Page 73 of Wild Love

"How soon?" one of the parents asked without looking up from his phone.

"Now."

There was a flurry of activity until we could get the kids in their coats and out the door. When the last one walked out and the door was locked behind us, Marigold gripped my arm, practically dragging me down the sidewalk to her car. "We don't have much time."

"I can't believe you let Chance go."

"Me?" Marigold asked as her gaze flitted from the road to me. "You're the one sleeping with Eli."

"How do you know?" I didn't think I'd mentioned it to her.

"It's obvious. The way you two look at each other. And not to mention the fact that you just admitted it."

I opened my mouth to protest, then closed it when I realized she was right. "You're obviously worried about Chance."

"I care about him just like you care about Eli. Chance is my friend and your brother."

I should have saidthe woman doth protest too much,but I couldn't talk around the fear that threatened to close my throat.

Marigold drove way too fast to the airstrip just outside of town. It was a small airport for private planes and helicopters. I knew Eli’s friend, Dax worked here but otherwise not much else. I hoped we got there in time to stop them.

Marigold parked and had barely thrown her vehicle into Park, before I was out the door and jogging toward the large building. I went through the open door and ran into someone.

"Whoa, there. This is private property. Where are you going in such a hurry?"

Marigold skidded to a stop beside me. "We're here to see Chance and the Wilde brothers. Are they here?"

"They just went up. I can take you to the spot where they're supposed to land. Give or take a few miles." Dax chuckled as he let me go.

I glared at him. "There's no way to stop them?"

Dax sobered and pointed at the poster that listed the adventures to be had at the airstrip. "Now why would I do that? They paid for an experience. That's what we do here."

"Because it's dangerous and not to mention stupid," Marigold continued, her voice high-pitched.

I was worried she was going to hyperventilate. "Can you take us to the landing spot now?”

"Yeah, sure." He went into his office and came out with a set of keys. We followed him to a jeep and climbed inside. "We take them up to ten thousand feet, and they step out."

"That's not helping my anxiety," Marigold said in the back, where she was rubbing her arms as if she was cold.

“You know these guys trained for this, right? They were waiting for Walker to be home so they could do it together.”Dax looked in the rearview mirror at her. "Which one are you worried about?"

Marigold opened her mouth once, twice, then finally said, "We're all friends."

"Sure you are. I get lots of panicked friends here." He put quotes around the wordfriends.

"We are just friends," I said, even though it didn't feel right. "Chance is my brother."

Dax glanced over at me. "He'll be fine. We know what we're doing."

"What if the parachute doesn't work?" Marigold asked, her voice quiet.

"There's a fail-safe."

At Marigold's furrowed brow, he continued, "A second parachute."

"What if that one doesn't work?" Her voice rose.

---