The Freefall Trilogy (Complete Collection) Read online

  Is he still in instructor mode, or is he always like that?

  She stared down at the phone. Suddenly it clicked. Lucy opened her web browser.

  how to track an iphone

  It had to be that. She hadn't told a soul where she was going. And there it was, in the very first Google result.

  iCloud: The New Infidelity App

  Lucy snorted angrily. Phil's paranoia ran deeper than she'd ever imagined. He'd signed her up for iCloud the very same day that pretty little white Apple box arrived. He'd talked her into buying the damned thing. He must have been tracking her ever since, all paid for with her own money.

  What a bloody weirdo...

  Phil finished with her, rather unceremoniously. He didn't even try to be nice. One minute they were going on holiday, the next he was packing his bags. Suzie was right. His eyes really were too close together. Lucy was well shot of him.

  She thought back to the few times he'd called since the breakup - all off the back of her doing something outside her usual routine. It seemed so uncanny: how did he know?

  And then it rang, AGAIN.

  'Yes,' Lucy hissed. 'Listen, I've got nothing to say to you... ... ... No. You're going to ring her and tell her I'm all right, because you're the idiot who's caused all this mess... ... ... I don't care, Phil... Listen. I know you've been tracking my phone. It's not on, you're not right in the head... ... ... What I do now is none of your business. If you don't stop this shit, I'm going to call the police.'

  She promptly ended the call, flipping the case shut with a loud crack.

  'I'd ask you again if everything's all right,' said Josh, clunking their drinks down on the table, 'but I really don't think you lying to me twice in one day would get us off to a very good start.'

  He felt his core temperature plummet by ten degrees as he sank into the couch beside her. She responded with a mutinous stare.

  'Look,' he sighed, adopting a more sympathetic stance, 'as your instructor, your...' He waved a hand, trying to pluck the words from the air. '...personal issues are none of my business... But your state of mind is. Very much so. If you go ahead with the course, I need to know that when you say you're fine, you're telling me the truth. That's lesson number one. You can have that one for free.'

  She peered back at him through her black lashes, picking the phone up again. He watched her click the little silver button on the top, thumb swiping the screen, extinguishing the glow. She flipped the case shut, tossing the phone into her bag.

  'No... personal issues,' she told him matter-of-factly, scraping rebellious blonde curls back behind her ear. 'I don't tell lies, I am fine. Now where were we?'

  He watched her warily. She hadn't lied about her weight on the medical form. Almost all women do, generally by about half a stone. In fact, she seemed a couple of pounds lighter than the 9st 4 she'd scribbled in blue curly writing. He shrugged. It was a start.

  Her mouth twitched. She picked up the very weak shandy, clinking her glass against his bottle.

  'Cheers.'

  Josh sighed, smiling back faintly. The temperature was rising. She was back in the room.

  'So what made you want to get into skydiving?' Josh asked, feigning innocence, as if the last five minutes hadn't already told him.

  'Flying squirrels.'

  He frowned.

  She smiled back mischievously.

  'When I was a kid I was fascinated with them...'

  He groaned inwardly. He knew where this was going.

  'Let me guess,' he said, in thinly-veiled contempt. 'You've seen Jeb Corliss on Youtube. Now you want to be a wingsuit pilot.'

  She nodded, staring back intently.

  'And Gary Connery,' she told him, 'Jokke Sommer, Roberta Mancino... Alexander Polli, Michael Swanson, Lèo Fardim...'

  Josh's eyes flickered. He caught himself, narrowing them.

  OK. So she knows her stuff...

  Josh fought the smirk back to a line.

  'You're too short,' he said, glumly shaking his head.

  Her brow crinkled. He felt a pang of guilt as he watched her visibly deflate.

  'They're custom made, surely?' she deliberated.

  'You haven't got the muscle strength. Do you know how much stamina is required to fly those things?'

  She crooked a finely-arched eyebrow, fixing him through the thick, bare lashes.

  'I work out. It isn't a problem. I'll just up the carbs.'

  He looked down instinctively. She was in pretty good shape.

