Missing You

Tristian (Chapter 6)

"Yo, wake up. We're getting ready to land soon and you have got to look out your window. This place puts Vegas to shame," Jay said as he tapped at Tristian's shoulder.

"Stop touching me," he muttered as he sat up and rolled the kinks out of his shoulders and neck.

"My wife says the same thing when I wake her up too early in the morning," Jay laughed as he continued to poke at his best friend.

"Seriously, if you poke me one more time, the first thing you'll be seeing here is the emergency department." Tristian stretched again while looking out the window. Sure enough, the lights and brilliance of the city made Vegas look like a blip on a radar or a splotch on a desert mountain. "Whoa," he muttered.

Licking his lips and looking around for water, he grabbed one from Jay's tray and took a swig, swishing it around before swallowing. His mouth felt like he'd been sucking on a cotton ball for at least a week. "Did I sleep the entire flight?"

"Yep," Jay said a little too casually.

"What did you do?"

"You woke up about nine hours ago, so I slipped you another pill and out you went. Made the time fly though, didn't it?" Jay's smug look, as if he had done the right thing, made Tristian want to punch the man in the face.

"What the hell? What if a message came through about Jenny and I missed it? What if someone tried to call me?" His blood pressure was on the rise causing the headache he had brewing to intensify.

"Relax. I've been checking your phone and watching the messages. No news is good news, right?"

He wasn't wrong, but still Tristian was on edge. "How the hell do you know my password?"

"It hasn't changed since high school. Which, FYI, you should think about changing it now. And I'm not sorry for things I may or may not have done on your phone while you slept. Also, if you get a charge from porn hub, put it on my tab." Jay winked at him and handed him a cup of coffee that had magically appeared.

"I'm going to kick your ass," he muttered as he drank the stale coffee, only enjoying the fact it would curb the headache he would be nursing for days.

"And I deserve it," Jay said as he sat back with a smile.

Thank god for that crazy asshole, though, Tristan thought as he finished the last bit of coffee. If it wasn't for him, he'd be at home pacing the house and a miserable mess. At least if something bad had happened, he was close enough to be where he was needed.

Landing was a breeze, and it took less time for them to debark the plane and get their luggage than Tristian had expected. His nerves were a mess and with the recent events of what had happened on base, he had no idea how this little weekend would go.

"How do we get to the hotel?" he asked as he followed Jay out of the airport. The early morning sun was cresting the sky, taking the black of night and fading it with the reds and oranges of a new day. It was beautiful and ominous. Without hesitation, Jay whistled for a cab and spoke fluent Arabic to the driver who answered back in fluent English.

"Like that," Jay said as they tucked their suitcases into the trunk and climbed into the back seat.

"I didn't know you spoke Arabic."

"Yes, you did. You just forgot and thought I had, too."

That was true, now that he thought about it. "Okay, I forgot you spoke Arabic. When did you brush up on it?"

"On the flight over."

Tristian had to hand it to Jay, as dumb as he liked to play the game of life, the man was brilliant. He spoke several languages, had a PhD in something he didn't use, and worked as an engineer for a multimillion-dollar company because it was fun. "Of course, you did. Right after you drugged me, right?"

"And before. Arabic isn't an easy one to jump right back into. Unlike French or German, which would only take listening to a movie in the language for me to get back into it."

"Show off," he grumbled as he looked out the window. The last words that Jenny had spoken kept going on repeat in his head and he resigned to the fact that his nerves were just going to be utterly shot until he heard or saw her. Jay was talking, just to hear himself talk, right until they pulled into the Hyatt Regency.

It took no time to tip their driver, grab their bags and get checked in, which Jay had the forethought to book two rooms. They agreed to meet in the lobby in an hour to grab a light breakfast and to wait. If things went according to plan, or whatever loose plan they had created, Jenny would be arriving in a few hours and it was his job to find her before she tried to check in.

He honestly thought the plans had changed, so once he was in his room, and risking a couple thousand-dollar phone bill, he turned his device off airplane mode. After a few minutes of catching up to his time zone, he connected to the hotel's Wi-Fi and checked his emails and messages.

There wasn't much. One email from the unit that had said there was an incident with no casualties. At least they had said something.

Setting the phone down, Tristian looked around the room and sighed before turning to look at the bed. The sheets and comforter were the purest of whites and every corner was tucked into perfection. There was not a single crease out of line. The pillows were fluffed and beckoning weary travelers to rest, and the room was neat and orderly.

Images of his wife flashed through his thoughts and as he continued to stare at the bed. He could see her sprawled out on her stomach, head tilted to the side, her hair a tangled mess as she slept. He never worried she'd steal the covers, because once she was asleep, she hardly moved. If he closed his eyes, he could feel her rhythmic breathing against his chest and taste the sweetness of stolen kisses in the night. He could feel the curves of her body in contrast of the muscles she had toned through her years of service.

Opening his eyes, he realized that fantasizing about his wife would not solve any issues right now and opted for a cold shower. Unzipping his suitcase, he grabbed out a change of clothes and his toiletries and locked himself in the bathroom for a solid thirty minutes.

Showered, changed and refreshed, Tristian grabbed his room key, wallet, and phone and made his way back down to the lobby. His nerves reached an all-time high.

"You're early," Jay said as he approached Tristian, a drink in both hands.

He took the one that was offered and sipped it, jerking back. "So are you. What the hell is in this?"

"A lot of tequila with a splash of something fruity. And I'm here because I knew you would be." Jay took a long sip of his drink and looked around casually. "Any news?"

"There was an incident with no casualties, though that doesn't really mean much." Tristian spotted some couches by an open window that looked out into the city. He nodded to Jay and walked over, taking a seat that gave him the best view of people coming and going.

They sat in silence for a while, just people watching and waiting. At some point Jay had gone and brought back some food that Tristian could only shuffle around on his plate.

If Jenny was still coming, he was damn sure not going to miss her.