Page 179 of Bound By Fire
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Ridge
The arrivals hall at the small airport has a few people milling about. There are more in the coffee shop, where they sell overpriced muffins and sandwiches. The pre-packed kind. A few rows of plastic chairs line the wall opposite the gate.
The guards I brought with me are tucked around the corner near the restrooms, out of sight of the gate. There are four of them, which is total overkill, but Reed insisted. At least they are all in plain clothes. If anyone is watching, they’ll see one male in a black T-shirt waiting at the rope barrier, looking like he’s picking up a relative. Nothing more.
I stand with my hands clasped in front of me, watching the runway through the wide window beyond the gate. The strip of tarmac shimmers a little in the afternoon heat. The sky above it is so blue it almost hurts.
I try to roll the tension out of my shoulders, but it doesn’t work.
I’ve barely slept. Twenty minutes here, an hour there, dozing on the sofa at my place with the TV on for company. Every time Iclosed my eyes, I saw her face. The way her mouth opened when she realized. The way her eyes went hot and wet. How her back went ramrod straight when she refused to let the tears fall.
I want to put my fist through something just thinking about it.
I’m a total asshole. I was selfish…Iamselfish. I should have stayed well away. I should have excused myself; it would have been the right thing to do. I should have insisted when Reed told me she wanted me to stay on board. I ran with it because it was the easy thing to do…the selfish thing.
I make myself breathe.
The plane comes into view, a small commercial jet, white with a red stripe along the side. It descends toward the runway, tilts a fraction, then the wheels touch, and there’s a small puff of dust as it rolls along the tarmac. The engines wind down. The jet taxis toward the small terminal building.
The doors to the airport’s main entrance slide open behind me, and I turn. Flint walks in. He’s in jeans and a dark shirt. He gives a small nod and makes for me.
Some of the weight on my shoulders eases.
“You made it,” I say.
“Of course I made it.” He stops next to me, hands in his pockets, eyes on the gate. “I thought you could do with the support. This can’t be easy on you.”
I shake my head.
We stand there for a moment, both of us looking out at the plane. The passengers will start to disembark soon.
“How are you?” he asks.
“I’m fine.”
He looks sideways at me. “Yeah, right. How did it go with your doctor?”
I drag in a long breath.
“How do you think it went?”
He winces. “That bad?”
“Yep. Probably one of the worst things I’ve ever had to do. I don’t know if I’ll be able to fix it.”
He doesn’t say anything for a moment. He just looks outside at the tarmac.
“What happened?”
I rub a hand over my jaw. The stubble there is rough. I haven’t shaved.
“Robyn kissed me when I arrived.” My voice is a rasp. “She had no idea what was coming. I had to stand there in her apartment and tell her I’d been investigating her the whole time. That guards were outside, ready to take her in. That—” I stop. Push out a breath. “The look on her face, Flint.”
“Shit.”
“I betrayed her like I betrayed Magma, only, with her, it was worse. Magma still had some fight in him. Robyn went very still. She didn’t shout. She didn’t cry, even though I could see she desperately wanted to. She just looked at me like I’d reached inside her chest and pulled something out.”
