The Billionaire Dating Game: A Romance Novel (18 page)

Now everybody looked at April with a mix of envy and irritation. I could tell Mia was upset that she hadn’t thought of the ruse first.

But April shook her head, fear tensing her delicate features.

“I can’t,” she whispered. “I just can’t. I can’t.”

“Sure you can!” Dylan said enthusiastically. “All you have to do is sit there. You’re only upside down for a little bit during the loops, anyway, and—”

That was too much for April, who spun around and threw up on the tarmac between her shoes. All of the other girls jumped away from her. Only Heidi patted her on the shoulder and held her hair back.

“Alright,” Piers said. “Looks like one of you will be flying solo.”

“What about April? Does she get a free pass, since she won’t fly?” Mia crossed her arms. “Then I’m not flying, either!”

Heidi shot Mia a dirty look.

“April automatically loses,” Piers said. April burst into tears and threw up again between her sobs. Piers winced.

“Then why are we even flying!?” Mia asked.

“Because… because there will be one more loser, as well.”

“How do you lose by flying in a plane?” Julie asked. “Is it whoever throws up loses?”

“What? No.” Piers shook his head in disgust. “It’s a fighter jet simulation. We’ll be shooting at each other, and whoever gets the most hits is the loser.”

“You mean we’re going to get
shot
?” Kate asked, her face pale. “What if our engine gets shot and we crash?”

“It’s lasers,” Dylan interrupted. “Not real bullets.”

“We’re going to get shot with lasers?!”

Piers bit down on his lip and started handing out papers. He tore a receipt in half and gave me the bottom piece.

“Two hundred dollars on a bar tab?” I said, glancing up at him. “Tsk, tsk.”

“Don’t blame me,” Piers said. “Blame the alcohol for being so tasty.”

“Can you vote for yourself?” Tanya asked.

“Sure,” he said. “But if everyone votes for themselves, it’ll go to a random draw. Okay?”

“Psst!” Mia poked me from the side as Piers was handing out the last of the paper slips. He only had one pen, and was starting to look frustrated.

“What?” I asked.

“Vote for me, okay? I want to fly with Dylan.”

“Yeah? So does everybody else.”

“I promise I’ll make it up to you later, okay?”

Her dark eyelashes fluttered over a fierce expression that said she would personally shoot me out of the sky if I said no.

“Sure,” I said, shrugging. “Okay.”

“Yes! Thank you!” She slunk away, and I saw her whispering furtively to Rosalita and Tanya.

“What was that all about?” Julie asked. “You’re not going to vote for her, are you?”

“Nope,” I said, a plan forming in my mind. “Let’s all vote for Kate for this one, how about it?”

Julie hesitated, then nodded.

“Hey, April! Heidi!” I whispered.

April was standing shakily to the side, Tanya’s arm wrapped around her shoulders.

“What is it?”

“Sorry. I know this is a bad time. But will you vote for Kate so that Mia doesn’t get to fly with Dylan?”

“Sure,” April said miserably. “Whatever.”

“Thanks!” I beamed. This was my first attempt at sabotage, and it gave me a real adrenaline rush. I could totally put this in the article.

When Piers read the votes aloud, Mia smirked as the first two votes went her way. Then he read Kate’s name. Then Kate again. By the time he’d announced Kate as the winner, Mia’s face was as red as her lipstick.

“Who didn’t vote for me?!” she hissed, as we lined up in front of the jets.

“You should ask who
did
vote for you,” Julie teased. “It’ll go faster.”

I didn’t think Mia could turn any redder, but by the time we climbed up into the jets I was worried that she would burst an artery at high altitude.

And then I was sitting in the jet cockpit, with the flight instructor sitting right behind me. And I realized that I was a little bit afraid of flying, too. Not regular flying, but loops? Corkscrews? I wasn’t sure I was up for this challenge.

“Scoot over, Ace.”

I looked up. Piers was standing on the ladder right outside the cockpit. His crotch was right at face height, which I was sure was on purpose. I purposefully looked at the dashboard controls instead as I buckled myself in.

“Uh uh,” I said, shaking my head. “Julie was supposed to be my partner.”

“I put her in with Mia,” Piers said.

“With
Mia?
”

“They’ll be best friends by the end of this, I should think.”

“Maybe, or maybe one of them will be dead.”

“Either way, good for TV ratings.” Piers slid in next to me in the cockpit. “Oof! This is a tight fit.”

“No cracks about my weight, thank you.”

“I wouldn’t dare.”

He reached up and pulled down the cockpit cover, locking it into place. Then he handed me a headset. I quickly put it on, muffling the sounds coming from outside. We were pressed against each other tightly, and the jet engine roared to life. The whole cockpit vibrated with the noise, and even with the headset on I could feel the thrum of the engine in my chest. He flipped a switch on my ear and I heard the crackle of static.

“Hello, hello.” It was strange to hear his accented voice coming in through the headset. “Testing, testing. Can you read me, Llama Inglebert Salmon Alpha? Over.”

