Page 43 of The Best Worst Mistake
“A dance?” I ask, narrowing my eyes, grateful for the light distraction as Jett draws closer. “Not happening.”
“Not here, but in Spain, maybe,” he says, rubbing his chin thoughtfully. “Or Italy. My choice.”
“You want me to dance with you in Spain or Italy if I refuse to jump out first once we get up there?”
I watch the pilot climb into the cockpit. He starts pressing random buttons, then clips himself in.
Okay, deep breaths, Jules. This is happening.
“Absolutely,” Silas says, throwing an arm around my shoulder while we wait our turn to climb in next. I wiggle out from under his arm, but he doesn’t seem to care. He’s too busy grinning at Ethan, who has a harness strapped to the front of him with an attachment for Silas’ harness to get clipped in over his front. Jett has the same contraption strapped across his body, and suddenly, despite Silas’ best attempts at distracting me, everything feels far too real right now.
We’re about to get into this plane, but we won’t be landing in this plane, just like Grant said in his letter. That is, if I can force myself to jump out of it before it comes back down.
“Okay,” I say. My entire body begins shaking as the next chain of events draws me in. “If we make it out of this alive, I’ll dance with you in Spain. Do you hear that, God? I’ll dance with him in Spain!” I shout up to the sky dramatically.
Silas’ face morphs while he watches me, now beaming.
Ethan attempts to clip Silas into his harness while Silas does a little makeshift salsa, swinging his hips back and forth with hiseyes still glued to mine. Ethan eventually tries scolding him to stand still.
Which, of course, doesn’t work.
I find myself watching Silas do a ridiculous hip-swinging dance while Ethan chases his shoulder clips. A billionaire being scolded by an older man in a jumpsuit while attempting to salsa dance on a tarmac. The whole thing is such an out-of-body experience that, before I know it, my crooked smile turns into a real laugh.
Silas maintains his grin, mouthing idiotic things about dancing with me until I feel a little tug at the back of my shoulder blades.
I turn.
I’m strapped into Jett’s harness.
Silas distracted me through the whole thing.
It’s happening.
He beams at me triumphantly while I start mouthing my own mindless threats back at him.
I better not die today, you asshole.
I don’t know how you talked me into this.
Is dancing in Spain really worth all this?
But something flashes in his eyes that makes me think that, to him, it really is.
The stakes we’ve set feel like a nervous end-of-life type of promise, like I’m not going to have to dance with Si because I’m not actually going to survive this. My breath starts to pick up speed as I climb into the plane with Jett tethered on behind me.
“Atta girl,” Silas calls out, grinning from ear to ear.
A moment later, the four of us awkwardly manage to sit on the floor of the plane. Then, before I can comprehend what’s happening, the heavy metal door slides shut, latching us all inside.
Chapter 17
Everything starts happening too quickly for my comfort.
The plane door latches shut.
I’m sandwiched in between Jett’s knees on the floor of the plane, both of us sitting near the door. Silas is sitting between Ethan’s knees right next to me, and their long legs are sprawled out in front of them on either side of us with the side of Silas’ body pressed into mine. It’s cramped in here, and despite everything that’s happened between us, I’m thankful to feel him beside me. Some familiarity in a moment filled with heart-pumping adrenaline and the real possibility of sudden death just minutes away.
The back of the pilot’s head is directly in front of me. His hands fly over a dashboard of foreign instruments, flipping switches at random, and adjusting his headphones, then his mouthpiece. I’ve never seen the view out of a plane windshield while taking off, and, if I’m being honest, I’m not entirely sure that I want to. I prefer to be in the back with my eyes closed, praying as hard as I can.
