Page 84 of Off the Grid
“Because your girlfriend has a need to keep all of her limbs in one piece.”
“McKenzie, just try,” he said, not letting go, but instead marching confidently across the sand. “If you don’t like it, I’ll bring you back. I promise. But you at least have to try. No more running from things we’re afraid of, remember?”
“I knew you’d throw that back in my face eventually,” McKenzie muttered under her breath as she rolled her eyes. It was a promise they’d made each other during that first week in New York, to never let the other be ruled by fear again. Though, she didn’t quite anticipate it playing out this way.
McKenzie sighed.
Leo must’ve sensed his victory, because he sped up as if to capitalize on her hesitation. Before she knew it, they’d reached the cabana and he set her down. The tour guided waited patiently, then started to review the safety instructions.
McKenzie tuned him out as her thoughts went back to that promise, back to Leo, back to the many ways her life had changed since he’d forced her to open herself up to the possibilities the world had to offer. There was her relationship with him, a blessing in and of itself. There was her budding business with her friends, something she never would’ve imagined before those fateful few days in the woods. There was her family, which was slowly piecing itself back together now that her father had a great chance of being released from jail.
It turned out the new evidence her father and the lawyer found had been significant after all—significant enough for his old business partner to shit his pants as soon as he heard the news. Thirteen years ago, before the arrests, back when Henry Waineright had learned from an inside source that the Feds were sniffing around his business, he’d hired a well-known forger from the northeastern part of the US to falsify documents in order to frame his partner for the crimes he himself committed. That forger’s name was Robert Carter, a professional art thief living in Pennsylvania with his family at the time. The man had been a genius at what he did. The forgeries were undetectable, and they would’ve remained that way forever if his daughter, Jolene, hadn’t handed herself over to the Feds over a decade later. As part of Jo’s plea deal, she’d given the FBI unrestricted access to her father’s files—detailed accounts of the many illegal activities he’d partaken in over the course of his life. Buried within those files, so insignificant to the rest of the world yet everything to McKenzie, were scans of the original documents from her father’s company—signed by a Mr. Henry Waineright, not by Charles Harper. When Henry Waineright learned of the update, he’d tried to kidnap her as a bargaining chip to secure her father’s silence. If not for Leo, it might’ve worked. Instead, Henry Waineright was already behind bars for extortion, kidnapping, and attempted murder, in addition to embezzlement and fraud, and a judge had granted her father’s motion for a new trial. The DA were dragging their heels—they hated being wrong—but the lawyer said he was confident her father would be out before the new year.
The coincidence was almost impossible to believe. In fact, McKenzie didn’t believe it, not at first, not until Leo had bent a few rules and let her read the FBI reports with her own two eyes. There’d been anger—lots of anger—and grief, too, that her best friend’s father had been the one to indirectly send her own father to jail. Jo had apologized a million different ways—even now, months later, guilt still flickered every so often in her gaze—but it hadn’t been necessary. McKenzie, of all people, understood. She’d spent her entire adolescence wishing people wouldn’t judge her for the supposed sins of her father, so there was no way she’d force her friend to endure the same fate, especially when Jo was the only reason the truth had ever come to light, the only reason hope had found its way back into the Harper household. McKenzie and her mother were still too similar to not fight, but they were getting better and they were trying to be more open about their feelings. Her father’s voice had more life in it than she’d heard in years, an honest joy instead of the feigned positivity he’d projected for so long. McKenzie was different too, lighter, happier, freer. She could feel it. It was like a snowball effect, in a way. One good thing happened, then another, then another, and with each roll down the hill, her walls had thinned, her heart had opened, and her life had grown, so empty and then suddenly so full she didn’t know what to do with herself.
And none of it would’ve happened if Leo hadn’t chased after her the day she’d been thrown in that van—if he hadn’t decided, right then and there, that she was someone worth saving.
“You ready?” Leo asked, bringing McKenzie back to the present.
She stared at the jet ski, took a deep breath, and shrugged. “Ready as I’ll ever be.”
“Excellent.”
Leo took her hand and helped her onto the seat. Then he hopped on, taking the spot in front of her. The jet ski revved to life. McKenzie immediately wrapped her arms around his waist and held tight.
“Admit it,” she muttered into his ear as they bobbed in the water, waiting for the instructor to take the lead. “This was all just an elaborate ruse to get my breasts pressed up against you, wasn’t it?”
“We both know I don’t need to resort to cheap tricks to make that happen,” he whispered back, looking over his shoulder to toss her a wink. “Now, hold on.”
“I hate it when you say tha— Ahhh!”
Laughter rang in her ears as they took off and slammed into the crest of a wave, going airborne. She squeezed her eyes shut and hugged him closer. Leo hollered loudly, uncaring as his joyous scream got swallowed by the wind.
“Give in to the thrill, Harper!”
McKenzie shook her head against his back.
“Just once. For me.”
She opened her mouth and screamed.
Wow. That actually did make me feel better.
She did it again. Leo joined in. Soon, it became a challenge—who could be louder, who could be more ridiculous, who would break first. As they raced across the surface of the ocean, McKenzie kept her arms wrapped around his waist and pressed her cheek to the angel wings inked onto his back. With her eyes closed, it almost felt as if they were flying.
My guardian angel.
He’d saved her life in more ways than she ever could’ve imagined—but that still didn’t mean she’d let him win. McKenzie slid her hands across his chest until they were in just the right spot, then dug her fingers in deep, wriggling them against his skin. Leo barked out a laugh, losing control of the jet ski. They went flying and careened into the water with a splash.
“Not fair,” he sputtered, spitting the ocean from his lips. “That was a clear violation of the rules.”
“What rules?” she countered.
“Weren’t you listening to the safety instructions?”
“And…”
“And the guide clearly stated that thou shalt not tickle the driver just becausethouwas close to breaking first.”
