“Holy mother of God!” I stood in awe, gazing up into the pure cobalt sky at the bungee jump platform that seemed to be about ten miles up. Poised, serenely, in the vast expanse of blue, waiting calmly for us to take a leap and break the tranquillity with our screams.

“Do you have to blaspheme so much? It makes me uncomfortable,” Anna muttered as we passed through the ticket gate and began climbing the tower steps.

“Excuse me? Dear Lord, please don’t try and tell me you’re religious now?”

She stopped mid step to glare at me.

“Sorry, that one slipped out. I can’t help it, I’m excited!” I grinned.

“You know I’m not anymore, but I was still raised that way and it doesn’t sit right hearing it. And if my memory serves then you were raised that way, too. Heathen.” She stopped again but this time with a playful scolding look. We hadn’t known each other as children but had spent many college nights comparing stories from our past. Heathen. I liked that, it suited.

“Yes, well, it’s precisely that upbringing that makes it so much fun to rebel and cuss all I like. It’s a ‘stuff you in the face’ to all those that tried to make me behave like a lady. You should try it, it’s liberating. Now stop procrastinating and get up those steps, it’s too late to bottle it now.” I urged her onwards and upwards, just as a shrieking woman leaped and went down loudly, reaching a crescendo as she pinged back upwards.

Anna jumped and cursed at the noise. She was becoming more afraid by the minute. This might have been her idea, but it was a damned long way up to the top of those steps, even my heart was struggling.

She’d driven us off the island and into the heart of Texas to find the best jump — according to their website it was one of the biggest bungee towers in the state. The tower itself was on the edge of a large amusement park, the whir and hum of rollercoasters and rides drugging the air with excitement.

We managed to drag ourselves up early in the morning for the long drive, but the afternoon was still getting on by the time we’d arrived. I was relieved the place wasn’t too busy now that the main rush had passed. Patience and I don’t get along.

Hopefully this was just the distraction I needed after my run in with Captain Dickface yesterday, and the trauma of what went down. Danny would make me see a counsellor for it. Department rules. We all had to.

Like I needed another shrink in my life. I’d deal with it in my own way, just like everything else. This was no different. I’d seen death before. Even so, the smell still clung to my nostrils. I had a feeling it would stay that way for some time.

Panting hard, we finally arrived onto the platform, which crept out before us, beckoning down a long walk into nothingness. Just metal railings to our sides and the big open drop at the end. I wiped my clammy palms on my jeans and dared a look down at the dizzying drop. Anna clutched the rails when she did the same.

I smiled as the familiar thrill of adrenalin surged. I always hide inside adrenalin. One rush after another. Craving the power, the thrill, secluding myself in its embrace so as not to deal with reality, then crashing when it’s gone.

A small group of people had arrived far below and were paying for their jumps. My skin prickled as one of them caught my eye, staring up at me. But surely, it couldn’t be?

Dressed in jeans and a full leather jacket. He rarely wore his leathers, usually opting for shirts, with little regard for the loss of skin if he was to crash his motorcycle. It was swelteringly hot – an odd choice of day to choose different attire. Something else was different. I strained to see. It looked like he was wearing sunglasses. Nothing weird there I guess, it was a blinding day after all.

The hat. He was wearing a trilby hat, covering up his spiky hair. He never wore a hat.

“Anna, why is Zac dressed like that?” I asked.

“What?” she gasped, as she followed the line of my finger. She caught sight of him after a second of peering down and her mouth dropped. “Never mind his clothes, Jess! What about why on Earth is he even here? Did you invite him?!”

That was a good point. Why the hell was he here? We were hundreds of miles from South Padre. This took his stalking to a whole new level.

He stood motionless, giving me that hard glare that I alone seemed to elicit from him. This was not good. This was supposed to be a bonding day with Anna, since things had been tense after our beach confrontation. Now I had my nutjob stalker to deal with.

