She winced at that. “Yeah, I still have to let Jeanie know that her favorite shoes have gone the way of the jungle. I won’t even tell her about the one I still have. I think it’ll just make her sad.”

I wasn’t sure what that meant, but I liked her cute phrases. “So, where are we headed?”

Her eyebrows shot up in surprise. “You’re really coming with me?”

“On an adventure? Of course. I have nothing better to do.”

“I do,” Nick piped up. “Not that anyone cares.”

“It’s a side trip. You can handle that, right?” I glared at him.

“Sure. I’m crazy about flying back to New York after just jumping out of a plane and free-falling to the ground.”

“You had a parachute,” I reminded him. “And you live for the adrenaline.Andwe’re going to New Jersey.”

I turned back to Piper and winked at her. “He has this friend who throws knives for fun and sings show tunes. Trust me, he loved the whole thing.”

“Aww, is she your girlfriend?”

Nick’s jaw clenched in anger. “He. And he’s not my anything.”

“He? Is he gay?” she whispered.

“Nick or Fox?”

“I’m not gay!” Nick shouted. “And Fox is… he’s more of a sad puppy who follows everyone around.”

“He’s not sad,” I whispered. “He’s the happiest psycho I’ve ever met. And Nick served with him.”

“Nearly fucking killed me,” he muttered.

“So, where you go, we go.”

“Alright. I suppose I could use your skills at breaking into a storage facility.”

“No problem.”

“It…it’s sort of high-tech,” she winced.

“Yeah, that’s not a problem.”

“You sound awfully confident.”

I was, but mostly because I knew what I could handle. “Trust me, we’ve got this.”

15

PIPER

“Are you sure about this?”I asked as we pulled into the airport. There were so many planes.Lotsof them. I thought it would be no trouble for me to get on another. After all, the only reason the last plane went down was because none of us knew how to fly it.

“Of course,” Patrick said confidently.

“And there’s a pilot?”

He chuckled, showing off his dimples as he turned to me. “Of course there is.”

“You say that now, but we didn’t have a pilot last time.”