“We’re at diving altitude,” the pilot announces over the loud speakers that run the length of the interior of the plane. Opening my eyes, I watch one of the instructors unlatch the door and pull it open, causing the interior to fill with cool air.
“We’ll jump last,” Sven yells.
I nod then call back, “If I die, I’m going to come back and haunt you.” It only serves to make him laugh so hard that my body, which is strapped to his, shakes with it.
“See you below!” Ace hollers as he heads past us with one of the blondes strapped to his front.
“Good riddance,” I grumble then feel Sven’s body shake under mine once more. Watching Ace jump from the plane, followed by his other two girlfriends who are strapped to instructors, I feel a surge of adrenalin rush through my system.
“Let’s go, babe,” Sven says standing up, leaving me no choice but to go with him toward the open door. Looking down, my eyes fill with tears. I have taken plane trips a lot over the years, and I have always loved when I’m able to get the window seat so I can look out over the world as we fly above it. But knowing I’m going to be falling toward the quilted-looking ground below is a different feeling altogether.
“Cross your arms over your chest, baby,” Sven instructs, lightly taking my wrists in his hands and placing them across my front.
“I hate you.”
“On three. One, two…”
And then we’re falling.
“You motherfucking asshole, son of a bitch!” I gulp as air rushes toward me so fast that my mouth opens and fills, causing my cheeks to expand. Forcing my mouth closed, I grab onto the straps near my shoulders and hold on for dear life, even though I know they can do nothing to save me. Squeezing my eyes closed, we twist and turn as my stomach dips and drops.
“I’m gonna open the ‘chute.”
“Good idea,” I yell, and our bodies are jerked backward and my eyes spring open.
“See? Not so bad, is it?” Sven laughs, and I look over my shoulder and notice he looks happy, really happy right now. The stress he normally carries around his eyes is gone and is replaced by laugh lines that make him even more beautiful.
“We still have to land,” I tell him, and his smile broadens.
“But until then, just feel and watch.”
Pulling my eyes reluctantly from his happy ones, I look around and then below. I hate to admit it, but this is one of the most amazing experiences I’ve ever had. Floating through the air, the view of the land below and the sky above, leave me in awe. The feeling of freedom as we fall. Sven against my back, his arm around my waist, making me feel safe in a way I’ve never felt safe before. As we get closer to the ground, I tuck my knees up toward my chest and close my eyes, not wanting to see the ground coming swiftly at me. As quickly as it began, it’s over and I feel the ground under my bottom and my eyes open slowly.
“That was awesome!” I laugh, looking over my shoulder at Sven as two men come running up to us and help us get out of our gear.
“I knew you would love it.” Sven smiles as we stand.
“I didn’t love it,” I lie, and he smiles, muttering, “Liar.” While wrapping his arm around my shoulder and leading me toward the truck that will take us back to the hanger.
As soon as we arrive back to the hanger, Sven leaves to talk with Ace who got back before us, so I head inside to get a bottle of water then notice they have pictures available from our jump.
“I would like two of this one,” I tell the girl working behind the desk inside Kip’s as I point at a picture of the two of us smiling at each other after Sven opened the parachute.
“Would you like to add the commemorative frame for twenty dollars more?” she asks, pointing at a glass picture frame with the Kip’s Skydiving logo and a small plane painted on it that is sitting on a shelf behind her.
“Can I get two of them?”
“Sure.” She smiles before disappearing through a door behind her. Turning around to make sure Sven is still distracted, I spot him and Ace standing next to the town car, while all three of Ace’s girlfriends lounge in the sun on a picnic table a few feet away. All three of them have taken the opportunity to take their shirts off leaving them in different color bikini tops.
“That will be sixty-two dollars,” the girl says, pulling my attention from the window, as she places a bag on the countertop.
