No problem?
It was so a problem.
Feeling guilt rip through her, Ari shot a look at Charlie, only to find him smirking. Of course, he was happy with the turn of events. Annoyed, Ari punched him on the upper arm. “I don’t know what you’re smiling about. You aren’t coming to Roswell.”
Glowering, Charlie rubbed his arm where she'd socked him. “What if it was me? You’d be tailing my ass whether I liked it.”
“Probably true,” Jai replied before she could. “But since I’ll be flying us there, I think you’re out of luck.”
Flying us there? Ari’s jaw dropped. “As in… flying?
“You forgot we can fly?”
“Was that in the book?”
“Yeah.”
“No.” Charlie shook his head adamantly. “It wasn’t in the book.”
“Huh.” Jai frowned. “Sorry about that.”
“We can fly?!”
The Red King winced at her screech. “Hysterical jinn. That’s my cue to leave.”
Before she could say a word or question when she’d see him again, the Red King went up into the fiery peripatos, leaving Ari staring at the empty spot in disbelief. “Do I have to fly?” she asked Jai, feeling more than a little queasy at the thought.
Jai shook his head. “No, like the peripatos, that’s something that will take time for you to learn how to do, time we don’t have. And since it’s impossible to take someone into the peripatos with me, it looks like I’m flying us there. It takes a lot of focus because you have to go into the cloak at the same time. You’ll have to hold on to me.”
Ignoring Charlie’s disgruntled mumblings beside her, Ari stuck out a hand to Jai, pushing through her nervous butterflies. “Okay. Let’s do this.”
“What? Now? You’ve just returned from Mount Qaf. You’ve been gone a whole day. Don’t you want to sleep first?”
“No. As far as I’m concerned, I was gone like an hour. I want this done. Now.”
Heaving a sigh, Jai nodded. “Fine.” The air around him pulsed and suddenly he wore a black leather jacket over his white T-shirt.
“Show-off,” Charlie muttered.
Rolling her eyes at him, Ari shoved him playfully, only for him to grab her arm and haul her into a fierce hug. Feeling his muscles tremble beneath her and his heart pound against her ear, Ari held on tightly, breathing him in. He smelled like the tropical detergent she used. At the feel of his lips against her forehead, Ari sighed, melting into him.
“You come back in one piece, you hear,” he demanded hoarsely.
Afraid if she held on any longer, she wouldn’t let go, Ari pulled back and smiled up at him as confidently as she could. It was only when she let her gaze flicker over his shoulder she flushed, caught in Jai’s turbulent green eyes. Another pang of guilt cut through her for and Ari retreated. She felt torn in two, and she hated it. “I will,” she murmured her promise.
“You’ll need a jacket,” Jai said, coming around the coffee table to stand before her.
His proximity did funny things to her and she had to concentrate extra hard to conjure a jacket. She chose a brown leather biker jacket she'd seen in a shop window a few months ago. The one she’d lamented over because it cost a year's allowance. Now it fit, sleek and snug, like it had been made especially for her.
Being jinn had its perks.
“Outside.” Jai strode out into the hall. He pulled the door open with a flourish. “Let’s do this.”
Chapter 23
The coppery scent of death
Flying wasn’t Ari’s thing. It wasn’t ever going to be Ari’s thing. Ari thought she’d just have to hold Jai’s hand and they’d zip up into the air together. Instead Jai slid an arm around her waist to draw her tight against his side. He murmured for her to hold on tight. She did so, trembling shyly as he pressed her against his hard body, one of his hands gripped her shoulder while the other held her by the hip. Ignoring the way she lit up around him, Ari nodded one last goodbye to a seriously pissed off Charlie before she felt the vibration of jinn enchantment as Jai pushed into the cloak. Ari followed suit, barely having hidden herself when Jai shot them into the sky at a blurring speed that made her scream. Her stomach bottomed out and the vacuum of air that rushed into her mouth momentarily suffocated her. Panicking, Ari clung tighter to Jai, squeezing her eyes closed and praying for the sensation to end.
The flight was painful with the wind hitting her skin like hail stones; her muscles burned from the tension of holding on so tightly to Jai. It seemed to last forever and all Ari could do was tuck her head into Jai’s neck and wait it out.
Superman and Lois Lane made this look so much fun. It is so not fun.