My delicious, mesmerizing, intriguing, sexy-as-sin stalker.

* * *

A young man in a bright blue Gravity Falls Bungee shirt stepped past us with a nod and wink, pulling me from the Zac-induced daze. Another man in the same work shirt stood at the end of the platform and ushered us over. He had an attractive, rugged outdoorsy look. Anna blushed as he eyed us up. I gave her yet another push forward.

“Be right with you,” the man smiled as he fiddled with the ropes and harness. “Need to make sure it’s safe.”

He looked us up and down several more times as he pulled at straps. Anna shuffled around on the spot, clearly unsure about whether it was best to go first and get it over with, or not. A tough decision – whether to take a terrifying, death-defying jump first, or put it off a moment longer, but have to hang out with this guy whilst waiting. He made the decision for her when he took my hand and pulled me forward.

His gaze settled on my tits as he strapped the harness around me, getting his body a little too close to mine. Just as I was trying to decide if he was actually sniffing me, with his nose up against my ear whilst reaching round to tighten a strap, there was a commotion far below and then a yell. Too loud, too close.

“Stop!” Zac’s voice boomed.

He got hold of the bungee guy by the neck and pushed him backwards along the platform, back towards the steps. I didn’t even know how Zac had got hold of him, since he’d been behind me with the straps just a second ago. Anna looked at me in a daze, her mouth flapping open and closed like a goldfish.

After several moments of my own stuttering, I managed to yell at Zac, who had now reached the steps and was saying something into Mr. Bungee’s ear.

“What the actual fuck, Zac?” were the best words I could manage.

Bungee man disappeared in a bright blue whoosh down the stairs. Zac stood silent, his back to us. His head dropped, his shoulders slumped, and he turned ever so slowly to face me. Still looking at his feet, he seemed to take a moment to brace himself before finding my gaze.

My mouth opened like Anna’s and I screwed up my face. More commotion and banging on the steps distracted us, then a furious man in yet another blue t-shirt appeared, with a badge that read ‘Manager – Simon Shivings’.

“Time to go,” Zac said calmly, removing my harness with ridiculous swiftness.

“Who exactly are you?” asked the red-faced, puffing man. The worker who had passed us on the steps when we arrived was hiding behind him.

Zac put out a hand to brush aside the Manager and pulled me along. I did my best to root my feet to the hard metal beneath them. I wanted answers, too.

He let out a long, impatient sigh, followed by a patronising smile.

“Well, Simon,” he said, tapping the Manager’s badge. “The bungee cord is not safe.”

“That’s absurd—” he began, as Zac grabbed the harness and waved a frayed and broken cord under his nose. It was only held together by a few strands, the rest all split and sticking out. There was no way it would have held.

“I… I… I…” Simon stammered, grabbing the cord and thrusting it at the employee behind him.

“That can’t be right,” he said. “I just did a safety check five minutes ago, right before I handed over to—” he looked around in confusion. “Where’d the other dude go?”

“Who?” Simon spat, his face swelling out in rage like a pufferfish.

“The new guy? The one you sent to cover me for my break? I left him here with these ladies.”

“Fuck me!” shouted Simon. “There is no new guy. Cancel all bookings for today. Get rid of that crowd down below. Miss—” he smiled grimly at me. “Would you please accompany me to the office?”

Zac gripped hard onto my hand and yanked me away. “No, she’s fine.”

“But Sir, I need to speak with the lady.”

“Fuck off,” he growled.

Simon had positioned himself in front of us, blocking the platform. My breath caught as I feared for him. It seemed like a really dumb thing to have put himself in our way. Instinct told me that it wouldn’t end pretty if he didn’t move. An instinct that comes from spending time with a cage fighter boyfriend.

Zac’s grip on my hand was now so tight that it hurt. I tried to wriggle free.

Simon put his hands up in front of him, like he was trying to calm a child, not the raging, psycho-stalker-crazy-man that I could see.