Pulling a hundred dollar bill out of my bra, I hand it to the girl, take the bag and pictures from her along with my change, and then make my way out toward Sven, planning to wait in the car until he’s ready to go. But the minute he spots me, he gives me a smile that has my steps faltering.
“I hope you didn’t pay for those things,” he says as soon as I’m standing next to him.
“Why wouldn’t I pay?”
“Me and Ace gave Kip the money to start up this place a few years ago. In return, we don’t pay when we want to jump, and you don’t have to pay if you want a souvenir.”
“Well, I’m happy to pay,” I mutter, and he swings his arm over my shoulders, shaking his head, then looks at Ace, who is looking at us with a knowing smile on his face. What he thinks he knows I have no idea.
“We’ll talk in a few days,” Sven tells him as he opens the door for me to get into the idling car.
“Thanks, man.” He shakes Sven’s hand then drops his eyes to me. “You still have my number. Call me.”
Snorting at that, I mutter, “Goodbye,” and get into the car, hearing both guys laugh behind me.
“Did you have fun, dear?” Ken asks as his eyes connect with mine in the rearview mirror and I slide across the back seat.
“Don’t tell anyone, but it was amazing.” I grin, and he chuckles then mutters, “Your secret is safe with me.”
“What secret?” Sven asks, getting into the car and shutting the door behind him.
“Nothing,” Ken and I say in unison.
“Did you have fun?” Sven inquires, and I look at Ken in the mirror briefly before looking at Sven.
“If you consider being afraid that you’re going to pee yourself while watching your life passing before your eyes fun, then sure, I had fun,” I state with a straight face, hearing Ken in the front seat laugh out.
“You loved it,” Sven mutters before pulling his phone out of his pocket. Looking out the window, I smile to myself then glance at Ken, whose eyes are on me, and I wink.
“You cursed.”
Pulling my eyes from the view going by quickly as we drive back toward Vegas, I look at Sven and frown, asking, “Pardon?”
“When we jumped, you cursed like a sailor.” He grins.
“I thought I was going to die,” I explain, not denying it. I don’t even know what came over me, but every bad word I have ever thought of came tumbling out.
“It was cute,” he mutters quietly before going back to work on his phone. Pulling my old cell phone out of the front pocket of my jeans, I flip it open and frown. The screen has turned completely black. Closing it again, I flip it open once more then tap the numbers and they light up. “What’s wrong?” Sven asks, and I turn to look at him and hold my phone up.
“It’s not working.”
“Let me see.” Taking the phone from my hand, he pulls the battery off the back then puts it back in place and presses the on button. “I think it’s time for you to get a phone that’s not from 1999.”
“I’ve had that phone since I was twenty,” I mumble, taking the phone from him and pressing the buttons once more. “It’s always been trusty.”
“Well, it seems to me that it’s finally kicked the bucket.”
“I wonder if I can have it fixed,” I grumble, tapping the screen again.
“We can stop and pick you up a new phone.”
“But this has all my numbers in it,” I complain, pressing buttons, hoping something will happen and the screen with magically light up, but all that happens is one of the numbers presses in and sticks.
“Sorry, babe.”
Narr
owing my eyes, I look at him. “You don’t sound sorry.”
“That phone is old, and I can’t imagine it was reliable. You need something that will work when you need it to work, and I need you to have a phone so I can reach you.” He shrugs then tells Ken to stop at one of the local cell service stores.
By the time we are done picking me up a new phone and having dinner at a small diner, we make it back to the club a little after eleven, and the line outside is already stretched around the building. Walking down the street and past the waiting line, Sven stops when a group of women, who obviously know him, call him over. Waiting a few feet away, I pull out my new phone and power up the screen. I have no idea what the heck I’m going to do with a phone that seems smarter than me and that didn’t even come with an instruction manual.
“Ready?” Sven asks, making me jump. Looking over my shoulder as he leads me down the sidewalk, I see the group of women all watching us with sneers on their faces.
“Sven,” someone called, and he places his hand on my lower back.
