nodded, a smile pulling at his lips as he started to strap his parachute on. “Nice.”
“Nice?” I screeched. Ethan and I stood, holding on to the backs of our seats. He looked wary but not panicked like me. Josh remained in his seat, unfazed, still reading his book. “Not nice! No one said anything about jumping out of a plane! I’m not jumping out of a fucking plane!”
Alec grabbed my wrist and pulled me into the aisle. He planted both hands on my shoulders, piercing me with his blue-eyed stare. “Bailing out now while the pilot keeps going and lands somewhere far away means we evade anyone who might be tracking our flight on radar. We have all the equipment. This is the best move.”
I fisted my hands in his shirt, as if I could stop him from hurling me out of a plane. “Jumping out of a fucking plane is the best move? I don’t fucking think so!” My voice sounded frantic as my heart hammered in my chest.
“You get so sweary when you’re stressed.” Alec chuckled. “It’s cute.”
Tyler handed Ethan a harness. “You and Alec are closest in height—you can tandem jump with him.”
“Cool!” Ethan started putting the harness on. He looked more excited than scared now, as if this were an adrenaline experience and not a life-or-death situation.
We were twenty thousand feet in the air. Tyler said we were over the Mediterranean. We’d be landing in water. I quickly calculated terminal velocity—we would be falling somewhere between 120 and 150 miles per hour. Water is incompressible fluid, so hitting it at terminal velocity would be like hitting concrete. The likelihood of surviving a fall like that was . . . practically nonexistent.
My body screamed at me to sit back down and strap on my seatbelt. My mouth just started screaming. “No no no no no! Don’t make me do this! I’m not fucking doing this! We’re all going to die! Oh my god!”
“Did she just say god?” Ethan chuckled, leaning over Alec’s shoulder to look at me.
“Fuck, she’s really freaking out.” Tyler leaned over Alec’s other shoulder, frowning.
“Evie.” Alec shook my shoulders lightly, his voice firm. “Calm down.”
“Calm down?” I finally released his shirt and pulled myself up to my full height. “Calm down?! Never in the history of calming down has being told to calm down resulted in a person. Calming. Down. Alec!” I screamed into his face, letting all my fear and frustration loose.
Instead of getting pissed off or yelling back, he smirked as if I was amusing him. Then, before I could start yelling again, he leaned forward and kissed me. With one hand on the back of my neck and the other at the base of my spine, he pinned me against him and devoured my mouth with his. Involuntarily, I wrapped my arms around him and closed my eyes. It was one of those searing, all-consuming Alec kisses I loved so much.
Logically I knew this was a distraction—he was using physiology to override psychology. The tactic annoyed me slightly, but damn, if it wasn’t working.
After a few dizzying moments, he pulled back. “You’re safe. We’ve got you. Tyler and I have done this hundreds of times. Josh has a skydiving license. We know what we’re doing.”
Reluctantly, I nodded.
“Better?” he pressed.
“Better.” I nodded again, breathing him in. He made me feel strong, but I’d made it a point to avoid planes since . . . and now I was about to jump out of one, into water no less. Talk about triggering trauma. “I’m still scared, Alec.”
“I know. This isn’t like that night.” He knew where my freak-out was coming from. “We’re not crashing. You’re safe. You have to trust us, precious. We’d never let anything happen to you.”
I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. If there was one thing I could be sure of, that was it. They put my safety above all else. I had to trust this was the best move.
“Two minutes!” Nina yelled from her spot near the door, one hand on the handle.
“Alec, Kid, get in position,” Tyler ordered. Alec dropped one last kiss to my forehead and went to stand next to Nina.
Ethan let him pass before pulling me into a hug. “Love you, baby. You’re gonna be fine.” He kissed me on the cheek and followed Alec. They attached their harnesses together, and Alec started giving Ethan instructions.
“Eve, you’re with me. Josh, gear up.” Tyler handed me a harness, not dissimilar to the one