Valiant

Jack does the same and then turns to me. “Shoes off.”

I stare down at my shoes. “Pardon?”

“Shoes, kick them off.”

“Why?”

He grins. “Trust me?”

I narrow my eyes, but I kick my shoes off anyway. He winks and then holds a hand out to me. I stare at it, for a beat too long, and in a careful voice, he says, “I promise you can trust me, Baylee. I’m sure plenty of people have said that to you before, but I promise you, you can believe me when I say it.”

I meet his eyes, then I extend a shaky hand and place it in his. Smooth, calloused fingers curl around mine and he tugs gently, pulling me in step beside him. We walk towards the trees and I see a small, worn path ahead. He leads us to it, and we make our way down it for a few minutes, coming out on a cliff top.

“Are you going to throw me off this cliff?” I say, my voice light.

He laughs. “No, but I am going to tell you to close your eyes.”

I stare at him again, skeptical. “Seriously, we’re on the edge of a cliff and you want me to close my eyes? I don’t know, Jack.”

I’m teasing him, because, somewhere deep inside, I feel like I can trust Jack and I know he won’t do anything to hurt me. Nothing screams at me that he’s a bad person, or an untrustworthy person. The only thing I feel around him is surprisingly safe.

“Trust me,” he says, squeezing my hand.

I do as he asks, and I close my eyes. He carefully walks us forward, one hand in mine, the other across his body, holding onto my arm. He leads us a fair few metres, then he says to me, “This is my happy place. We all have one, I guess. When I used to get angry, or I ever needed to think, I’d come here. But it only works on nights when the moon is full. You’ll see why. It’s showing up tonight, sometimes it doesn’t.”

“You bring all your friends here, then?”

He makes a low sound in his throat. “You’re the only person I’ve ever brought here.”

My heart flutters. “Okay,” I whisper.

“Okay.”

He releases his hand, and I stare forward, all the breath being sucked from my lungs. The view in front of me is ... spectacular. It’s the most incredible thing I’ve ever seen in my life. The most beautiful, breathtaking thing I’ve had the pleasure of laying my eyes on.

The cliff drops off to a long, narrow stream of water. It runs for as far as the eye can see, and the moon, as if it knew we were coming, is sitting right at the end of where the water disappears, big and round, beautiful and full, resting on the water like it’s floating there. It casts its glow down over the water. Trees run up either side of the river, streaming their shadows down over it, too.

What is presented is, without a doubt, the most amazing thing I’ve ever seen.

“Jack,” I breathe, pressing a hand to my heart. “It’s ... it’s beautiful.”

“Yeah,” he says, his voice low and soft. “It is, isn’t it?”

“How did you find this place?”

“We used to swim down there—” he points a thumb down at the water. “And then they created a lookout back where we parked, but not many people know about this track that leads down. Believe it or not, I was drunk one day and stumbled down here for a piss and nearly died.”

I smile, shaking my head softly. “Of course you’d have to nearly die to find this kind of beauty.”

“Yeah.” He chuckles. “It would have been worth it, though. Sit.”

He tugs my arm lightly and we both sit down. I shuffle away just a little when my leg grazes his. If he notices, he doesn’t say anything, he just stares straight ahead with a thoughtful look on his face. I glance at his profile, loving the way his face seems so chiselled and masculine in the moonlight. He’s a picture of perfection, without a doubt.

“Tell me something,” he says, finally turning and looking at me. “Tell me a story.”

I purse my lips for a moment, and then answer with, “What kind of story do you want to hear?”

He shrugs his shoulders just slightly. “Anything. Tell me something funny, or serious, or crazy. So long as it’s about you, I want to hear it.”

I’m smiling huge on the inside.

“Well,” I begin, crossing my legs. “I don’t have any family.”

He glances over at him. “You have your sister?”

I give him a sheepish expression. “Actually, she’s not biologically my sister,” I tell him, feeling bad that I let him think she was.

“Oh. Is she a cousin or something?”

“Or something,” I say softly. “Anyway, I lost both of my parents, and I didn’t have any siblings. So I don’t have any family.”

“God. Baylee.” His voice drops low. “That’s terrible. My family drives me crazy, but I’d be lost without them.”

My chest tightens. I can only imagine what it would be like to have a large family and all the craziness and fights and drama that come along with them. The cookouts, the birthday parties, all of it. I’d do anything to feel that. Anything to experience that. I press a hand to my stomach, knowing there might be a chance I never will.

And that really sucks.

“Yeah, it’s hard,” I admit, tucking my legs up to my chest and hugging them close. “Especially around Christmas, you know?”

“Yeah, I can imagine. You should come to the cookout my family is having tomorrow night.”

I glance over at him. “At the club?”

He nods. “Yeah, we have one every few weeks. It’s a way for everyone to get together. All my friends will be there, they’re amazing. You would like them, and they may or may not have heard a bit about you.”

I stare at him. “Me? Why?”

He grins. “Well, you tortured me for a while when I was chasing after you trying to get you to talk to me. They heard about it. They thought it was a bit funny, to be honest, because I don’t get rejected often.”

I blink at him, then roll my eyes. He laughs. “It would have done you good, then.”

“It did, believe me.” He chuckles. “But anyway, now you’re finally letting me in—”

“As a friend,” I point out.

“As a friend,” he confirms, his voice a little tight. “They want to meet you.”