Ian

It’s strange after spending the afternoon with Chelsea to go our separate ways again before we head to the airport. I miss her the second she’s gone, but considering that it’s all a part of my plan, I just have to deal with it.

Everything should be in place when I get there. I just have to hope it goes the way I’m thinking it will. Of course, that all depends on us being right about Kandy, and there’s no guarantee we are. Just a hunch—a good, solid hunch, but a hunch nonetheless.

I climb the steps up to the jet alone, my bag slung over my shoulder, nerves jangling because if this doesn’t go the way I think it will, maybe Chelsea will doubt me again. Maybe she’ll think this was all an elaborate scheme to convince her to give me another shot.

I really hope that doesn’t happen. It’s nice having her on my side again. I don’t know if I can lose that again and still be the man I’m trying so hard to be. I need her. Now, and God willing, forever.

But that’s going to have to wait until all this is over with.

Merrill, Rosa, and Kandy are all already sitting in their respective places. Rosa barely even acknowledges me, Merrill gives me a head nod and a stern look, and Kandy… Well, the look Kandy gives me raises my spirits some. She’s watching me closely, her face neutrally pleasant but too observant. She’s eyeing my bag and when she sees that I’ve caught her looking at me, she gives me a big, fake smile.

“You’re looking good for a guy who’s fallen off the wagon,” she says sweetly.

I clench my jaw, wanting so badly to lay into her. She’s the reason the tour’s over early. She’s the reason the whole world thinks I’m using again. But worst, she’s the reason I nearly lost Chelsea and that’s unforgivable. She needs to pay for what she’s done to all of us. But not yet. Not until I have the proof I need.

“That might be a compliment if it were true in any way,” I grumble, heading to the back of the plane where there’s an unused bedroom piled high with all our luggage. I toss my bag on the bed and head back out just in time to see Chelsea coming aboard.

I have to hand it to her, she’s a good actress. She stops and stares at me, her mouth pressing into a thin line. If I weren’t expecting it, that look would cut me like a knife.

“Chelsea,” I say, going toward her, my arms out, the lump in my throat all too real.

“Stop,” she says, and Rosa moves to get up. It was a good idea not to let her in on this. Makes the whole thing seem more authentic.

But Chelsea turns and gives a quick head shake to Rosa. “It’s fine Rosa, I need to do this.”

“You hurt me,” she says, turning back to me, her eyes sparkling with the truth. I know it’s true. But I know I already have her forgiveness so it doesn’t sting as badly as it could. “But I’ve thought about it a lot and I forgive you.”

Rosa gasps, whispering, “Chelsea!” under her breath, but we both ignore her.

“You mean it?” I ask, stepping closer to her.

She sends me a little smile and my heart melts at the sight of it. That’s a real smile. An “am I convincing?” smile, and I grin back, sweeping her into a big kiss right there in front of everyone.

It’s meant to be for show, but I’m so damn happy to have her in my arms again, so relieved that she didn’t change her mind about this whole thing—or about me—that it goes on far longer than it needs to.

Kandy finally breaks the tension with a sharp ahem, and we pull apart, both looking over at her questioningly. She’s not even really trying to hide how she’s fuming now. Her face is red and screwed up in anger and she’s all but sputtering at us.

Chelsea gives her a big grin. “Oh, don’t worry. Of course you’ll get the first scoop of our reunion, Kandy!”

That wasn’t planned, but I’ve got to give my girl props; it has the desired effect. I almost can’t believe she goaded her like that and it’s taking everything in me not to laugh out loud.

“But what about his drug habit? Aren’t you worried he’ll overdose like your brother?”

Chelsea stiffens a little, but she’s prepared for it. There isn’t a whole lot Kandy can use against her, and she’s used the dead brother card enough times that Chelsea can see if coming from a mile away.

“Ian made one mistake—assuming that stuff was even his—but we all make mistakes. What we have is worth forgiveness. He can’t do it again,” she says, sending me a warning glance.

I hold up my hands in surrender. “I swear.”

“See? He promises. What’s love without a little faith?” she says, leaning up on her tiptoes to kiss my cheek.

