Eyes Turned Skyward

Ignoring the sinking pit in my stomach, I gave him a thumbs-up anyway. Josh took the first jump, a small one, only a heartbeat or two in the air. I swallowed that lump in my throat and followed him, clenching my knees around the quad. I hit the jump, launching into the air, and concentrated on keeping my rear on the seat.

A heartbeat later, my body jarred, returning to earth. I did it! “Eeeee!” Josh gave me a thumbs-up and looked for another jump. We took that one, too, and the lump in my throat dissipated, leaving only the pride that I’d done it all by myself.

If there had been a country to rule, a kingdom to conquer nearby, I was pretty sure I could have done it. I felt utterly invincible. I glanced at my watch; my heart rate was within guidelines.

Josh aimed for the biggest jump there, a mammoth thing that I had no business attempting. But I was invincible, right? Living for just this moment. So why not?

He gassed it, taking the jump at dizzying speed. I followed so quickly behind him that I didn’t bother to count his landing. I was already airborne. My heart hammered dangerously in my chest, my only companion in the absolute silence. Josh landed, nearly losing his grip on the quad. Oh, no.

My wheels struck the ground mercilessly. I hung on at impact, but physics kicked in. The quad bounced, recoiling, and my body with it, pulling with a force I couldn’t combat. That heartbeat lasted an eternity. My fingers lost their grip on the handles when the rest of my body had already given up the fight.

This was going to hurt.

Chapter Twenty-Three

Paisley

14. Yes, please.

I watched the quad fly ahead of me with an odd curiosity, physics propelling it forward. The ground rushed up, and I remembered the basic rule of falling off—roll.

I didn’t fight my momentum as my body crashed to earth, instead I worked with it, landing on the diagonal and rolling limply, trying not to tense.

The impact crushed my theory of invincibility. Pain erupted in every cell of my body. The world turned end over end, a bizarre kaleidoscope of red Alabama clay and blue sky. I closed my eyes and surrendered, simply waiting for it to be over. Too many flips later, I stopped.

Rocks dug into my back, and I couldn’t breathe. No attempt to pull the air into my lungs helped. My chest heaved, desperate for oxygen.

“Paisley!” Jagger’s hoarse cry cut through my panic.

He leaned over me and flicked open my visor. He looked as crazed as I felt, his eyes wild. My mouth opened and closed, my lungs still screaming, and my heart anything but amused, slowing down dramatically.

“Damn it!” he yelled, unfastening my helmet. “Does your neck hurt? Your head?” he asked quickly.

I shook my head. If it hurt, I couldn’t feel it. I just wanted to breathe. He nodded, locked the muscles in his jaw, and took my helmet off, keeping my body as in alignment as possible.

The cool air hit my face, but still nothing. His hands were steady as he ripped the zipper open on my jacket. His hands ran over my rib cage, feeling for anything out of place with gentle hands. “I think…” He looked into my eyes, cupping my cheek. “I think you just had the wind knocked out of you. Try to relax.”

Relax? I forced myself to fall into the soft tone of his voice. First a small stream of air made its way into my lungs, then larger and larger breaths, until my ribs expanded to full capacity.

He dropped his forehead to mine and deflated next to me.

I took in breath after breath, smiling at the sky, and then I started laughing. Not just little giggles, either—oh, no, big, heaping laughs. Jagger pulled back, his mouth agape. Then I snorted and laughed harder for snorting.

“What the hell is so funny?”

I moved each of my legs and then my arms. “I’m fine,” I said in between outbursts. “I just sailed off the quad, but I’m fit as a fiddle!” I couldn’t help that I found the irony hilarious. I could survive an ATV accident without a scratch, but my heart would eventually fail.

God had a sense of humor.

“Oh my God, Paisley, are you okay?” Josh asked, leaning over.

I nodded, but couldn’t stop my hysterical giggling.

“What the fuck were you thinking?” Jagger shouted at his friend, coming to his feet. “You want to pull insane stunts like that, you do it with your girlfriend, and sure as hell not mine!”

My laughter died.

“Man, I’m…” Josh looked down at me, the lines of his face tight and his eyebrows close together as he took in a shaky breath. “I’m so very sorry.”

“What has gotten into you?” Ember shouted.

Josh closed his eyes and took a deep breath before turning to his girlfriend. “It looked like fun, and we’d already taken the other jumps.”

I gripped Jagger’s forearm for support when the blood rushed from my head from standing too quickly. “I followed him, it’s not his fault.” My heart pounded, enjoying the return of oxygen, but there was no breathlessness. I wasn’t even tired today. “I’m okay. All ten fingers and toes accounted for.”

“Well, I’m not!” Jagger yelled at me.

My gaze snapped to his, my mouth dropping open. “Jagger…”

“I don’t want to hear it.” He pointed to where my quad had landed, miraculously still on its wheels. “I’m taking you home. Now.”

I thought twice about growling at him, but sighed instead and headed for the quad. It wasn’t his bossiness that made me, but the fear in his eyes when he’d peeled off my helmet.