“Yes. For example, how a woman as daring and exciting as you, one who swims toward sharks, can be so uptight about my maneuvers. Someone who herself flies just as carefree and, dare I say, reckless?” He nodded, obviously just getting started. “Who takes unknown horses over jumps without a single bit of preparation. Reckless.”
“We need a different word.”
“Yeah. Awesome. That’s what it is. When I do it.”
“Fair enough.”
“But you. You . . .”
“There’s more. Have you ever heard of Alec Halstead?”
He started to shake his head, but then she added, “Venom.”
His eyes bulged. “Halstead.”
“He was my brother.”
His hand went to his forehead. “Of all the things to not know. Does Ace know?”
“Yes, and Amanda.”
“But not me.”
“I try to hide it from most people.”
“And I’m most people.”
“You were, yes.”
He seemed to sit up a little taller. “But not anymore?”
“I don’t know, Colton. I’m freaking out about having to fly again. I don’t want to spin into this fear cycle. It took me six months to get out of it.” She gripped his sleeves. “Help.”
“Hey. I’m here. We’re not gonna let that happen to you. Because look at me.”
She lifted her lashes.
“I’m gonna be there. I’m gonna take care of you. And someone needs to talk the other pilots down. We’ve got a few freaking out up there, and I need you. I need your voice, your experience. Come on, Ivy. You and I can do anything up there. Trust me.”
She sucked in a breath. And that was the crux of it. Did she trust him? His eyes begged her to give him a shot. His hand laced his fingers with hers. But he didn’t say anything more. And maybe it was his patience that did it, but as she searched his face, she knew she wanted to trust him. She stared deeply into his eyes, and then her gaze moved down his face to his lips. Before she could think of anything else, she was clinging to him, her arm flung around his neck, her lips covering his in a desperate plea. A plea that turned into confidence almost immediately. A deep core of warmth and peace filled her just as a new crazy desire raced through her blood, and the combination was intoxicating, as high as anything she’d ever felt, as adrenaline-pounding as the craziest stunt. She was in love with Colton Bushman, and she trusted him.
Her mouth stretched into a smile. And she nodded. “I trust you.” She smiled through new misty eyes. “I totally trust you. You. Colton. Flyboy, the fastest pilot anyone’s heard of, the guy crazy enough to do the things you’ve done, and I trust you.”
He pressed his lips to hers one more time, a kiss filled with promise, and then he stood. “Good, because we have a plane to fly.”
His hand that held hers was solid, sure, and she knew that together, she felt strong. Together, she’d even approached a shark. Together she would be able to face her old fear again and go up in the air. She’d gone up with him once before. That helped. This new trust would get her through.
Chapter 17
Colton still wasn’t completely sure what went down with Ivy in the hall, but he knew he would trust her, just like she’d said she trusted him. He was going to trust that she would pull through whatever demons were after her. Had her news surprised him? Shocked him, more like.
Guido. She had been up with the idiot Guido. This should have been in her file. Maybe it was. For everyone but him to see.
And Venom. He whistled. Venom. That guy was infamous. Colton had a secret respect for the dude; it took a lot of nerve to do what he did. Dumb nerve, but nerve.
He tried not to look at Ivy with new eyes, but he couldn’t help it. She had fire burning through her. He knew that from her kisses. His own blood sizzled just thinking about her. But it was a different kind of fire. A different spark.
They went through inspections. Tested their instruments. And then climbed up into the plane.
“We have to shoot them down.” Colton adjusted their instruments.
“I thought you said they need some help.”
“This is what they need the most.”
“Okay.” Her voice sounded weak, tentative.
He counted to three, knowing what she was thinking. Then she said, “But I think it might be better if they feel successful.”
“Not these guys. They think they already know everything, and they have a chip on their shoulders about the women in the group.” He rotated his shoulders. “One of them was making some comments. Made our women pilots uncomfortable.”
“They reported him?” Ivy was silent long enough Colton guessed she was fuming. “Let’s shoot them down as fast as anyone’s ever been shot down. What’s the record?”
He chuckled. “That’s the spirit. But now, humor me a little bit. We’ve got to toy with them first.”
Her frustrated sigh while he finished running the inside pre-flight inspection made him smile. In truth, he wanted these two pilots to succeed. They were by far the best pilots of their group, but they had a few lessons to learn before they would be well and truly safe. Before their county could trust them to fly their most expensive assets.
And he wanted them to learn these lessons today before they went any further.
They burst into the sky. As soon as he saw blue all around him, his life shifted, and more started to make sense. Ivy. He liked her there with him. He should just tell her that. His eyes lifted to their monitors. She was watching him.
He pulled off his mask and smiled. “I like you here.”
“Here, here?”
“Yeah, flying with me. Anything with me, actually.”
“I like me here too.”
He nodded.
His instrument dial beeped. Someone had their guns aimed and locked on target.
“Oh, no, you don’t.” He dove. “Ivy, things are going to get a little reckless.”
“Oh, stop. That’s not reckless. That’s child’s play.”
