Total pages in book: 76
Estimated words: 76759 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 384(@200wpm)___ 307(@250wpm)___ 256(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 76759 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 384(@200wpm)___ 307(@250wpm)___ 256(@300wpm)
And still…she looks amazing. The most beautiful of all the Steels. I’ve always thought so. Some give it to Gina, the daughter of Ruby and Ryan, but I’m team Brianna all the way.
Not that I’ve ever thought of her that way—except for that one kiss.
I’m not wearing the belt buckle she gave me for Christmas, but I did bring it with me. It felt wrong to leave it at home. For some reason, I want it near me.
We make it to baggage claim, and I take a seat.
Even though my back, legs, and knees are killing me and are begging me to remain standing, my exhaustion has weighed me down so much that I have to sit.
The rest of my group is standing by the baggage claim carousel, chatting animatedly.
I mean really animatedly. Even Dragon seems excited.
Christ.
I jerk when the light flashes and buzzes, indicating our bags have arrived. I groan as I push myself up from my chair and walk toward the carousel, looking for my bag.
First to grab her bag is Maddie. She squeals in delight. “I don’t fly a lot, but I’m always a little bit nervous until I see my bag come down the carousel.”
“There’s no reason to be nervous this time.” Brianna squeezes her hand. “Oh! There’s mine.”
Donny pulls Brianna’s bag off the carousel for her, and soon after, his own and Callie’s arrive. Dragon’s is next, and then Cage’s, Rory’s, Brock’s, and Jake’s.
Leave it to me to be the last man standing.
Suitcases, bags, and duffels slide down the carousel, making their way toward me.
My bag is a hard shell and basic gray. I bought it especially for this trip with some of my bonus money. Inside are my clothes, personal grooming items, and most importantly, Brianna’s belt buckle.
“For Christ’s sake.” I rake my fingers through my hair.
“Don’t worry, Jess,” Rory says. “It’s coming. Many are still sliding down.”
Bag after bag after bag…
A hot pink hard-sided. A bright-orange duffel. But mostly black and gray hard and soft sides. I tied a bright-green tag on my bag so I’d be able to see it easily.
Bags and bags continue…and no green tag.
And then…the bags stop coming.
“Oh my God,” I groan.
“Jesse, bags get lost all the time,” Rory says. “We’ll go talk to the guy from the airline and figure it out.”
Rory accompanies me to the tiny office in the baggage area where reps from our airline sit.
“Yes, may we help you two?” one man says.
“My bag is lost.”
“I’m sorry to hear that, sir. We’re here to help. May I see your claim check?”
I pull my wallet out of my back pocket, grab the claim check, and hand it to him.
He scans the code.
“Oh, goodness. It appears your bag is still in Denver.”
“You mean it didn’t even get on the flight?”
“I’m afraid not. I apologize for this inconvenience, but sometimes these things happen.” He taps on his computer. “Looks like it’s on the next flight out, which will arrive the same time tomorrow.”
“Twenty-four hours? I have to go twenty-four hours without my bag?”
“Again, we apologize. But this does happen. In the contract for your e-ticket, it states—”
I hold my hands up. “I’m too damn tired to listen to the jargon. Yes, I’m sure it’s some kind of contract that I have to agree to in order to buy a ticket. Whatever. What happens now?”
“I just need the address of where you’re staying, and your bag will be delivered to you as soon as it’s here.”
Fine. I rattle off the name of the hotel. “Good?”
“Yes, excellent.” He reaches under his desk and then hands me what looks like a cosmetic bag. “In the meantime, there’s a toothbrush, toothpaste, some lotion, and antibacterial wipes in here along with a sleeping mask. We regret the error, and we hope this helps.”
“That’s just like the ones we got on the plane,” Rory says.
I unzip the small pouch and inspect the contents. “You got these on the plane?”
“Yeah. In first class.” Rory reddens a bit.
I roll my eyes. “Thank you,” I say, and we leave the tiny office.
“Jess, you could have—”
“Save it. I tried. Cage and Jake got the last two seats in first class.”
Rory frowns. “Oh my God. I’m sorry.”
“I hope this isn’t some indicator of how the rest of this trip is going to go,” I say.
Rory grabs my arm. “Jesse, bags get lost all the time.”
“My bag’s never been lost.”
Rory doesn’t reply. Sure, we don’t fly a lot, but this just sucks.
We return to the others, where they’re standing with a tall gentleman dressed all in black holding a sign that says Steel.
“What’s all that?” I ask Rory.
“Brock rented a limo to get us to the hotel. Isn’t that great?”
I roll my eyes again. “Yeah. Great.”
Chapter Twenty-One
Brianna
I should feel sorry for Jesse. He has dark circles under his eyes, and the whites are bloodshot. He keeps rubbing at the back of his neck, which means it’s probably aching.