuck?” I try to get my heart beating a normal pace, but when he’s around, it’s very fucking hard for me. The sound of my heart beating erratically now echoes in my ears. I try to look around to make sure no one can see the internal freak-out I am having. I need to sit down before he sees me and talk myself off the ledge.

“Abigail.” I hear Penelope say my name. I blink a couple of times and put on my game face. A face I’ve been perfecting for the past six years. From the first day I met him, there was something special about him. I just didn’t know what it was. I was lucky enough to witness the first time they met. I saw magic happen before my eyes. He was scared shitless, but he also knew what he needed to do. His becoming the best dad I’ve ever seen made me fall more and more in love with him.

Penelope gets up and comes over to me, hugging me around my waist. I smile down at her. “Well, what do we have here?” I ask her as she puts her head back and looks at me.

“We are coming with you,” she says and then grabs my hand. “Do you want to sit with me?”

I look up, seeing Tristan’s blue eyes watching us. “Of course,” I agree, faking it. I mean, not faking that I want to sit with her but faking that I’m happy about it. There is absolutely nothing I wouldn’t do for her. She owns half my heart, and sadly her father owns the other side, and the best thing is, he has no clue either. No one does. I’ve been perfecting masking my feelings for the past six years. To be honest, the only one who has homed in on it has been Gabriella, who has been sworn to twin secrecy.

I walk down the aisle smiling and stopping to kiss my grandparents before walking two rows farther toward Tristan, who is now standing in the aisle. “Hi,” he greets me, smiling, and I don’t know why I expect him to lean in and kiss my cheek. But he doesn’t, which then makes me wish he had.

“Hi,” I say to him, putting on a smile. “This is a nice surprise.” I try not to stutter as my mouth goes dry.

“Yeah, we decided at the last minute,” he shares as I look at him. A little warning would be nice, my head says to itself.

“Can I sit at the window?” Penelope asks, walking into the row, sitting down, and looking out the window. “Abigail, sit next to me.”

I smile at her. “There isn’t anywhere else I wanted to sit anyway.” I look over at Tristan, who just looks at me. I tuck the hair behind my ear, putting my bag in the overhead bin.

I step into the aisle and sit in the middle seat, telling myself the minute I can escape, I’m going to. I sit in the middle seat and grab the seat belt when I feel him sit next to me. The smell of his aftershave makes my stomach flutter. I can feel him looking at me, but I tell myself he’s looking at Penelope, and I’m just in the way.

I buckle my seat belt, ignoring the pull to look back at him and instead look at Penelope. “This is going to be a great week,” I say, feeling that I’m two seconds away from throwing up.

CHAPTER SIX

TRISTAN

---