“Give me a minute, babe. Just wait here,” he mutters as he walks toward another group of women, who all smile and laugh as he heads toward them.
Watching him from a distance, I can’t hear what the women are saying, but their body language screams everything loud and clear. Something ugly shifts through me as I watch him smile, and I find myself walking away alone toward the club entrance, not wanting to witness any more than I need to. Smiling at Teo when I reach the front of the line, he grins back and lifts the red rope, allowing me to slide under his arm. Feeling a body press against me and hands wrap around my hips, pulling me back into a hard erection, I look over my shoulder, ready to tell whoever it is not to touch me, when Sven shoves his way between people and pulls the guy off me, tossing him to Teo.
“Get the fuck out of here,” he roars as Teo shoves the kid toward the sidewalk.
“I was just fucking around, man,” the kid grumbles, looking nervously between Sven and Teo.
“Go inside, Maggie, and straight to the office,” Sven demands without taking his eyes off the kid.
Hating that I’m following orders like a dog, but not really having a choice, I stomp into the club and stop when I see the stage. The DJ spinning tonight is well-known and has thousands of followers who trek to whatever club he’s playing to watch him spin. The crowd on the dance floor is going crazy, and the music is so loud I can feel my bones vibrating with the beat.
Moving around the dance floor, I push my way through the people gathered around the edge chatting, and head upstairs to Sven’s office. Shutting the door behind me, I move to the couch, set down the bag with the pictures from today, take out my new cell phone, and press the button so the screen lights up. I sent Morgan a message earlier on Facebook, letting her know I got a new phone and to text me from her number so I can store it, but she still hasn’t messaged me back, and that has me worried. Jumping when the door slams, my pulse skitters as Sven storms toward me with a look of fury in his eyes.
“I told you to give me a minute. I told you to wait for me, but you didn’t listen and you could have gotten yourself hurt.”
“Um…” I breathe, unsure what to say or why he looks ready to strangle me.
“Um?” he snarls as his face twists with rage. “No, Maggie, not um. Fucking listen to me when I tell you to do something,” he roars, making me flinch, and I hate myself for showing fear to him.
“Stand back,” I tell him, but then lean forward when he doesn’t budge and yell in his face, “Stand the heck back, Sven, before I punch you in your stupid face!”
“Those kids down there are all high.” He points to the floor. “Who knows what would have happened if I didn’t see what was happening to you.
“‘Cause I’m weak, right?” I tilt my head to the side. “I’m just a girl, and I can’t take care of myself?” I ask sweetly in a little girl’s voice, and the muscle in his cheek starts to twitch rapidly. Raising myself a bare inch from the couch, just enough that I have a little bit of leverage, but not enough for him to notice. I ask again, “Do you think I’m weak, Sven?”
“You’re a woman, Maggie.”
Yeah, wrong answer.
I use the leverage I gained moments ago and propel myself forward, shoving my shoulder into his waist while my hands wrap around the back of his thigh. His thud hitting the ground makes the glasses on the shelf near the bar rattle. Putting my foot against his groin, I dare him to say anything else.
“Oh, did you fall?” I ask sweetly as he blinks up at me in shock. “You need to be more careful, Sven. You never know what might happen to you,” I tell him, pressing my foot down as a reminder.
“Mags.”
“Do not ever doubt that I have the ability to take care of myself, Sven. I may be a woman, but I have been taking care of myself since I was a little girl,” I whisper the last part then take a step back.
“I was worried.” He gets up from the ground with his nostrils flaring and the pulse in his neck working so hard it can be seen from where I’m standing near the door.
“Well next time, instead of coming at me like a crazy person, maybe you could say that instead,” I suggest, going back to the couch and taking a seat.
“Sorry,” he mutters, but I pretend I don’t hear him as I pull the frames out of the bag, along with the pictures of us skydiving. “I was worried.”
