Chapter 23
Falling
Kate felt her life flash before her eyes.
Surely this was some kind of twisted joke. Trevor couldn’t honestly expect her to jump out of a moving plane. He was taking his mind games to a whole new level. This wasn’t just toying with her, this was downright torture.
‘No, no, no, no, no,’ Kate said, distraught.
‘I think the word you’re looking for is yes,’ Trevor said.
‘Absolutely not! This has to be a prank. There isn’t even any skydiving equipment around!’
‘Actually, there is,’ Michael said, opening up a crate that had previously been concealed.
‘I knew you’d never get on the plane if you saw all the gear,’ Trevor said.
‘Wait a minute,’ Natalie said as she turned towards Luke. ‘So you’re just here to be my instructor?’
‘Sorry,’ Luke shrugged.
‘I trusted you!’ Natalie snapped. ‘Are you even a Pisces?’
‘Yes.’
‘Hmm, with a Scorpio moon, no doubt!’
‘This is not happening!’ Kate snapped. ‘We have been lured up here under false pretences and I demand to be taken back.’
‘Well, our captain is flying north to Utah so unless you’re heading up, the only way out is down,’ Trevor explained.
‘I’ll do it,’ Chloe said.
‘What? This is really good content!’ Chloe said, defensively.
‘I’ll do it too,’ Siobhan said. ‘Having Michael strapped behind me doesn’t sound like the worst thing in the world.’ She threw Michael a flirtatious look which he immediately returned.
‘I’ll agree to jump too but I want William as my instructor. I could never trust Luke again after his betrayal,’ Natalie sulked.
‘Okay so it’s settled then,’ Trevor said. ‘Let’s all suit up.’
‘Excuse me?’ Kate said, waving her hand in the air. ‘I haven’t agreed to any of this!’
‘Aww, that’s a shame. On the plus side, I hear Utah is lovely this time of year. Make sure to send us a postcard.’
Kate was flustered with fury. She was afraid of heights, and he knew that. Who did Trevor think he was to force her so far out of her comfort zone? It was such a classic him thing to do. Getting on a rollercoaster was one thing, jumping out of a plane was another! But then again, what choice did she have? It was bad enough to be stuck in Vegas three days before her wedding, but being stuck in Utah would be a whole lot worse considering she had no idea where it was.
She reminded herself that this was the final date. This was the last torturous trick Trevor had up his sleeve. If she could get through this, she’d be rid of him.
‘FINE!’ she conceded.
After spending about twenty minutes getting into their gear and listening to the tutorial, the girls were just about ready to go.
‘You’re going to be falling at rapid speeds so please try and stay calm while in the air,’ Michael instructed. ‘And remember what I said about breathing. Nice deep breaths in . . . and out.’
‘I’m loving this jumpsuit, to be honest,’ Chloe said, looking down at her outfit. ‘Wait! Is that why they call it a jumpsuit? Because it’s a suit you jump in?’
‘I guess so . . .’
‘I feel like it’s missing something though,’ Chloe said, thinking of accessories. ‘Can I belt it?’
‘No you cannot,’ Michael said. ‘Now, any volunteers to go first?’
‘I will,’ Siobhan said. ‘If the parachutes don’t work, you can all just land on my arse.’
‘Aww, that’s so noble of you,’ Natalie said.
‘Siobhan, will you take my phone and record my landing?’ Chloe begged.
‘Ugh . . . fine,’ Siobhan said, taking the phone and zipping it into her jumpsuit pocket.
‘Actually, do a live stream on Insta instead of a video. I want my followers to see me landing in real time,’ Chloe said.
‘Alright, let’s go,’ Michael said, attaching himself to Siobhan.
‘Siobhan getting attached to a man? Has hell frozen over?’ Natalie slagged her.
‘Yep. And this pig is about to fly,’ she laughed.
The plane door opened and the air hit them like a train.
‘Oh my God!’ Kate said, losing her breath.
‘Aww, did I take your breath away?’ Trevor said.
‘I hate you.’
‘Hate’s a strong word.’
‘Not strong enough.’
Michael and Siobhan approached the open door and they both grabbed the railing.
‘Girls, if I die, don’t say any bullshit at my funeral about how I was such a good person or how my smile always lit up a room. Tell them I died how I lived. With a man on top of me,’ Siobhan said.
Michael let go of the railing and they jumped out of the plane.
‘AND BURY ME WITH MY VIBRATOR JUST IN CASE!’ Siobhan screamed as she fell thousands of feet.
‘WHICH ONE?’ Natalie shouted after her.
‘Chloe, we’re up,’ Luke said.
‘If Siobhan doesn’t get a good angle of me landing, I’ll kill her,’ Chloe said.
‘I hope you survive, Chloe,’ Natalie said. ‘Luke, I wish I could say the same for you.’
‘Well, don’t curse him! If he dies, so do I!’
‘Fine, I’ll hex him after you land.’
Luke let go of the railing and the two were suddenly gone.
‘Are you ready?’ William asked Natalie.
‘As I’ll ever be,’ Natalie sighed.
