Life Before Damaged Vol. 8 (The Ferro Family) by H. M. Ward Page A

spending insane amounts of money on extravagant parties, and getting into fights at every turn. I’m worried about him. I search each photo of him and have yet to see life in his eyes. It’s like the vampire whores sucked it away, along with other things. But I know it’s more than that.
    Part of me suspects that I might be the reason for his behavior; like he's trying to prove me wrong.
    "Hey, look at me." Philip cups my chin with his hand and turns my head towards him, breaking me out of my daydreams. “It’s normal to be nervous your first time jumping. I promise that it’s safe. In fact, skydiving is safer than riding in a car. Believe me, I’ve done hundreds of jumps already. Just relax, okay?”
    I nod, pretending once more that the cause of my mood is something other than concern for my future husband.
    Zeke, one of Philip's skydiving buddies and one of my least favorite people, sits across from us and is quick to pick up on my fragile state. "Don't worry, babe. Fatal accidents only happen every 200 jumps or so, and we haven't had one in, let me think... 199 jumps." He shrugs his shoulders and clucks his cheek. "Aw, shit! Sorry, babe. I guess your time is up. Sucks to be you. Speaking of sucking, how about a quickie before you go?" He starts to unzip his jumpsuit in front of everyone.
    “Doucheface.” I glare at him.
    "Back off, Zeke." Philip kicks his friend in the shins.
    "What the fuck, man? Whatever happened to 'sharing is caring?' Oh, that reminds me, dude, don't forget that we have a meeting later." Zeke looks me up and down with creepy slithering eyes. "You gonna bring this pretty piece of ass with you?"
    Philip tightens his hold around my waist, pulling me close to him. I can feel the tension rolling off of him. "I said to back the fuck off, Zeke."
    I've never heard Philip use such a menacing tone before, which makes the freaky vibe wafting off of his friend even worse. I cuddle into Philip's arms more, putting as much distance between me and Zeke as possible. He stands and turns toward the back of the plane, laughing under his breath.
    "Don't listen to that asshole," Philip whispers into my ear. "His mother never loved him as a child."
    I try to forget about Zeke, but the plane is small and his eyes lock on mine from the back of the plane. Thankfully, we've reached our desired altitude and everyone is distracted checking on each other’s equipment.
    It's time. The butterflies in my stomach swarm and fly out my nose. I can’t breathe.
    One skydiver opens the door of the plane and I shriek, even though I knew it would happen. Everyone looks at me.
    I clamp my hand over my mouth and feel my face burning up. Classic Gina.
    Over everybody's laughter, I hear Zeke's voice mutter, "Newb."
    I don't want to be a human pancake who ends up in Pinelawn.
    Phillip walks up to me and takes my hand, giving it a reassuring squeeze before checking our security devices. My instructor does the same with Phillip’s gear. When everything is triple checked, Philip cups my face in his hands, coaxing me to lift my gaze up to his.
    “See you down on the ground. First time’s always the best, kind of like losing your virginity. I just wish I could be there with you when it happens. Maybe later you and I can have a shared first of our own? Celebrate, just the two of us?” His thumbs brush my cheekbones gently as he searches my eyes for an answer I can't give him. He doesn't push. Instead, he bends down and kisses me gently before heading toward the door to the plane.
    Since I’m doing a tandem dive, my instructor and I are the last ones to jump out, which means I get to see everyone else jump out of the plane. Philip and his friends slowly make their way to the door, going over last second instructions on the formations they'll be doing during their free fall. One by one they step out and get sucked away in a rush of air.
    I feel my instructor laughing behind me, but my heart isn’t laughing. It’s cowering somewhere