“Yeah, you said that,” I mumble, not looking at him as he takes a seat on the couch next to me. Finishing placing the picture in the frame and closing it up, I tip it upright and look at the image. “Here.” I hand him the frame as I take the other one out of its box and open the back. Putting together the one I got for myself, I place it back in the box it came in then rest it on the coffee table, chancing a look at Sven. His eyes are on the picture of us in his hands.
“You,” he whispers under his breath so quietly I almost miss it.
“Me what?”
His head lifts when our eyes meet. This time they’re full of a sadness I don’t understand. “I like you, Mags, but I’m no good for you.”
His words hurt more than they should, so I do what I always do, and joke. “It sounds like you’re trying to break up with me.”
Shaking his head, his hand suddenly strikes out and wraps around the back of my neck as he pulls me to him. Pressing his lips to my forehead briefly, I feel their sting as his arms wrap around me in an embrace that has tears pooling in my eyes. He says he’s no good for me, but I think it’s the other way around. I’m no good for him.
Chapter 4
Maggie
Are you crazy?
“You okay?”
Looking up from my cell phone, my eyes lock with Sven’s. I shrug in response, and his eyes go soft as he sets his phone down on top of his desk then walks around to where I’m sitting. He takes the seat next to me, placing his elbows on his knees, getting even closer.
“You still haven’t heard from her?” he guesses softly, and I pull my bottom lip between my teeth and shake my head as anxiety and worry washes over me. Morgan disappeared the day Sven and I went skydiving, and since then, I haven’t heard from her. Feeling my heart constrict in my chest, I fight back tears. I love my sister, but I hate the person she’s become. Her drug problem has gotten progressively worse over the last three years, and I don’t know what to do anymore. It kills me that I can’t fix this for her, because she doesn’t want help.
“I thought she would change,” I tell him weakly. I thought for sure she would change when the police called me in the middle of the night to tell me that she was in the hospital. I remember thinking, This is it. This is her wake up call. She will finally understand she is putting her life at risk.
I was crushed walking into the ICU, seeing her hooked up to machines, covered in large black and blue bruises. When she told the police and me what happened at Sven’s club, I demanded they do something, but they refused. They told me that even though she was beat up badly, her story didn’t add up.
They believed she probably tried to steal from a dealer and her injuries were a result of that. That’s when I decided to take matters into my own hands and go to Sven’s club to see if I could find anything out. Looking back now, I honestly don’t know if I believe her story from that night. I don’t know what to believe when it comes to her anymore.
I don’t even know who she is anymore.
“It’s going to be okay.” His arm wraps around my shoulders and he pulls me into his side. Turning my face, I press my nose to his neck, allowing myself a brief moment to escape the turmoil going on inside me and accept comfort from him before pulling away.
“Did you need anything else?” I question as I stand and adjust my skirt. His eyes scan my face for a long moment then his hands clench into fists as he stands to his full height, which towers over me even in my heels.
“Mags, if she—”
“She’ll be back,” I cut him off, speaking with more conviction than I feel, wanting so badly to believe my own lie. His hand wraps around the side of my neck and his thumb runs down the column of my throat as his eyes soften further.
Prior to Morgan moving in with me, it wasn’t abnormal for her to disappear for days at a time before turning up strung out, wearing the same clothes she disappeared in. Even though I know deep down this time it’s something different, there’s nothing I can do. When I went to the police, they were hesitant to even fill out a missing person report, because they know her history. They know she has a drug problem, and to them, she was just one more druggie in a long line of missing drug users.
“I’m here for you,” he says gently, moving his thumb in soothing strokes that cause me to lean into his touch instead of pull away like I should. I want to believe him, but I know people. I know you can only really depend on people until they get what they want, and then they turn their backs on you. My family is a shining example of that. My whole life, I have been the person my family turns to when they need something. I have always been the adult, always the responsible one, and always the one left holding the bag when they get what they want and walk away.