lexa isn’t working half as often as I thought she was and that bothers me. The times she leaves the house are few and far between, and it’s putting a serious wrench in my plans. She told me she was working full time, but it looks like she’s only working three shifts. Closer to twenty-four hours a week.
How am I going to get the crew in to work when she spends days at home she’s supposed to be out working? The feed from the house’s security cameras doesn’t lie. I don’t want her disturbed by the construction, but I also want her to have access to the entire house. I need the remodeling finished.
I have no idea why Alexa would lie to me about her work schedule, but it bothers me on a fundamental level. It’s not the first time she’s hidden the truth from me. What else does she have going on in her life that I don’t know about?
It sets me off, and I’m in a sour mood as we finish up in French Polynesia and head to Australia.
I need to talk to her. Everything would be better if I could be there, but Miss Karina has my hands tied. There’s nothing I can do from all the way across the world. Alexa is thousands of miles away from me. Our days are so out of sync that when I finally have the chance to call her, she’s already sleeping. Or at work.
I try anyway.
We land in Sydney and I’m on the phone before the passengers deplane. In the back of my mind I know, I’ve cut corners with the landing documentation and equipment checks so I can get to call her.
I don’t care. This is important. I’m punching the screen of the phone. It rings and rings, then goes to voicemail. It’s two in the morning in New York, but I need to hear her, to speak to her, and to know what’s been happening while I’m away. I won’t let this divide keep us apart.
I try to call her again. I don’t leave messages, nor will I ever text her. I refuse to. She will speak to me. It’s not the sound of her voice or the words she chooses that I want, it’s the connection. The communication.
I shelve my efforts after the second call goes to voicemail. She’s asleep. I’ll try again in the morning.
“Something must be wrong in the world if the great pilot Long is on his phone while he’s still on the job,” Julien, my co-pilot, remarks from chair by my side. “In all our time flying together, I don’t think I’ve seen you take a personal phone out once while we’re still in the cockpit. It must be urgent.”
“It’s a bad time,” I say vaguely.
Julien shrugs. He looks at me like he knows too much, and for a second I wonder how much I’ve let slip over the past few months. “Sometimes bad times are the only times. I’m here if you want someone to listen.”
“Thanks, but I’m fine.”
The problems I have with Alexa are problems I’ll fix myself. I appreciate Julien’s concern, but the problem isn’t him, it’s Miss Karina. She’s driving a wedge between me and New York. Probably on purpose, hoping I’ll crack.
She doesn’t know who I’m fighting for, or how much the fight means to me.
“If you say so.” Julien rises and approaches the cockpit door. “Good work as always, Captain.”
“Thank you.”
He smiles, then slides the door open and leaves. I’m sure he has his eye on Chrissy. Once upon a time, that would have been me, but my life’s been turned upside down since Alexa came into my world, and I’m not interested in going back to how things were before.
I’ve found the woman who makes me want to stay. I won’t let her leave. Being disconnected from her is frustrating me, though, and even I can see that my temper is on a shorter fuse than usual.
The jet empties soon enough. I remain in the cockpit, savoring the silence. I need to take a look at the schedule and figure out when I’m going to call Alexa. She’s my priority.
Long after I think the cabin is empty, there is a knock on the cockpit door. I stand and slide it open. Miss Karina, her lipstick smeared and her hair mussed, stands there. For the first time since she’s taken over Executive Privilege, she doesn’t look like she wants to jump my bones.
It looks like she’s already found someone on the flight to scratch that itch. Maybe a few someones.
“Long, there you are.” She supports her weight against the doorframe. The tips of her ears are pink, and I wonder if beneath her makeup, her cheeks are just as flushed. I smell the alcohol from here. “We were looking for you. All of us. The girls and I are lonely.”
“Look for company elsewhere, Karina. I have things to do.”
“You’re no fun, Jagger.” She yawns dramatically. “Don’t you know I bought the airline so you would be my pilot? There’s responsibility that comes with that. I pay your salary. You’re required to come to staff meetings, and today’s staff meeting is being held in my hotel room.”
The way she forcefully flirts with me gets old fast. I’ve never met a woman as hardheaded as her.
“I’m calling in sick.” I grab my rolling suitcase from the cockpit storage compartment and shoulder past her. Miss Karina staggers back like I’ve pushed her with all my might. She topples into one of the jet’s plush seats and glowers up at me. I don’t give her a second look.
“Staff meetings are mandatory,” she says, voice dripping venom. “Not showing up is an infraction, Jagger. Do you want to be fired?”
The truth comes out. I shake my head. It doesn’t take a genius to put it together, but to hear her admit it only steels my resolve. Miss Karina’s motivation behind buying Executive Privilege is to wield power over me. Maybe just so she can force me into bed, to threaten me with losing my job if I don’t give in to her.
It’s too bad for her that I don’t allow myself to be manipulated. If she thinks another private charter company won’t snap me up in a second, she’s out of her mind. My loyalty to Executive Privilege is wearing thinner by the day.
“I’d rather be fired than fall into bed with you,” I tell her on my way out the cabin door. As I walk down the stairs to the tarmac, I hear her frantically scramble to the doorway behind me.
“Jagger Long!” she cries, voice shrill. “Do you know who the fuck it is you’re talking back to? Do you realize who I am?”
“I do.” The sole of my polished dress shoe hits the tarmac with a satisfying click. “A woman with a skull so thick she can’t understand I have zero fucking interest in her.”
When I make it to my hotel room, it’s a little past three in the morning in New York. The time doesn’t matter. I need to talk to Alexa.
