Page 54 of Spark

I took a deep breath before I finally opened my mouth. “I’ve never flown before, okay?”

Darren cocked an eyebrow in response. “Seriously?”

I turned to glare at him. “Oh, didn’t know that one, huh? I thought you knew everything,” I retorted irritated.

“Watch it,” he warned, his tone dark.

I turned my eyes away from him back to the window.

“How is it possible you’ve never flown before?” he asked, still shocked by my revelation.

I furrowed my brows. “I can’t tell you. You’ve forbidden it.”

“Unless I ask you, specifically,” he growled.

I exhaled an annoyed breath as I stared him down. “Family vacations were always by car since we all loved road trips. And since then, I’ve been too busy with work and school to take any time off.”

Just then, the plane started to move down the tarmac, and I felt myself jolt again. Darren smirked and then stood up, walking over to the bar in the corner. What was he doing? I knew we weren’t moving very fast, but we were about to take off. Shouldn’t he be sitting down? I peeked out the window to find the jet moving along the tarmac, rain still falling on the windows. I heard Darren clear his throat next to me and turned to find him holding a shot glass of dark liquid.

“Here. It’ll take the edge off,” he said.

I hadn’t had a drop of alcohol since Thanksgiving. Fuck, yes.

I grabbed the shot and slammed it back before handing it back to Darren. He then took my hands in his and pulled me from my seat.

“What are you doing?” I asked, my nerves coming out through my voice.

“Come here,” he said and sat down, pulling me on top of his lap.

“Is this a good idea? Shouldn’t we be buckled in?”

“Well, now this is an interesting side of you. I don’t think I’ve ever seen you so anxious over something so minuscule.” He chuckled as he looked down at me.

I scowled at him as my cheek reluctantly rested against his shoulder, my legs pushed up to my chest.

“And here you thought you knew everything about me,” I responded.

Darren laughed. “You continue to surprise me every day, Jaden. It’s never dull with you around.”

“I doubt your life was dull to begin with.”

“Maybe I didn’t realize how dull it was until you came along.”

“Please; you said it yourself. I’m the biggest pain-in-the-ass liability you’ve ever had.”

“You may be a pain in the ass, princess. But you’re my pain in the ass. And I wouldn’t have it any other way.”

Of course, he wouldn’t.

Just then, I felt the plane increase its speed, and I was jolted back into Darren’s body. He kept a good grip on me, but I still preferred to be in my own seat… with a real seat belt.

“Relax, princess,” he said with a smile. “Taylor is a very good pilot.”

And then the plane ascended into the air, and I about lost my shit as I clenched my eyes shut and breathed through the ever-increasing change in elevation. I ignored Darren’s soft chuckle.

When the plane finally leveled in the air, it did little to decrease my anxiety. We were now some thousands of feet up in the sky with nothing but air below us. Ugh. I was a tough girl, but I’d seen Final Destination too many times to ever trust planes.

After a few minutes of Darren gently stroking my back, I felt my eyelids become droopy and moved to get off him.

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