  Not bad... Not bad at all...

  He caught the stare again, quickly looking away.

  'Have you any idea how much the rig will cost?' he asked, playing with the label on his bottle of Bud.

  'Money isn't an issue.'

  What is it with her? He was on the back foot again.

  'Lucy, have you got kids?'

  She shook her head.

  'Family then. Friends.' This chic is exasperating... 'People who care about you...'

  She shrugged.

  'Same as anyone, I suppose.'

  'When I started BASE jumping—'

  'You BASE jump!' she gasped, eyes glowing with awe.

  'Yes,' Josh admitted, doing his best not to look smug.

  'Can you teach me?'

  ...Oh Jesus Christ!

  He had to take a different tack. Stop humouring her... Joshua rolled his eyes.

  'I've never taught anyone, and I don't plan on starting,' he said flatly. 'I've only done a dozen jumps myself... Anyway, when I started BASE, my mentor made me write a letter to my family, for them to read in the almost certain event of my death. Justifying myself - telling them why I thought it was OK to deprive them of a son, brother... nephew, cousin, grandson...'

  She just sat there, staring at him.

  You don't have a girlfriend then...

  Josh was sorely tempted to reach out and close her mouth for her, but he decided against it. She did have a pretty mouth. Sheesh, a really pretty mouth... but he liked it silent for now.

  'You're talking about Grinding The Crack,' he asserted, slipping her a knowing look.

  Lucy stared at him.

  Her eyes flared, meeting his momentarily before her gaze fell to the floor. He watched her scanning the room. She'd look anywhere, but at him, a trace of a smile on her lips, her cheeks flooding with colour.

  Joshua frowned.

  What's up with her?

  He took a swig of beer, then balked in the realisation.

  ...GRINDING THE CRACK? ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR MIND?

  He almost choked.

  'The Jeb Corliss video! On Youtube!' he blurted, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand. 'That's what it's called!'

  She was approaching beacon red.

  'It's the name of the line... the jump, near the Eiger... You know...'

  She looked back at him warily, like he'd just escaped from a psychiatric institution.

  Crap! You're going to get sued. Or fired. Or both.

  'With the AWOL Nation music... Sail!'

  He ran his hand through his hair nervously.

  Please know! Please!

  Nothing.

  '...Ding-ding, ding-ding ding-ding ding-ding...'

  Fuck me. You're singing now. This is really bad.

  '...With the balloons?'

  Her gaze bounced back to his.

  'Oh yeah!' she grinned. 'That was it!'

  It was like fighting with line twists and finally getting a square canopy. He closed his eyes, sighing, smiling with relief.

  Thank God...

  'Well, what you were watching there,' said Josh, blushing himself now, frantically trying to recover some composure, 'was BASE jumping combined with close proximity wingsuit flying. He makes it look easy. It's actually incredibly dangerous.

  'Have you seen the other one where he hits Table Mountain?' he asked.

  Lucy nodded back slowly.

  'You're a proper little nutter, aren't you?' smirked Josh.

  She giggled, bursting
into a wide grin.

  He took another glug of beer.

  You sure as hell know how to scare the shit out of me.

  'So?' he said. 'What would you write?'

  She looked pensive for a moment, chewing her bottom lip.

  'I love you,' she said gently, locking Josh in her hesitant gaze. 'Please forgive me. I knew all of the risks...' She shrugged back at him meekly. 'I chose to do it. It was my decision. I just wanted to feel... alive.'

  Josh stared at her. Give or take a paragraph or ten, he'd scribbled down exactly the same thing.

  He shook himself, slouching into the sofa, swigging his beer again.

  That's what everyone says. What else is there TO say? Time to reign her in...

  'You felt alive today though, right?' he asked gently.

  'Yes.'

  Good!

  'I think today was the start of the rest of my life.'

  Oh no...

  'Let's just take it one step at a time, shall we,' he grumbled.

