53. Aiyana

Chapter fifty-three

Aiyana

" A lright, are you ready?" he asks me, his excitement bubbling over. That mother fucker blindfolded me when we got in the truck, saying it was a five-minute drive away and he didn't want to ruin the surprise. As annoyed as I acted, I actually really love surprises, so I'm stoked.

"Yes!" I shout. "I wanna know!" I tell him, and as I do, he cups the back of my head, bringing me in for a kiss that has me clenching my thighs with need. "Stop stalling. If your surprise sucks, I'm sure we'll still enjoy it." I laugh, joking with him.

"My surprise does not suck!" he chides adamantly as he pulls the blindfold away and reveals a wide-open field with a single white plane with silver lettering across the side. A stout man with a reddish beard and bald head stands by the plane, waving at us with a massive grin on his face. There's a small runway that the plane is seated on, and beside the man are three backpacks. My eyes swing from Kas to the man and back.

"Kas," I say apprehensively. "Are we…" I trail off, trying to wrap my mind around it.

"We are!" he says, gripping my hips and twirling me around. My hands shoot to his shoulders, holding on tight, and the laugh that bubbles out of me is one of pure, reckless abandon.

"I love it!" I gush, cheeks twitching from the huge smile I have plastered on my face. "This is perfect," I tell Kas before I leave him to run straight ahead toward the man still waving at us.

"Hey there, I'm Greg, and up there"—he points to the dark-haired man with the deepest shade of smooth brown skin I've ever seen, sitting in the pilot's seat—"is Aaron. He'll be your pilot, and I'll be jumping with you and Kas." He leans in, lowering his voice an octave so Kas can't hear from where he's standing, still several feet away, as he introduces himself to the pilot. "I don't know if Kas told you or not, but he's come three times a week to finish up his solo dive requirements so he could be the one holding you for your dive today." He smiles at me, all of his yellowed teeth on display in a full, genuine smile.

I shake my head, fighting the grin that's making its way onto my face. "I'm a lost cause," I mutter under my breath, begging myself to come up with another way to make this work, but I've been over it a hundred times. There is nothing I can do to explain the situation to Kas so he doesn't think this is unrequited on my end while also maintaining his relationship with my father.

I do my best to push the thoughts out of the forefront of my mind as he heads toward me, slinking an arm over my shoulder. "Ready to go?" he asks Greg, and when he nods, Kas turns to me. "You ready, little viper?"

I beam up at him, pushing all of my reservations about this out of the way.

I nod vigorously, then run toward the plane and up the step. I'm glad I had the running start because there aren't normal stairs like on a larger plane or a private one.

When Kas gets in, he's carrying both of our bags. "You forgot this," he says, smiling and shaking his head in a mock look of disapproval, but he looks younger and more vibrant in this moment than I've seen him in years. 1

Leaning across me, he grabs the seat belts and buckles me in, then reaches into his coat pocket and pulls out a beanie that he places on my head, tugging it down over my ears. Greg passes a pair of headphones to Kas, who places them on my head over the beanie, and once we're all secured with our equipment, we take off down the runway.

Most people would probably feel a little anxious doing something like this, especially not having had the chance to mentally prepare, but not me. I'm fucking thrilled.

My blood is practically singing with the adrenaline coursing through me, and the widest smile is spread across my face. I live for moments like this. Skydiving has been on my bucket list for so long that I've even taken the beginner's course for when I finally got the opportunity. But every time I've tried to go, either no one would go with me, or the one time I actually decided to go on my own, the weather conditions were too dangerous on the day I picked. Not today though. Today is perfect.

Aaron said the visibility is perfect, and the weather is a little warmer than it has been around this time in recent years. There's a little wind, but it's only three miles per hour, which is apparently low.

I'm practically vibrating with the thrill of finally getting to do this and with one of my favorite people on the planet.

Kas's hand reaches out to take mine, wrapping it in the warmth that I feel through our gloves. I squeeze his hand, grinning over at him, and his face lights up like the most magnificent fireworks display.

I can't help but tell him, so the next words gush out of my mouth in a loud shout. "You're beautiful!"

His brow quirks in confusion. "What?" he yells back at me, leaning closer, so I yell it again, louder this time, and his cheeks turn bright red as he averts his gaze toward our joined hands. He lifts them and presses a sweet kiss to my knuckles.

Greg interrupts to tell us we're almost at altitude, and I've never been more exhilarated in my entire life than I am at this moment, waiting to plunge back down to earth in Kas's warm embrace.

Greg makes his way to us, holding onto the bars overhead to steady himself. He helps us buckle in, double and triple-checking everything. Kas does his own checks over and over, ensuring we're safe before clipping me to him with the first carabiner. He sits on the edge of the plane with the door open, and Greg helps me balance as I make my way to him so we can finish connecting ourselves. When we're ready, I'm sitting in Kas's lap, my face frozen, a chill running through me despite the heat of his body pressed against my back. My hands are shaking from the cold but also from the endorphins.

I'm staring out over the clouds, the deep, dark abyss in front of me, city lights illuminating the ground below us, and the field we're meant to land in is in the distance. My heart is pounding out of my chest as Kas clutches me so tightly to him that I can barely breathe, and the smile spreading my cheeks is so wide that I'm afraid my gums will dry out from the lack of saliva.

When Greg tells us we're all clear to jump, Kas's arms sweep over my own before winding back around my waist, holding me impossibly close, and before we jump, he says into my ear, "Fall with me, Aiyana." 2

And I do.

Our bodies fall forward, wind whipping around us as we careen closer and closer to the ground. We're screaming with complete, unadulterated fucking joy. My heart feels like it's been whipped around, rushing to my toes and back up to my throat, my head dizzy with glee.

I turn my head toward him, and his lips swipe along mine in the most dizzying kiss before breaking free and pointing ahead of us. "Look over there, baby." More chills skate down my spine at his words. "It's all for you," he says, pressing another kiss to the side of my neck. Suddenly, I'm falling, hard and fast and with no end in sight because Kassian Aurelio Narvaez is the sweetest man alive, and I am so madly in love with him that when the fireworks go off in an incredible display of color, I'm ruined. No one will ever be enough. No one besides Kas.

I reach my hands behind me, clasping them behind his neck as he laughs, no, fucking giggles into my ear, hundreds of fireworks lighting up the night sky. Every shade of red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple, gold, silver, and everything beyond and between is displayed in front of us. As if skydiving weren't enough of a thrill, I get my own personal fireworks display as I fall. I fall so hard, deeply, madly in love with this man, and not for the first time.

My heart cracks wide open, and the contents feel like they're spilling out as my body shakes with all of the emotions. And when it ends and he takes my hand in his, we pull the parachute together. In this moment, it feels like calling a truce. Like pulling this parachute is our agreement to be a safety net for the other, whenever needed.

I may not be a lot. I may not be able to give Kas what he wants and desperately deserves, but I can give him this. I can be the safe haven he's always been for me until someone else comes along to do a better job than I ever could.

1. Moment – Victoria Monét

2. SLOW DANCING IN THE DARK – Joji