Jump Start (Texas Hotzone 1)

Rocky slid a rough hand over his jaw and turned away, staring out at the cluster of activity on the airfield, police and EMS vehicles lining the edges. The bleachers were quickly being emptied, hundreds of people scattering.

Bobby stepped closer to his side, noting Jennifer’s plane on the ground in his peripheral vision. “I know you’re innocent,” Bobby said. “I’ll speak on your behalf.”

“Thanks, man,” Rocky said. “But speaking on my behalf isn’t going to undo the damage this is doing to my revenue stream. Don’t get me wrong. I’m not ungrateful for what you guys did here tonight. Unfortunately, Gavin took the Hotzone to the sewer with him. Business was slim pickings in this economy anyway. These bimonthly shows helped me stay afloat. Who’s going to want to come to another one after this?”

“You might be surprised,” Bobby suggested. “People love to be in the middle of a scandal. It’s like a rubber-necking holiday.”

“I’m done,” Rocky announced, clearly not amused by the joke. “I’m going to sell and get the hell out.” He turned to Caleb. “Who needs me and for what? Let’s get the information over with, and whatever else needs to be done. All of it.”

Bobby understood Rocky wanting the inquisition over, though he doubted Rocky had any confessions to reveal. Bobby, on the other hand did—to Jennifer—and he’d made it on that plane. Or rather—he’d made his confession. He’d told Jennifer he still loved her. But he wasn’t foolish enough to believe that got him out of hot water. Based on what she’d seen and heard tonight, she’d believe he had come back because of his duty. Words weren’t enough. He had to prove to her he was back for her.

***

JENNIFER’S PLANE HAD BUMPED to a rough landing, the sky speckled with colorful skydivers and parachutes. B.J.’s plane—minus B.J.—had landed before theirs. Now, with engines dying to a hum, the doors opened, and a man in military fatigues poked his head in the doorway.

“Howdy there, ma’am,” he said. “Name’s Ryan Walker. You Jennifer?”

“Yes,” she said anxiously, clinging to the wall for stability and quickly doing her best to wrestle off the parachute. “I’m Jennifer. Is Bobby okay?”

“Bobby’s safe,” he reported.

Her shoulders loosened with relief and the loss of the chute. “And everyone else?”

“Everyone else, too.” He tilted a mike attached to his ear toward his mouth. “Tell Bobby she’s wheels on the ground and safe, if he doesn’t already know.” Then to Jennifer. “I guess I see why he hasn’t signed his reenlistment papers.”

Her eyes went wide. “Bobby is up for reenlistment?”

Ryan frowned. “I guess I wasn’t supposed to say that.” He offered her his hand. “How about we get you out of here and negotiate your terms of silence?”

Her head swam, her thoughts a jumbled mess. Bobby was up for reenlistment and hadn’t told her.

“What the hell, Ryan,” Bobby called out from the side of the plane, out of her visual. “You couldn’t be without me for a couple of weeks or what?”

Ryan turned to where Bobby was; although he remained out of Jennifer’s range of sight still, she could hear the two men exchange a few words about B.J. Jennifer moved to the edge of the plane’s doorway, planning to jump down, but it was too steep. So she stood there, fuming, telling herself this was not the time to talk to Bobby about his reenlistment, or rather, his failure to tell her about it.

He’d let Marcie believe he was here for her wedding. But he was here for duty. He was here for a job. Not for her… No, she thought, her heart squeezing. Not for her.

Her heart pounded in her ears even as thunder rumbled in the night air, the moon barely visible, the airfield lights blasting a hole in the darkness to illuminate the skydivers. A flash of lightning shot through the black circle around them, one of those sudden, Texas summer thunderstorms, ready to rip and roar. How appropriate, because right now, Jennifer was ready to blow up a storm of her own.

Ryan continued to egg Bobby on with a playful jest that spoke of friendship and of a part of Bobby’s life as foreign to her as the man who’d jumped out of that plane.

“I love an excuse to come to my sweetheart home state,” Ryan said. “Besides, you know you can’t live without me.”

“Don’t count on that one,” Bobby said dryly, rounding the corner of the plane, with Ryan by his side, and bringing Jennifer into focus.

Her heart froze. She couldn’t hold back. She didn’t care who was watching, or who was listening. This explosion was years in the making. It needed to erupt. “You came here to do a job,” she blurted out. “Not for the wedding. Not for me, which is fine, Bobby. Fine. But don’t tell me you love me. Don’t play these stupid games with me. Maybe they work for you. But they don’t work for me. They hurt. I don’t even know who you are that you would want to hurt me.”