Page 6 of First Kiss
I was intrigued—and I couldn’t hide the grin that was trying to form on the corner of my lips. Stacy’s message played in my head. I did like Bradley—and if he wanted to kiss me bad enough to take me across the United States to make sure it was perfect, then it was hard to resist that kind of invitation. The limousine didn’t head to the airport. It led down a long stretch of highway, and a sign we passed said Remington Airport was ahead.
“You have your own airport.”I looked over at him in shock.
“It’s necessary.” He chuckled. “You’ll see why in a couple of minutes.”
We turned into a small parking lot, and Bradley pulled out his cell phone. A few seconds later, all of the lights came on, and I saw a large hanger ahead of us. Large metal doors opened when we approached, and I could see dozens of jets lined up inside of the building. They looked like the kind of planes that the military would use.
“I’ve never flownin anything like that before.” I blinked in surprise as the limousine came to a stop.
“Does flying make you nervous?” Bradley stepped out of the limousine and extended his hand.
“A little…” I nodded in confirmation. “Especially if it gets bumpy.”
“There will be one bump.” He chuckled and led me towards the hanger. “But that’ll just be us breaking the sound barrier.”
“Seriously?” I felt my stomach twisting into a knot. “I don’t know if I should do this…”
“It’ll be fine. I fly these jets all the time, and I’ve never crashed a single one of them.” He rolled a set of stairs over that lined up with the cockpit. “After you.”
This seems like a terrible idea—but Stacy did say to go for it. I bet none of the girls in my sorority have ever flown in a jet before…
My stomach twisted into a bigger knot as I started up the stairs and looked down into the cockpit. It was only big enough for two people, and I would be sitting directly behind Bradley. I wouldn’t even be able to grab his hand if I got nervous. I took a deep breath, tried to let go of my inhibitions, and stepped into the cockpit.
And I thought getting kissed at midnight was the most nerve-racking thing that could happen to me tonight.
“Okay, let’s get ready for takeoff.” Bradley climbed into the front of the cockpit and hit a button to make the controls light up. “You should fasten your seatbelt—or in this case, your harness.”
Bradley turned around to make sure that I was securely fastened into the harness and handed me a helmet that had a mask attached to the front. It was a good thing I didn’t do anything special with my hair. I slid the helmet on, Bradley adjusted my mask, and then he turned back towards the controls. The glass above us started to close, and I felt my stomach trying to do flips.
“Can you hear me okay?” Bradley’s voice echoed in my ears, and I realized that the helmet had speakers built into it.
“Yeah, I can.” I nodded.
“Okay, here we go.” Bradley chuckled, and the jet started to move.
Ready or not…
There was a part of me that wanted to beg him to stop, jump out of the cockpit, and run back to the limousine. That option evaporated as the jet picked up speed. It wasn’t like being on an airplane where I got to see a long stretch of runway. The plane accelerated fast, and then I felt it start to lift off the ground. I closed my eyes, tried to control my breathing, and dug my nails into the harness.
“Don’t worry. We’ll be there before you know it.” Bradley’s voice echoed in my ears again.
The jet zoomed into the air, and my head started to spin. I slowly cracked an eyelid and watched the city disappear. I had no idea how fast we were going, but it looked like the entire world was zipping by in an instant. The jet still seemed to be picking up speed, and the engine was getting louder, even with the headphones that were built into the helmet canceling most of the noise.
“You’re going to feel a bump—and hear a noise in a minute, but I need to make a quick call.” Bradley hit a couple of buttons, and I heard ringing.
“Okay…”I held my breath and swallowed hard.
“General Briggs?” Bradley exhaled sharply. “You’re going to get reports of a sonic boom somewhere around Grand Rapids. That’s just me—testing our your new jet.”
“You can’t break the sound barrier over land!” The voice on the other end of the phone sounded very distressed.
“I thought that’s what you wanted me to do.” Bradley chuckled. “Trust me, it won’t be that bad—and after I make this flight, your new jet will be fully tested.”
“Fine…” The voice on the other end growled. “Let me call the President.”
“Too late… Just make sure none of your guys shoot me down.” Bradley hit a button and ended the call—a second later there was a sound that could only be described as an explosion all around us.
Shoot us down!?
