Turbulence - (18+)

59.

GATE C54 SHAY

New York (JFK)

I was certain that the fates above were huddled together and laughing hysterically at my expense. The "party" Meredith brought me to wasn't on some secluded rooftop via an abandoned building like last time. It was on the rooftop of The Madison at Park Avenue, and although residents were supposedly not allowed to attend, being here only made me think of the one who currently lived right below us in Unit 80A.

Every twenty minutes, Meredith went out of her way to introduce me to someone new, someone "cool," but the attraction was never there. At least, not in the intense way I knew it could be.

Almost every man at this party was a self-made suit or a rising visionary in the world of fashion art, but I couldn't last in a single conversation for more than five minutes. My mind was always elsewhere, my heart too stubborn to give anyone new a chance.

Grabbing a glass of wine from a waiter's tray, I walked over the roof's railing and looked up at the sky as a white plane hovered over The Hudson.

"Cool plane, right?" a voice to my left said. "Probably military. Probably a turbo glider or something, probably getting ready to head somewhere on the other side of the world right now."

"No," I said, "That's an MD-88. It's only for short range flights." I turned to look at him, but he was blinking rapidly in intimidation and slowly stepping away from me.

I watched as the small plane flew higher, as it continued to make its ascent.

"So, you're still spreading the wrong information..." The deep, low sound of that voice made my heart jump, made me turn around and come face to face with Justin.

He was still fucking perfect; still sexier than the last time we were together.

Wearing an impeccable black suit in a way that only he could, he was smiling at me, eventually taking the place right next to me at the railing.

"It was an MD-90, Miss." He didn't say my name. "You were close though, very close." He glanced at my lips.

"I'm Justin." He extended his hand, and the second I took it, every nerve in my body instantly came to life. "And you are?"

"Shay."

"Hmmm. What do you do for a living, Shay?"

"I'm a bestselling author...You?"

"I'm a pilot, senior captain actually."

"You look a little too young to be a captain," I said, easily mimicking our very first conversation the night we met.

"Well," he said, planting a light kiss on my forehead. "My high number of flight hours say differently."

Silence.

For several minutes, the two of us simply stood staring at each other, and I knew, right then and there, that my heart was still tethered to his, that there wasn't a chance in hell that I would ever fall for anyone else the way I fell for him.

His eyes never left mine and he wrapped his arms around my waist, pulling me closer as if he was going to reclaim my mouth with his, but he stopped before our lips could touch.

"I have something I would like you to sign." His hands skimmed my hips and he looked into my eyes. "Will you do that for me?"

I nodded and he slowly let me go, reaching into his blazer and pulling out a paperback copy of Turbulence and a pen.

"You can sign it under the dedication," he said. "Right under, For you, only you."

I took the pen from his hands and wrote, "Even if you've moved on, you're still *my* anomaly" on the title page. Then I signed under the dedication.

Smiling, he took the book from me. "You're still my anomaly, Shay," he said softly. "You always will be."

"Does that mean you're not upset about the book anymore?"

"I'm fucking livid about the book." He narrowed his eyes at me. "And actually, since we're on that topic, let's get a few things straight: One, your use of aviation terminology is terribly executed throughout the book. You thanked your content editor in the credits so I had high hopes, but after three times of going through it with my highlighter, I'm still finding mistakes."

"You've read my book three times?"

"Seven," he said. "And I'm not done. You have a lot of errors you need to know about."

"It's already published."

"I don't give a fuck." He was smiling. "You need to know about each and every one of them." He clasped my hand. "Why did you change where we first had sex? It was against the bookshelf, but in your book it's on my desk."

"My editor thought that was a better place."

"My eyes skew towards a lighter brown, not dark brown."

"Another editorial change."

"We fucked on way more than one international flight, and you sucked my cock for the first time in New York, not a stopover hotel."

"Once again, editorial."

"I also don't ever recall saying that I loved you that soon in our relationship." He tucked a strand of hair behind my ear. "I said what we had was messy and I liked it."

"So, you don't love me?" I asked.

"That's not the point."

"Care to get to it?" I mocked his voice, and he smiled again.

"The point is, I haven't seen or fucked you in months, and I haven't seen or fucked anyone else in months either." He pressed his lips against mine. "And that, no one else will ever compare. I miss and I love you, and only you. And most of all, I miss fucking you."

"You really could've left that last part out..."

"No, it was very much needed." He wiped one of my stray tears away. "I love you, Shay. No matter what, and I think we need to leave this party. Now."

"Not until I ask you a few questions. I need to know what type of man I'm dealing with tonight."

"The type that's going to fuck you the second we make it to the elevator, the type that's going to take you to his place after that and fuck you all over again."

I blushed, but remained still. "Why did you take me off your visitors' list at the hospital?"

"I didn't want you to see me that way," he said, looking genuine. "Plus, you'd already been there two weeks in a row and I was fine. I wanted you to worry about yourself."

"Are you the anonymous person who's been upgrading all my flights to first class for all my recent book signings?"

"Of course not," he said, smirking. "Only someone who still loves you would do something like that."

"Thank you," I said.

"You're very welcome. Is that the end of your questions?"

"No, I have two more."

"I'll answer one more."

"Fine. Is this the part where you propose?"

"Don't be ridiculous." He pressed his mouth against mine and kissed me so hard and reckless that I nearly lost my balance. Then he squeezed my hand and began to lead me toward the elevator. "This is the part where we start a new chapter, one we can write together."

**The End**

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