But maybe that was all for the best. A clean break and shit like that.
“Well,” she said with a jauntiness she didn’t feel. “I guess this is goodbye, guys.”
“Ring me when you get to Tokyo,” Vin said gruffly.
“And I want pics of you in the Harajuku district,” Kara added.
Ellie’s ability to speak had vanished. She just nodded. Smiled.
Then turned and went through the gates without looking back.
Hunter watched her leave from the safety of an airport shop. He’d wanted her to have this goodbye with Vin and Kara without him there distracting her. Though it was hard to see her choke back her tears. Hard to see her lift her chin, smile and walk away from her friend and brother, knowing how she must be hurting.
She had so much strength. So much determination. It made him doubt what he was doing a little because he was taking a risk here. A very big risk. But then he knew that’s what he had to do. Love was about risk, wasn’t it? And if he couldn’t take a risk for her, then he had no business being here in the first place.
Still, he hadn’t been unhappy to see her cast a surreptitious look toward the entrance as if looking for someone. Him, hopefully.
Across the departure hall, he saw Kara give Vin an odd, strangely loaded glance. Then she turned and walked away, Vin watching her, an impenetrable look on his face. Something was clearly going on there, but right now, he didn’t have the time to figure out what it was.
He had other things to do.
Like talking to Vin.
His hands tightened on the strap of his backpack as he walked slowly out of the shop. He didn’t immediately approach his friend, just stood there. And soon enough Vin spotted him. The guy stopped dead, a wary, hostile look on his face.
Well, that was better than blind fury.
“You’re too late,” Vin said flatly. “She’s gone.”
“I know. I saw.”
“What do you mean you saw?”
“I watched you guys say goodbye to her from that shop over there.”
“You didn’t think you’d come and say goodbye yourself?” Vin’s blue gaze sparked with anger. “You selfish asshole. She was looking for you. Last night at the pub too. I wouldn’t have thought you’d let me get in the way of coming to say goodbye.”
“I didn’t.” Hunter met his friend’s gaze unflinching. “But I wanted you two to have your own goodbye without me around.”
Vin didn’t say anything. He looked away, hands in his pockets, shifting on his feet. Obviously uncomfortable. “So what are you doing here then?”
“I’m catching a plane.” Hunter left it a beat. “To Tokyo.”
The other man’s attention snapped back to him. “What?”
“You heard me. I’m going to Tokyo.” He took a breath. “I’m going after her, Vin.”
Vin became very still. “Why?” he demanded.
It felt raw and new, and the words were difficult to say because he’d never really said them to anyone else. But his friend deserved to know the truth. “Because I love her.”
“Jesus,” Vin muttered. “You sure as hell didn’t love her when you kicked her out of your house.”
“I didn’t kick her out. She left because she wanted more than I was able to give at the time.”
“What? And now you are?”
Hunter supposed he couldn’t blame Vin’s skepticism. “I went to see Liz,” he said after a moment. “I had to figure out what it was I felt for her. Face her, I guess.”
Vin’s blue eyes flickered. “God, Hunt.”
Hunter lifted a shoulder. “She doesn’t matter to me anymore. Seeing her made me realise that the only person who does is Ellie. So I booked a ticket yesterday. It’s one-way.”
“One-way? You’re not coming back?”
“Not unless it’s with her.”
His friend stared fiercely at him for one long minute and Hunter met his gaze, letting him see the truth. “I meant what I said you know,” Vin murmured. “If you hurt her again, I’ll kill you.”
Hunter stared back. “Same goes for you, buddy.”
A moment passed where neither of them said anything.
Then abruptly Vin let out a breath, his shoulders loosening. He scowled. “Shit. So what the hell am I supposed to do with the business?”
Ellie sat miserably in her seat, gripping onto the armrests as the plane lifted off the runway and into the air. She refused to look out the window. Didn’t want to see the ground disappearing. Her life being left behind. She’d been looking forward to leaving for so long, yet now she actually was, she didn’t want to go.