William let go of the railing and they followed the rest.
‘And then there were two,’ Trevor said.
‘Trevor, I can’t do this. I’m going to throw up again,’ Kate panicked.
‘No, you won’t. I promise. You just need to trust me.’
‘Absolutely not! You didn’t even get me a proper instructor!’
‘I have a skydiving licence. I do this once a month. You’re in good hands.’
‘But why are you doing this? Why are you torturing me?’
‘I’m not torturing you. I’m trying to show you how to live,’ Trevor said.
‘Live? What if we die?’ Kate said. Her heart was leaping out of her chest.
‘Oh, so you’d rather stay in your comfort zone for the rest of your life, never experiencing anything new?’
‘Yes! Exactly!’
‘Kate, everything you want in life is on the other side of fear. You have to take a leap of faith every now and then. You have to put it all on black thirteen.’
Kate remembered the feeling she experienced when she saw her number come up. But this was different. The stakes were a lot higher than a game of roulette. She wasn’t gambling with money.
She was gambling with her life.
‘If it makes you feel any better, the odds of dying in a skydive are .000002 per cent,’ Trevor said.
‘THAT HIGH?’ Kate freaked. She gripped the metal railing for dear life.
‘Okay, time to go or we’ll miss the view.’
‘I can’t do it, Trevor,’ she said, gripping the bar even tighter.
‘You have to let go, Kate.’
‘No, I don’t!’
‘I’m going to count down from three,’ Trevor said. ‘Three . . .’
‘Trevor, I really . . .’
‘Two . . .’
‘I can’t do this!’
‘ONE!’
Kate closed her eyes. And then, she did the impossible.
She let go.
‘AAAHHHHHH!’ Kate shrieked as they jumped out of the plane and began to plummet.
She lost her breath immediately and the sensation was horrific. She felt like she was suffocating. It was ten times worse than the feeling she had experienced on the rollercoaster.
‘KATE,’ Trevor shouted over the sound of the wind. ‘JUST BREATHE IN . . .’
Kate tried to calm her nerves and just concentrate on taking a breath. But she felt like she had absolutely no control of the situation whatsoever. Freefalling helplessly? It was hell on earth. But she reminded herself that after a few seconds on the rollercoaster, she began to enjoy the feeling. Maybe the same would happen here. She focused her mind and took a breath in through her nose.
‘AND EXHALE,’ Trevor said.
Kate let the air out of her lungs and felt like she had taken back control of her breathing. She opened her eyes to see the most stunning view she ever thought possible. The Grand Canyon stretched for miles, its copper majesty winding infinitely into the distance. The jagged contours and rugged gorges were mesmerizing, a masterpiece carved by nature’s hands.
It was quite literally breathtaking.
‘OH MY GOD,’ Kate shouted. ‘I’M FLYING!’
‘What did I tell ya?’ Trevor laughed. ‘Best way to see the canyon.’
‘It’s beautiful,’ she said. Her heart felt so full in that moment. Like anything was possible. If she could jump out of a plane, there was nothing she couldn’t do.
After a few more seconds of free falling, Trevor pulled the parachute open and they were rattled to a slower speed. She could appreciate the view even more as they came closer to the surface. Beneath her, the Canyon’s veins of copper and rust etched serpentine paths across the canvas of the earth, and she knew its beauty could only be fully comprehended from above. It was spectacular in every regard.
‘Trevor, this is amazing!’ Kate roared.
‘You might even say you’re . . . feeling the rush,’ he teased.
Although Trevor was being as obnoxious as ever, he was right. Kate had never felt anything like this before. It was a feeling of pure liberation. Sure, Trevor had forced her to go on this date and forced her to jump out of a plane, but despite being made to do it against her will, she had never felt more free in her life. Perhaps his push had been exactly what she needed.
When Siobhan landed on the ground with Michael, she felt completely exhilarated as well.
‘Jesus, that was almost as good as sex,’ she said.
‘Not bad, huh?’ Michael said as he disconnected from her.
‘I felt that stiffy against my back by the way,’ Siobhan laughed. ‘We’ll have to see to that later.’
Michael detached from her and she immediately took out Chloe’s phone to open Instagram. But the phone was asking for a passcode.
‘Oh shit,’ Siobhan panicked. Chloe hadn’t mentioned anything about a passcode. ‘Let’s see . . . 1111.’ Siobhan punched the code in and the phone unlocked. ‘Classic Chloe. Okay, Instagram Live . . . Begin livestream.’
Siobhan began to stream and saw a few people join to watch.
‘Hello, Chloe’s followers,’ Siobhan said. ‘We are coming to you live from the Grand Canyon, where Chloe is about to land after her first skydive.’ She switched to the back camera and aimed it towards the sky.
A few miles up, Chloe could be seen approaching the landing zone. But something wasn’t quite right. A massive wet patch all around her crotch could be seen in crystal-clear high definition, as drops of pee started raining from the sky.
‘Uh oh,’ Siobhan said. ‘Today’s forecast. Cloudy with a chance of golden showers!’
