It Wasn't Me - Lani Lynn Vale Page 0,3

one?” she asked accusingly.

“That one is too close to the goddamn wall, and I have wide shoulders,” I answered.

“Well, this guy has wide shoulders, too. You’ll be stuck either way you go about it,” she answered then.

I gritted my teeth, upset that she was partially right.

“You.” I gestured to the large man on her other side. “Go down there and switch with a small fucker in between two smaller fuckers.”

The man didn’t question me, but he probably would have had I not had authority leaking out of my every pore.

It was a weird thing, being in the military. You somehow always knew when someone was higher rank than you, or when someone could kick your ass.

Eventually you learned when to behave, and when not to.

When the kid moved, I moved my box and gestured for the girl to move.

She didn’t, and I had a distinct understanding of what she was waiting for.

“Please,” I finally gritted out.

She rolled her eyes and unsnapped her seatbelt, moving over to the next seat, and re-buckling in lightning fast. As if she was afraid that the plane would take off, and if she wasn’t strapped in safely, she’d take off with it.

I sat down and buckled my own seat, nodding at the small little woman that came to take the previously occupied spot next to me.

The woman nodded back and resituated herself, leaving me with the knowledge that I’d be stuck between two women for hours and hours on end.

Fuckin’ wonderful.

“That’s a nice shirt,” the curly blonde said softly. “Swoleminator?”

I looked down at the barfing, buff unicorn lifting weights that was also throwing up rainbows, and then shrugged. “My other shirt was fucked up after working on the plane. Some kid went to the only other guy on the base that happened to be my size, and obtained this.”

She looked like she wanted to laugh.

“It suits you,” she lied.

It didn’t.

Not even a little bit.

I wasn’t unicorns and rainbows.

Though, I was muscled.

When you had no one, lived alone, and worked for fun, there was only so much you could do. Lifting weights and eating well were just things that I did now to keep myself entertained. I liked to see how far I could push myself, and that came with a muscular body.

I was in my early forties, and nothing to show for it but a goddamn nice body, a failing career that was seriously taking more effort to continue than it should, and a life that I didn’t much see value in.

“It doesn’t,” I finally answered her.

She snorted. “Thank you, Captain Obvious.”

I allowed my legs to sneak out into the aisle, then crossed my arms over my chest and closed my eyes.

The engine began getting louder, and moments later, we were moving.

The woman on my right, the curly blonde, started to hyperventilate.

“What’s your name?” I asked, feeling the cabin seal.

I popped my ears and looked at her doing the same.

“Piper,” she answered. “Piper Mackenzie.”

Her breathing turned from fast to choppy, as if any second she was about to pass out.

Shit.

“Jonah Jeremiah Crew,” I offered my name back to her.

She couldn’t care in the least.

Her eyes were screwed so tightly shut that I could tell that it was likely paining her.

And, for some stupid fuckin’ reason, I felt the need to comfort her.

I wasn’t sure why.

I shouldn’t even be talking to her.

Yet, I couldn’t stop myself from trying.

“Are you on leave?” I asked curiously.

She licked her lips, and it caused my belly to tighten for altogether different reasons.

“No,” she admitted. “I am officially ex-Army.”

My brows rose.

“Why?” I asked, pushing.

She cracked open one eye and squinted at me.

“Why what?” she asked curiously.

“Why are you ex-Army?” I asked. “You’re young. You have a lot of good years in you.”

She frowned.

“I know that I could’ve stayed longer. Honestly, I only stayed the minimum, but being away from home was a lot harder than I ever thought it would be. Plus, I was tired of being shipped off to places that I had no control of.” She frowned. “Why do you care?”

I shrugged.

“I loved the military,” I admitted. “I got to visit the world. Got to do things that I would’ve never been able to do otherwise. Got to meet all kinds of new people, and there was never a dull moment. Honestly, the Air Force was really good to me.”

“Air Force?” she asked.

I nodded.

“The Air Force is shit.”

I snorted at her fiery words.

“If you say so,” I shot right back, feeling the plane picking up speed.

Her eyes, that had