“Right on. Do I have your permission to show these two what real flying looks like?”
“Yes, you do. Now, go get them.”
“Whoohoo!” He dove the other direction, spun in the air, pushed on the air brakes, dropped behind the other plane, put them in his sights, and shot a pretend missile.
He let what had just happened to them sink in, and then he turned on the radio. “Thank you, Firebrand and Burger. Send up the next two.”
As soon as his radio was off, Ivy called out, “How fast was that?”
“I don’t even know. That was way too close, though. We can’t let them catch us off-guard again.” He eyed her in the monitor. “Can’t blame a guy. When a hot girl just admitted she wants to spend time with me, I got a little distracted.”
They flew the rest of the day, taking down one pilot after another as fast as they possibly could.
“Oh, boy. This is going to be one rough day for these pilots.”
They made their way back to the classroom. “I think I’m going to leave this to you.” Colton held out his fist for her to bump.
“Why me?”
“You know what they did wrong. You know how we exploited it. I want you to drill into them that mistakes happen, but some mistakes are dumber than others.”
She nodded. “I can do that.”
“Excellent. Then I’m going to come in and drill it in them again.”
They did just as he suggested. And it took more out of Ivy than she thought it would. She’d gone to great lengths to show each pilot specifically what he needed to improve upon, and in some cases, it didn’t go down as well as she would like, so it had taken more energy. But by the time she and Colton were both done with them, each pilot had had a harsh reality lesson and, at the same time, hope for their future flying ability.
The next morning, Colton watched Ivy run out the front door with air pods in her ears and wearing running shorts. Something about that sight, watching her check her
watch and move off into the misty morning, solidified a couple of things in his mind. One being that he knew he wanted Ivy in his life. What he’d said up in the plane, he’d meant it. He liked Ivy with him. He wanted her in his life. Always? Maybe. That thought floored him. He’d never once wanted a woman in his life forever.
Omar knocked on his bedroom door. “Hey, man. You got a minute?”
“Sure thing.”
When Omar closed the door behind him, Colton’s interest piqued. “What’s on your mind?”
“It’s the guys.”
“Who?”
“Antonio, Burger, Firebrand, Ferdinand, all of them. They aren’t sure we’re giving them what we said we would.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Colton didn’t like the sound of that.
“Don’t get all up in arms with me. I’m just passing along something I’m noticing. They’re all complaining that most of this stuff they could learn anywhere and that they already learned it from their own government.”
“Brazil has a pilot training program?”
“An in-classroom with some time in a jet. Similar to what we’re doing.”
“Do you agree with them?”
“No. But here’s where I think it’s coming from. You guys sell this training as out of the box, as touting real flight experience. You have a reputation. When Flyboy is coming, there’s a certain expectation.”
Colton started to bristle. He tried to keep his face passive. He needed to understand where the disappointment was coming from, and if he got all defensive, Omar might shut down or temper his comments.
“I mean, you haven’t even done the move yet.”
He looked away. He’d been flying carefully. He told himself he was doing what he would do no matter what, that the pilots weren’t ready to be trying anything more advanced, but he knew he’d just been altering his behavior because Ivy was watching. He could just imagine her reaction if he were to invert a plane for no other reason except to show off to the pilots. But it wouldn’t be just to do that. He’d always told himself and anyone else who cared to listen that understanding those more advanced maneuvers could save your life someday. And Omar had a point, he was doing everyone a disservice by not including at least a demonstration by now in their training.
“What do you think I should do?”
Omar eyed him for a moment. “Don’t fly with Ivy in your head.”
Colton grunted. How was that even possible? She was always in his head. But especially when he flew. It was her letter about him. And then they’d talked about it. He realized he’d been holding back when he flew, knowing he’d see her as soon as he stepped back into the classroom. And that meant he had not included anything that he would normally have by now: some of his more advanced flying that Ivy might consider dangerous.
“You want to go up with me tomorrow?”
“Yep.” Omar grinned. “You gonna do the move?”
“Sounds like I have to.”
“All right! I can’t wait to hear them talk about it after. They’re going to die, plain and simple. It’s one thing to hear about the move, but seeing it, even on a radar monitor, that’ll shut their mouths, that’s for sure.”
“You did great telling me. Thanks.”
They bumped fists, and Omar left.
Colton was left wondering how he could send Ivy on some errand into town tomorrow, anywhere she wouldn’t see him doing the same moves that her brother and Guido had been guilty of. Colton sat in the nearest chair. What was the difference between him and Alec? Besides the fact that Alec had messed up and the plane had gone into a tailspin, Colton hoped his own actions had been more merited. He hoped that he had flown the way he did at times with good reason, that he was the hero his medals said he was. But a part of him knew that he loved to see what the planes could do. Did he choose to use more reckless maneuvers when other ones would work fine or even better? Who knows? But one thing was certain. If he didn’t start delivering on some of the instructions for these more challenging options, Ace was going to start hearing some of the complaints Omar got. And maybe not just Ace. Word of mouth was everything in this business.
