Unraveled(71)
Gray
I FELT SAM'S SLIGHT BODY against mine, her utter trust in me and felt a surge of something so strong that I almost fell backward. I firmed up the steel in my spine and picked her up into my arms. While I wanted desperately to beat Jerry bloody and then go inside SkyHopper and ransack the place, I wasn’t going to leave Sam trembling and shocky. “Get me some OJ,” I ordered Jerry. When he just stared at me like a dumb robot, I barked again in my best copy of my gunnery sergeant father. “Get me some goddamned orange juice or I’ll cut off your nuts with your car keys.” He got the message and took off toward the office building. One of the other jumpers came over.
“Need anything?” His hair was military short.
“Yeah, I need someone to file a complaint ASAP while I take care of my girl.” Sam was silent, burrowing her head into my shirt. I wanted to get her home like she’d asked. As I reached the parking lot, I noticed a number of expensive foreign vehicles in the “owner” slots. The guy obviously had money or was wasting it on expensive toys rather than careful maintenance.
“On it.” He gave me a smart salute and trotted off after Jerry.
I placed my girl tenderly into the passenger side of her Rover. I’d never driven it because Sam always seemed to enjoy being behind the wheel, but she was in no shape to pilot this vehicle back to her place. She curled up in the passenger seat, her big green eyes staring at me. The look in them, shit, made me feel like I was bigger than life. I knew some guys got into the military because they had a big old savior complex. They liked to be the hero, and going over and killing people that they were told were the enemy made them feel good inside. I'd never felt that way, but right now I got it. Sam was looking at me like I'd conquered King Kong as it was trying to devour the city
“Guess all those training jumps were good for something,” I joked weakly, brushing the hair out of her face. Her color was still pretty pale. Fortunately for Jerry, he appeared within seconds with a bottle of orange juice. “Drink some of this,” I commanded and then added, “please.”
She must have felt a little better because she rolled her eyes but dutifully took a small sip.
“A little more.” I winced as the request came out like another order. It worked though. The military guy came out with a form that he’d filled out. I signed it. “Thanks, man.”
“No problem. That was scary as fuck just watching it so I can’t imagine how you both feel.”
Jerry was long gone by then, which was probably a good thing because now that Sam was feeling better I wanted to go beat the shit out of him.
“I’ve had better days,” I admitted.
“Go home, get your girl into bed, and take a load off. I’ll see this is filed. I’m going to make a call to the FAA too. This place should be closed down within the hour.” The guy flipped open his ID and I saw it said “State Police.”
I blew out a breath of relief. “Thanks, man.” We shook hands and Trooper Jensen gave me his card so I could follow up.
By the time we got to the condo, Sam was getting back to her old self.
“That was certainly adventurous,” she said drolly as I was pulling into the parking lot behind her building.
The thought of her crashing into the ground because the goddamn chute wouldn’t release had me banging the steering wheel. I wanted to turn around and drive back and give Jerry a piece of my mind. “Good thing you stopped me from killing Jerry because there was a State Trooper who jumped before us.”
“I can’t say that I’m going to want to do that again anytime soon, but I’m not sorry that I went and I’m glad you were the one who took me.” She rubbed her palm along my stiff forearm.
“If I’d just checked that damn chute—”
She cut me off. “If onlys are a fool’s path. I know this from too many sleepless nights. Let’s go upstairs and celebrate the fact that we’re alive.” She pulled my chin around and pressed her mouth against mine. “Take me upstairs and make love to me.”
I can’t remember how we got upstairs and into her bedroom. I only know that we did. In the bathroom, I turned on the hot water and undressed her while the shower heated up. She allowed it, passively standing there all the while watching me with burning eyes. Somehow she sensed that I needed to take care of her.
When we were both nude, I tested the water temperature and then pulled her inside. Sam’s condo had no bathtub but the shower was incredible. There was a rainshower head recessed into the ceiling and another large spray head mounted on the side. I had turned them both on so that we could each be warmed by the streams of water. The one thing we were missing was a bench, but I’d make do.