50 Shades of Drake 5 and 6

More Life: Chapter Thirty-Four

    "You haven't said much since we left the hotel, and you've said nothing since we boarded the plane."

    Destiny glanced at Aubrey and tucked strands of blonde hair behind one ear. "Just...thinking."

    Carlos sat across the aisle from them with his nose buried between the pages of a book on dominance and submission.

    Members of his crew were scattered throughout the cabin, their voices carrying from the front of the plane to where Aubrey and Destiny were seated.

    "Thinking about...?" he prompted.

    "Everything."

    He nodded, his hands fidgeting over each other. 

    She turned her head and peered out of the oval plane window.

    "You're probably trying to process everything on your own, but it might be better for us to talk things out."

    "Talk things out," she echoed with a wry smile. 

    "Yes."

    "Do you really want to know what I've been thinking?"

    The look in his eyes said that he wasn't sure, and even that pained her. He looked terrified, terrified of what her reaction would be. Terrified of losing her so quickly after he got her back. She couldn't imagine the level of fear he must've felt, couldn't imagine just how difficult it had been to even form the words to tell her that it was highly likely he'd conceived a child with someone else. 

    As much as she wanted to be angry with him, the anger just wasn't there. What was there to be angry about, exactly? He'd thought she was dead because her death had been faked. It hurt to know that he'd slept with someone else, but the truth of the matter was, he was Drake. She could call him Aubrey all day long, but he'd allowed the alter ego bearing his middle name to grieve in the only way he knew how: attempting to drown his sorrows in the depths of the pussy of someone else. Was that something she could even hold against him? Even if I was justified in holding that against him - and I'm not sure I am - the truth of the matter is... "I don't have the energy to be mad at you."

    His features formed into an expression of confusion. "You don't have the energy to be mad at me?"

    "You thought I was dead. Gone." She shrugged. "I can't imagine what you were going through during that time. I wanted so badly to reach out to you, but...I couldn't. So you were left to deal with this on your own."

    He searched her eyes, hope sparking in his own. 

    "I want to be mad at you, but I don't feel like I have the grounds. And the energy just isn't there for it. I'm too busy trying to remember this new identity the FBI gave me, too busy being on the run from a politically-empowered criminal mastermind, too busy feeling grateful that I'm here with you. The circumstances right now are...dire, but still. I have you and Carlos here with me, fighting the good fight. So...no. I refuse to waste time being angry with you, when the truth is..." She clutched his face in her hands. "The truth is I love you more than my heart even feels capable. I missed you so much, and I started to believe I'd never see you again. Here you are, in front of me now. I'm thankful for that. We keep getting these challenges thrown at us, but in the end I know that we're both better off if we step up to those challenges as a unified front. Together."

    "Unified front," he repeated. 

    "Should I have phrased it better?"

    Wearing a small smile, he shook his head. "No...that choice of words just reminds me of something an angel said to me in a dream once."