by Lynn Stevens
It was the best rush in the world.
Jesse’s hand disappeared, and I fell forward until I was prone to the earth. It was beautiful as it rushed toward me. I let go of the chute, and it yanked me back toward the bridge. I closed my eyes for a second to savor my survival, then opened them to savor the view. My heart slowed as I neared the platform. The best part of the rush was the anticipation. Once I jumped and my chute stopped me from plummeting to my death, I relaxed. I let the morning disappear, my anger fade, my disappointment slip off like oil on water. The answer was clear. That type of clarity was everything and nothing at the same time. I needed to see Gracin for who he was completely, not just who he was when he was with me.
My feet hit the platform, twisting my left ankle at an odd angle. I groaned, but managed to keep myself from falling completely. Nate grabbed my upper arms as soon as he grasped something was wrong. The concern on his face matched the agony on mine.
“Ankle,” I said, pointing to the previously injured area. Great, this wasn’t what I needed.
“I gotcha.” He held me up and pulled his walkie.
I didn’t bother to listen as he relayed the injury to Jesse. It wasn’t that bad. Yet. Once the sneaker came off, it would swell to the size of a softball.
“Alright, Carly. Lean on me and we’ll take the four-wheeler up top.” Nate’s arm looped around my lower back, his fingers dangerously close to the bra line.
“Not a good time to cop a feel, Nate.” His fingers shifted lower. “Besides, I’m seeing someone.”
Nate snorted. “The famous commitment-phobe Carly Reynolds just admitted to having a boyfriend.”
I slapped him on the back of the head.
“What? I’m marking this moment on my calendar and laminating it for eternity.” He leaned toward me and whispered unnecessarily in my ear. “It does make me wonder what type of guy finally nailed you down.”
“Way to turn a phrase, Nate.” Even though I should’ve been totally offended by what he’d said, his smartass words brought a grin to my face.
“Thanks. I’ve been practicing.” He glanced down at my ankle when we stopped beside the ATV. “So, what’d you do?”
“Hit the water wrong about a month or so ago.” And kicked the shit out of the guy who raped me. “Guess it wasn’t as healed as I thought.”
“Sprains are a bitch. Ice it and keep it elevated.” He paused as I slid into the cart behind the four-wheeler and strapped myself down. “To be honest, Carly, you should probably see a doctor if this is the second time you hurt it. Might be more going on than a sprain. You might’ve torn something.”
No fault in his logic. In the last four years, I’d gone to the hospital once, when it was clear I’d broken my wrist. It wasn’t a pleasant experience, and one I’d rather not repeat. Still, something could be seriously wrong with my ankle. It could totally screw up the rest of my summer either way. And I wouldn’t mind some pain meds.
We rode in bumpy silence up to the bridge. Nate had to know the exact location of every boulder on the path, because he made sure to hit them at full speed. My lower lip bled by the time he hit the pavement.
Nate had barely stopped when Nena and Ivy ran over. Any animosity Nena had had disappeared. She hugged me tighter than my mother did most days. Ivy wasn’t much better. My breathing ability disappeared, but it was nice. If all else failed in my life, I could always take comfort in having the best friends in the world. Distance wouldn’t change how much they meant to me.
“Guys,” I said through clenched teeth. “You’re killing me here.”
They both let go. The push of oxygen into my lungs was a whole other type of rush. They chattered around me, but I wasn’t listening. I tried to put weight on my foot. Bad idea. Ivy caught me before I knocked her over.
“I’m taking you to the hospital, Carly. No arguing.” Nena pointed at me like a teacher pointing at a bad student. She was going to be a great teacher one day.
“No arguing,” I agreed. My heart had relocated into the ankle and pulsed like a balloon deflating only to get inflated a second later. I let them lead me to the car and help me in the backseat.
“God, when you let go of the railing, I wanted to jump after you,” Ivy said as she buckled herself in. “Then when you hit the platform and crumbled, I thought you were dead.”
“You scared us both,” Nena said.
“That’s why I never asked you guys to come with me on these adventures.” I let my head roll against the back of the seat. The throbbing in my ankle fought to break through the leather.
