Page 147 of Revv

The plane rattles down the runway, picking up speed while my stomach drops for no fucking reason considering we haven’t even left the ground yet. I look out the tiny window just in time to see the pavement disappear beneath us.

“Oh, fuck.”

Revel looks over, way too relaxed. “Little late to bail now, Mama.”

“Ay, shut up.”

Miami keeps getting smaller as we climb, buildings turning into blocks, roads into thin lines, the water spreading out around everything in blue and green. I make the mistake of looking down for too long and immediately decide I’ve seen enough.

Revel keeps talking beside me, mostly just to keep me from sitting there thinking about how high we’re getting. He points out random shit below, makes comments about the plane, and somehow manages to sound like we’re on a casual Sunday drive instead of climbing toward fourteen thousand fucking feet.

Normally, I’d have several smart-ass comments ready for him.

Instead, my hand is wrapped so tightly around Revel’s, I’m probably cutting off circulation.

He looks down at our hands, then at me. “Easy, Mama. I need those fingers.”

“You have ten. Losing one or two wouldn’t kill you.”

“Yeah, except last I checked, you were pretty fucking fond of these fingers and what they can do.”

I turn my head slowly. Of course that’s where his mind goes.

His grin gets worse. “And I need all ten to ride, preferably. Missing digits makes working a clutch and brake a little more complicated.”

“Maybe losing a finger would finally make you ride like a normal fucking person.”

“Let’s not say crazy shit just because you’re nervous.”

“I am not nervous.”

Right on cue, the door opens.

The sound changes instantly.

Wind tears through the cabin, violent and fucking loud, rushing past the open doorway while sunlight floods in. One second I’m sitting inside a perfectly acceptable airplane, and the next there’s a giant fucking hole in the side of it with nothing beyond it but sky.

My stomach drops straight through the floor.

Oh.

Oh, absolutely the fuck not.

Every ounce of confidence I’ve been faking disappears as I stare at the open door and realize people are actually getting up to willingly throw themselves through it.

My grip on Revel’s hand somehow gets tighter.

“Revel.”

The joking disappears from his face the second he hears my voice. He turns toward me completely, attention locking onto mine.

“I changed my mind.”

There’s no joke this time. He leans closer, one hand coming up to my cheek so I have to look at him instead of the open door.

“Then we don’t go.”

I blink. “What?”