“Thought I should leave a note, tell them where their plane is,” he explained, finding a scrap of paper and a pencil nub in a drawer.
“Um, I could be wrong—I usually am anymore—but I really don’t think they’re coming back,” I said.
He shrugged. “With these people, you never know. They’re kind of like that.”
He wrote a one-sentence note detailing the town and country where the plane would be and then paused before signing it—as Seth. I lifted an eyebrow, trying to ignore the tingling down my spine. He grimaced.
“Trust me—that was harder for me to write than for you to see. But that’s all they know me as.”
I nodded silently then flashed to the plane, trying not to think about it. But I couldn’t help it, especially since Owen and I had just been discussing Seth. I held an entire, silent conversation with myself, trying to convince myself that it meant nothing more than he knew the owners a long time ago. But the paranoia gnawed at me for most of the flight. He wouldn’t . . . would he?
He looked back at me from the front seat right then, as if he’d heard me ask myself that question, but our minds weren’t connected. I mentally slapped myself when I looked into his eyes. He loved me. The look in his hazel eyes, all over his face, made it perfectly clear. I smiled warmly at him, and he grinned and winked. I forgot my doubts.
When we landed at the tiny airport, I realized we weren’t even in the same country Tristan had left in his note, and he immediately arranged for the plane to be flown to the location where he’d said it would be. A mental slap wasn’t enough. I deserved to be physically punched. What is wrong with me? I can’t doubt him! We have to stick together. I couldn’t let other people’s ignorance and prejudices get to me. That would only make things worse for us.
Two days later, we arrived on U.S. soil without incident, and if it weren’t the L.A. airport, I might have dropped to my knees and kissed that soil. Until we’d left the Keys for Greece, I’d never been out of the United States. My publicist had wanted me to do an international signing tour when my books became popular overseas, but I refused—the U.S. tours were difficult enough. Though California was one of the few states I’d never lived, I felt as though I was home. Just hearing English with American accents gave me a sense of normalcy. And to make it better, no one looked at me with an ounce of recognition.
“Are we almost home?” Dorian asked while we studied the departure boards, trying to decide where to go next—where to start our search.
Hmm . . . home? I wasn’t quite sure where “home” was yet.
“We can’t go to your old home,” Tristan said. “We talked about that, remember?”
“I know we can’t live there anymore, but can we go visit? I want to show Joey and everyone else at school that you’re real and not a shithead.”
I fought the urge to laugh. Tristan raised an eyebrow.
“Watch your mouth, little man,” I warned, hiding my smile.
“But that’s what Joey called Dad, and it’s not true!” He lifted his chin and stuck his lower lip out in a defiant pout. “Maybe Dad can beat up their dads. They’re the real shitheads.”
I couldn’t help it. This time I full-out laughed, and Tristan and Owen joined me. We all had a hard spot in our hearts for the publicity and rumors about Dorian’s father abandoning me when I was pregnant.
“We’re going to do the right thing and leave them alone,” I finally said. “If there’s something you miss from home, though, we can get another one.”
“Naw. I got Dad now.” He took Tristan’s hand and grinned. “And I’ll be getting my dog soon.”
He apparently hadn’t forgotten about that birthday present.
We still didn’t have a real plan, but traveling was obviously a necessity. Whether we’d establish a home base first or tow Dorian around with us on our search, we hadn’t yet decided. Now that we were at least in the States and hadn’t been detected by Daemoni so far, Tristan should be able to concentrate on a plan. But first, we had to get out of L.A., which held a certain attraction for Daemoni, and it was only a matter of time before someone sighted us. We decided