“Probably a good idea,” Ivy said. I could tell by the way she bounced in her seat she didn’t really mean it. Ivy lived for excitement as much as I did, only she went for the sexual variety.
“Can I ask you something?” Nena still hadn’t started the car. She turned around to face me. “Why jump off a bridge? I mean, I get wanting to have some fun and go a little crazy, but why risk your life?”
I stared at her, holding her gaze and taking my time to answer in a way she’d totally understand. After a few minutes, I settled on the best response. “It clears my head. Lets me think when things … when they get to be too much.”
Ivy turned and cocked her head. Her concern radiated through her eyes. “What’s too much?”
“I …” Tears started down my cheeks without my permission. I’d figured out so much when it came to Gracin, but there was still the simple fact we wouldn’t get the chance at forever, or even spend a Christmas or a birthday together. Every single day, I wanted the chance with him. Or at least another day past August twenty-seventh. What could it hurt to tell them? They’d been my best friends most of my life and never judged my past stupidity. I dropped my head and decided to tell them everything. “You guys remember Jonathan?”
“Yeah,” Ivy said. She already knew how I felt about him, but she didn’t know the whole story.
“That’s not his name.” I waited for a beat before I met their wide eyes. “His real name is Jonathan Gracin Ford.”
Nena’s eyes grew so wide they looked like they’d intersected. Ivy’s hands came to her mouth.
“And we’ve agreed this … thing between us, this beautiful thing, will end when I leave for school.” The clusterfuck emotions entangled into a poorly rolled ball of yarn in my chest. As it unraveled, another snag appeared. “And I don’t want it to end.”
Ivy shot out of her door and opened mine. She stood behind me, hugging my shoulders as the tears washed away the relief from earlier.
“That’s why you haven’t been around,” Nena’s voice softened to a near whisper. “So you can spend every minute with him.”
I nodded and wiped my nose on my arm.
“Why didn’t you tell us?” Ivy asked. She squeezed me against her. “And for that matter, why in the hell didn’t we recognize him? His face has been plastered all over town for months.”
“You weren’t looking for him,” I answered as simply as possible. It wasn’t far from the truth. If they’d seen us together at the theater, it probably would’ve clicked.
Ivy huffed a little. “It’s not like we would’ve acted stupid around him or anything.”
The bubble of laughter shot from my throat in record time. Ivy had acted stupid around him at the lake, but she didn’t see it that way. She was simply flirting. If she’d known it was Gracin, I’m sure her flirt-o-meter would’ve exploded.
“Or was there another reason?” Nena always tuned into things I didn’t say.
“He wanted to be a guy for a day. Not a pop star or celebrity. Just Gracin.” I smiled as his face hovered on the edge of my internal vision. His hazel eyes that turned molten gold when we were together. His sharp chin covered in morning stubble that was softer than silk when I ran my hand over it. The way he listened to me, really listened and cared about what I said. “And just Gracin is pretty amazing.”
Nena raised her perfectly waxed eyebrows and puckered her lips as she fought the losing battle with her smile.
“You’ve found him.”
Confusion settled into my stomach. “Huh?”
Ivy squeezed my shoulder one last time and let go. When Ivy settled back into the front seat, Nena still hadn’t explained what she meant. So Ivy did it for her. “She means you’ve found The One. The metaphorical yin to your yang. Your perfect match.” Ivy turned around, her eyes saddened deeper than I’d seen in a long time. “She means you’ve found the guy you’re meant to be with.”
A harsh chuckle came from the confusion in my gut. “Yeah, right. Because that’s just my luck. Find The One, only to lose him after a short period of time.” Bitterness coated my tongue as I spit out the rest of my words. “Find my perfect match, the guy who knows we aren’t going to last because he’ll be on the other side of the country. The guy who won’t give a long-distance relationship a chance. The guy who …” My tears waterfalled down my cheeks. “The guy I can share anything with, who knows everything about me, who doesn’t judge me for who I pretend to be, but knows who I really am. Yeah, I’ve found The One, all right. The One who will destroy my heart in a month.”
