Loving You (Love Wanted in Texas) (28 page)

“Holy fuck,” I mumbled under my breath.

“The plane is equipped with a drag chute. William is having to glide it in and also find a flat area to land!” Nate shouted.

Jesus. Taylor.

Tess lifted her oxygen mask and yelled, “Mr. Montgomery!
Please
sit down and buckle up! Put your oxygen mask on right away!”

I couldn’t think straight as the plane dropped again, causing my heart to accelerate even faster.

Nate quickly did what he was told as he took the seat across from me. Grabbing the oxygen mask, he fought to get it on as the plane bounced all over the damn place.

Shit started flying everywhere.

I caught Nate’s eyes and they said everything. Lifting his mask, he yelled, “William’s . . . trying to get us . . . into Wyoming. To find . . . a place to land.” He shook his head. “I’m sorry, Jase.”

I tried not to let Nate see the fear in my eyes as I snapped my head forward.

I was never going to see Taylor again.

This was it.

Our whole future flashed before my eyes as I tried like hell to take in air. My chest felt as if someone had set a hundred pound weight on it.

I brought my phone up and looked at the picture of Taylor while leaning back over.

Tears stung my eyes as I finally let them fall.

“I’m sorry, Taylor. I’m so sorry.”

Taylor

“Meg, please. I don’t want to be in this store another second. The smell is making me sick! Plus, I have to get back to Bella.”

“I thought Colt was letting her out?”

I rolled my eyes. “Ugh. I’m going outside.”

Meagan had begged me to stop at some stupid bath bomb store. My nose and eyes were burning. I got that she was excited to get away for the afternoon and be on her own, but why at my expense?

Pulling my phone out, I looked at the time. Jase should be landing soon. My chest felt tight as the weirdest feeling came over me.

Meagan came out the door with a huge smile on her face holding up four bags. Not being able to hold it in, I laughed. “Holy crap. Did you buy enough for a year’s worth?”

She pinched her eyebrows together and looked at the bags. “I bought some for all the girls. Including you. It will do you good to sit in a hot bath and relax.”

We started toward the car and I couldn’t shake the weird feeling I had. Pushing it away, I tried to focus on Meagan going on and on about the sexy lingerie she bought for Grayson.

“He’s going to come just looking at me. I swear we haven’t had hot crazy sex in months. We are so overdue. Mom and Dad are watching the twins tomorrow night and I plan on being fucked six ways to Sunday.”

Snarling my lip, I made a gagging sound. “Gross. The image alone makes me want to hurl.”

Meagan bumped me with her shoulder and wiggled her eyebrows. “Don’t tell me you haven’t let that hotter-than-hot fiancé of yours have his wicked way with you.”

The heat instantly hit my cheeks as Meagan gasped. “Oh. My. God. My sweet little innocent sister is not so innocent anymore.”

Deciding to give her a taste of her medicine, I replied, “No, she is far from innocent.”

Meagan stopped walking. Glancing over my shoulder, I winked.

“Holy shit! Tay, what have you let that horny bastard do to you?”

I threw my head back and laughed. “So now he’s a horny bastard?”

“Well, yeah. I mean he’s doing the nasty with my baby sister.”

She walked up next to me as we walked into the parking garage. Before we got to the car, my phone went off.

Grabbing it, I smiled and showed Meagan the text from Jase.

Jase: I’ll love you forever, Taylor.

Pushing her finger into her mouth, she made a gagging sound.

“He must have landed.”

I hit his number. “That’s weird. It went straight to voicemail.”

“Maybe he sent that before he took off and it just came through.”

Staring down at my phone, I chewed on my lip. “Yeah. Maybe.”

When we pulled up to my place, Colt and Scott were sitting on the porch. An uneasy feeling quickly swept over my body.

Something was wrong.

“A welcome party!” Meagan said as she jumped out of the car and reached in the backseat for her damn bath bombs that stunk up my car.

I checked my phone again and still nothing from Jase. Calling again, it went to voicemail. My heart started pounding as I sat in the car with my hands trembling.

“Something’s wrong. He should have landed over an hour ago.”

My body went numb. I forced myself to get out of the car. I stopped dead in my tracks when Layton came walking out of the cabin.

Please don’t do this to me. Do not do this to me!

The thought of something happening to Jase hit me right in the chest as I felt my heart drop.

The look in Layton’s eyes told me everything I had feared was about to come true.

Meagan dropped her bags and quickly came back over to my side. “Taylor, baby, breathe for me.”

I hadn’t even been aware that I wasn’t breathing. “Wh-what’s happened? I had a feeling something happened.”

My eyes burned as I fought to hold my tears back. When Colt walked to the other side of me, I felt my legs go weak.

This is just a dream. It has to be a dream.

Layton walked up and stopped just in front of me.

“Taylor, sweetheart. I . . . I need to tell you something.”

Shaking my head frantically, I mumbled, “No. Please don’t, Layton.” My chin trembled as I repeated my plea. “Please don’t.”

