Page 52 of Final Approach

Fuck, how could I remember that trauma, and nothing about the plane?

The darkness of those memories threatened to suck me into the void while I stared into the flames. He’d had no congratulations, and no concern for my well-being. Only bitter disappointment before he’d move on to his next mission, following his next delusion.

But I had lived, no thanks to him and his obsessions. I would live again. We would live through this.

My gaze swept across our group. I would never let them suffer the way I had. They deserved to live another day with their families and continue their lives. Danny deserved to see a doctor and see his loved ones. Vanessa deserved to find her happiness again—I hadn’t once seen her smile, or even a glimmer of hope. I landed on Diaz, who glared at everyone and nothing through the fire within his solitary perch.

Diaz could stay here. If I could trade his place for Maddox, I would.

I pasted a brave smile onto my face before bed.

“Thank you for your work today, everyone.” The gratitude in my tone, at least, was genuine. “By now, Aileron should have a rescue planned. Try and get a good sleep so we can be ready for them.”

Nodding to Madman, who’d opted for first watch, I lay down on my mat closest to the fire, staring into the embers while I swallowed the golf ball of rising panic.

Still no Jamie. Still no answers. We now had basic shelter and we had a food source. Tomorrow, I would head back to the plane to investigate.

Closing my eyes, I counted my breaths backward from one hundred to calm my mind and induce some semblance of sleep.

Tomorrow, rescue would come. I had to believe it.

Day 3 – After crash

I awoke with a start to a coarse palm cupping my cheek, a heavy arm wrapped around my waist, and a hard rod jutting into my backside.

A bleary, hulking form kneeled in front of me, a demonic shadow with the firelight at his back. The soft timbre of Madman’s rough voice stifled my coming scream.

“Your turn for watch, ángel.” The pad of his thumb slid down my chin like a caress before dropping to his side.

Fuck. My sandpaper tongue and gritty eyes proved I had drifted into a deep sleep, but the dull pulse in the back of my head screamed it hadn’t been enough.

Of course, it hadn’t. I could get a fitful sleep when we were rescued. The sobering thought was enough to get me moving. A muffled groan rose from the body behind me and the hard rod deepened its placement between my ass cheeks.

The body behind me … My sluggish brain struggled to keep up. Nikki. Nikki was going to sleep next to me last night. Apparently, we had different understandings of what that meant.

I needed to get away—we were still colleagues. A line I wasn’t ready to cross.

Madman’s gaze followed while I shuffled out of Nikki’s tight hold. When I’d made it out from under him, his body collapsing on the mat woke him out of his own stupor.

“Wha?” he mumbled, smacked his lips, and rubbed sleep from his eyes in his own daze. “Whas go’n on?”

“Shhhh,” I soothed, not ready for the cuddle conversation. “My turn for watch. Go back to sleep.”

Nikki shot off the makeshift bed as if it burned him, instantly alert. How did he do that? “I’ll get up with you.”

“That’s not necessary, Nik, I’m fine.” I slowly pushed to my knees on the wet ground. Madman hadn’t moved and still blocked my way. Cocking an eyebrow, I stared into his calculative eyes. “May I get through, please?”

He dipped his head once and shifted his body sideways so I could pass.

“Good idea,” he said to Nikki over my head. “You two take watch together. I’ll rest here.”

Rubbing a hand over my face and shaking my lifeless body alive, I swallowed my protests. Nikki had said he needed to talk to me yesterday, and we hadn’t gotten the opportunity for any privacy. Now would be as good a time as any. He slid past me and grabbed one mat from our shelter, beckoning me forward with his hand.

“Que descanses,” I murmured to Madman when he moved into the shelter and lay on his back, still shirtless beneath his leather jacket, because I wore his.

“Dormiré de ángeles,” he returned. I will dream of angels. He turned on his side, away from the fire, and heat spread across my neck and chest at the insinuation as I stared at his back.

Slowly, I followed Nikki to where he’d laid out the mat at the edge of the fire. The ground was soft and wet, and I sank into it when I sat down on it beside him.