Tied Together (The Cade Siblings Duology #1)

17. Alex

CHAPTER 17

Alex

This is one of the best books I’ve ever read. The only other books I’ve read recently have been required reading for high school and college.

This one has me on the edge of my seat and I can’t put it down. It’s been a few hours since we boarded and I’ve had my nose stuck in it this entire time. Every so often I get distracted by the sleeping beauty next to me. Her lips slightly parted, soft breaths in and out. She has the most peaceful look on her face.

I’ve been satisfied with our friendship being the extent of our closeness, but this trip feels like a nudge in a direction I had convinced myself we would never go.

After another hour or so, I decide I should try to get some sleep. Most passengers are resting or watching a movie and the cabin is dark. I reach up and turn off the light above my seat, place a gum wrapper where I was in my book and lay my seat into the flat position.

Eventually I drift off, only to be awoken by the jostling of the plane. The cabin is shaking and vibrating, cluing me in to the fact that we must be in some turbulence. I hear the chime that alerts the passengers that the pilot has turned the fasten seatbelt sign on and see the seat belt icon above my chair light up.

Lana.

I turn to check on her and feel automatic relief when I realize that she is still asleep. It’s short lived, though.

The plane shakes and jerks, sending passengers just a tiny bit airborne. I see heads bounce up out of their seats and hear a few shouts of surprise. Alana must have heard them as well, because I notice her startle awake. She jerks upright and the peaceful expression that was on her face is replaced with one of terror.

“Alex?” Her eyes dart around until they find me. I lean over and place a hand on her arm gently, in an effort not to spook her further. She’s been so strong today, but this amount of shaking would unsettle anyone.

“Hey, Lanie shh. It’s okay, just a bit of turbulence.” I see the war in her eyes and it seems like she wants to ask for something, but she hesitates. The bumps continue and another bad one sends us jumping. Her breathing escalates even higher and I curse under my breath.

“Can you hold me?” she asks quietly, so quietly that I wouldn’t have heard if my entire attention wasn’t focused on her right now.

I freeze and stare at her. We hit another bump and I have to reach out to steady myself so I don’t fall over.

“Shit,” she breathes. Her hands start to shake and she looks at me with so much fear and frustration. Not with me, but with herself. “Please, if you just hold me and sort of squeeze a little, it will help.”

She hasn’t asked for one single bit of my help today, so the fact that she’s asking now must mean she really needs it. I don’t hesitate for another second. I stand and awkwardly climb over the barrier between us, then nudge her shoulder.

“Scoot over, Lan.” She turns away from me and scoots to the edge of the chair. I lay down behind her and put my arms around her trembling body. I’m almost certain that what we are doing right now is not allowed or at the very least frowned upon, but I’m not concerned about that right now. No one could pry me away from her at this point.

I reach around her and grab the seat belt. Safety first.

“You’ve got this,” I whisper in her ear as I snap the seat belt around our hips.

“Oh shut up Ashford,” she breathes through trembling lips. She has full body shivers now, but the more pressure I apply to her arms the more she seems to calm down. “Everyone rides on airplanes and no one I know needs their hot coworker to spoon them and provide deep pressure therapy.”

I ignore the hot coworker comment and rub my hands up and down her left arm, trying to stifle my laughter. All of the flight attendants are sitting back in their seats because of the commotion, which allows me to stay here with Lana a bit longer.

I start talking in a low voice to her about what I did this morning. I go through my whole morning routine, talking in a soothing voice. Then I have her walk me through her morning. As she talks, her breathing slows and the trembling halts. The turbulence has died down and the plane is steady.

“Can I scratch your back? My mom always used to scratch my back when I couldn’t fall asleep.”

She hesitates for a moment and then nods her head. I begin scratching her back lightly and the longer I do it the more relaxed her body becomes.

I notice her breathing start to deepen, alerting me to the fact that she is asleep again. I know I should get up and move back to my seat, but I take full advantage of having her in my arms and stay put for a few more minutes.

Finally I determine it’s time to get up before a flight attendant comes over and wakes her up again. I slowly slip my arm out from beneath her, unbuckle the seatbelt, scoot out from behind her and snap it back in place. I grab the blanket that has fallen and cover her up. Hopefully she will sleep for the majority of the rest of the flight.

I lay back down on my chair and my fingertips tingle. I fall asleep thinking about how good it felt to have my hands on her.