Besides all that, Colton hated letting them down. What were they saying? That he wasn’t all that they’d heard? That he flew scared? He shook his head. He’d stop that talk right in its tracks before it could go anywhere else.
And then hope that Ivy understood it needed to be done.
Chapter 18
Ivy watched Omar and Colton leave together with helmets on their hips. And she tried not to feel like she’d been replaced. Of course Omar would get to fly with Colton sometimes too. She’d just come to think of herself as his co-pilot. They were to watch the flight patterns and activity today. Colton wanted them to analyze what was happening in the air.
They turned on the monitors on the far wall. A large screen lit. When Colton’s face filled one half of it, she could only laugh at his expression.
The classroom quieted when Colton turned on his radio. “Hello, pilots. We are going to have some real dogfight action this morning. But unlike other in-flight training, these guys are going to stay in the air even if we get a tone.”
“So they’re gonna get hit over and over and over.” Antonio laughed, and the rest of the class joined in.
“If you pay attention, you just might be able to get a tone on us after we’re through here.” Ivy sat, facing the screens. It would be tougher for them with only the two planes, but it was possible. Especially after she and Omar and Colton left. They could work on the things they’d been taught, every day if they wanted.
They’d been flying for five minutes, Ivy explaining all the different things Colton was doing to evade Antonio. The more Ivy talked about him, pointing out his moves, the greater respect she had for him. “See that last move? He could have chosen any number of things to use to get away, but he chose the simplest, the safest.”
Two of the pilots rolled their eyes.
“Do you have a problem with safe and simple?”
“No, ma’am.” His words said one thing, but his smirk said something else entirely.
And for the first time since her flight with Guido, she was mildly tempted to show off a little. How easy it would be to put this pilot in his place. But she shook her head. “Look, Firebrand. Something we hope you learn with us is that there is a time and place for the more advanced moves. But if a simple one will suffice, then that is the better choice.”
Colton’s voice came on. Ivy turned up the volume. “So now you have probably heard us say that there is a time and place for the more advanced moves. Today is that time and place.”
The pilots clapped. “About time.” One of them held up his phone.
“No recording, please.” Ivy waved at his device.
He grumbled but put his phone back in his pocket.
The other plane came closer to Colton than was necessary, and Ivy cringed. But Colton responded immediately, of course. His reflexes were lightning fast. They dove away, with a triple sideways spin.
The pilots all around her cheered.
Then Colton took the plane straight up into the sky, something she herself had done their first day flying in Brazil. He continued his evasive techniques, getting tone over and over again on the other plane.
“Come on, boys. Let me see what you’ve got. See if you can shoot down the Fly.”
Ivy found herself half rooting for Colton and half for the other pilots. Usually, by the end of their training, at least one of the pilots could beat them in a dogfight. She thought it evidence of a truly superior program, and she was proud of that. But something about Colton’s challenge didn’t sit well, and Ivy hoped that it wouldn’t happen today.
Then the other pilots did one of Colton’s signature moves, his forward roll, but they weren’t able to pull out of it as quickly, and they free fell in a spin for a moment longer than they should have.
Ivy sucked in her breath. “Pull out, Antonio. Pull out.”
&n
bsp; They did, but the room went quiet.
“That’s very lucky.” Ivy indicated Antonio’s image and his heavy breathing from the sound.
“That was something, Antonio.” Colton pulled up beside him. Ivy could see his plane next to Antonio’s in the air. “Maybe you were trying something like this?”
“No,” Ivy murmured under her breath.
But Colton dove and completed the same forward spin, whipping his plane behind theirs and getting tone.
“That was not necessary,” Ivy began.
But Colton’s voice interrupted. “Not necessary but fun.” He laughed. “And one day, it could very well be the most necessary thing you ever do.” He twisted off to the side. “Here’s another unnecessary move that could save your life.”
Ivy couldn’t tell what he was doing exactly at first, but as the plane rolled, she was back with Guido, and then she was flying with her brother like she had wished for so many years. “What are you doing, Flyboy?”
He didn’t answer. He spun again and then Omar’s voice—“Pull up, Colton. We’re gonna be too low.”—dried her throat out to one big desert. She cleared her throat.
“Pull up, Fly. Pull up.” In her mind, Alec was pilot, and then Colton, then Guido. And she felt sick with dread. “No.”
But the plane started spiraling out of control. She saw nothing else around her. Every part of her brother’s death replayed in her mind as she watched Flyboy perform the same maneuver. Would she lose them both right now? For a dumb show-off maneuvering?
Right as they entered the height from which they could not return, Colton somehow managed to get control and sent his plane back up to previous height.
The classroom broke out into cheering.
Flyboy’s voice and his salute brought out more cheers. “Let’s take her down, gentlemen.”
The pilots ran out the door and down to the hangar. They cheered Colton and Omar all the way back to the classroom. Ivy didn’t know how to feel. Except betrayed. Somehow, after telling Colton about the two ghosts of her past, she thought that he’d learned something from them. That out of respect for her feelings, he’d stay away from the very thing that had killed her brother.
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