Page 35 of Cockpit
“And you got played.” He tsks. “The woman’s got balls.”
“Let’s hope not.” I laugh as I remember the heat of her body against mine last night.
“You know what I mean.” He leans forward so his elbows rest on his knees, and he levels me with a stare.
“Like I said, it’s all a ploy. The article. The hero thing. All of it.”
“If it’s a ploy to get you thinking about her, she’s doing a damn fine job of it.”
“Jesus,” I mutter.
“What’s the big deal about the contest, Gray? I mean seriously? Do the damn thing. Let Luke revel in the attention for a bit, let him think he has a famous dad. Win the damn thing and take him to Disney World like you’ve wanted to do for years. Let yourself relax for a bit instead of pacing back and forth, wearing a hole in the floor as you wait out this fucking stupid flight suspension. Like I said, your participating doesn’t give any information to the Hoskins that they couldn’t find by asking around town. And if it does, if it tells them that you’re better off without Claire, then good. Again, what’s it going to hurt?”
Of course, he has to throw Luke in there to get me to really hear him.
“She reminds me of everything Claire was . . . and the contest reminds me of everything I hate.”
“It isn’t one of Claire’s damn beauty pageants.”
“Close enough.”
“Bullshit. I bet your ass there is no crown in this contest, or high heels to prance around in. If there is, I’m front row to take blackmail pictures of you.”
“Very funny.”
“And Sidney isn’t Claire. Sure, they both lived on the hill when we were in school. Sure, they were inseparable and their friends were assholes to you where you worked in the diner, but hell, I’m an asshole to you sometimes, too.”
“You’re my brother. That’s different.”
“You’re missing the point. Just because she was best friends with Claire, it doesn’t mean she’s like Claire. They most definitely had a shit-ton more money than we did growing up, but having similar backgrounds doesn’t make them the same.”
“That’s supposition.”
“And that’s you being a stubborn ass. Besides, what does any of this have to do with Sidney in the first place? So what? She’s running the contest. That’s it. Big whoop.”
“She doesn’t deserve my help.”
“Help? What in the hell are you talking about?”
“Last night. The alley. I walked out, and she followed because she slipped and said she was going to use me to help save her magazine.”
“Save her magazine?”
I shrug. “That’s what she said.”
“Look at that. You could be a hero again.”
“Stop the hero crap.”
“I’m serious. Help the contest and in turn save jobs.”
He’s right and I hate it and refuse to acknowledge it. Yes, I’m acting like Luke would, but the woman is frustrating as all hell. “She doesn’t deserve my help.”
“Ahhh, so that’s what this is all about.” He runs a hand through his hair and chuckles. “You’re exhausting. All of that to get to the point.”
“The point?”
“Yeah. At first, you played it off as you not wanting the attention because of Luke, but dude . . . you’re projecting Claire onto Sidney in some fucked-up way, like participating would be you somehow giving in to what she did to you.”