“One of us could have died,” Anna suddenly shrieked, breaking the stand-off. “We want compensation.”

“Of course. If you’ll just come with me I can sort that out for you. I’ll also need you to issue a statement to the police. There is clearly a dangerous person on the loose that I need to report. And then they’ll close us down for incompetency,” Simon said through gritted teeth to his employee, who had gone back into hiding behind him.

“No police,” Zac insisted. “I’ll see you in your office now.”

He released my hand and the blood rushed back to my fingers. Taking Simon’s shoulder, he urged him towards the steps and away. Simon didn’t resist, as soon as Zac touched him he just relented and went with him. I stood gawking at Anna, who was staring at the employee.

After our three-way stare out, he opened his mouth to speak but changed his mind, and we all walked back down the steps in silence.

By the time we reached the bottom the employee had gathered his wits and went into work mode, dealing with the throng of people all talking and shouting at him at the same time, waving their tickets around.

“You do realise how fucked up this is, Jess?” Anna’s face was drained completely white, maybe with a tinge of green. So much for her day out, our day of bonding and repairing relations.

Zac burst out the office door and headed straight to his motorcycle, which was parked in the distance, next to Anna’s car.

“We’re done here,” he said over his shoulder, in a tone that was clearly intended to demonstrate that he was not to be messed with.

Screw that, asswipe. I ran after him and tugged his jacket relentlessly until he stopped.

“We’re not leaving here until you give me answers,” I said, deliberately sitting myself down on the grass beside the path. Anna joined me in our little peaceful protest.

Shaking his head, he took his hat off to run a hand through his hair. He looked cute in the trilby, but I preferred him without it. He cocked his eyebrow at me and firmly pulled the hat back down on his head, then sat opposite us to receive his grilling.

Those honey-drenched amber eyes dared me to sink into them. I could melt and forget everything when he looked at me like that. He ran his tongue along his lips, so full and juicy next to his pale skin, which was only darkened by slight stubble.

“Jess!” Anna shouted, glaring at me. I don’t know how long I’d sat in silence staring at his beautiful face, but it suddenly felt like a long time.

“Right,” I coughed. “I don’t even know where to start, Zac. You followed me all the way out here? Do I need to tell you how creepy that is?” And kind of hot.

“I was concerned for your safety,” he shrugged. “Clearly it’s a good job I was.”

“How did you know the rope was damaged?” Anna joined in. “How could you have known that from all the way down at the bottom?”

“Yes, and in addition to that, how the hell did you get to the top so quick, and past the gates?” I asked.

He looked at us with pity, like we were poor imbeciles who had no idea about anything, before putting on a fake, patient voice. “Call it intuition,” he said to Anna, who immediately shook her head and replied with “Bullshit.”

I was impressed with her sudden confidence around him, she was usually flustered in his presence, but the adrenalin seemed to have changed her this time. God bless adrenalin. She should seek more of it, it suited her.

She shakily wiped at the sweat on her forehead and adjusted her glasses, while Zac just smiled at her, remarkably playfully for him. I think he liked her this way, too. The smile lingered on his lips and he didn’t say anything else. Waiting for one of us to challenge him further.

I found myself mirroring his grin. My heart was still pounding from it all, from the excitement of being about to jump, from the fear and drama that had ensued, from the way he was smiling at me now. His eyes roamed down my body to my hands in my lap. One thumb was stroking the other absently. I wanted to reach out and run them along the stubble on his face, over his lips, along his neck and down his chest.

“Screw you two!” Anna huffed, standing up and dusting down her jeans. “Go ahead and make out right here. Once that’s out the way you can talk and call me later with the rational explanation. I’m sure there is one, right?”

She didn’t wait for an answer. I stood up to follow her, but my feet wouldn’t move. I watched as she stomped away back to her car. Zac stood beside me, his fingers brushing against mine.

