No Angel

Part 1

Simba stalked down the aisle of the plane with her bag over her shoulder bumping each seat as she went by.

Eventually she found her row and seat number and practically collapsed into it after stowing her carry-on into the overhead locker. She closed her eyes and settled in for the long flight to Sydney. She loved Perth, but Simba was sick of protection detail and she just wanted to be back in her own city and one step closer to her own bed.

One more show to go, she reminded herself calmly.

"Excuse me, I think that's my seat," she heard someone say beside her. She got the feeling whoever it was, was talking to her. Simba planned on ignoring it, but it sounded a lot like . . .

Simba shot one eye open and observed the figure standing in the aisle, facing her. Sure enough, it was Andy Clemmensen.

Of all the damned people, it had to be him, and now he was claiming her seat was his own. He probably just wanted the window.

Maurice had explicitly warned her to be nice to him if he ever interacted with her. This was the first he'd seen her all tour and she was tired and grumpy from following him all over the country.

"Nah mate, this is definitely my seat," she said, closing her eyes again and settling further into the seat.

Andy pulled his boarding pass out of his pocket. "12A, this is my seat," he told her adamantly, holding his pass out to her.

Simba sighed and stood up. "No, 12A is my seat, I am always in 12A. This is my seat."

"What seems to be the problem?" A female flight-attendant approached them, sensing the tension from the other end of the plane.

The pair both tried to tell the attendant the problem at the same time, and while their words were just incoherent noise to the other passengers, the attendant seemed to understand them perfectly.

"May I see your boarding passes?" the woman asked with an almost genuine politeness.

Both pulled their boarding passes out and handed them over.

"Okay, you appear to have been booked in the same seat," the attendant said. "Come with me and we'll get this sorted."

Simba pulled her bag out of the overhead locker just as the people in the seats beside hers showed up. The scowl didn't leave her face as she stalked down the aisle behind Andy and the attendant.

The thing that made Simba the maddest was that she was supposed to be travelling the red-eye to Sydney in business class—yesterday. But Andy had decided to go out all night partying and missed his flight with Shaun, Bradie and the others, so he'd had to switch flights, which meant Simba did too.

And the best they could get was coach because it was going to cost an arm and a leg to switch flights as it was.

They went past business class and as Simba observed the few passengers, she spotted a cute guy watching her as they went. Her scowl softened for a moment as he smiled at her, but they passed him in a second. At the front of the plane, they met a male attendant and Simba instantly could tell he was in charge.

After a quick explanation from the female attendant, the man was shown the boarding passes and his eyes widened just a little when he read one of them. Andy didn't notice, but Simba picked up the slight change in the attendant.

"Mr. Clemmensen, is it?" the guy asked Andy. Every muscle in Simba's body went tense. Something in his tone made the hairs on the back of her neck stand on end.

The fact they'd been all tour without an incident left Simba in two minds. Part of her was debating that it was an empty threat made on Andy's life and she should stop being so paranoid, but the other side was arguing she had to stay on high alert because the tour wasn't over yet.