That I am, in fact, standing at the edge of a cliff.
The drop stretches out below me, sixty feet of jagged rock and open air before the ocean crashes into itself in a violent, endless rhythm. The water looks darker from up here. Deeper. The kind of deep that swallows you whole if you hesitate.
Wind whips through my braids, snapping loose strands against my cheeks as the sun presses warm against my back, a stark contrast to the cold I know is waiting for me below. My fingers tingle. My toes curl against the uneven rock beneath my feet.
God, I’ve missed this.
Gage’s hand wraps around mine on my right, steady and warm, grounding me just enough to keep the adrenaline from tipping into something sharper.
“You sure you’re up for this?” he asks, glancing down at my shoulder. “That thing actually healed, or are you about to regret all your life choices?”
I snort, rolling my shoulder once like I need to prove it. “It’s been fine for a while. I’m not backing out.” I glance at him, mouth curving. “But if you want to stay up here, I won’t judge you too much.”
“Please,” he says, already shaking his head. “I’m not the brother you need to worry about chickening out.”
We both look over our shoulders at the same time.
Cruz is a few feet back, hands in his pockets, expression unreadable as he looks out over the water like he’s deciding whether any of this is worth his time.
I grin. “It’s okay, Cruzie,” I call, drawing the nickname out. “You can sit this one out. Keep Bishop company. I know he’s not jumping.”
“I’m fucking here, aren’t I?” Bishop grunts.
I glance at him, lifting a brow. “Kind of looks like it’s against your will.”
His mouth twitches like he’s deciding whether to argue with me or throw me off the cliff himself.
Before he can do either, Rafe steps up on my left, close enough that I feel the heat of him before I fully register the movement. His shoulder brushes mine, solid and grounding in a completely different way than Gage.
“Are we up here to yap,” he says, voice low and rough, “or are we up here to jump?”
I turn my head, meeting his eyes, and something in my chest shifts again, sharper this time. I grin. “Oh, I’m ready.”
I thread my fingers through his, tightening my grip on both of them at the same time, and then I tug. “Let’s go.”
The three of us run. The edge disappears beneath us in a blur of movement and sound, and then?—
There’s nothing but gravity.
The drop hits all at once, the wind tearing past my ears as the world tilts and stretches into something weightless and unreal. My stomach flips hard enough to make me laugh, the sound ripping out of me before I can stop it.
It’s terrifying and exhilarating at the same time.
It’s the kind of feeling that burns through your veins and makes everything else disappear.
For a split second, fear worms its way into the euphoria, trying to sink its hooks into me, convince me I’m going to die because there’s no ground beneath my feet.
But I shove it back and welcome the weightlessness and endorphin rush once more.
The water rushes up fast, dark and endless and waiting, and I force my body straight, legs tight, bracing for impact as the surface rises to meet us.
It slams into me all at once, sharp and consuming, stealing the air from my lungs as the ocean closes over my head. Everything goes quiet for half a second, the world reduced to pressure and movement and the distant roar of water rushing past my ears.
Then hands tighten around mine, pulling me up. We break the surface together.
Air hits my lungs in a rush as I gasp, letting go of their hands for the first time. I push wet hair back from my face while water drips down my shoulders. Gage surfaces on one side, Rafe on the other, both of them shaking their heads back, sending water flying as they catch their breath.
Laughter spills out of me, loud and unrestrained and a little wild. “Holy shit,” I breathe, grinning as I look between them. “That never gets old.”