Chloe was coming in hot, and she screamed as she and Luke landed on the ground. When she took off her goggles, she looked disturbed by the experience. Urine had soaked through her entire jumpsuit and the pee stretched from her navel to her knees.
‘I PISSED MYSELF!’ Chloe said, distraught.
She clutched her stomach and it was obvious what was going to happen next. Chloe got sick all over the ground as her followers watched on her live stream. As if the pee wasn’t bad enough, she was now covered in puke as well.
‘TURN IT OFF!’ she screamed at the top of her lungs.
‘Over to Ed with sports!’ Siobhan said as she ended the live stream.
Natalie landed safely to their left and seemed to enjoy the experience. ‘That was actually fun!’ she said. But when she took off her goggles, she saw Chloe’s wet patch and couldn’t stop herself from laughing. ‘Oh, Chloe, no!’
‘It’s not funny! I’m drenched in piss!’ Chloe cried.
‘That makes two of us,’ Luke sighed, having also gotten soaked.
‘It’s what you deserve, Luke!’ Natalie snapped.
Kate and Trevor swung into the landing zone and hit the ground gracefully. ‘Oh my God, girls! Is everyone alright?’ she shouted over to them.
‘Chloe pissed herself,’ Siobhan laughed.
‘SHUT UP, SIOBHAN!’ Chloe screamed.
‘Oh, Chloe, are you okay?’ Kate asked, concerned.
‘I’m humiliated. Siobhan livestreamed the whole thing!’
‘Because you begged me to! Jesus, I can’t catch a break,’ Siobhan sighed.
‘Alright, ladies, I say we get some photos over by the canyon,’ Trevor said.
‘I don’t want ANY photos ever again!’ Chloe sulked.
‘Fair enough,’ Trevor laughed. ‘But I booked a chopper to take us back and it won’t be here for twenty minutes. Might as well see the view.’
The group walked towards the canyon and broke off into their pairs. Although Chloe had peed all over him, Luke stayed with her in fear that Natalie would push him off the cliff.
When Kate arrived at the edge, she was struck by the canyon’s magnificence. As she looked down into the chasm below, she realized her fear of heights had suddenly disappeared. It was the way she used to feel beside Trevor on rollercoasters and in the passenger seat of his Mustang.
Fearless.
‘Beautiful, isn’t it?’ Trevor said.
‘It really is,’ she said, forgetting herself for a brief moment.
‘So, I’m getting good at planning these dates, am I?’ he smirked.
She turned to look at him.
It was the first time his smirk didn’t annoy her and it was the first time in nine years she didn’t hate him. She felt her heart beat throughout her body. It could have been the adrenaline still pumping through her veins, but Kate knew that wasn’t entirely it. All the things that infuriated her about him were suddenly the things she liked the most. His confidence, his charm, his downright brazenness. It was suddenly so easy to remember why she fell in love with him in the first place.
But, nevertheless, she turned her head away.
She couldn’t let the nostalgia of her bubbling emotions blind her. His betrayal had cut too deep. His cheating had irrevocably changed her as a person. The dagger he had unknowingly lodged in her heart was no longer there.
But its scar would always remain.
And seeing him with Viola on Instagram had reminded her of the pain she felt. But that was part and parcel of Trevor’s life as a hotshot DJ. Of course he would be seeing beautiful women. Women infinitely more beautiful than Kate.
She couldn’t compete with the Violas of the world.
She was a nobody.
A life with Trevor was amazing in theory, but what about in practice? Sleepless nights wondering if he was at a party full of models. Constant anxiety wondering if he was on a yacht with influencers or a skyscraper with Hollywood starlets. She wasn’t necessarily a jealous person, but her self-esteem wasn’t strong enough to live in Trevor’s world. If he had cheated before, he could cheat again. He had the capacity for deception. She would for ever live in fear of another betrayal.
How could she ever trust the man who had broken her heart?
Norman was the only man she had learned to trust after the damage Trevor had done. He was safe. He was secure. Sure, maybe she was settling a little bit but that’s what normal people did. There was nothing wrong with a normal life. There was nothing wrong with not wanting to be hurt. It was Trevor who had destroyed her. Norman was there when she felt like an ugly, talentless failure. Even if he didn’t fulfil all her emotional needs, there was a lot to be said for loyalty. And no matter what feelings for Trevor came bubbling up, nothing would change what he had done.
She couldn’t betray her man for the man who betrayed her.
‘Penny for your thoughts?’ Trevor said, sensing her contemplation.
‘My thoughts are worth far more than that,’ she said, returning to their tit-for-tat antics.
‘Indeed they are. I’d give every penny I own for a peek inside that head of yours.’
‘Well, too bad it’s the end of the final date.’
Kate felt an unexpected pang as the words left her mouth. Because she didn’t want the date to end. She wanted this moment to last for ever. If she could have stayed here, without any responsibilities or consequences, she would have.
But this wasn’t real life. It was a fantasy. Her reality was back home.
‘Oh, Freckles,’ Trevor smirked. ‘The final date is just beginning.’