Thantophobia

Chapter 23

I breath a sigh of relief as I'm finally past airport security.

Ransom takes my free hand, and squeezes it out of reassurance. My other hand clenched around my suitcase handle.

Jaden and Berkeley decided not to come, but that's alright. They have lives that I can't just rob them of in New Mexico.

"Whew. Glad that's over. Who's ready to find the gate?" Arina walks home next to me, and looks down at our plane tickets.

I don't say anything as time quickly flies, and I'm on the plane with Ransom next to me.

"Thank you. For helping me and coming with me." I tell him.

He smiles, and lifts my hand and kisses the back of it. "I'm always going to be here."

I rest my head on his shoulder, watching the movie with him on his screen in front of him.

———

As soon as I step off the plane, I breathe in the nostalgic air of my hometown.

I spot Ransom looking around curiously.

"Never been to Ohio?" I snicker. He turns to face me and shakes his head.

"I've been to a lot of places, but Ohio wasn't one of them until now." He looks back at me.

I shake my head, amused.

As soon as Arina comes off the plane, we all go to baggage claim to get our luggage that we couldn't carry on.

After all three of us are satisfied, Arina leads us to a parking lot and navigates her way through the very confusing place. Honestly I have no idea how people remember where they park their cars.

We stop on a sidewalk area, and a black van pulls up.

My jaw drops when I see Liam quickly run out and I barely have time to wrap my mind around him being here until he is engulfing me in a hug.

"You actually came back!" He cheers in my ear.

Yup. Still not used to his Italian accent.

I awkwardly pat his back, and that's when he got the signal that I was uncomfortable. He pulls away and looks over at Ransom.

"Who's this?" He points to him.

"I'm Ransom." I hear my mate announce, and he wraps his arm around my waist, pulling me into his side protectively.

Liam looks at Ransom, then back at me, then back at Ransom, and it seems to go on and on until finally it clicks in his mind.

"You have another mate?!" Liam practically shouts, and I try to press myself deeper into Ransom.

"It's a long story. Maybe we can explain it to you on the ride back and not out in public?" I stare down Liam, who nods with satisfaction.

Arina takes her and my bags as Liam grabs Ransoms things to put in the trunk. While they do that, I turn to face Ransom.

"Calm down. He's married with twins. You do not need to be as protective as you are now." I place my hands on his chest reassuringly, and I feel him relax.

"Good. Because I'm not planning on sharing." He leans down and quickly plants a soft kiss on my lips.

This stirred butterflies in my stomach and a weird feeling in my chest.

That terrified me. That feeling.

We all climb into the black van as I begin explaining a not so dramatic and summed up version of Ransom and I to Liam, who was enjoying every second of it.