Nena smiled. “And you’ll let him.”
I turned away from her, because she was right.
Neither one of them mentioned it as they drove back to town. Instead of the hospital where the wait would surely have been longer than any dying person could endure, Nena drove to an urgent care center. The wait was almost as long as the emergency room would’ve been. I flipped through a seven-month-old magazine with a brief story about Gracin’s stint in rehab. They had pictures of a heavier version of him going in, and photos of a slightly slimmer Gracin exiting the building. None of the photos resembled the man I knew.
Ivy played nurse, while Nena stayed in the waiting room. When they wanted to cut my shoe off, Ivy jumped in and removed it even though it hurt more than losing the shoe would’ve. I appreciated the gesture anyway and kept the scream of agony to myself. My cell rang, and I heard Ivy answer it as they wheeled me to x-ray. When I got back, Ivy wasn’t there.
After a few minutes, the doctor finally came in with some crutches and an elastic brace. I had a gel brace at home that would work so much better. The diagnosis was a mild sprain, and I needed to stay off it for three days, but it would take longer to fully heal.
I took my prescription for pain meds, the only good thing ever to come out of a doctor’s office, and hobbled to the waiting room.
Gracin stood when he saw me, and I stopped. That’s who called. I glanced at the clock. It was almost five, and he had a show to do in a few hours. I crutched over to him like the pro I pretended to be and stopped before slamming the rubber tip into his toes.
“What’re you doing here?” I asked in a hushed voice. The waiting room was packed, and a little gray-haired lady leaned closer to eavesdrop. She wasn’t even attempting to be subtle.
He stared at me, and the emotions swirled behind the contacts. I moved toward him like the apple toward Newton. Gracin grabbed my face with a gentle roughness and pulled me toward him. Crushing his lips against mine, he dug his fingers into my skin, adding to the urgency.
When he finally broke free, he put his forehead against mine. “Don’t ever scare me like that again.”
I nodded, fear and hope coursing through me at the passion in his voice. I only had a few weeks to scare him, but he made it sound like we had longer. That terrified me and gave me hope at the same time. Was it possible he wanted more, or was it just wishful thinking on my part? I didn’t know the answer. And I was afraid of it, too.
If he didn’t want longer, more, that would hurt worse than saying goodbye. At least, I knew he wanted me for now. For now was all we could give one another.
“I promise,” I whispered. For now.
CHAPTER NINETEEN
I found a way to stay on the job anyway. Like the night of the cocktail party, I had Miranda do the hard work. She became my legs. I hated to admit it, but it was nice not to be on the go all the time. I didn’t skip out my morning runs with Gracin though. Instead of using my legs, I used my hands to keep a steady pace with my scooter. When I showed up the first morning, Gracin rolled his eyes and fought back his sexy smile.
By Sunday night, we’d gotten into a routine. Gracin came into his dressing room an hour before the show, and I shooed Miranda out. Once we were alone, I sat on Gracin’s lap and wrapped my arms around his neck.
“I’ve missed you,” I whispered. He squeezed me closer to his chest. “Tuesday, I should be back to normal.”
His lips moved along my neck. “Give it a week, Carly. Don’t push your ankle too hard. Let it heal.” He pulled away from me and stared into my eyes. Wiggling his eyebrows, he added, “Besides, there’s another Reynolds girl who likes hanging with me.” I slapped his shoulder, and he grabbed my hand, pressing it against his chest over his slamming heart. “See what you do to me?”
My ribs squeezed the breath from my lungs. Lost in his eyes, I waited for the shoe to drop. He sucked his bottom lip between his teeth.
“Carly …” His hand slid up my arm, gliding over my shoulder as I leaned toward him. He tangled his fingers in my hair. “Kiss me.”
I left my hand where it was and obeyed the simple command. I kissed him like it was the last chance I ever would have. We forgot where we were, so lost into each other. I couldn’t get enough of him, and he had to have felt the same way. He moaned as our lips merged over and over, until it sounded like someone cleared their throat. It didn’t stop us until it happened a second time. We weren’t alone.
