Sick Like Me (Sick Like #1)

Chapter 45

FORTY-FIVE

I sat in my seat on the plane with shaky hands and my earphones blasting before I had time to even consider doing or thinking of anything else.

I needed the distraction since I knew what was to come.

The thought of him sitting so close I could feel his heat, yet having all his attention on the beautiful blonde the other side of him… I couldn’t decide if the thought made me angry or upset. A mixture of the both was a safe bet.

I pushed my bag under the seat in front of me, then I turned my body to face the window beside me. I had stood in line as one of the first people in the queue once the boarding for our flight had been announced, making Stefan do the same with me. We wanted to get on the plane first so I could prepare myself for the two hour flight.

He had offered to swap seats, but I was a firm believer when it came to sitting where instructed. Plus, as morbid of a thought it was, if the plane crashed at least those recovering our bodies would know who we were based on where we sat.

I felt movement beside me and closed my eyes. I wanted to look at him, ask him how he was doing and if he had enjoyed his time. But I had ignored his final message several days earlier. We were done, I had to stick to my stance on that.

Instead of the woody amber scent that invaded my senses whenever he was near, I was instead suffocated by a floral scent along the lines of roses. I wondered if he had swapped seats with Gwen, torturing me further in the process.

But I felt the brush of a hand on my arm and a voice call for my attention. I pulled my earphone out and turned to find Olivia sat beside me.

I blinked in surprise, then I smiled slightly. “Olivia, hey,” I greeted, to which Gwen from the other side of her looked surprised.

“Oh, do you two know each other?” She asked, then seemed to notice me from the flight out. “You sat by us on the way out, right?” She smiled bright, and I wanted to fucking slap her for it.

Her skin had tanned and her blonde hair looked even brighter from the exposure of the sun. Her white teeth sparkled, and she wore a very beautiful silver pendant around her neck, a tiny heart.

I swallowed. Had he bought it for her?

Olivia seemed to notice where my gaze moved to, and tried to speak up to distract me. She seemed to know more about me than I first thought. “We kind of work together,” She excused, and I was surprised by how short of a response she gave the other woman who I assumed her to be friends with.

Olivia nodded in understanding, then she rushed to dig out a book from her bag before she placed it securely under the seat before her. She had a new book this time, and I wondered how fast she read. I could barely read a book in a year.

But then I doubted she could paint like I could. Although, I had been in a slump for over a year and every canvas I touched, I ended up throwing away after deeming the final result not good enough.

I wanted, no—needed, to get back into painting. It was the one thing that kept me sane, and I knew I would need the distraction from Dakota in the coming weeks. I just had to survive until the company opened their new branch, and then he would fuck back off to Bristol, or London, or wherever the fuck it was he came from.

“Are you okay?” Olivia’s soft voice asked in an almost whisper. I blinked, surprised she would ask me such a thing.

I shot a look around her to make sure Gwen was busy with her book before I leant back in my seat and shook my head slowly. “Not really, no. But I guess I had it coming.”

I saw the woman beside me frown. She looked angry on my behalf, and I was surprised by that while also silently thankful. “Thank you for asking, though,” I replied once I realised this must have meant either Stefan had texted her about the matter since the pair shared numbers on the flight out, or Dakota had told her about out… fight for a lack of better words.

“He was out of line. I’ll whip him back into shape when he get home and make him grovel for you,” She smiled, daring to nudge me with her arm as if trying to test the waters.

I shook my head. “No, it’s fine. He has her and I have someone else too. We just aren’t meant to be,” I sounded much calmer than I felt.

The idea of him putting his hands on her instead of me made a bitter taste coat my mouth and my throat bubble with the need to scream. Did he touch her before sleeping with me? Had he been doing that the whole time? Doing her, then sneaking around with me?

I didn’t want to think further on that as I held my free earphone out to Olivia. “Want to share? I have gum too, if you need one for taking off.”

Olivia smiled wide and let out a small laugh. “No wonder why you and Stefan get on so well, you’re so alike. This feels like a copy and paste of a a week ago.”

I shrugged my shoulder closest to her and went to pull my earphone back, but she gasped and rushed to grab it before she shoved it into her ear as “Only Love Can Hurt Like This” by Paloma Faith played.

She shot me a deadpan look, but her lips barely tilted up at the corners to show she was joking when she spoke. “Please say you’re not going to play tragic breakup songs the whole flight home.”

Gwen, from the other side of Olivia, let out a gasp and slammed her book close as she leant to look around Olivia to me.

“Oh my gosh, did your boyfriend break up with you while you were out of the country? How harsh, are you okay?” She asked.

