Above and Beyond (Twist of Fate 4)

“Son of a bitch,” I bit out. I threw my duffel into the back seat and then threw the vehicle into gear. I caught up to Lucky within minutes. He was walking down the access road that led to the bunkhouse he shared with several of his classmates. I drove past him and then jerked the vehicle onto the shoulder and got out.

“I told you to wait—” I began as Lucky neared the truck.

“And I told you I was fine. Clean the wax out of your ears, old man,” Lucky snapped as he strode past me like I wasn’t even there.

His open defiance did nothing to settle my nerves… at least not in a good way. The adrenaline that had been coursing through my veins shifted gears and headed right for my cock instead. “Get. In. The. Truck,” I somehow managed to get out.

“Fuck—” Lucky began, but he went silent when I snagged his arm and bodily dragged him to the vehicle. I practically shoved him into the passenger seat. My hands were shaking violently as I slammed the door shut. Thankfully, Lucky didn’t try to get out of the truck when I went around it to climb into the driver’s seat.

Since Lucky didn’t open his mouth again in the truck, I used the short drive back to his place to try and get control of myself, but all I could see was Lucky hanging precariously from that damn rope. I’d seen the fraying he’d been talking about for myself. There’d been just a handful of remaining fibers keeping him in the air. If the weather had prevented us from getting back to Lucky, the chances that the line would have given out were more than likely. The sound of Lucky’s screams as he plummeted to his death were deafening in my head.

The truck rattled to a stop when I slammed on the brakes as we reached the lot for Lucky’s bunkhouse.

“This is over!” I growled as I stared out the windshield. Visions of Lucky’s slim form jerking as the rope gave out danced before my eyes. I knew it was an illusion but as far as my brain was concerned, at that very moment I was sitting helplessly in that worthless helicopter watching Lucky die over and over again.

I wrapped my fingers around the steering wheel and gripped until I was sure I’d snap the thing off. To his credit, Lucky remained silent.

“Stay here while I get a change of clothes for you, then I’ll take you to the hospital.”

I had my fingers on the handle when Lucky let out this ragged little laugh. There wasn’t even a speck of humor in it. I cast him a glance and saw that he was clutching his duffel to his chest. “There are exactly two people in this world who have the right to order me around and you know what, Zach? You’re not one of them. Stay the hell away from me!”

I managed to grab Lucky’s arm before he could escape the truck. “Tonight, hospital. Tomorrow you’re on the first flight back to Colorado.”

“Yeah, let’s just see how that works out,” Lucky said snidely as he snatched his arm from my grip with surprising force. While I doubted his fury matched mine, I couldn’t deny how pissed he looked… and how much that fact turned me on.

I was forced to release Lucky to keep him from hurting himself but I didn’t hesitate to get out and follow him into the bunkhouse. He slammed the bunkhouse door in my face but I managed to catch it before it hit my nose. The flooring creaked as I strode after him through the empty building. I could only assume the other students were out celebrating their first simulated missions or checking on Morrie in the hospital. Either way, it was just Lucky and me, so I didn’t have to try and mask any of my rage.

I caught up to Lucky enough that when he tried to slam his bedroom door in my face I was able to catch it. He chose that moment to turn on me with all his guns blazing. “You’re right, Zach, this…”—he looked pointedly at me, then himself—“is over! Get the fuck out of here! Now!”

If he had quietly ordered me to leave, I might have actually done it, even if it was just so we could both cool off. But something in the way that he was looking at me, as if the conversation really was over—that this thing between us really was over—severed whatever control I'd desperately been hanging on to as I’d listened to the fear in his voice as he’d told me about the fraying rope and the worsening weather conditions.

The loss of control was like a valve being opened on a steam pipe. Instead of walking back out the door, I slammed it shut instead, ignoring Lucky’s gasp of surprise. I strode toward him, seizing on his moment of uncertainty, and reached for him at the same time that he took a step back. He let out a little cry, but I wasn't sure if it was one of fear or shock or maybe even relief.