Chapter 418

I’d flown plenty of times before. Cass and I had even been upgraded into First Class once when a fan of hers happened to recognise her and was a Stewardess on the flight.

That flight from Vegas to Seattle was still the most insane three hours on an airplane that I had ever experienced.

Janet glared at me, the male steward, and the female Air Marshal, as I was the second person to deboard the plane, taking my carry-on from the overhead bin, my side bag and my neck pillow with me.

Paula, one of the female stewardesses, gave me an apologetic smile - she’d been an absolutely lovely woman through the whole flight, but I could tell she was a bit of a people pleaser. “We’re so sorry for all of that, darlin’,” she said, her Southern accent sweet and sincere.

“I’ll live. Thanks so much for everything,” I said. She tutted and smiled, nodding me off the plane.

Four Airport Cops were waiting out in the gangway ramp for the first class passengers to deboard and get out of the way.

I got out into the airport terminal, the slight air pressure change waking me up a little, and I moved out of the way of the folks following behind me before I fished my phone out of my pocket and turned it off airplane mode. I waited those three heartbeats as it connected, and then notifications started popping up. More than a dozen in the group chat with the girls. A flurry of emails. A text from Becca said that she and Wanda were waiting near baggage claim. Three texts from Dayana.

‘Just landed, coming out soon. Do you guys want anything from shops in here?’ I texted Becca back. I knew Cass loved a certain brand of potato chip that was produced in Europe somewhere, and we could only ever find it in airports - she said it was extra crunchy and had a different sort of flavour than usual, but I couldn’t taste the difference.

That text only took a moment, and I hopped to the ones from Dayana because, when my flight time hadn’t been getting disrupted, my mind had been getting drawn back to earlier.

‘You’re not allowed to leave the hotel anymore. This is a shitshow.’

OK, so that didn’t bode well.

‘Call me when you land.’

That really didn’t bode well.

‘Never mind. I fixed it. Jonas owes me HUGE. Doug might fire Tan. Fire department says we’re all clear.’

“What?” I asked out loud, then looked around, realising I’d done it. No one was looking at me.

The fire department got called? What the fuck happened?

I was tempted to call Dayana anyway, just to find out what the hell was going on in my ballrooms, but I got a reply from Becca that they just wanted me, not snacks or souvenirs.

The last thing I did before moving again was once again remember that text that I hadn’t checked yet, having been distracted multiple times. I opened it before I could forget again, having now forgotten that it was a picture.

A picture of a very, very nice female ass with one hand grabbing a cheek and peeling it open to show off a slightly bent over butthole and vagina.

It’s funny, the things that you remember about a person. I couldn’t remember her last name or the name of the shop where I’d met her. Hell, I couldn’t even remember the name of her ex-boyfriend, and that guy had almost tried to murder me and JC. But I definitely, immediately, knew that was Madison’s ass. And asshole.

I blanked my phone screen immediately in a panic, once again looking around at the crowd of people walking past in both directions. I was in the middle of a fucking airport and just opened a gratuitously naughty picture on my phone.

But no one else was pulling a Janet. Either no one noticed, no one cared, or they saw it and moved on fast enough that I didn’t see their reaction.

I blew out a breath and made my way to one wall, getting my back to it, before bringing my phone close to my chest and opening the text again. She’d sent it that morning, and now it was evening, and I hadn’t responded. Even I knew that was kind of a dick move when it came to being sent a nude.

‘God damn, Madison, ‘ I typed. ‘I almost opened this three times today and kept getting distracted, then I opened it in the middle of an airport. Almost stopped my heart. God, you’re fucking gorgeous. And thank you. But give me a little warning first!:P’

I sent that off, happy with the number of compliments I’d managed, and pocketed my phone before finding the signs leading towards the baggage claim.

I braced for Wanda to hit me like a cannonball, but at the last moment before she collided with me, she pulled up and eased into my arms instead, softly collapsing against my chest as she lightly grabbed the front of my shirt and pressed her face against me to hide her tears.