Page 117 of Tactically Acquired

AUDREY

“Any reason lover boy isn’t guarding you?” Spencer asked, keeping his voice low as he guided me onto the plane.

“Because he’s freaking out,” I answered calmly, nearly tripping on the top step that was just a tad higher than the one before.

Spencer grasped my arm, cursing under his breath. “Shit, sorry I didn’t warn you.”

“It’s fine. I’m not going to break.”

Until I admitted to the studio what was really going on and started using the proper walking stick, I was going to have more issues. It was just a fact of life.

“What do you think the chances are that they’ll let me fly the plane?” I asked, my lips twitching in amusement.

“Yeah, I’m sure that’s going to happen.”

“You never know,” I chuckled. “I always wanted to fly a plane in a movie. I guess that won’t happen.”

“Right over here,” Rae called out, leading us over to the back end of the plane. “Here are your parachutes.”

I took mine, my eyes flashing to hers in excitement. However, it was Spencer who wasn’t so thrilled about her words.

“What would we need a parachute for?”

“Let’s just say the company has a record for having extremely bad luck when flying.”

This was so awesome. Not that I wanted to go down in a plane crash, but jumping out of a plane was on my bucket list. Doing it with a bunch of ex-military badasses? That would top the list.

“But this is just a precaution,” Spencer hedged.

“Of course,” Rae said immediately.

“Hey, I’m all for this. Sign me up,” I said happily.

“Stop that,” Spencer hissed. “That’s bad luck.”

“To wish for excitement? Spencer, let’s be serious. This is not the most dangerous thing we’ve ever done.”

“And we don’t need to push the boundaries.”

“Don’t be a Debbie Downer,” I complained. “This could be my last chance to do something like this, and I will not back down just because you’re scared of a little turbulence.”

“Turbulence?” he snapped. “No, I’m not scared of turbulence. I’m scared of crashing. I’m scared of falling to my death because the parachute doesn’t open.” He turned to Rae. “That could happen, right?”

She shrugged. “It could, but really, what are the chances?”

“One in a thousand,” FNG called out. “I’ve had a little experience with this.”

Now, that was interesting. I strode over to him, bumping a seat along the way when I didn’t exactly see it right beside me. “Tell me about your experience.”

“Really?” he asked like he didn’t believe I really wanted to know.

“I’m dying to know.” God, what I wouldn’t give to have some excitement in my life before it all withered away.

“Well…what did you want to know?”

Ooh, that was a good question. “What’s the most exciting thing you’ve ever done?”

“No,” Thumper groaned. “No, we’re not doing this. No more stories.”

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