4

Carrie

The divorce-party ladies were on our flight.

I was ten minutes into enjoying my music when they showed up. Raize immediately moved away, bending and telling me to watch his bag. I smiled because seeing Raize uncomfortable was just funny at this point. I was starting to like these ladies.

They continued looking him over, and I tried to see it.

I did.

I mean…

No. I didn’t see it.

He might’ve been attractive, but Raize was just cold, too dead on the inside.

Mary saw me and came over, bending down and taking a seat beside me. “Hey.”

Headphones. Did she not see the headphones in my ears?

I pulled one bud out. “Hey?”

She jerked her chin up toward Raize. “It looks like we’re on the same flight. How awesome is that? Where are y’all sitting?” She pulled her ticket out, showing me. “We’re in the comfort zone. Sabrina didn’t want to spring for first class, but are we close?” Her head bent toward me. She lowered her voice. “Are you two really married?”

Her eyes dipped down, lingering on my finger. The one that did not have a ring on it.

“Uh.” I needed to up my game on lying. “We are, but we just had an anniversary, so we’re getting a little update on them.” I gazed over at Raize, making sure the look seemed loving and warm.

As if sensing it, he turned toward me and then halted, his eyes narrowing.

I pasted a big, wide smile on my face. “He’s so romantic. He won’t tell me what’s being done to the ring, but then we got the call about our family, and now we’re here.”

She sighed, fanning herself. “Oh my. That’s just swoon-worthy.” Her eyebrows dipped down, and she tensed for a second. “He seems a bit cold, though. Doesn’t he?” Her voice fluttered, literally fluttered.

I could feel the excitement from her, and I suddenly understood.

The more of a dick Raize was, the more intriguing he was to her. Turn him into a good guy, a nice guy, and their whole group would lose interest. I could make the recommendation to Raize, but that wasn’t something he could fake. It’d be painful to see him try.

Women weren’t something Raize ever needed to work for, but I always figured it was because of what he did. Those women wanted drugs, or so I’d assumed, but maybe not. Maybe they just wanted Raize.

It was a weird sensation, looking at him the way normal women viewed him. Then again, he hadn’t shot someone in cold blood minutes after they met him. And they hadn’t seen him continue to murder people for the sole reason that they might be a problem in the future.

Mary sidled a bit closer to me. “He seems dangerous. Ruthless.” She was eye-fucking him, but glanced to me as she asked, “What’s the worst thing he’s done?”

This woman was deranged. But then I noticed a white line above her top lip. It was faint, but it was there. I could only see it because she’d scooted so close to me.

Ah. Now it made sense.

Could she sense he dealt drugs?

I reexamined her gaze. She’d gone back to eye-fucking Raize, and the lust was palpable.

Maybe it was the danger Raize gave off?

Or could she sense he was a killer? Was that it?

She drew in a sharp breath and moved back, her head straightening as if she’d been struck. She blinked rapidly, looking past my shoulder, and a pair of shoes came to my other side.

“They’re calling our seats,” Raize said.

I hadn’t noticed the announcements, but he was right. A line had started to form to board the plane. Cavers and Jake were already in line, five passengers between them. Cavers stared blankly forward, but Jake glanced back at us.

I flashed him a look. He grinned before facing forward. A wall slid back in place, and he was a stranger once more.

Raize bent, grabbing my bag. “Come on.”

I had my phone and his headphones in hand.

Mary had jumped to her feet, smoothing her shirt and running her hands over her skirt. “Hey there. Fancy seeing you guys again.”

Raize gave her the chilliest of chilly looks ever, ignored her, and touched my back. He herded me forward. “Let’s go.”

“Hey—”

He stopped, twisting around. “Don’t, you fucking coke skank.” She gasped, but he wasn’t done. “Walk away and forget we exist. Got it?”

“Oh, come on.” A nervous laugh hitched in her voice. “Don’t be like that.”

“Keep looking at me or her, and I’ll put a bullet in your forehead.”

Her second gasp sounded more shocked. Reality had started to set in for her, but still, she murmured, “We’re going to be on an airplane. No guns.”

Joking.

She was joking?!

I went back to my first thought. Forget the coke habit; she needed to be in a mental hospital.

Raize’s voice was low, and filled with warning. “I’ll improvise.”

The line began moving forward, so I went to stand behind a lady. A second later, I felt Raize’s presence at my back.

“Don’t talk to her or any of them. They’re trouble,” he said quietly.

Uh, yeah. I was getting that.

I didn’t respond, but he didn’t seem to care.

The line progressed and when we came to our row, there was a guy in the aisle seat. He looked up, and his eyes widened.

Raize leaned around me. “You just got the window seat.”

“But…” Panic flashed on his face, but he was smarter than Mary. He shut up, grabbed his tablet, and moved to the window seat.

I took middle and Raize had the aisle.

I glanced back once and saw Jake laughing, his head shaking before he ducked down in his seat.

I felt myself starting to grin with him.

This whole thing was just nuts.

At one point during the flight, Mary needed to go past us to use the bathroom. She averted her eyes as she did. That made me smile, too.

5

Carrie

When we deplaned, Mary and her group got off before we did.

We walked past them on the jetway where they were waiting for their bags. Mary averted her gaze, same as on her bathroom trip. I noticed another less-faint white line over her lip, but that was for her friends to handle. It might even be picked up by drug dogs, if this airport had them. One of her friends noticed my look and realized what I saw. Her eyes went big, but then we were past them and up the ramp.

Stepping into the airport, Raize pulled his phone out and kept walking. I moved behind him. I knew my place, but I glanced back to see if I could see Jake or Cavers.

My phone buzzed, and I pulled it out. Raize had texted all of us.

Raize: Walk out, wait by the cab line. Jake, get your bag and find us. Cavers, stand fifty yards away. Jake, the same.

He had already put his phone away by the time I finished reading, and he’d picked up his pace. I hurried to catch up. Raize moved through crowds like I did. He kept to the side and found the path of least resistance through the oncoming people. His head was down, but when a security guy stepped out, Raize guided me to join a crowd in front of us, our heads turned to the side.