High Risk Love by Shannon Mayer

Jet’s.
    “What was that?” Tina snapped my direction, pulling away from him, her gaudily bright red lipstick smeared around her lips. Kinda like Bobo the clown.
    I started to giggle, a combination of embarrassment and shock, at myself and at her ridiculous attempt to look suave and miserable failure at doing so. I shook my head. “No . . . I . . . I said . . .”
    Hugh saved me. “That you . . . hate snakes. I heard you say ‘I hate snakes.’”
    My shoulders were shaking now; I couldn’t stop it. Lily and I could get like this sometimes, laughing about nothing, unable to stop, feeling our breath escape until we couldn’t seem to draw more, which only made the laughing funnier. Oh, God, why now? I closed my eyes and lowered my head to the table; Hugh’s laugh rumbled around me as Jet said his goodbyes to an irate Tina, at least if her tone of voice was any indication.
    “What’s wrong with you?” Jet asked, the sound of his chair scratching across the cobbled pavement.
    Taking a gulping breath, I lifted my head and wiped my eyes. “Oh, nothing. I just got the giggles and I couldn’t stop myself. I’m sorry.” I lifted my hands, palms facing him.
    His eyebrows were in his hairline. “The giggles? I give a passion-filled kiss to a woman and you get the ‘giggles?’”
    I pointed at Hugh. “It’s his fault.”
    Jet frowned at his friend, eyes darkening with what I thought might be jealousy. Which was ridiculous, of course. “What did you do?”
    Hugh burst out laughing and gave me a wink. “Nothing man, I did nothing but save her sweet little ass.”
    Another big breath and I stilled the nervous, out-of-control giggles that seemed determined to spill out of me at all costs. When was the last time I’d laughed like that? The memory slid over me and my smile slipped. I’d been with Ryan and Lily and we’d been watching Napoleon Dynamite and mimicking the movie lines. Somewhere around “Eat your food, Tina” we had lost control, unable to see the movie, we’d been laughing so hard. Of course, that line made me giggle again, thinking about Tina the llama and Tina the red head together.
    Good grief, I’d lost my mind somewhere between the water and the cafe.
    Clearing my throat, the giggles eased slowly. I set my camera on the table, placing it between me and Jet. “You think you can tell me why you started doing stunts? How you got into the business?”
    He nodded, scooting his chair closer, leaning toward me, his face an overdone mask of seriousness. “It was a dark and stormy night—”
    I balled up my napkin and threw it at him, “No, not the imaginary version.”
    “It’s not that exciting.”
    “Tell me anyway.”
    Jet’s eyes flicked over me, and then skittered away. “I was young and stupid and was putting together my own stunts, then uploading them online. Reggie, our stunt coordinator, saw them and called me, offered to train me, Hugh and Jasper.”
    “Wait, who’s Jasper?”
    The waitress came and interrupted me, taking our orders before Jet could answer.
    He went on after the waitress left, as if I hadn’t asked that last question. “So Reggie trained us, taught us the ropes and here we are. The best of the best.” He leaned across the table, and he and Hugh bumped knuckles.
    Frustrated, I tapped the table with my knuckles. “Yes, I get that. But who’s Jasper? Another friend?”
    Jet leaned back out of the shade of the umbrella, his eyes half closing as the sun hit his face. “He’s my little brother.”
    My eyes popped open wide. “I didn’t know you had a brother. And in the same business—it must be great to be able to work together.” When Ryan and I had sung together, performed together, it had been the most amazing times of my life. Too short, and too soon they’d been gone.
    “We don’t work together. Not anymore.” He bit the words out, and in his voice there was regret and pain that seemed so out of place with him.
    Like treading on quicksand, I asked my