Crossed by Lacey Silks

before uncoiling my fingers. “Now jump!”
    I wasn’t sure when or how I stepped off that plane, but it was getting smaller and smaller and the ground was getting closer.
    “I hate you!” I screamed, trying to remember what I’d been taught in the lessons. This wasn’t the first time Emma tried to get me skydiving. Nor the second. We’d gone through the courses and instructions a handful of times, but I’d chickened out every single time I’d heard the engines revved up. What made me get on the plane this time? Blackmail. Pure and devious coercion by none other than my best friend. Emma threatened to call my brothers, whom I didn’t talk to, and tell them about Hunter. I felt my jaw tense at the thought. I didn’t want anything to do with them, and she knew it. Without a doubt I would find a way to pay her back for this. What would my brothers do? Kill him—possibly. Or worse, tangle him into one of their schemes? That was an option too. I didn’t want to know the kind of businesses Cash, Ace, Axel, and Scar ran. They hid under my father’s legal belt, but I knew they were up to something shady. They’d been wanting for me to come back to the family for years. In fact, I hadn’t spoken to them in years and the only reason Emma knew about them at all was because Cash drove me home from the hospital after my accident. I’d sworn her to secrecy and made her promise not to tell anyone about them. Lives depended on it. Hence my different last name, Brooks, which I took after my mother.
    And now, flying through the air and thinking about them, I wondered whether I should have called—you know, just in case I died today. Would it have mattered? Would they have crossed the street to see me and say hello? Nope, I didn’t want that either. It was best that I stayed away.
    As the air pushed against my body and I spread my arms out to feel its full pressure, the freedom of being lost in my own thoughts was unbelievable. It was just me and the world. No one to interrupt my thoughts and no one to disturb my fate for the next sixty seconds, maybe thirty now. I was the one who had to pull the cord to live. It was up to me to survive now, and having that kind of power to change your own life felt unbelievably fulfilling. What if I just fell? Would I see Marcus on the other side?
    Something tore at my heart. A feeling I hadn’t had in a long time. As much as I’d wanted to join my dead fiancé in the afterlife during the past year, this time, there was an urgency inside me to maybe give life another shot—a real one. “Pull it!” someone yelled from above. I think it was Emma’s panicked voice.
    I tugged on the handle at my chest and felt a strong draft upward that slowed my momentum. The parachute fluttered above my head before fully opening, changing my fall to a soft glide. This wasn’t that bad after all. I could do this.
    The field was getting closer to my feet. I got ready the way I’d practiced, and the moment my feet touched the ground I continued the momentum of the flight with a small run before coming to a full, perfectly executed stop. The buzz roaming through my body was unbelievable. It was like driving a race car and landing an airplane all at once—not that I’d done either of these, but I could definitely imagine doing so. I let the chute loose behind me and felt the ground shake below me. My knees gave out, and I began falling to the ground. Except instead of hitting the soil my body was caught by strong arms. I looked into the gorgeous eyes of the man who had rocked my body and mind over and over again the previous night.
    “Are you all right?” Hunter held on to my full weight. I didn’t know whether to cry or laugh or do both at the same time, and I simply jumped into his arms and pressed my lips to his just to make sure I wasn’t dead.
    “You’re here.”
    “You had me concerned.”
    “How did you get here so fast?”
    “It’s a long story.”
    “Is everything a long story with