  He'd seen her sort before: hot-headed, impetuous, but never packaged like this. Usually, they were spotty, late-teen boys. Fresh out of high school, all raging testosterone and rampant, unquenched libido. They'd hit a spin in Level 4 and all the bravado fell by the wayside. They wouldn't even finish the course.

  'You know, sometimes,' said Josh, 'in the heat of the moment, really smart people do stupid things...'

  She was bright, he could see, but he didn't doubt that she had it in her.

  'Sometimes, really shitty things just happen...

  'That freezing thing you did at the door?'

  She glanced back at him guiltily.

  'It's OK with regular skydiving,' Josh told her. 'You've got a reserve. From that height, you get a second or two to think.

  'But with BASE? Half a second? There are no second chances. No reserve. That's the difference between life and death.'

  She blanched.

  'You hear what I'm saying?'

  She was listening. He was knocking enough wind out of her, but not too much.

  She nodded back intently.

  Good.

  Josh proceeded to talk her through the AFF course, level by level. She didn't interrupt.

  She was calming down.

  Finally...

  'What are you going to do now?' he asked as she drained her glass.

  'I still want to do it,' she asserted.

  'I didn't mean that,' Josh grinned. 'I meant when you leave here.'

  Oh...

  Real life. She couldn't imagine it. The world seemed a different place.

  'Go back to the shop, I suppose,' she shrugged.

  She didn't want to. She could have listened to him all day, but she'd taken up enough of his time. Lucy clunked her glass down on the table, glancing down at her watch.

  'I'd better get going.'

  Joshua sat up straight, watching in dismay as she grabbed her bag, slinging it over her shoulder.

  'Thanks for the drink. And the chat.'

  She hauled herself up, Josh quickly following suit.

  '...The chocolate shop?' he blurted to the back of her head.

  She paused, turning back to him. He stood there, hands on his hips, blinking back.

  He'd tried to make chitchat as he harnessed her up in the hangar. 'What do you do?' 'Where are you from?' Lucy could barely hear, her heartbeat thundering in her ears, her subconscious screaming 'RUN, SIMKINS! RUN!'.

  'The chocolate shop, that's right,' she told him with a warm smile. He smiled back, running a hand through his neatly-cropped curls.

  Wow...

  'Hang on,' he said distractedly, feeling around in the back pocket of his combats. 'I suppose you'd better have this...'

  He pulled out a business card. Lucy took it from him, turning it over. It had a mobile number scribbled on the back.

  'That's my direct line,' Josh told her. She giggled.

  'Thanks,' she said, slipping it into the front pocket of her jeans. 'You'll be hearing from me very soon.'

  'I'll look forward to it.'

  'Let me get that,' said Josh from behind her. Lucy's stomach fluttered as he laid his left hand on her shoulder. He reached out for the door handle with his right. Swinging the door inwards, he slid his hand up over her head, holding it open. Lucy stepped under his arm, grinning inanely.

  He is so—

  She stepped out. She didn't even see it coming.

  'Fffff... Argh! ...ARGH!'

  Lucy clutched her face.

  The football thudded twice, rolling into the gulley skirting the portacabin café. She flinched as Joshua pulled him into her arms.

  'Oi!' he roared angrily. 'Mind the lady!

  '...Are you all right?'

  Oh god! Oh god! Oh fuck, it hurts!

  He put his hands on her shoulders, holding her at arm's length. Lucy peeked through her fingers.

  Two kids stared back from the grass behind joshua, open-mouthed.

  'Sorry.' 'Sorry.'

  Joshua's head whipped around, his eyes a livid green blaze. Lucy watched the kids' faces pale. Josh looked back to her. She quickly closed her fingers, clenching her eyes shut again.

  'Lucy...' he said gently.

  Don't cry... Don't cry...

  'Let me see,' he said, rubbing her shoulders. 'Take your hands away.'

  His fingers gently encircled her wrists, drawing her arms down. Lucy's eyes blinked open, peering down at her hands, turning them over.

  Thank god...

  There was no blood.

  They dangled by her sides. She felt him stroke her face. Lucy's eyelids fluttered shut. He was standing so close, she could smell him again.

