Page 40 of Friendly Skies
Darius closed his eyes. “I’m not sure what I can tell you because they’ll probably…they need to talk to you. As a witness.”
“But I wasn’t—”
“Chico, please. Not right now.”
Luis began to tremble, the liquid in his glass sloshing from side to side, so he put it on the coffee table and wrapped his arms around himself. “Micah and Jake are looking for a lawyer for you. They said you should have someone who has your back.”
“Okay.”
The monosyllabic answer did nothing to lessen Luis’ anxiety, and as Darius moved past him to head for the bedroom, Luis reached out and grabbed his hand. Luis’ concern ratcheted upanother notch when Darius didn’t immediately wrap his larger hand around Luis’ or turn to look at him. His entire body was strung tight, and Luis could feel the tension flowing through his fingers.
“Are you all right?” he asked.
Darius closed his eyes again. “No, chico, I’m not. I’m angry. And frustrated. And I’m scared. I’m a Black man who grew up in the barrio in south central Los Angeles. It doesn’t matter that I went to college. It doesn’t matter that I’ve got a spotless record at work. It doesn’t even matter that I’m fucking gold-star gay. None of that matters because a white woman has accused me of sexual assault, and corporate is panicking.” When he opened his eyes again, Darius focused on Luis’ face. He tried to smile, then leaned in and kissed Luis on the cheek. “It’ll be okay, chico.We’llbe okay.”
Luis squeezed Darius’ hand and tried to take comfort from those words, but as Darius disappeared into their bedroom, he downed the rest of his drink and went to the kitchen to refill his glass. Returning to his spot on the couch, Luis pressed Play on the remote, but even Matt Bomer’s dreamy blue eyes and killer smile couldn’t keep his mind off what Darius had said. He picked up his phone and texted Micah:Find him a good lawyer, please
Before Darius emerged from the bedroom, Micah texted back a thumbs-up and a guy in a suit emoji, along with the words:on it, try to stay calm
Greg texted him right after:you’ve got this, sweetheart
Wishing he felt that confident in his abilities to keep it together, Luis turned back to the TV and feigned interest when Darius reappeared wearing running shorts and a tank top. Luis’ first instinct was to pretend he was watching the TV rather than checking out Darius’ body, but then he realized he didn’t have to do that anymore. He could look his fill, let it show that hefound Darius sexy beyond belief with his toned body and long, muscular legs. When he bent over to pick up his running shoes, Luis sucked in an audible breath.
“You checking out my ass, chico?” Darius asked.
“If you’re gonna wave that thing in my face, of course. I had no choice but to check it out.”
Darius laughed and leaned over the couch arm to kiss the top of his head. “I’m going to hit the treadmill in the gym and then do a little lifting.”
“Okay.” Luis lifted his chin and let his head rest on the back of the couch. “Don’t hurt yourself.”
“Got plans for me later?” Darius asked and leaned down to kiss Luis on the lips.
“You know it.” Did that sound as fake to Darius as it did to his own ears? Luis forced a smile to his face.
After Darius left, Luis tried to get back into watching the TV show, but he couldn’t concentrate. It probably didn’t help that he was now three margaritas into his day on very little food. He should probably figure out what they were going to eat for dinner, but that thought was competing with so many others that Luis remained sitting on the couch, his scattered thoughts keeping him immobile as he attempted to make sense of what Darius had told him.
Try as he might, Luis couldn’t see a way that Darius could have done—or even come close to doing—what that woman said he had. Luis couldn’t even bring himself to think the words in his own head, let alone say them out loud. Unbidden, thoughts of Andrés entered the muddled mix in his head, and Luis lurched to his feet, heading for the kitchen and the last of the margaritas.
Back on the couch, blanket wrapped around him and margarita in hand, Luis ignored the TV and picked up his phone. He made the circuit of his social media accounts, then checked the flight attendants’ groups on Facebook and Discord. Therewere lots of threads on both about Darius and “the incident.” Most of the conversation was favorable—Darius and Jason were talked about with admiration—but there were some rumblings of corporate having a different take on what had happened, and a few rumors surfaced in a couple of comments.
Luis hovered over a post with video from the plane. He’d seen it already. Of course he had. He’d watched the video while he was in Brussels, watched it a couple of times with Paul and some of the other members of the flight crew. Watching Darius take control of the situation and wrestle the woman into a seat where she could be restrained so the plan could land? It had been amazing, and he’d never been prouder of his best friend or the flight attendants with whom they worked.
Now, he was afraid to watch the video again, worried that his impression would be tainted by the accusations against Darius. Or, worse, that he’d see the accusations had merit. He didn’t know how he’d feel about things if it turned out the woman’s claims were accurate.
Taking another sip from his glass, Luis shook his head. Darius couldn’t have done what she said he did. Why would he? It would be completely contrary to everything Luis knew about Darius. But everyone in his family thought Andrés was wonderful.That’s different, Luis argued back to his own mind.How?a small voice asked. Luis didn’t want to think about that. It was different. He knew it was different. If only because what Andrés had done was real, and Darius couldn’t have done anything like that.
The argument waged back and forth in Luis’ mind until his stomach was in knots and his head was spinning—although that could have been the margaritas; he had made them extra-strong—and the only thing he could think to do was watch the damn video again.
This one was shot from behind Jason, so all Luis saw of either the other flight attendant or the woman was their backs while Darius was facing the camera. Luis smiled at the intense look on Darius’ gorgeous face. It was an expression he knew well, especially when paired with the defensive stance Darius had taken with his feet and legs braced against the roll of the plane and the risk of the woman lunging for him, as she’d already done a couple of times. His arms were extended, protecting his core, but his palms were open, facing outward in a placating gesture, and his entire focus was on the woman. Even when there was movement behind him, Darius’ eyes only flicked to the side for a second before they were back to the woman.
The back-and-forth, with Darius and Jason trying to get the woman to move to the back of the plane, went on for several minutes, and then the video ended abruptly.
“No!” Luis cried out and started searching for more videos.
He found another one in the group, taken from further away but still facing Darius. This one picked up just before Darius and Jason closed in on the woman. They had her at the back of the plane by an empty row. Darius moved in, and Jason did the same, both of them wrapping their arms around the woman. Whoever had taken the video had attempted to zoom in at that moment, which made the image blur. By the time autofocus corrected itself, Jason was standing in the aisle while Darius was still doing something in the seat. The woman was screaming and crying. Then Darius stood up, and the passengers applauded. Both Darius and Jason looked bemused, but they raised their hands to acknowledge the praise.
That video hadn’t provided any answers to Luis’ questions, so he searched out more videos on Insta and TikTok and then the news stories. Nothing gave him a good enough view of the incident to see exactly where Darius’ hands went, not that heknew exactly what Darius had been accused of because Darius hadn’t told him anything.