Little did she know, it was her boyfriend breaking up with me.

Olivia looked panicked for a second, her lips parting as if she wanted to divert the conversation. But I forced a smile and decided to play along nicely. No matter how much the thought of Dakota being broken up with after what he had done to me gave me a sense of accomplishment, I wasn’t about to ruin the life of the other woman.

“Yeah, he video called me while I was having a meal with my friend and told me he wanted to part ways, that he found someone else,” I let out a loud and dramatic sigh, and Olivia’s eyebrows shot up in surprise at my response. She looked ready for war, only to be dragged into a fictional storyline instead.

Gwen raised her book to cover her face and let out a gasp. “No way!” Her voice was a whisper-shout before she placed her book on her lap. “Did you at least chew him out? How rude of him, he couldn’t even wait a week to tell you face to face!”

I nodded slow but long, very dramatic. I let a small laugh escape my lips once I shot Olivia a look, the other woman giving me a look of pure shock. But then she held up a thumb, impressed by my improvisation for storytelling.

“I told him I was keeping the ring he gave me for our fourth anniversary,” I placed my hand in front of my face and wiggled my fingers, showing a silver band on my ring finger.

Gwen gasped even louder than before, playing into my little web of tales. She was quite cute, I noted, when immersed in my story. She suggested ways I could get back at the man, and if I had met her at another time in another life, I wouldn’t have doubted we could have been friends.

“How come you swapped seats with that man from last time?” I asked, trying to sound more polite for asking rather than inquisitive.

Olivia waved her hand dismissively. “Oh, that grumpy bastard?” She asked, to which Gwen lightly swatted her arm.

“Stop calling him that,” She sounded as if she were whining, and the sound grated on me more than it probably should have.

“He said he wanted to sit by the boys and have a bit of a chat. He was stuck with girls last time, and he said flying out that he had no one to talk to,” She shot a look behind her, and my eyes followed. I noticed Stefan sat with his arms crossed and his face hard. His ears were devoid of any earphones, and he looked as if he were intimidating. As if he were trying to purposely show he was listening to every word Dakota had to say.

“He looks so mad,” Olivia whispered as she leant her head closer to me. “He text me when you got home from the restaurant. I had no clue he said any of that stuff. If I had known—” She began, to which I shook my head and smiled.

“Don’t worry about it. He said what he felt, and that’s the end of it. You aren’t his handler to keep his sharp tongue at bay. I’m just happy he could get it all off his chest,” My voice sounded so much unlike myself. A little too calm.

“Ashton,” She whispered, her hand finding mine and giving it a small squeeze before she let go. “I’m routing for you.”

Those were her final words before the plane began to taxi and the incoming flight anxiety took away my ability to talk.

I hated to admit it, but as I rushed through baggage collection with Stefan with my hands clinging to his arm for support, I felt I had missed the touch of Dakota. The touch that eased my anxiety as the plane took off and landed.

“Are you okay?” Stefan asked as he wheeled our suitcases behind him.

I felt eyes on me every twist and turn we made, and it was making me feel uneasy. I looked behind me, only to find nothing.

It was the same feeling I had whenever Dakota was in a room, but my eyes failed to seek him out. So I kept my hand on Stefan’s arm as he led us through the busy car park to the shuttle.

“I can’t wait to fucking get home,” I sounded out of breath as I threw myself into the shuttle bus seat. Stefan stood beside me as I sat in a single chair, nowhere left for him to sit.

He nodded slowly and let out a sigh. “I’m sorry our trip got ruined for you.”

“Don’t you dare apologise for something that wasn’t your fault,” I warned him, my hand gently swatting his thigh.

“But if I had found more things for us to do, I could have kept you from him. Maybe then you wouldn’t have had a shit rest of the time there.”

He looked guilty, and the fact he was blaming himself for what someone else had done hurt me more than actually hearing Dakota’s harsh words.

“Hey,” I began as I wrapped my fingers around his much larger hand. The consequence to his height, he would claim it. “I enjoyed spending time with you, even if we got kicked out of the pool for being plastered on one too many Pina Coladas.”

I grinned up at him, and he let out a laugh at the memory. He nodded slowly, and I could sense the tension disappear from his shoulders .

“Do you want to drive home?” He offered as the shuttle neared the car part.

I let out a dramatic gasp and slapped a hand over my mouth. “Did you, Stefan Patrick Moore, just ask me, Ashton Ember Barrett, if I wanted to drive your baby ?”

Stefan rolled his eyes and pulled his hand from my grasp. He scrunched his nose up, but his lips remained in a large smile. “I take the offer back, you’re so lame sometimes.”