I leave my bag by the hotel room door and make the couple of steps across the room to the window. The view overlooks a parking lot. It’s a far cry from the luxury Executive Privilege once afforded me. Splitting from the airline looks more and more appealing.
Looking out over the dismal parking lot, I call Alexa. There’s no answer. Frustrated and irrationally irritated, I try again.
On the fourth try, the call connects.
“Jagger?” Alexa asks, voice froggy from sleep. “Where are you? It’s three in the morning.”
“I know. I needed to talk to you.”
“I was sleeping,” she complains, then yawns. “I’ve got work tomorrow.”
“That’s part of what I need to talk to you about.” I turn away from the window and pace across the room. I’m angry from what happened with Miss Karina and I’m frustrated by the lack of control I have with remodeling the house. “What’s happening at work?”
“What do you mean?” Alexa suddenly sounds more awake. “Nothing’s happening at work.”
“Don’t lie to me, Alexa.” My words are harsher than I intend for them to be. I sit on the end of the bed and stare at the blank television screen. “I know you’ve been going out less frequently than you used to.”
“How?” There’s a cooling pause and I hear movement on her side of the phone. “Are you spying on me?”
“I had security cameras installed for your safety,” I tell her. “For my own sanity, I look in from time to time to make sure you’re okay.”
“You have been spying on me.” She sounds appalled. “What the hell, Jagger!”
“You’re overreacting.”
“I’m overreacting?” There’s more movement. “You’re the one who’s peeping in on me without me knowing!”
“Why would that matter if you were truthful with me?” I ask. It’s a serious question. “I have nothing to hide from you. Why should I think you have anything to hide from me?”
“Because… because it’s not right!” The anger resonates in her voice. It’s making her not think straight. “If you’re watching someone on camera, you should tell them. That’s just… that’s just courtesy!”
“They’re security cameras, and it’s my house,” I remind her. I will not argue about this. If she doesn’t see that it’s for her own protection, she’ll understand in time. “The issue isn’t the cameras, it’s about your work schedule. Is someone harassing you?”
“I—no!” She’s so flustered she’s stumbling over her words. “They cut my hours down to part-time from full-time. That’s all. There’s nothing more to it.”
“And you didn’t tell me?”
She’s silent for a second. “I didn’t want to worry you.” She crumbles, the anger receding from her voice. “It’s not a big deal, anyway. It’s not like I’m contributing toward the house right now. You won’t let me pay for a thing.”
“Your life is important to me.”
The anger comes back with gusto. “If my life was so important to you, then you’d respect my privacy.”
I pinch the bridge of my nose in irritation. “I’m not going to argue with you. You need to think about my motives and understand them. I won’t explain them to you again.”
I didn’t want to fight. The phone call wasn’t supposed to have gone this way.
“What’s next?” she asks. “Are you going to bug my phone? Install a tracker in it like my stepfather did? Are you going to hire someone to follow me around? Get me a bodyguard?”
“Why are you blowing things out of proportion? I’m not doing any of those things. You’re looking for justification to be angry with me by inventing imaginary wrongdoings. You need to take a deep breath and calm down, Alexa. When you give it some thought, you’ll realize how necessary security is.”
When she speaks next, she does so through clenched teeth. “Why am I blowing things out of proportion? Because everything is out of proportion with you, Jagger. The fancy restaurants, the penthouse condos, the exotic flights… your whole life is blown out of proportion. What’s to stop you from doing any of the things I listed? How do I know where you’ll draw the line?”
“It’s three in the morning. When you go back to bed and sleep this off, you’re going to realize it’s not such a big deal. We live together now. It’s my duty to keep you safe at all times.”
“We don’t live together.” Alexa’s anger bleeds into hurt. “You haven’t been home one day since I moved in. We haven’t ever been in this house at the same time.”
“We will be living together.”
“For a day or two at a time?” I imagine her face tightened with anger, her eyes narrowed as she tears into me. I know she’s hurt, but she doesn’t understand. What I’m doing, I’m doing for her. Everything I do is with her in mind. “How many days are we going to live together this year? I’m talking full twenty-four hour periods. Maybe a week, if we patchwork the hours together? How is that any way to live?”
“Things will change,” I tell her. I don’t offer her an explanation. She doesn’t need to be bogged down by knowing everything I’ve been going through. “I’ll be home more often soon. You won’t have to be so alone.”
“Really?” Her sarcasm is bitter. “When are you scheduled to come home? Tell me right now.”
I take a deep breath. “There is no scheduled return date.”
“See?” A door slams in the background. She’s moving through the house. “This is how it is now, and this is how it’s been since I’ve met you. There’s nothing to make me believe it will ever be anything different. Why should I think your schedule will change? Every time you’ve told me you’ll be home, you end up getting called in to fly right back out.”
“My word should be enough.”
“Well, it isn’t. Not anymore.” There’s a quiver in her voice, but her anger holds firm. “I’m sick of this, Jagger. I’m so sick of this. All I want is to spend time with you.”
“I want the same.”
“You have a strange way of showing it.”
I clench down on my jaw. “If you knew the things I did for you, you wouldn’t think that way.”
“Then why don’t you show me?” Alexa demands. “What things are you doing for me, Jagger? How are you going to spin this? Do you think you’re doing me a favor by giving me time to myself? Or is it that you think you’re teaching me independence by abandoning me when I need you?”
“I won’t talk about this anymore over the phone. This is a conversation we need to have face to face.” I need to look into her eye. She needs to see my sincerity. This isn’t the right place or the right time to be fighting.
“No, you’re right.” Her tone doesn’t change. “I’m done talking for now. I think I’ve heard enough.”