25
“You should get some sleep,” Jackson said for the fifth time in thirty minutes. “It’ll help you get through the flight.”
Mara stiffened, bracing her arms on either side of the expensive jet seats as another roll of turbulence shot through the plane. Her stomach was already doing summersaults. Normally she did well on planes but the last few days had been enough of a whirlwind on its own that the sudden jerks of the plane had Mara ready to jump out of her skin.
Jackson had chosen to sit across the aisle, as far away from her as he could get, and she got the odd sense it was for his own benefit. She didn’t have a problem with it though because they needed to take a step back into the professional aspect of their relationship. She felt like an invisible line had been crossed between them, and it left her feeling strangely vulnerable. He’d seen her in a place where almost no one saw her. He’d seen a glimpse behind the mask of Mara and she wasn’t sure what to do about that. Her persona kept her safe. It kept her whole.
But now, her mind couldn’t stop reeling, couldn’t stop remembering the way he’d held her after the stalker broke in. Or how many times they’d gotten too close since then. The line was being washed away day by day.
If it wasn’t for the fact that they were stuck together for the foreseeable future, she’d likely be avoiding him from embarrassment alone. His girlfriend thought they were in an adulterous relationship for fuck sake. It had only been three days and already things were too messy. Mara exhaled, remembering her dream from the night before.
She wasn’t getting any sleep on this flight.
She was trying not to panic at having him in her home. Her private space. Somehow adrenaline and compartmentalization had gotten her through yesterday but today would be different. She knew it in her bones, knew it in the deep of her, in the part she kept unlocking during this stalking, and there was no telling what terrors would come out.
Mara eyed her empty tumbler, remnants of liquor-kissed ice and her high hopes of drowning her feelings, “I’ll have one more, Jax.” It wasn’t even noon, yet.
He opened his mouth to say something. Probably about the fact that she’d called him Jax, again. Or maybe because she’d ignored another suggestion for sleep. But he decided against it, whatever it was.
Jackson breathed heavily, shrugging off his heavy black jacket, leaving him in just a v-neck and jeans. He poured her another full glass of whatever mixed drink the attendants left, which she appreciated, and stalked back to her. Mara tilted her chin in thanks and took a gulp that had stopped burning after the first two glasses.
“You shouldn’t drink on an empty stomach, Mara. At least let me ask them to fix something. You haven’t eaten since the pasta yesterday.”
Her stomach squirmed in knots. No. The last two hours had been a blur. Somewhere in the night, she lost control of her emotions. Everything she’d endured the last few weeks was building up again. It made her fragile. She stomped the wave of feelings down with another swallow of alcohol and buried herself under concealer and false bravado.
She couldn’t start thinking about her past.
“Are you okay?” Jackson asked and she jumped back into the present, noting the distinct expression that said he was asking for the second time. He moved into the seat opposite her, his brows bunching together as he studied her face.
She opened her mouth to lie but the truth came out instead, “No— no, definitely not.” Her mask was slipping thanks to the alcohol and she took another swallow, “I—”
“We should’ve left yesterday morning. It wasn’t a good idea to let this linger,” he said gruffly and she stilled, gripped her glass like she might break it.
“Another one of my stupid decisions right?”
Jackson’s eyes went wide with a look of remorse, “That’s not what I meant. But look at you—”
“Don’t worry about it.”
He blew a frustrated breath and smoothed down his shirt, “I just mean you’re tired. You seem on edge—”
“I’m going to take your advice this time,” she said numbly, cutting him off, eyes growing distant, “I’m going to lay down.”
“I meant— fuck— I wasn’t trying to blame you, Mara. I just don’t understand how what happened turned into this PR campaign.”
“But it is my fault, though. Right? That the stalker found out which hotel I was at because I stupidly let my costar drive me back after the read-through. That’s what you want to say, right? That a skilled criminal could have probably use the camera feeds to find out which room I was staying in. You want to tell me the press conference was stupid too? I can already see it on your face and I don’t really need to hear it again.”
“Mara, it’s not blame. I’m trying to understand why you end up in these positions.”
“Because I’m stupid—”
“Mara—”
“Air-headed—”
“Stop it.”
“Attention obsessed—”
“Mara, stop already! I’m talking about Richard. How does your agent protect your interests? How is he keeping you safe?”
“He’s… Richard has worked hard to make sure I hired security,” Mara said stiffly.
“But in the same breath, he’s throwing you to the wolves hours after you had a mental breakdown.”
She stood tuning out everything else he said. “He didn’t know about that. No one knows about—a-about what happens to my mind sometimes. I don’t need you judging him for it. Or me either.”
“That’s not what I’m doing, Mara. Stop being so defensive—”
But Mara was overwhelmed. She didn’t want to hear him pick apart all the bad decisions she had made. Without so much as another glance in his direction, she headed for the bedroom in the rear of the plane and closed the door, hard. Why did she feel so vulnerable? There was no reason to throw a tantrum like this—because that’s obviously what was happening.
It made her want to cry, which only fueled the immature feeling in her chest. She let her embarrassment get to her and there was no way Jackson couldn’t tell.
He posed questions that made sense. And as much as Mara hated to admit it, she knew she’d been starting a fight out of nothing. She could read his intentions enough to know he hadn’t been trying to scold her. And yet she couldn’t stop herself from shutting down. Couldn’t stop herself from being childish. She thumped her head against the door and crumpled to the floor.
Why was she so difficult?
Mara pressed her back against the door and tried to think of anything to do that wasn’t sleep. It’s not that she couldn’t, her body was exhausted, her mind was in shambles and needed to recharge. It was that she knew what would be waiting for her the second she closed her eyes. When things were going well, sleep was a friend.
But ever since her stalker showed up, sleep had been a torture, last night’s hot dream aside.
Every night she went back to the places and memories she wanted to forget. Like the bathroom. Her stalker himself was terrifying but the things the stress triggered in her were worse. She struggled to her feet and moved across the room to sit at the edge of the bed.
How was she supposed to go to work in a handful of hours?
***
Jackson stared at the closed door and pressed his temple. The smell of her in the small space was overwhelming, maddening. Her voice. That distant, glassy look in her eyes. The fidgeting and flinching. It was all getting under his skin and burrowing deeper.
He never drank on the job. It was a hard rule he had about staying aware at all times but they were 30,000 feet in the air with no one else around but the pilots, who were hopefully busy keeping them all in the sky. Throwing yet another rule out the window, Jackson finished off the rest of her glass, pretending not to taste the sweetness of her lips on the rim. But he licked the taste away with his tongue.
Savoring it.
Their argument aside, his stomach kept knotting. He looked at his watch, counting down the minutes until they landed at the closest airport. Fuck.
They were headed to WolfHaven. His Delta had informed him of the new flurry of activity in town and now Jackson knew why. His skin itched, stretching like he needed to shift. How much harder would all of this be with his mate within miles of his pack?
Within miles of Sheila?
On one hand, keeping Mara safe from her stalker would be easier so close to his own territory, but on the other, he had to contend with his biggest issue yet—the town was controlled by the fae. And it had been a decade since he last sat down at the bargaining table.