Falling for Her, page 21
Kim said, “Well. Maybe one day. I don’t see myself doing this when I’m sixty.”
“So I only have to live with it for five years?”
Kim swatted Marisa’s ass, hard, and Marisa squealed. “If you can live with that, I can deal with waiting until we’re in private to do this.” She smoothed her hand over Marisa’s ass, soothing the flesh she had just made sting. “It makes it more special. Just mine.”
“Mmm. It is all yours,” Marisa said.
Kim sighed and said, “But that doesn’t change the fact, Ms. Larkin, that your rent is three weeks late.”
Marisa hid her smile. “I’m doing the best I can. But headshots and acting classes... I’m going on a few auditions every day, I’m just waiting for the phone to ring.”
“I have people calling me, too. I need payment, Ms. Larkin. Surely there’s something you can do.” She moved her hand to the buckle of Marisa’s studded belt. “Do you like living here, Ms. Larkin?”
“Oh, yes, Ms. Greer. I’d do anything to stay.”
Kim turned Marisa around and said, “Well, let’s just see about that.” She undid Marisa’s belt and guided her down onto the window seat.
“What about the water?” Marisa asked as her jeans were dragged down her thighs.
“Let it boil,” Kim said. She pushed Marisa’s legs apart and bowed her head. Marisa leaned back, braced her hands against the window, and groaned with pleasure.
Epilogue
Simone Lethe lurched down the aisle of the Greyhound, gripping the back of each seat she passed to keep from falling over. Her hair was down over her face, hiding the blood seeping from her hairline. Her jacket was zipped, hiding the knife wounds and dirt smeared over the cotton. She was dragging her right leg behind her, useless and numb. She finally reached the empty back seat of the bus, dropped into it, and winced as her stitches were pulled. Some hack doctor in Oaxaca had managed to get her put back together, but she had little faith in how long his handiwork would last.
She just needed to find Temple, get back to America, and clear their names. And she had to do it with jihadists chasing her on one side, the American government chasing her from the other. It was a lot to handle, and she was drained. So she leaned her head against the glass and let the rocking of the bus lull her to sleep. She was just going to rest her eyes for a bit, build up strength for the confrontation that she knew was coming.
But for now... she was going to rest. Marisa let her muscles relax and slumped against the bus seat.
A few seconds later, Kenneth Swift shouted, “And cut!” A bell rang, and he said, “That is a wrap for episode thirteen, and thus endeth the first season of Neutral Ground, people!” The cast and crew applauded, and Marisa stood up. She accepted hugs and handshakes from members of the crew, hugged Kenneth - veteran director of four episodes, more than anyone else - and made her way slowly toward her trailer. She flexed her muscles as she walked, all of them sore from pretending to have grievous injuries for the past five hours.
She got to her trailer and found Kim sitting at the coffee table with the laptop open in front of her. “Hey,” Marisa said.
“Hey.” She walked toward the back of the trailer to her changing room. As she passed the table, she bent down and pressed her thumb to the back of Kim’s hand, a promise of a kiss later. “What are you reading?”
“The message boards,” Kim said. “You have quite a following. Well, you and Simone.”
“Really?” She had been avoiding online communities like the plague, well aware of how vicious fans could be.
Kim said, “Yeah. Come see what they call themselves.”
Marisa returned in her bra, washing grime from her belly with a moist towel. She sat next to Kim, who angled the laptop so she could read the screen. She smiled. “You made that up.”
“I did not. Simone’s fans proudly call themselves the Lethe-bians. They have a website and everything. They, ah, really hope you hook up with Temple’s boss, Eva.”
Marisa raised an eyebrow. “I could see that.”
“Keep your tongue in your mouth, Larkin,” Kim said with false anger. “I’m going to slip on all this drool.”
Marisa kissed her temple and returned to the back of the trailer. “So what’s this ‘hiatus’ surprise you’ve been talking about?”
“Still a surprise,” Kim said. “We’ll leave tonight. You’ll find out what I have planned tomorrow.”
“Why does it sound so devious when you say it like that?”
“Because you’re a very suspicious person. Just trust me. You always love my surprises.”
“That’s true.”
Kim closed the laptop and went into the changing room. Marisa had the bloody and dirty clothes draped over the back of the shower door, standing naked with her back to the door. Kim said, “Need some help with the hard to reach places?”
“Sure. If you wanted to get a couple of easy to reach places, too, I’d be happy to oblige.”
Kim smiled and stepped into the changing room with her.
***
They left that night, after a wrap party thrown by the production company. They drove until dusk, and checked into a small hotel. Marisa checked in as Mary Prewitt, and the clerk showed no sign of recognizing her when he handed the key across the counter. They went upstairs, made love, and fell asleep in each other’s arms.
