Redeeming the Darkness

Chapter Seven - Ivy

Four hours.

For four hours, I fought an insane anxiety attack while I was thousands of feet in the air. I was sure I'd lost blood flow in my fingers on the hand Zane was holding, and I couldn't tell you for sure, but I was confident I'd drawn blood from his arm.

Finally, the plane landed, and I felt like I might throw up from pure relief. I let go of Zane's arm, and he released my hand for the first time in almost five hours. I tried to relax until we were ready to exit.

My legs were shaking so bad that I thought I was going to fall at any moment. I let out a whimper when we got into the central part of the airport, and I saw how far I was going to need to go.

"What's wrong?" Zane asked me over the chaos.

"My legs feel like jello. I think my nerves from the plane are finally catching up with me."

"No, I'd say your nerves did just fine on the plane. I'll probably have scars from your fingernails on my arm forever."

"I'm sorry," I felt tears pool in my eyes. "I'm not a crybaby," I said to him. "I'm just getting overwhelmed right now."

"Is it the marriage?" he asked. He sounded so scared I might say yes, and as much as it should have been a contributing factor, it wasn't.

"No, it's my legs. They feel weird, and I'm drained and hungry. All that together is just too much for me to deal with at the same time."

He looked like he might laugh, but thankfully he didn't.

"Hop up on that chair," he said, pointing to an empty seat near us. "Stand up on it."

I did what he said and waited for more instructions as he stood in front of me with his back to me.

"Climb on."

I didn't even hesitate. I pushed my purse higher on my arm and grabbed onto my fiancé. He grabbed my legs and hoisted me up a little more, then started walking through the crowd. I leaned my head on my arm, so my mouth was close to his ear and whispered, "Thank you."

He didn't respond. I'd already noticed he had a habit of doing that.

When we got outside, he walked up to a cab and opened the door. He let me down before we climbed inside.

"We're going to the strip," he told the driver, and we pulled away from the curb.

We were dropped off in front of a casino that had dancing women dressed as flamingos out front. Zane climbed out, and I followed him up onto the sidewalk after he paid the driver.

"Listen," he said, tucking a finger under my chin, drawing my wide eyes away from all the activity going on around us. "Don't make eye contact and whatever you do, don't take anything from anybody. I don't care if they tell you it's a business card, you don't touch anything."

"Will someone try to kill me or something?" I asked. He was freaking me out.

"What? No! Everyone is trying to sell something out here. I don't have time to get stopped thirty times before we get to a church."

Oh.

"Okay, well, let's go then."

He started walking, and I had to jog to keep up. He was in a serious hurry.

We quickly made our way down the strip, and everything seemed to catch my eye. I didn't think this place would be so alive this early in the morning since all the movies showed the nightlife, but there were people everywhere. Some you could tell had been out all night, but others were wide awake and vibrant, ready for a brand new day.