  'Oh baby...' she heard him breathe.

  Lucy's eyes sprang open, pupils constricting with the influx of light.

  He gazed down tenderly, brow furrowed, mouth pressed in a line, the corners inclined downwards. Lucy's heartbeat quickened. His fingers gently raked her hair, drawing it back from her face. She shuddered. His eyes followed his thumb as he wiped a tear from her cheek. They flicked back to hers; she breathed in sharply. Such a vivid colour, shot through with rays, like shards of broken green glass.

  She felt his thumb sweep her top lip, feather-light. His eyes were following it again. Lucy's heart thundered, a deafening tattoo. Her heart lurched as josh cupped her face.

  She saw him leaning in, tilting her face upwards. Her eyes instinctively closed.

  ...BABY?

  Joshua's heavy eyelids shot open.

  No-no-no! What the fuck are you doing? What did you say THAT for?

  He drew back quickly, releasing her, running his hands through his hair, glancing into the café.

  He was just in time to catch half a dozen shadows darting away from the window. He cringed, looking down at Lucy.

  The stare was blistering, those piercing blue eyes, just a little too big for her face. Josh briefly closed his, then opened them again.

  'Your lip's a bit swollen,' he told her, in a voice that seemed to get stuck in his throat. He drew his head back and cleared it. 'Do you feel OK?'

  ...Rule number one of skydiving. Never lie to your instructor.

  Lucy blinked back.

  Feel OK?...

  The sting in her face was residing. Nonetheless, she felt like an absolute dick.

  ...Shit!

  She gaped down at her traitorous arms. They were wrapped around his waist. Lucy pulled back quickly, stepping away.

  'Come back in and sit down,' Josh coaxed, oblivious once more to the audience waiting in the café.

  She shook her head, lips tight.

  'I've got to go.'

  'Lucy...'

  His brow contorted, eyes pleading. He looked torn.

  She forced a smile.

  'I'll call you,' she said hoarsely.

  In a blink, she was walking away.

  Josh watched the brake lights of the black Ford Focus disappear down the lane, a cloud of dust rising from the back wheels.

  'Knock
it on the head, son.'

  Josh span around.

  Martin smirked back, cocking his head, the folds around his cognac eyes deepening.

  Josh frowned. Martin shook his head.

  'You know what I'm talking about,' Martin asserted. 'Everyone on that lift knows what I'm talking about.'

  'What? I haven't got a—'

  'And for them that missed it, there was your little performance in the bar,' he said, folding his arms. 'They're all on about it,' he said, nodding to the café.

  'Grinding The Crack?' Martin grinned. 'Honestly, I've heard some chat up lines in my time...'

  'I wasn't chatting her up!' Josh protested, eyes wide, laughing nervously, voice a little too high.

  'Snowy, lad,' Martin chuckled. 'You were singing!'

  Josh paused, running his hand through his hair.

  'I was only—'

  'I've never heard you sing in my life!'

  Joshua frowned.

  'I sing...' he said sulkily.

  'To be honest, mate,' Martin smirked. 'I think I'd advise against it.

  'Listen, Snowy,' he said placing his hand on Josh's shoulder, giving it a firm squeeze. 'A distracted student is one thing. We can live with that. Let's face it, with a pretty boy like you, we're going to have to. And you're a good teacher... You do a good job of bringing them round...'

  Martin fixed Josh's stare, all trace of humour disappearing from his face.

  '...But a distracted Instructor?'

  Martin slowly shook his head. Josh watched him turn and stroll off towards the manifest.

  'Knock it on the head,' Martin called back, without breaking his stride. 'It'll all end in tears, you mark my words.'

  Lucy sat in the car park at Kennford Ken service station, peering into the rear view mirror, prodding her nose. It looked a little puffy. It hurt a little bit. Her top lip was fat and pink. She cracked open her bottle of Malvern Spring and downed two Nurofen.

  She could still see him, the little figure in that mirror, standing hands on hips, disappearing into the dust as she drove away.

  Hi. It's Lucy Simkins. Do you have any availability for next weekend?