Stay With Me...

Chapter 13- Plane Rides, Jealously and other Unexpected Things

John awoke to pounding on his bedroom door and yells from the other side. He opened it to reveal Emmaline, dressed in only a short silky robe. "We have to leave. Pack your shit." Briskly, she turned away, hurrying back to her room.

"Wait!" He called after her, "What the hell is going on?" She turned to him, annoyed that he had called her back, they were wasting precious time.

"I just got a call of Marcel, he said that Jeremy was sent by the Germans. When they found out he died they sent out more. We need to put a lot of distance between ourselves and Hong Kong. Fast." Not waiting for him to ask any more questions, Emmaline returned her room. John got to work on packing too, leaving behind anything that seemed unnecessary then changed into one of the suits he had bought the day before, one with a dark grey shirt on the inside and a black tie with grey stripes. Quickly, he combed his hair back and concealed various weapons on his person. Standing in front of the mirror, he looked like the version of himself that he knew best. The one who did not sidetracked by a woman, the one who was focused, calculated and did not let anything get in his way. Not John, the man he had been these days, but John Wick, the man you sent to kill the Boogeyman.

He got out of his room before Emmaline. She did not take long though, emerging with more bags than him, wearing a pristine white coat dress, matching pumps and a red wig that cascaded over her shoulders, making her skin appear paler than it was. Tossing him the car keys, "You're driving us to the airport. The same one we came in through." Emmaline slipped on a pair of sunglasses before handing over a more masculine pair to him. "I don't care if you don't want to wear them. You have to. They might try to follow us and the less we look ourselves, the better."

He put them on, annoyed that they gave his vision a dark tint, "Yeah. Okay." They were also uncomfortable and felt weird against the bridge of his nose. In that very moment, John decided that he hated sunglasses.

The drive to the private airport, according to the GPS, should have taken half and hour. John had them there in seventeen minutes. The place was just as empty as the night they arrived, except this time, there was a black jeep with heavily tinted widows waiting nearby. Leaning against the hood was a man, probably mid-thirties, light grey suit with a blue shirt inside, sunglasses and hair falling in his face. He could have been a model, but if he was, he was in the wrong place. "Marcel!" Emmaline walked over to the man, letting him embrace her. So, this was the infamous Marcel, the one who Emmaline seemed to adore.

John watched carefully as Marcel placed his hand on the small of Emmaline's back, "You must be John. Emmsy's friend." At least he had graduated from whatever he was before to friend. "My guys should be able to deal with the whole German situation before they cause you two any problems. Can't have my baby bird getting herself into any more trouble, now can I?" He stared down at her fondly. His 'baby bird'? Marcel checked his watch, "Well you two should get going. You have a long flight ahead of you."

"I can't believe we're leaving Hong Kong so soon." She hugged him and for a minute Marcel whispered something into her ear, not loud enough for John to hear and then they shared a brief peck on the lips, parting so she and John could get on the plane.

***

Their bags had already been loaded by the now unseen staff. Emmaline was sitting on a seat near the window, wig and shades discarded on the armrest. John passed her a cup of coffee, just the way he saw her make it the day before. Two tablespoons of creamer and nothing else. She took a sip and her eyes widened, "How did you know? I never told you."

For some reason, he felt a small burst of joy knowing that he had made her happy, even if it was just over something as trivial as coffee. "I saw you make it yesterday." He sat next to her, balancing his own mug in his lap. "Where are we headed?"