Page 54 of Shielding Lexi (Temptation)

She hands me her phone and I take hers. “It says you have a layover on Mystique Island. I don’t have that,” Margo says. “Maybe you should talk to customer service when we get inside.”

The cabbie is still staring back at us, his dark brown eyes flat and annoyed. “So, Terminal B?”

I nod. “That’s fine.”

“Why would we be on separate flights? With Lexi gone, they should’ve had an extra seat as it is.”

I shake my head, my muscles beginning to twitch as I think about every worst-case scenario. I continue to get stuck on the one where Kemp paid people off to redirect the flight. I want to believe it’s unrealistic, but is it? I mean, he followed me here.

“I’ll talk to someone at the front desk,” I say, grabbing my bag out of the trunk as Margo pays the cabbie. That’s one thing she has plenty of… money. Her parents own a winery in San Francisco, and they aren’t stingy in the least. In fact, Margo has never really hurt for much of anything.

As I run through the doors, I don’t bother checking in. Instead, I hustle toward the front desk to avoid standing in the line of people I see heading in the same direction.

“Hello,” I say to the woman at the counter. “I had a flight back to San Francisco today with a friend, and for some reason we’ve gotten on separate planes. Is there a way to switch it ba—”

“Do you have your ticket number?” the woman asks plainly. She’s young, maybe my age, but she’s got a stick up her ass that’s clearly influencing her attitude.

I hand her my phone, the app pulled up with the barcode displayed. “I just want to be on Flight 183. It’s the nonstop to San Francisco.”

The woman laughs and hands me back my phone. “That’s not possible ma’am. That flight is packed. This is the earliest we can get you out. Looks like you have a layover on Mystic Island, another in Atlanta, and the last in Jackson Hole. That should get you home around Tuesday at four o’clock local time.”

She’s so snarky, that I have to hold back from biting out my words. “Can I at least know how I got bumped from my original flight? I mean, could someone have changed this without my consent?”

She narrows her eyes, noting the long line forming behind me. “Sometimes we oversell flights. If that’s the case, the people that booked last get moved to other flights.”

“But this isn’t an equal flight,” I say. “You have me stopping three times. My original flight was straight through.”

“Correct, ma’am. I do apologize for the inconvenience. The airline would like to offer you a one-hundred-dollar travel voucher as an apology.” When she speaks, her voice is flat as though she’s a robot.

“I don’t want a hundred bucks,” I say, trying hard to keep my cool. “I want the original flight I booked.”

“I do apologize, ma’am. Is there anything else I can help you with today?”

I bite my bottom lip, as a wave of nausea rises up my throat. “Can you tell if someone else changed the flight?”

The woman’s eyes roll, as she flips her long hair behind her shoulder. “I don’t have that information, ma’am. All I see is that you’re on this flight, which leaves in less than thirty minutes. If you don’t hustle, you’re going to miss it.”

“Less than thirty minutes? I don’t leave until ten. I just loo—”

“Nine fifteen,” the woman says, twisting her computer screen toward me. “Should I—”

I shake my head and scrape my hand through my hair, breathing quickly as I roll my bag toward Terminal A.

What the fuck is happening? Something doesn’t feel right.

A buzz comes over my phone, it’s Margo.

“Hey,” I say, holding the phone to my ear as I rush through people toward the gate.

“Where are you?”

“For some reason I got bumped from the original flight, and I have no choice but to take this re-routed, bullshit trip back. I’m racing to the gate now.”

“Are you kidding me? What the hell?”

“I know. It’s fine though. I mean, it gives me more time to think. Maybe… I’ll figure out a plan with all the extra time.”

She sighs. “I’m sorry, Hon. I know this is the last thing you needed.”

---