I should have called after her. I should have gone with her. I should have shouted and demanded more answers from him. I should still have been raging for what happened with the fire yesterday, question him about his brother. Furthermore, I should still have been angry that he stood me up the other night when he’d told me we’d meet.

Should haves, should haves.

Instead, I kissed him.

* * *

The kiss was mind-blowing. Soft, yet somehow firm and hard at the right moments. Passionate and heated, but through cool, minty breath. I slid my hand around his neck and his tongue swept deeper into my mouth. He tasted unusual underneath the mint flavour, but not in a bad way, something vaguely metallic.

Zinging energy passed between us, under my skin, sending my thoughts drifting off into space. I couldn’t grasp them back again. There was simply no thought, other than that of needing him. Of needing more. Always wanting and needing more.

He found my waist, digging his fingers so tightly into my hips that I gasped. My open mouth was at once smothered by his consuming lips, stealing all the air from me. I let my hands wander down to his ass and pressed myself into him. My head spun as my body melted against his unwavering strength.

The amusement park crowds flowed and whirled around us, the ebb and fall of a hundred other people. They meant nothing. It was just us. Frozen in time and motion. He groaned and pushed his erection harder into my crotch, breaking the kiss to search deep into my eyes. His lips grazed over mine, featherlight, despite the shocking strength of his grip on me. His breath was heavy, coming fast in excited pants.

He seemed to be physically straining with effort, as if finishing a workout, his face a crumpled picture of anguish, eyes burning with desire. Veins popped out along his forehead, his teeth gritted. My whole body cried out for him. His touch was icy cold, and yet somehow it warmed me, set my body on fire, burning with an aching need.

I began to pray that he would bend me over right there and fuck me. I doubted anyone would even find that shocking back on South Padre, I’d already seen masses of people engaged in public sex acts.

“There’s a time and a place for that,” he said through a tight smile, breaking the moment.

“For what?” I asked breathlessly, struggling to regain some composure.

“For public fucking. Before that, I’d rather we go private and you give me my own personal show? I’ve seen what you can do on a stage.” He stepped to the side and gave my ass a firm slap, hard enough to make me jump. “And that’s just to get you started on the pink ass I owe you.”

* * *

Zac told me to wait and he disappeared for ten minutes, returning with a helmet for me. He sat astride his bike and waited for me to join him, looking like a retro sex-machine in his leathers and white t-shirt.

By the time we got back to the island it was late into the night. He pulled up at my motel, and I was about ready to burst with excitement after hours on the bike just thinking about what would happen when he came inside.

I’d just swung my leg off the bike when another pulled up beside us in a blazing hurry, gravel crunching and spraying as it skidded to a stop. The rider wasn’t wearing a helmet. He nodded at me, then Zac. Cute, yet sexy face, straggly surfer-esque blonde hair. I’d seen him lots of times before, always at Zac’s side, but he’d never acknowledged me.

Zac stared hard at him. Surfer guy stared back. I stared from one to the other, wondering if they were actually going to speak.

“I’m really sorry, Jess,” Zac sighed. “I can’t stay. There’s something I need to deal with.”

“You can’t be serious? You’re going to run off on me again? What’s so important? Another beach party? And who the hell is this, anyway?”

I stared hatred into the surfer-twat through squinted eyes, and he held out his hand.

“Leon,” he declared, smiling, as if the introduction made it all okay.

I shook it half-heartedly and returned my glare to Zac. He didn’t say anything, just gave me an apologetic smile of his own. His jaw was set tight, grinding his teeth. As fucking usual. Someone should give him an Oscar for the dramatic expressions.

“There’s so much explaining that you owe me. I have so many doubts that I can’t even keep track of which ones are the most important. But right now, the biggest issue is that you’re a complete asswipe,” I said.

“This motel is trash,” he replied. “There are much better ones on the North, I’ll find you one.”

“What?! What the fuck are you on?”

“You’re in danger. I need time to think.”

He shook his head and slipped away into the night. Again.

Motherfucker.