The next morning, they shared a bath and ate room service breakfast before Kim told Marisa it was time for the surprise. They drove into the wilderness until they reached a crowd of cars parked on either side of the road. Marisa could see some kind of gathering up ahead on the bridge, but she couldn’t make out what it was. She frowned and said, “Did you bring me to a movie set?”
“No,” Kim said. “Come on.”
They got out of the Jeep and walked together toward the bridge. Kim looped her arm around Marisa’s and said, “You always talk about how you’re afraid to take risks. How you wish you were braver.”
“Right.”
“Well, I’ve decided that, having spent a year as your stunt double, it’s time for you to make a leap of faith.”
They reached the bridge and Marisa realized the gathering was a group of people leaning over the edge of the bridge to look down. The bridge was a sturdy cement construct, spanning a canyon of dizzying depth. There was a steel platform attached to the side of the bridge railing, and a long rubber cord was hanging over the edge. Marisa’s heart immediately went into overdrive. “No,” she said. “Kim, no...”
“It’s okay,” Kim whispered. She put her hands on the side of Marisa’s head and said, “It’s a tandem jump. I’ll be right there with you the entire time. You said you trusted me. You said I would keep you safe. I will. No matter how dangerous or scary it gets, I’m going to be right here. Okay?”
Marisa looked at the platform and shuddered. “I’m scared.”
“So am I. You have to move past that if you really want to live. You don’t have to do this if you really don’t want to. I’m not going to force you into the harness, and I’m not going to be disappointed if you can’t go through with it. But I want you to know without a doubt that if you do find the courage to step up on a ledge and do something stupid and crazy, I’m going to be right there with you, holding your hand. No matter what.”
Marisa chewed on her bottom lip. “We can just leave?”
“We can absolutely leave. I’m not going to make you do anything you’re not ready for.” She took a step toward the car. “It works just as well as a visual aid.”
“Wait.” Marisa pulled her back.
“You don’t have to do it, Mary.”
“I know. Just give me a second to make sure that’s what I want.” She eyed the people in charge. “This is a good company, I assume.”
“The best. And these guys, they’re a special group. They’re all friends of mine. If you want to kiss me or just hold on really tight, you don’t have to worry about it getting into a tabloid. They’re good people.”
Marisa swallowed and gripped Kim’s hand hard enough to hurt. She took a deep breath, let it out slowly, and nodded. “Okay.”
“Okay?”
“Okay. Let’s go.” She took Kim’s hand and guided her up to the person running the jumps. “I’m scared shitless, but I think sometimes it’s good to be scared. When you’re with the right people.”
Kim smiled and squeezed Marisa’s hand. “Then let’s go.”
***
Marisa resisted the urge to triple check the harness, her hands trembling where they rested in the small of Kim’s back. They were hooked up, standing on the platform, the rocky canyon floor so far below them that the rocks looked like pebbles. Having her contacts out helped, making everything a bit blurry. But she knew how big the rocks really were, and how hard, and how dangerous, and God, how did she get talked into this? She focused on Kim’s eyes and forced herself to breathe normally.
“Just keep your eyes on me.”
“Okay,” Marisa said.
“I love you, Mary.”
“I must really love you, too.”
Kim smiled and kissed Marisa’s bottom lip. “It’s okay. It’s going to be fine. Are you sure you can do this?”
Marisa said, “With you here? Yes.”
Kim looked at the man running the jumps and nodded. They both took a series of deep breaths, and Marisa closed her eyes to steady her nerves. “Three.” When she opened them again, Kim nodded at her. “Two.” Marisa smiled and felt her fear fade. “One!” With Kim, she wasn’t quite so afraid. With Kim, she could do this. She tightened her grip. “Jump!”
Kim fell to the side, and Marisa screamed as they fell off the platform. The wind whipped around her, assaulting her body from all sides. The ground seemed to be coming at her so, so, so fast, and then she looked at Kim’s face. Her lips were split in a wide smile, and Marisa couldn’t help but laugh. She held tight to Kim as the cord snapped and sent them sailing into the air. It was like flying, exactly like flying, and Marisa looked into the sky as she soared. There was another fall coming she knew, it was the nature of bungee jumping, but that was fine. She would be able to handle it. She would be able to handle anything.
She and Kim both laughed as they fell through the sky.
About the Author
Geonn Cannon is the author of over fifty novels, including the Riley Parra series which was adapted into an Emmy-nominated webseries by Tello Films. He's also written two tie-in novels for the television series Stargate SG-1. He was the first male author to win a Golden Crown Literary Society Award for his novel Gemini, and he won a second for Dogs of War. Information about his other works and an archive of free stories can be found online at geonncannon.com.
Geonn Cannon, Falling for Her