His eyes filled with tears while he cleared this throat. “Ryder called. He was meeting Nate and Jase in Wyoming and . . . their plane didn’t land on schedule. The Denver airport said an unexpected storm popped up.”

“No,” I whispered as I let my body go while Colt held on to me. My body felt cold. I could hear Layton talking . . . yet at the same time it felt as if I was drifting away.

“They lost them on radar as they were coming out of the Rockies and into Wyoming. A search plane is already on the way to where they first lost them.”

A search plane.

My head started to hurt. It felt as if someone was taking a hammer to it and hitting it as hard as they could. “Layton . . . please . . . no.”

“Sweetheart, let’s not give up hope, but . . .”

My eyes caught Whitley standing behind Layton. She had been crying.

Everything went numb. Nothing in this world mattered if I didn’t have Jase to live it with.

“But there is a chance the plane . . . the plane might have . . .”

I shook my head frantically as sobs racked my body and my legs gave completely out. Meagan and Colt went to the ground with me. Meagan wrapped me in her arms as I started screaming out Jase’s name.

It’s a dream. That’s all this was.

A horrible, awful nightmare.

Taylor

I sat on Jase’s bed and stared out at the setting sun. It had been four days since he left me standing in the airport watching him leave. Four days of them searching for their plane only to find nothing.

Don’t give up hope.

That’s all everyone kept saying to me. If they didn’t find them today, they were moving the search area more into Wyoming.

I glanced down at my phone. The last text from Jase was pulled up as I read it again.

I’ll love you forever, Taylor.

When had he sent that to me? Before the plane took off? During the flight? After they—

Swallowing hard, I looked back out the window. My mother, Courtney, and Whitley tried talking softly, but I could still hear them. They thought I was sleeping, but I hadn’t slept more than two hours since Layton told me the plane went missing.

“She won’t leave his room, Amanda. I’m starting to worry,” Whitley said.

“Has she slept today at all?”

I heard Whitley sniffle. “No. And she was at the barn last night when the horse Jase bought her birthed the foal.”

“She wouldn’t leave even with Walker and Layton begging her to,” Courtney added. “I’d give anything to take her hurt away.”

Falling back onto the bed, I closed my eyes.

Jase’s piercing blue eyes invaded my mind. Every time he made love to me, his eyes spoke of how much he loved me. Blazing with nothing but love. I focused on them while I tuned everything else out.

My body ached. Not nearly as much as my heart did. I couldn’t cry anymore . . . it was as if I had cried ten rivers. I had nothing left.

The knock on the door caused me to roll over. Opening my eyes, I looked at the sun as it touched the horizon.

“Taylor? Sweetheart, are you sleeping?” my mother asked softly.

“No.”

She sat on the bed and rested her hand on my shoulder. “Ryder called. They’re moving the search area further into Wyoming. There is a good chance the pilot was able to navigate them to a flatter area to land.”

“If they had landed, someone would have found them by now,” I numbly said.

“Maybe, but that area is vastly uninhabited.”

I had overheard Layton and my father talking last night. Layton had had one too many drinks and the truth was spilling from his lips. He didn’t know I heard every word he said. I had just walked back in from the barn when I heard the two of them talking in his office.

“Even if they had landed safely, why haven’t we heard anything? All they keep talking about is how the plane was equipped with an emergency beacon. Why in the hell has it not gone off?” Layton said.

“Layton, don’t give up hope. Maybe they couldn’t get out right away to get help.”

“This is my fault. I should have been the one going. I sent my son who had his whole future ahead of him. I’ve robbed him and Taylor of a life together.”

Leaning over, Layton cried. It was then I turned and headed up to Jase’s room. Taking a T-shirt out of his drawer, I slipped it on and crawled under the sheets where I laid staring out into the darkness.

My mother’s voice pulled me from my thoughts. “Taylor, I’m worried about you.”

“I’m fine,” I mumbled.

She stood and looked down at me. I could almost feel her eyes penetrating me. “You’re not fine. You haven’t eaten or slept in days. You’ve hardly left this room. You need to get some fresh air and eat. Libby and Luke are here. Everyone has been coming in shifts to help Layton and Whitley and to check on you.”

“I know, Mom. They all keep coming in here and saying the same damn thing.”

I sat up and faced her. “Don’t give up hope? Well, I’m sorry if I can’t be perky and happy while I wait for them to tell me the only man I ever loved . . . the only man I ever wanted to spend my life with is dead!”

She covered her mouth to hold back her own sobs. Dropping her hands, she went to talk but I held up my hands.

“Don’t! Please don’t say something you think will make it better, Mom. Please.” I fiercely wiped my tears away as I looked out the window and then back at her. “That’s the whole thing though . . . I know everyone is starting to think he’s gone.” My chin trembled as I tried to keep talking. “He doesn’t feel gone, Mom. Wouldn’t I . . . wouldn’t I feel it if he was . . . gone?”

Horror filled her eyes as she looked at me with pity. “Oh sweetheart, I wish I could answer that for you.”