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There. That was where the fear came in. All those what-ifs.
“Awful quiet back there. You want to do some drawing?”
“No.”
“We can do your penis this time. I mean, you’ll have to help me out with the dimensions, but—”
“We’re not drawing another sky dick, Solo. How long do we have to be up here, anyway?”
“Uh oh. Looks like this joy ride is over.”
I didn’t know what he was talking about at first, and it made my stomach drop to think that something had gone wrong. I scanned the instruments in front of me for an alarm, but everything was as it should be. It was when I looked up and out that I saw the other Hornet coming in fast on our six.
“Shit. Who’s that?”
A voice came through the comm. “Hey, boys. Mind if we join in?”
Fucking Houdini.
“Who let you interrupt our fun, Houdini? You can go home now.”
“Aw, don’t be mad, Solo. Levy just wanted to see how you two handled a little one-on-one.”
Gucci too? Houdini and Gucci were flying together?
“Gooch, get the hell off our comm,” Solo said, pulling a hard left on their approach and flying by them as they switched channels.
Shit. This wasn’t what I’d expected today. Fun easing in, my ass. “Did you know about this?” I asked.
“Do I sound like I fucking knew?”
No. No, he did not, and as Gucci maneuvered his jet in behind ours and got a lock, Solo cursed.
“Fucking ass grabber,” Solo muttered. “I’ve told him time and time again not to grab my ass unless invited.” Then, without warning, he angled downward and descended in a stomach-churning nosedive that made me feel as though I were getting a facelift.
As we plummeted toward the earth, I reminded myself that Solo knew what he was doing and we wouldn’t end up ash in a crater. He began to level out and ease back into the horizontal.
My heart was pounding at a dangerously fast pace, but before I could start to panic, Solo’s voice came over the comm.
“You see ’em anywhere?”
I blinked, trying to regain my focus and some semblance of calm, and as I scoured the blue expanse on either side of us, I spotted Gucci and Houdini’s jet to our far left. I quickly spat out the coordinates to my pilot, and when Solo locked in on their location and said, “Oh yeah, I see those fuckers,” a feeling other than fear washed over me—excitement.
Solo angled the Hornet in their direction, and as he gunned the engines, the two of us were thrown back into our seats from the force of the Gs. He came up behind and under them to—
“What? You gonna grab his ass now?”
Solo let out a booming laugh as he locked in on Gucci, then said, in the cocksure tone I’d come to associate with him, “Hell no. But I am gonna kick it.”
As the radar zeroed in on Gucci and Houdini, it alerted them that they were now in our sights, and Gucci began a series of rolls in an attempt to shake us free. But Solo was the better pilot here, and that became blatantly obvious as he matched Gucci roll for roll, the lock never broken, the target his for the taking.
“Nice fucking try,” Solo called out as though they could actually hear him, and when Gucci took a ninety-degree angle and pushed the engines just about as hard as they could go, Solo was right there on the vertical.
My pulse raced, my heart thundered, but instead of feeling nauseated, I had the insane urge to hoot and holler on the comm, because hot damn, I felt unreal, this felt unreal, and when the mock missile engaged showing Gucci and Houdini to be blown clear out of the sky, I said, “Hell fucking yeah.”
As Gucci’s plane arced over and headed down to level off, Solo laughed and did the same, pulling in beside him so he could give his friend the bird. As Gucci and Houdini pulled off to head back to base, Solo came over the comm.
“How you feeling back there?”
I couldn’t lie even if I’d wanted to. “Fucking amazing.”
“Oh yeah?”
The smile on my face was so ridiculous that I was glad for the mask I wore. “Yeah. That was—”
“The ride of your life?”
Arrogant. “Pretty damn close.”
Solo banked the plane to the right, heading back toward base. “Hmm. Stick with me and maybe I’ll get you there by tonight.”
For the first time since I’d been back in the cockpit, I felt my body fully relax as Solo began the descent, and just as he was about to land the plane and we would be surrounded by our fellow trainees, I said, “Or maybe tonight, I’ll give you the ride of your life.”
22 Solo
“NOW THIS IS what I’m talking about.” I stretched out on the reclining chaise that overlooked the pool, where our fellow trainees were taking a dip on what was a scorching day off. I’d just gotten out, and already the droplets of water along my skin were beginning to disappear, not that I minded. Heat seemed to be in my blood, like attracting like.
