She rolls her eyes at me. “I better survive,” she mutters.
“You’re in good hands,” Jake says as we approach him. He turns to me. “C. Scott, and who is this cute little thing?”
“This cute little thing’s name is Lauren,” she answers before I can. I smirk at Jake who throws his hands up.
“Feisty?” he quips.
“So you know what you’re doing right?” she asks as he picks up the restraint.
“I haven’t killed this guy yet,” he answers.
“Who’s going first?” he asks. As Lauren steps closer to the edge of the bridge, her eyes widen.
“She is,” I pipe in and Jake gives me a knowing smile.
“I am,” she says quietly, shooting me a nervous glance.
It only takes Jake a few minutes to suit her up. “You’re awfully quiet, feisty,” he says.
“I’m praying,” she says with a light chuckle.
“It’s funny how spiritual people get before doing this,” he jokes.
“How many times have you done this?” she asks, after turning to face me.
“Twelve,” I answer and her eyes bug out of her head. “It’s not as fun as skydiving,” I tell her and she looks at me in disbelief.
“The first of the month, he’s usually out here,” Jake chimes in.
“Do you try to scare all your dates half to death?”
“Feisty, you’re the first,” Jake says, giving her a pat on the back. I shoot him a warning glare.
“So I’m the lucky one, huh?” she asks, nodding her head and I give her a wink.
“Are you ready?” Jake asks and I watch as the color literally drains from her face.
“No. But let’s do this,” she says as confidently as she can.
“You’ve got this,” I tell her as she walks to her jumping point.
Jake stands behind her. “Hold out your arms and take a deep breath.”
I can feel my heart pounding, remembering my first jump. After that, I felt like I was better than him. That I could do anything. She does as he says, and I can hear how much air she’s sucking in.
“I’m going to count to five and then you’re going to jump okay,” Jake tells her and I can see she’s shaking.
“Kiss for good luck?” I ask her to relieve some tension.
“I’m not so sure what type of luck you are for me yet,” she says nervously.
“One two, three, four…any last words?” Jake asks.
“If this goes wrong and I die, I’m haunting both of you,” and with that, she sucks in one last breath, closes her eyes, and jumps.
“I thought she’d be a staller,” Jake says as we watch her soar through the air, her screams echoing.
My phone rings. It’s Dexter. You’d think someone with as much money as he has would find more to do than call me all the damn time.
“What’s up Dexter?”
“Gwen has called me about a thousand and one times this week.”
“That’s nothing new.”
“I’m unsure as to why you won’t speak with her from what you’ve disclosed to me I see no r—”
“I’ll talk to her when I have something to say to her. Right now there’s nothing,” I say plainly, waiting to hear his disapproving huff.
“Helen will be back in town this week. Will you be able to see her?” he asks and I roll my eyes.
“I have the meeting with the Luxe brothers,”
“Well, this is a little more important wouldn’t you say?”
“Sure, whatever. I’ll give you a call back. I’m on date right now, I think it’s rude to stay on the phone during it.”
“You’re on a date?” He sounds skeptical. “Since when do you date?”
I laugh. “Since I felt like it.”
“Since when do you feel?” he asks wryly.
“Funny. I’ll talk to you later Dexter. Always a pleasure,” I say, hanging up just as Lauren has been pulled up.
“You survived, feisty. I’m a little sad you won’t be haunting me tonight,” Jake flirts.
“Hey watch it,” I say, warning him. He throws his hands up in mock surrender.
“Oh, my God! That was insane!” she says excitedly as Jake starts to help her remove her safety gear.
“I’ve got it,” I tell him. He frowns but wisely backs off.
“Good insane or…?” I ask her hesitantly but, from the excitement in her face, I already know the answer.
“Amazingly insane. I can’t believe I did that! I’ve never done anything like that before. I just jumped off a bridge and survived!”
“And you jumped without stalling. Not a lot of people do that,” I admit as I free her from her harness.
“Did you stall? Your first time, that is?”
“What do you think?” I ask her curiously and she takes a moment as if she’s really thinking. “No. You seem to do things without thinking first,” she says and I chuckle.
“Is that a good or bad thing?” I ask skeptically and, for the first time since she’s jumped, she looks away shyly before meeting my eyes.
“It can be both,” her reply is quiet.
I want to kiss her, right here right now. Usually, I would but I’m the one stalling now. Which is strange because I’m not a staller. I don’t think; I just do. But something about her makes me stop and think and I’m not sure what to do with her. I’m not used to being in this territory. The reason why I’m even here is foreign to me. I don’t do this. I don’t rescue girls from assholes. I am the asshole—well, not as big as some of them are. I don’t think back on the damage I’ve done. I definitely don’t think about fixing it. I don’t even date; yet, here I am. Smack dab in the middle of a date with a girl who is too beautiful to not want to sleep with, that has eyes that make you not want to look away but makes you stare. She gives me a conscience—one I’m not used to having, one that I prefer to block out. That’s a bridge I don’t want to cross. She’s more than tempting, she’s dangerous.
And fuck, if danger isn’t my thing.
Lauren
When Cal finally decides to waltz back in, it’s with a bag of groceries. He glances over at me sitting on the couch, the TV on as a distraction. I want to bombard him with questions as soon as he walks through the door but of course that would be the dumbest thing to do and the very thing that will get me no answers. He brought me here for a reason. I know he loves me; he has to. I have to give him time, but how much time?
“Are you going to put some of those cooking lessons to use?” he asks, setting the bag on the table before disappearing into the bedroom. How much does Cal know, what does he see? Does he know everything that happens with Chris? I head to the counter and see that there is a carton of apple juice, eggs, bacon, two steaks, three potatoes and a bag of spinach. If he was Chris, this definitely wouldn’t be enough food.
I start to wonder how long we’re going to be here. For a day? Several? I trust that Caylen is fine with the Scotts but she should be with us…shouldn’t she? When she is with us, how does this work? Is he going to tell her he’s Cal and what will happen if Chris comes back? What happens as she gets older? Does she live with two dads? Do I become the woman with two husbands?