Page 30 of Fourth Point Of Contact

“Hey!” Piper snapped, glaring at me. “Am I supposed to fly?”

“You’re not flying. You’re hitching with me.”

I quickly found a strap and made a makeshift harness, wrapping it around Piper in double time.

She lifted her arms, her eyes wide with terror. “This isn’t a parachute!”

“It’ll hold.”

“You swear?”

“It should,” I said, continuing to tighten the strap. “Whatever you do, don’t wiggle.”

Her eyes widened in horror. “What the fuck does that mean?”

I grabbed her hand and tugged her to the door, snatching the briefcase at the last second and shoving it into Nick’s hands. We stared out into the open abyss for all of two seconds before she started pulling away from me.

“I changed my mind! I don’t want to do this!”

“You can die in a fiery crash or jump out of the plane.”

She looked outside again and then back to me. “Fiery crash!”

I smirked, then grabbed her around the waist and tucked her into me as I dove out of the plane. Her screams echoed off the mountains, piercing my eardrums. You would have thought the lack of oxygen would have shut her up, but somehow, she wasimmune to it. I tightened my hold on her, glad the makeshift harness was holding for the time being. The real test would be when I pulled the cord. If it didn’t hold, she’d plummet to the earth, but at least she’d die faster than in a plane crash.

“Hold on!” I shouted, pulling the chute. We jerked hard as the canopy opened and came to a rough halt. My fingers bit into her harness as I held her to me, but thankfully, it held for the time being. Her face was buried against my chest and her whimpers could be heard over the air whooshing around us.

“Now’s the time to take in the view!” I shouted.

Slowly, she raised her head, looking out over the landscape. She sucked in a breath and shivered in my hold. “I’m freezing! And I think I lost my shoe!”

I couldn’t see jack shit from how I was holding her, but it didn’t matter. Heels wouldn’t do a damn bit of good in the mountains. “Bet you didn’t plan on learning to skydive today.”

“This is not skydiving,” she shouted. “This is gracefully falling to your death! I would have preferred the fiery plane crash!”

I looked around, spotting Chase and Nick in the distance. They were further to the left, having jumped out after me. We’d have to hike through the mountains to get to them, but at least we were alive. For now.

“I have a confession to make!” she shouted over the roar of the wind.

“What’s that?”

“I really don’t like heights!”

I chuckled, holding her tighter to me. “It’s a little late to change your mind about taking that flight.”

“I have another confession,” she yelled. “I think you’re really sexy!” She looked up into my eyes, her cheeks bright red from the wind whipping at us. “I just thought I should say that in caseI plummet to my death! I can’t have anything hanging over my head!”

“That’s alright,” I laughed.

“And I also didn’t pay my taxes last year!”

“Well, I think you’ll be okay.”

“And I accidentally called my fiancé Big Bad Dick in an email once. Except, I was responding to a group email and sent it to everyone instead of him!”

I guided us to the right, hoping to make it to a clearing, laughing the whole fucking time as she spilled her guts to me.

“And when I was in college, I stuck my roommate’s hand in water while she was sleeping because she told me I looked fat in my jeans. She wet the bed and was made fun of for three months!”

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