go back to all of us joking and having fun with each other. Maybe we can just run away from all of this drama and foreboding shit. Hole up on an island out in the middle of the ocean, where clothing is optional and our problems can’t find us.
“Mmmm, Squeaks, you have no idea how much I’d love to disappear somewhere with you and discover how many times I can make you scream, but I want to take my time the next chance I get to play with you,” he whispers against the shell of my ear, and goosebumps speckle my skin. “When all of this shit that’s going on settles, you and I are locking ourselves in a room for a week. We’ll live off of orgasms and granola bars and be so noisy that no one else will be able to get anything done in the rest of the house,” he tells me, and I can feel the smile in his voice. “What do you think, Squeaks, are you in or out?”
A loud laugh escapes my lips, and I think back to the night Ryker and I were first together and I laid down that same challenge. I press a hand against Ryker’s chest until we’re face to face again, and I place a tender and worshipping kiss on his lips. I tap on my soul, and it unveils the words that Ryker deposited that night. I pull back and stare into his bright blue eyes, my gaze radiating everything he means to me.
“In. I’ll always be in when it comes to you.”
4
It’s dark when we land in Vitebsk. I’ve never been out of the country, and I was looking forward to taking in the unfamiliar geography of Belarus from the plane and car, but all I see is twinkling lights and shadowed silhouettes. It seems like there are a lot of trees, but it’s hard to identify details without the help of more light.
“Have your passports ready, everyone. We need to get through immigration and customs quickly,” Aydin announces and then proceeds to hand me a passport.
It says something about all the crazy shit that’s been running through my head this whole time, because up until right now, I hadn’t given any thought to the fact that I didn’t have a passport. I stare at the small blue booklet, confused for a moment, before I flip it open to find an unsmiling picture of myself staring back at me.
“Where the hell did this come from?” I ask Aydin, who seems to be taking a headcount of our group like the responsible chaperone of a field trip would.
“Lachlan had it made.”
Someone pokes a head out of the cockpit, and Aydin moves up to talk to him. I’m left staring at his bulky back as questions and a shit ton of suspicion surge through me. The door to the plane opens, and my concern over why and how Lachlan had a passport made is drowned out by my eagerness to get the hell off the plane and out onto land again.
The last third of the flight passed uneventfully, but there’s so much tension and anger floating around this plane right now that it’s stifling. I thought the cuddle party Ryker and I had going on would help the drama feel less stifling, but as the wheels of the plane touchdown on the runway, the grumbles, glares, and passive aggressive digs start up again. I blow out an irritated huff and rub my temples. The renewed bickering is bringing me dangerously close to losing it. I need air and time to figure out an effective way to deal with all of this shit, and as much as I’m trying to be empathetic and understanding, what I’m mostly feeling is fucking pissed.
Clean, fresh air brushes past me, and it blows back stray locks from the bird’s nest I’m calling a messy bun. I pull the air deep into my lungs, and I can taste pine needles and birch bark on the breeze. The air is cool, and a hint of fog kisses the ground as we step off the plane and make our way to a small building.
We’re through immigration and customs in no time, and the next thing I know, I’m being loaded into one of three black vans. I stare at the signs that look like they’re written in Russian as they flash by my window, and I peer hard into the dark night, trying to get a feel