“Where’s Damian?” I ask.
“He’s in the office. Business call.”
“Oh, cool.”
“But he said to tell you that we’re going to jump off the cliff today and that you’re not chickening out this time.”
“You chicken out? Are you afraid of heights?” Aiden asks me as he grabs some eggs and bacon from the warming drawer.
“No, I’m not afraid of heights. I’m afraid of hitting rocks, splatting, and dying.”
“Damian says that the locals call it the love cliff,” Peyton informs us.
“The love cliff? That’s cool,” Aiden says.
“Apparently, legend says that if you hold hands and jump off the love cliff, you’ll be together forever,” Peyton tells us, practically cooing.
“Especially if you hit the rocks and die,” I say sarcastically.
“Don’t be such a cynic,” Damian says, flicking my hair as he walks by.
“Funny, I’ve never heard it called the love cliff before,” I say to Damian, who I think just totally made that whole legend up.
“It’s so romantic, isn’t it, though?” she asks, clasping her hands together.
“Inga, have you ever heard it called that?”
“Of course; who do you think told him about the legend?”
I roll my eyes. Okay, I can see I can’t win this one. They’re both liars.
“So, you two in?” Damian asks, taunting me with his grin.
“It wasn’t on your list,” Aiden says to me. “But it sounds really fun.”
“Fine. We’ll go, but I’m not jumping.”
We finish breakfast, take the Jeep, and drive across the island.
Soon, I find myself standing on a cliff looking over the edge and thinking, No fucking way.
“Are you sure this is a safe place to jump?” Peyton asks Damian, the romantic notion not quite as appealing when you’re envisioning leaping to your death.
“Of course,” he says, pulling her into his arms and murmuring something into her ear that makes her giggle.
Aiden surveys the jump. “So you’ve been up here before?”
“Yes.”
“And you’ve seen people jump and survive?”
“Yes.”
“But you’ve never done it?”
“No. What’s with the twenty questions? I said I’d come, but I’m not jumping. Please don’t try to talk me into it.”
He kisses my cheek. “I’m doing it. I want you to jump with me. Off the love cliff.”
I roll my eyes. “Aiden, I’ll cheer you on. Besides, someone has to be here to scrape you off the rocks and take your bodies home.”
He tickles my sides. “You’re being silly.”
“I know. It’s scary though.”
“It is really high. It’s gonna be a rush.”
“We’re going for it!” Damian yells. He grabs Peyton’s hand, kisses it, and then they run and jump, both of them screaming all the way down.
I look over the edge and see them pop up out of the water.
“They’re alive!” Aiden says, mocking me.
“Watch it, or I might just push you off.”
“You just saw Damian and Peyton do it and survive.”
“I know.”
Just as he’s about to reply, the breeze blows grass and leaves around us in a little circle.
“Did you see the movie Pocahontas?” he asks.
“Yeah.”
“That breeze was like the colors of the wind. The earth is telling you to jump with me.”
“Oh, really?”
“Yeah, don’t you remember how she jumped off the waterfall? This is nothing compared to that. Just a little old cliff.”
I shake my head no.
“Hmm,” he says, pulling me into his arms. “The Disney references didn’t work. Guess I’m gonna have to pull out the big guns.”
“What big guns?”
He touches my face gently, looks into my soul, and says, “Do you trust me?”
I close my eyes and for the first time since Vincent tried to kidnap me, I listen to my heart. “Yes.”
He kisses me then whispers, “Then jump with me.”
I start to get tears in my eyes. I know this is just a stupid jump, but it feels like so much more.
I nod.
He turns and faces the edge, grabs my hand tightly, and says, “Run!”
I scream as we flail through the air and drop for what seems like both forever and an instant.
When we hit the water, I open my eyes and swim to the surface.
For a second, I can’t find Aiden.
Panic spreads through me. Where is he? Did he hit his head? Did he not come up?
I frantically scan the surface of the water looking for any sign of him. Then I spin around to find him just behind me.
“We made it,” he says, pulling me close and kissing me. “What a freaking rush!”
“What the hell is that?” Damian says.
“What’s what?”
Damian points at us. I look down in the water and see bubbles all around us.
“What the hell?” Aiden says too, scooping up a handful and examining them.
I start laughing.
“What’s so funny?” Aiden asks.
“I . . . have . . . bubbles . . .” I manage to choke out between laughs.
“Like, bubble bath?” Peyton says, trying to understand.