Kandy struggles for words some more, but finally settles down in time for Rosa to bustle over to us, glaring at Chelsea.

“I hope you know what you’re doing,” she hisses, looking at me like I’ve just rolled out of a dumpster.

“I do,” Chelsea says, grinning and clinging to me. I almost feel bad for not looping Rosa in to all of this. Almost. But she’s been against me from the very beginning so this is a little bit of payback. Yeah, it’s petty, sue me. I’m feeling on top of the world right now and I feel like I’m entitled to a little bit of pettiness.

We make our way to the big U-shaped couch for takeoff and we don’t let up on the PDA at all. I’m holding her, touching her, kissing her until she squeals in delight and dissolves into giggles. But the whole time we’re watching Kandy as she hacks away at her keyboard, darting poisonous looks in our direction.

The flight’s probably about halfway over when she gets up and heads back to the restroom. Or, at least that’s her excuse. The bedroom with all our bags is just beyond the bathroom and once she’s out of sight, Chelsea and I both get up to follow her. Rosa’s fast asleep, her face pressed against the window, but Merrill spots us and arches an eyebrow. I shake my head and wave him off. He sits back in his seat giving me an uncertain look. I know that look. He’s saying “I don’t know what you’re up to, but you seem to have it under control so don’t make me regret not getting involved.”

Yeah, when you’ve spent as much time with someone as I have with Merrill, you can read all of that in one expression.

We creep back toward the bathroom and find the door still open, so we both squeeze into the tiny space and peer around the corner. Kandy’s pulling something out of her own bag and muttering to herself as she unzips my bag and stuffs the baggie in there.

That’s all I need. And it’s all Chelsea needs too. She nods at me and I step out of the bathroom.

“Weird, this isn’t the bathroom,” I say loudly enough that Merrill can hear. Kandy freezes, my bag open in front of her on the bed.

“And I don’t think that’s Kandy’s bag, is it?” Chelsea asks innocently.

“No, sweetheart, it isn’t,” I say, stepping forward to rip the plastic bag from Kandy’s hands. Just like before, there’s a needle, a lighter, a spoon—everything a junkie needs to shoot up in the convenience of one little baggie. I’m expecting a hint of desire, just from holding the supplies, but all I feel is anger as I shove it back at Kandy.

“Looks like something of yours found its way into my bag,” I snarl.

She narrows her eyes at me and grins this malicious smile that almost makes me worried. “I was snooping,” she admits, sounding almost contrite, “but I just wanted to show Chelsea what a mistake she’s making in trusting you again. And clearly I was right. You deserve better than him, honey,” she says, sounding like she feels bad that Chelsea got duped by me. But luckily, there’s no swaying Chelsea from my side now. She’s not falling for it.

“I appreciate the concern, honey, but I saw you take that out of your bag. I’m not an idiot, despite what you write about me.”

Kandy loses all pretense of pleasantness then, her face contorting into an ugly mask of rage and rejection.

“Who’s going to believe you? A junkie and the girl dumb enough to go back to him, or a respected journalist?”

“So you admit it, then?” I press. She’s still convinced she’s won. Maybe we found her out, but she thinks she’s going to get away with it.

“Fine,” she sighs. “Yes, I put the stuff in your bag to get her to leave you. I didn’t think she’s be stupid enough to go crawling back again. But an anonymous tip that got you arrested? I wonder if little Miss Perfect would stay by you after all that?”

“You tried to sabotage his career and get him imprisoned just to split us up?” Chelsea asks, incredulous. I guess I never told her about the time Kandy came on to me and I rejected her. I thought it had been amicable. I thought she was still capable of being a professional about it, but clearly my judgment still isn’t the greatest.

“I did it because I wanted him to suffer,” she screeches. “No one rejects me. No one. And if you think you can get away with it, I will bury you. I’ll make it so you never work in this industry again. No one will touch you with a ten-foot pole when I’m through with you, Ian Monroe. Mark my words.”

“I think that’s quite enough of that,” Merrill says, stepping in from behind us, his phone recording the whole thing. “I’m sure the authorities would like to have a listen to your attempts to frame my client. Not to mention your admission to possession yourself, Ms. Florin.”