Stupid. She was stupid. She had to go. Had to get out and find a new life for herself away from her brother. Away from Hunter. And if that hurt, well, she’d just have to live with it.
As the plane began to level off and the unfasten seatbelt signs came on, Ellie reached for her e-reader, wanting to immerse herself in a book for a while, forget about things.
“Excuse me, Miss Fox?”
It took Ellie a moment to realise the stewardess was talking to her, not being used to being called Miss Fox.
“Uh, yeah, that’s me.”
The stewardess beamed at her. “You’ve been upgraded. If you’d like to follow me please, I’ll direct you to your new seat.”
“Upgraded?” Ellie repeated blankly.
“Yes. To First Class.”
Holy crap. First Class? “But…uh, I don’t have air miles or anything.”
“Oh no. Your seat has been paid for. Please follow me.”
Paid for? By whom? But there was no time for questions, the stewardess already starting to turn away. Scrambling around for her belongings, Ellie then followed the woman down to the middle of the plane and then up a short flight of stairs to the upper deck.
Jesus, a whole other deck.
Ellie tried not to stare, feeling suddenly very conspicuous in her narrow black jeans and biker boots. At least more conspicuous than normal. The chains on her belt jangled, making several business types cast frowns in her general direction.
Eventually the stewardess stopped and gestured Ellie toward a couple of seats. But it wasn’t till she approached that Ellie realised one was already occupied.
By someone she knew. Hunter.
As his familiar dark eyes met hers, a wave of emotion swept through her. So intense she had to grab onto the seat to keep from swaying, her eyes prickling with ridiculous tears. And all she could do was stare at him, completely unable to process the fact that he wasn’t where she thought he was, still back in Auckland, but here, with her, on the freaking plane.
“What are you doing here?” she said finally, thickly.
“I’m going to Tokyo.”
“But you—you said…I thought…”
“Sit down, sweetness.”
The stewardess was still standing there and Ellie had no choice but to sit. It was either that or continue gaping and crying like a lunatic.
Hunter nodded to the stewardess who smiled and left, while Ellie started noticing dumb things like how much wider, roomier and more comfortable the seat was than back downstairs.
A dumb thing to notice that when the love of her life was sitting next to her and not, apparently, in Auckland like she’d thought.
She clasped her hands in her lap, her jaw clamped shut, furiously blinking back the tears that seemed to keep leaking from her eyes.
Beside her Hunter had gone quite still and she was so achingly conscious of him she couldn’t bear it. He was so familiar. So warm. In jeans and a black shirt, long sleeves rolled up to expose his long, tanned forearms, he was also so damn hot too.
Jesus Christ. Was that all she could think about? How hot he was? Shouldn’t she be angry with him? For being here when she knew he could never offer her more than what they’d had?
“Look at me, Ellie.” His voice was very soft.
It took her some effort but she did, lifting her chin, meeting his ink-black eyes. “Is this some kind of joke you’re playing on me?”
“You seriously think I’d do that to you?”
“I don’t know what you’d do to me, Hunter. You haven’t exactly been communicative the past few days.”
He remained silent a moment. Then he said, “I went to see Liz. I wanted to see her. Tell her what she’d done to me.”
Ellie’s heart slammed to a halt. She should say something but couldn’t think of what, so she just sat there, staring at him.
Hunter looked back. “As soon as I saw her, I realised. I realised you were right about one thing and wrong about something else.”
“What things?” she croaked.
“What you said about me being in love with Liz. That it was a lie. You were right about that. I think I knew it all along. But I couldn’t admit it because being in love was better than being her victim.”
Ellie’s throat tightened and she had to swipe at her eyes, unable to stop the tears and no doubt smearing her eyeliner like a bastard.
“But you were wrong in thinking I don’t know what love is.” The look in Hunter’s eyes had become very focused, intense. Pinning her to the spot and squeezing all the air from her lungs. “I do know. I learned all about it every time I came to look after you. The way you used to look at me, the way you took my hand. Talked to me. I never had that in my life, Ellie, not from anyone. The only other person who showed me affection was Liz and that was the wrong kind.”