Gracin pulled away first and muttered, “Shit.”
I closed my eyes, knowing without a doubt we were totally busted. God, I hoped like hell it wasn’t my father. Slowly, I turned on Gracin’s lap to face my end. Instead of my dad, I stared into the cold eyes of Albert Ford.
“So, I guess you are a whore after all.” He smirked as his gaze went down my body and up it like he was licking the melting ice cream off a cone. “Gracin, I don’t care where you get your jollies, but this girl is your employee. You run the risk of harassment charges, or worse, she’ll write a tell-all about how shitty you were to her and make a mint off your reputation.”
“Fuck off, Albert.” I tried to leap off Gracin’s lap, but his hands tightened around my hips. “Let me go, Gracin.”
“Calm down, Carly.” Albert laughed as he moved farther into the room, closing it behind him with an audible click. “We can resolve this …” He waved his hand toward us. “Well, whatever this is, rather easily.” He took in the dressing room for a moment before he settled back on us. “First, you’ll stop seeing my son. Second, you’ll quit working with Gracin. Third, you’ll sign a non-disclosure agreement, along with your father of course, so you can’t run to the tabloids and brag about fucking Gracin Ford.”
“You sonna—” I didn’t get to finish calling Albert exactly what he was.
“Not happening, Dad,” Gracin said through gritted teeth. His fingers dug into my shorts, almost bruising the skin beneath. Not that I minded. I wanted to dig my fingernails into Albert’s eyes. “Carly isn’t going anywhere.”
Albert feigned shock. “I didn’t ask your opinion, boy.” His gaze shifted toward me. “Can you believe this child, Carly? He thinks he has a say in the matter. You know better. You’ll do whatever is necessary to save your father’s theater and his reputation in this godforsaken town, so you’ll agree. Won’t you?”
The air was sucked out of the room. Albert knew me better than I expected. He was right, in a way. But he was so fucking wrong too. Thinking he could threaten me into agreeing to his terms, thinking he had the upper hand in this conversation. Oh, he had no clue what I was capable of.
“No.” I said with a firm voice. I stood, my knees wobbly from the hot make-out session and my ankle still not strong enough to walk on. I used the pain to strengthen my resolve. “I’m not going to quit seeing Gracin. And I’m not going to quit my job.” I moved closer, the throbbing in my ankle shooting through my calf faster
than a cheetah on steroids. “There’s no way in hell I’m signing anything you come up with. So stuff it up your ass.”
Albert’s eyes flashed his carefully controlled fury. “You’re so smart, aren’t you? Well, let’s just call your father and see what he has to say about this.”
“Why don’t we?” I smiled and pulled my cell from my back pocket. “In fact, I’ll call him myself.”
I leaned too hard on my bad ankle and winced, but I managed to send Luke a text before I called Dad. Gracin’s hand touched my lower back as he stuck one of the crutches under my arm. I turned my head and smiled sadly at him. We weren’t going to have the rest of summer after all. That hurt me more than anything Albert Ford would ever say to me.
I tore my gaze away and hit the green handset button next to Dad’s smiling face.
“Carly, is something wrong?” Dad asked in a clipped formal voice. Great, he was not in the best of moods.
Everything. “I need you to come to Gracin’s dressing room, Dad. There’s something you need to hear from me in person.”
He paused. I could almost see him in the office, staring at the phone with confusion and anger fighting a battle on his face. Anger always won in these situations. “I’m on my way.”
Luke hurried in a minute later. He stopped inside the door and observed the standoff. Instead of coming to my side, he took up neutral ground between Albert and me. That wasn’t promising. He didn’t open his mouth once. Miranda popped in a moment later and, after glancing at everyone, she popped back out. The silence weighed me down, but I stood straight and proud. There was no way Albert Ford would win this battle.
By the time Dad showed up, he needed a metaphorical axe to enter the room. Like Luke, he took neutral ground, but his gaze stayed a moment too long on where Gracin’s hand rested on my hip.