“Think they’d like another angle of the action?” Serge asks, crawling out from behind a pile of luggage. “Man, I thought flying private would be way cushier,” he adds, tilting his neck to either side.

Kandy’s so red she looks like she might explode, but there’s nothing for her to do now. She’s been caught red-handed. She tries to plead her case, changing her tune, saying it was just a prank or she never meant anything to actually come of it, but the damage has been done. We all heard her plans to ruin me and my career.

Serge and Merrill force Kandy into a seat and guard her the whole rest of the flight, but the whole time Serge is waxing poetic about how great this plane is and how he might just need to get back in the biz. I know there’s nothing to it though. He loves working with those kids.

“You know you can hitch a ride with me whenever,” I say.

“As long as you two stay out of trouble,” Chelsea adds with a playful warning.

“Where would I even go?” Serge laughs. “This is nice for a return trip though. If I ever have to take a red-eye to bail a friend out of his stupidity again, I’ll be sure to keep this in mind.”

I just flip him off and he laughs at me, all while Kandy’s in the background glowering.

Merrill took her laptop before she could get back to it and found the newest article she’s been writing about me. About how I was caught with paraphernalia on the plane, arrested, and abandoned by everyone that ever had faith in me. It reads like a sick revenge fantasy or some weird fan fiction online. But I know how easy it would have been for things to turn out differently. I know how badly things could have gone if Chelsea didn’t take my side. If Serge wasn’t here to record everything. And I’m grateful. I don’t know what I ever did to deserve such amazing loyal people at my side, but I’m so, so grateful.

Rosa wakes up from her nap confused at the extra person on the plane and the way we’re all glaring at Kandy.

“What did I miss?” she asks, groggy as the plane starts to land.

Chelsea fills her in on all the details of our deception and shows her the video, and by the end of it, I think Rosa might be the angriest of us all. The moment the pilot gives her the okay, she’s on her phone with the local police. When the plane touches down, they’re waiting for us on the tarmac, ready to take Kandy away.

She’s screaming and kicking the whole time, but Chelsea and I stay behind on the plane, sitting on the bed. I don’t know what’s going through her mind, but I know I’m relieved. I didn’t expect any of this to go this well, and now I feel like the whole mess is well and truly behind me.

“I can’t believe she was so petty,” Chelsea says, shaking her head. “She’s probably thrown her whole career away for this.”

I wrap my arm around her and pull her into my chest, inhaling the sweet scent of her shampoo. “I definitely don’t think I’m worth it,” I laugh. “There are a million other rockstars she could be obsessed with.”

Chelsea turns to me, her eyes locked on mine. “I think you’re worth it. I almost feel sorry for her that she’ll never know how great it is to be with you.”

“Careful, you’re going to give me a big ego,” I tease.

She grins. “Can it really get bigger?”

“Is that a challenge?”

“God, no,” she groans, rolling her eyes with a grin.

We sit like that for a little while, cuddling on the bed on the plane, forgetting the rest of the world exists. But at some point, they’re going to want us to get off and I have something I need to say before that happens.

“Chelsea?”

“Yeah?”

“I was thinking… What if you came home with me?”

She shrugs. “Why not?”

I shake my head, realizing my mistake. “I mean… forever.”

She grins this teasing little grin that makes my stomach flip-flop. “In that big soulless mansion of yours?”

My heart sinks. “We can find something else.”

“How about you come home with me? You liked my place better anyway, didn’t you?”

“You mean it?” I almost don’t want to get my hopes up. I don’t want to risk falling apart if I’m wrong.

She kisses me, and it’s the sweetest, tenderest kiss I’ve ever felt. “Of course. But you should bring that mixing board with you,” she teases.

“Like you’d convince me to leave Mackie behind.”

Chelsea rolls her eyes and leans her head on my chest. “Of course you’ve named it.”

“Come on,” I say, standing, holding my hand out to her. “Let’s go home.”

Her hand slips into mine, fitting perfectly. I vow then and there to never, ever let her go again.