The Heartbreakers

18.

Face Your Fears

Lenley

I FOLLOW JAMESON UPto the roof deck with blood roaring so loud in my ears that I feel dizzy.

I told him that I trust him, and to my surprise, I really do. He and his teammates have been better friends to me in the past couple of weeks than Darrius has been in a lifetime.

Friends with benefits.

My body is still buzzing from kissing Jameson and from sitting on his lap and, together with whatever he’s planning to stick it to Anna and Kiara, all my senses are on high alert.

Darrius is standing on the edge of the springboard, with his back to the water as we emerge out on the deck.

All the lights are on, bright to the point of being blinding; it reminds me a lot of the lights in the stadium when Darrius decided that skydiving wasn’t enough and joined the football team in high school. I went to watch his games every Friday night.

Diving in water is different than jumping off a plane, you have more time in free fall from thirteen thousand feet than you have jumping off a springboard and into the water a few feet down.

But my papà was an accomplished diver all the same, the freestyle category of skydiving has something in common with diving and with dancing. So Papà used to practice diving and dancing whenever the weather was too bad for flying and he couldn’t get to an indoor wind tunnel. He would be absolutely astounded that ten years after he last set foot in the Angels Headquarters, we now have our own wind tunnel; one of the tallest in the world at an incredible one hundred and seventy-nine feet.

Our eyes meet as he’s getting ready to dive and his gaze settles on my hand, engulfed in Jameson’s much larger one.

I don’t know if the way his lips flatten in a tight, displeased line is because I’m here with one of his rivals or the concentration on the dive he’s about to perform.

My eyes move to the side where Peyton is waiting for his turn to dive. Determination is etched on the perfect features of the blond Devils captain, but as he looks at me, his lips go up in a sexy half-smirk.

The same lips I was kissing earlier tonight, the lips that went down my body and between my thighs—I suppress a shudder at the memory of how good he made me feel in the museum bathroom, clenching my thighs as a wave of warmth sweeps through me, distracting me from whatever Jameson is planning for one blissful moment.

Darrius leaps off the springboard and if I hadn’t spent countless winter afternoons watching diving meets with Papà, I would just think that his dive looks difficult. But I can actually fully appreciate the reverse two and a half somersaults with two and a half twists in pike he executes close to perfection. A dive like that would score over a three if this was the Olympics.

Darrius lands in the turquoise water of the pool, forty feet below us barely causing any water to move as he plunges in with flawless form.

There’s a roar of applause from all the people that moved the party poolside when they caught wind of the two rival teams daring each other.

“That’s my fucking boyfriend!” Kiara gloats as she comes running to the upper deck a few moments later, followed by Anna. “You might as well go home now, not to embarrass yourself and your team,” she spits out venomously looking at Peyton, who’s stepped onto the board in the meantime.

The Devils’ captain doesn’t even look at her, despite the tiny lace thong she’s wearing and the lack of a bra. I can’t believe Kiara jumped into the pool practically naked in front of my mom, Kyle and the fucking mayor!

“Shut up!” I snap. “Darrius had the opportunity to concentrate on his dive, stop distracting Peyton.”

My eyes are fixed on her barely there tits and I feel a pang of satisfaction when she crosses her arms over them. I’ve always told her that she has no reason to feel insecure for having small boobs whenever she envied my big tits and I still think that. But she knows how terrified I am of heights and she went out of her way to put me in this difficult situation.

So tit for tat. I know it’s my hurt feelings speaking, but I trusted her with all my secrets and she keeps betraying me at every turn. I’m only fucking human.

I’m glad I look away from her because Peyton’s dive takes my breath away.

Peyton performs and inward dive with a four and a half somersaults in the tucked position.

“Fuck!” Jameson is the first one to realize that a dive like that, perfectly executed like Peyton just did, would receive a score of at least four in a diving competition. “I guess if we don’t make it to Nationals or Worlds, Peyton has a fucking chance at a different career.”

I have to agree wholeheartedly and I’ve seen how good Channing is at diving, so I have no doubt that the guys could be champions in a few different sports that they have to master to hone their skills.

“You’re full of shit!” Kiara reacts. “My boyfriend’s dive was much better. And this isn’t even the real thing, wait until you guys are really jumping off a plane in a wingsuit. Darrius will teach you losers a fucking thing or two!”

I’m about to call her out on being rude to our guests, when she turns her venomous stare at me. “So, are you here to jump? Come on Len, we both know you’re shitting your pants. That’s why Darrius has always kept you in the friend zone, you’re just a boring, spoiled princess who’d rather be safe in her ivory tower.”

Anna echoes my ex-bestie’s words with a mean giggle as she looks at me if I were the scum stuck to the bottom of her shoe.

“You can take the stairs back to the ground floor, see you later, bitch!” Darrius’ sister snarls before running to the edge of the deck and leaping off of it with a loud shriek.

“Later, loser!” Kiara follows her down and I can barely keep my knees from shaking as I crane my neck to look at them landing into the pool with a million sprays.

My heart is pounding in my chest to the point that it’s all I can hear and feel; my ears and neck are throbbing and my knees feel so shaky that I have to take a step back. I’m a couple of steps away from the edge of the deck but I feel like I might fall.

I close my eyes and swallow the thick lump of terror that constricts my throat; it feels like sandpaper and my entire body is instantly covered by a thin sheen of cold sweat.

A strong arm wraps around my waist and I’m pulled against a warm, solid side.

“Princess, open your eyes.”