Page 16 of Hot Summer Nights

We move back slightly to the little stand and my palms feel sweaty on the bar.

“We should not be doing this,” I say, but it’s too late to protest.

The kite takes off, and soon we’re way up in the air.

“Oh my gosh, oh my gosh, oh my gosh,” I shout and Gavin laughs next to me.

“You’re doing great!” he yells and I’m too afraid to look away from the water way down below us to glare at him.

“I hate you!” I yell back instead, and he reaches over, squeezing my fingers before he grabs hold of the bar once more.

After a while, I start to relax but I never quite unwind like I did with the zip lining. We land back on the little stand and Jax flashes us a smile and a thumbs-up before he turns the boat back to the dock.

Gavin drags me up onto the dock when we get back, and I lean on him. My legs feel like jelly and Jax just smirks.

“Did you have fun?” he asks us and I stare at him until he laughs.

“The next time will be even better,” he promises me, and I look over to Gavin as we turn to leave.

“Never again,” I tell him and he just tugs me closer against him.

I thought that we would get back in the car, but he just leads me farther down the dock to a jet ski rental shack.

“This should be more your speed,” he says as he passes me a life vest and tugs one on himself.

We’re led over to a pair of jet skis and I climb onto one as the rental guy gives me instructions on what to do if we fall off or if it stalls out. Then we’re turning them on and slowly cruising out onto the lake.

Jet skiing is my favorite. I lose track of time or my fears as Gavin and I fly across the water. He tries to splash me with his wake and I laugh as I chase after him.

After a while, I notice that I’m almost out of gas and we both reluctantly head back to the dock.

“Still think that you’re cursed?” Gavin asks as we turn in the life vests and head back to his Jeep.

“Yep,” I say simply, but I’m starting to have doubts.

Surely if bad luck was going to hit me, it would be when we were a hundred feet up in the air or racing across the water. Nothing happened though. Is that just a fluke?

We climb back into his Jeep and head farther down the road.

“Where are we going?” I ask when I notice that we’re headed away from Destiny Falls and toward the center of Maple Bend.

“I thought that we would grab a bite to eat,” he says easily and I relax.

Then I see the Ferris wheel and the other lights from the carnival, and my stomach drops.

“Just let me kill you,” I tell him as he parks, and he laughs.

“Come on, chicken!”

I follow him up to the front entrance. He pays for our tickets and then drags me through the crowd to a stage.

“What’s this?” I ask him as he hands someone some money and they pass him a clipboard.

“It’s a hot dog eating contest.”

“What?” I ask as he grabs my hand and tugs me up onstage.

“You don’t have to compete, but I thought that it could be fun.”

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