Dueling Moons: A Pat Wyatt Novel (The Pat Wyatt Series Book 2) (23 page)

chapter

TWENTY
-
FOUR

“Text me every day, fleshy girl,” Angel said, hugging me after I checked my bags in but before I went through security. We had stopped to get something to eat, and after an hour or so, Angel managed to get me to the airport. So it was now time for the
good
-
byes
, and I had to admit, it made me sad.

I patted her on the back. “I will, I promise.”

“You better,” she choked out. But when I pulled back, she was completely composed, not even a tear in her eye.

“Thanks for saving my life,” I whispered so Mike wouldn’t hear.

She looked like she had no clue what I was talking about. “It wasn’t me,” she said quietly, and then winked, walking away with a smile.

That’s when Mike walked in front of me. He seemed to have himself under control, given the circumstances, and the fact that…well…he was Mike. “Are ya sure you have to go?” he asked, already knowing the answer.

“I’m afraid so,” I sighed, looking up into his almost frozen face. He didn’t look sad and he didn’t look happy; he just looked numb. “Are you going to be all right?”

He nodded, rubbing the back of his neck. “Yeah. I’ll be fine. You know me…” he shrugged, his voice trailing away.

The truth was, I did know him, and I knew that when he said stuff like that, he was not going to be okay. “
Uh
-
huh
,” I said, pursing my lips. “You just remember what I said.”

“I know, I know,” he breathed, smiling slightly. “If I do something stupid you’ll…what was it again?” he asked, looking serious.

I rolled my eyes. He knew perfectly well what I’d said, but I decided to say it again. This time, for Angel’s benefit as well as his. “I will kill you, Wolf. Stone dead. You feel me?”

He nodded. “I feel ya.”

“Well, I guess this is
good
-
bye
.”

“For now.”

“For now,” I agreed, and started to walk away, but he grabbed my arm. “What is it?”

“Don’t I get a kiss?” he asked and I nodded, leaning up to kiss him softly on the mouth. Any more of this “
good
-
bye
” stuff, and I felt like I was going to lose my mind. I’m not too big on farewells; they make me uncomfortable.

I moved away from him, giving him a small smile. “See you later, Wolf.”

He touched my cheek, brushing my hair out of my face. “See you, bébé. I love you.”

“I know,” I replied with a wink, and he smiled his sparkly,
green
-
eyed
grin. Then I finally walked away from him, waving as I made my way through security.

Once I was on the other side, I had about half an hour to get on the plane. I made my way through the rest of the airport, and by the time I got to the terminal, it was almost time to board. I waited in the hard, blue plastic chairs for a little while, feeling like something was going to go
wrong
—
not
with the flight, but with something else. Another thing that I couldn’t quite put my finger on.

All of that went by the wayside as I got on the plane, turning toward
first
-
class
. And just as I was settling in my seat, thinking about how a girl could get used to this, the captain announced that we were next to take off.

I looked out the window at the
flood
-
lit
airport hangar and thought my eyes were playing tricks on me. But as I blinked, I realized it was actually happening. Mike was standing on top of a service cart, and I watched in horror as he waved at me before lifting his head and letting out the most mournful and soulful howl I had ever heard.

Frantically, I looked around, noticing that everyone was craning their necks to see what the commotion was. Then security finally caught up with him, and just as they were about to arrest him, I closed the blind, pretending not to be interested.

The last thought I had before the plane moved onto the runway was,
I’m going to fucking kill him
. Then I closed my eyes and fell asleep, dreaming of what Mike’s head would look like mounted on a wall.

THE END

For now, anyway…