“Copy that,” I said, my pulse pounding. The jet started to pull forward on the tarmac. “Is it too late to tell you I think I’m scared of flying?”

“Delta Six One Niner to tower,” the flight instructor’s voice came in over the headset, cutting us off. “We’re ready for takeoff.”

“Tower to Delta Six One Nine, you are cleared for takeoff.”

The engines jumped up a notch, the roaring sound increasing in pitch. We began to trundle forward, faster and faster. The vibrations inside the cockpit shuddered me as we started to gain speed. I swallowed hard as the acceleration pushed me back in my seat.

“This is the fun part,” Piers said. “Well, besides the loops.”

“We’re not seriously doing loops, are we?”

He didn’t respond, and I looked over to see him grinning. The ground behind him was rushing by at an incredible speed, and the roar was deafening, even with the headset on.

“Piers? Piers, tell me we’re not doing loops!”

The jet pulled up, lifting away from the ground. My stomach dipped as my whole body was pressed down into the seat and the cockpit window filled with sky.

“Piers!”

The plane dipped, lifting my stomach into my throat. I closed my eyes and tried not to puke. Then I felt Piers slipping his hand under mine. He squeezed my fingers gently.

“Don’t worry,” he said. “This is going to be fun.”

“I hate fun!” I screamed, as the plane turned sharply and jammed my body against Piers. “I am so anti-fun right now!”

And while I hated to admit it, holding his hand made me feel a little better. By the time we settled at a high altitude, I was able to open my eyes and look around. We whipped through clouds like they were nothing. And I could see the other jets flying just below us.

“Wow,” I whispered, pressing my face to the window.

“Alright, people,” the flight instructor said. “It’s time for the dogfight. You see those jets under us?”

“Yep,” I said.

“You see those jets above us?”

Above us? I hadn’t even thought about that. I looked up and saw that there were two other planes flying above us and to the side.

“Look at the wings. Red and blue. We’re on the red team. That means: who are we trying to shoot?”

“Blue!” Piers and I replied at the same time.

“You got it. Shoot the blue, don’t shoot red. You get a point for hitting blue, minus a point for hitting red.”

“How do we shoot?” I asked.

“See the controls in front of you? One of them is labeled
Laser Fire.
That’s the one.”

I grabbed the joystick and pressed the button on top. As we went through a cloud, I could see the laser in front of us. On the cockpit controls, a screen showed me the direction the laser guns were pointed.

“You can both shoot if you want to, and I can pilot, or one of you can pilot if you’re interested in flying.”

“I want to shoot!” I said quickly. I relished the thought of unleashing a tirade of laser fire on Mia and her cohort.

“Great,” Piers said. “I want to pilot. That means I get to do as many loops as I want.”

I shot a warning look over at him.

“You only get to loop if it means we can shoot them better,” I said.

“If you put us into a dangerous turn,” the instructor said, “or you get too close to another plane, I will take over the controls from back here. If you don’t want to pilot anymore, let me know and I’ll take over.”

“Not a chance,” Piers said.

“Tower to fighters, ready all fighters. Blue team check in.”

All I could hear was the hiss of static.

“Red team check in.”

“Red one check in.”

“Red two check in,” the pilot said. I grabbed the joystick as the rest of the team checked in. My heart was beating through my ears.

“Piers, you tell me if you’re planning on doing a loop, okay?” I said. “I want to be ready.”

“Every time?”

“Yes, every time!”

“Alright,” Piers said.

“Tower to fighters. Ready all fighters,” the headset crackled. “Your fight starts… now!”

“Loop time!” Piers said, and pulled back on the control. My whole body was pressed back against my seat, and blood rushed up to my head.

“Piers! What the hell are you doing?!”

“That’s actually pretty smart,” the flight instructor said, as calmly as if we were at a tea party instead of looping a fighter jet a mile up in the air. My heart thudded in my ears as my body lifted in my seat. “Get behind the rest of them, you can get a better shot.”

“See?” Piers said. “I know what I’m doing.”

The sky was turning above our heads, and then I saw ground. We started to pull out of the loop and the pressure of acceleration increased. On the cockpit screen, I saw a bunch of red and blue blips appear in the target monitor.

“Get ready to shoot,” Piers said.

I hadn’t let go of the joystick, and now I aimed it ahead toward the nearest blue-winged plane.

“
Bam! Bam! Bam!
”

I unleashed hell, and the screen in front of me lit up as I hit my target.

“
Pew! Pew pew pew!
”

“Are you going to make noises every time you shoot?” Piers said.

“Shut up and fly, pilot boy!” I cried. “
Pew pew pew
!”

Ahead of us, the blue-winged jet tilted its wings and turned sharply out of our path. Piers turned, too. I was still shooting when the screen lit up red.

“Shit!” I cried, realizing I’d accidentally hit a red plane that had dipped in front of us. “Sorry! I didn’t mean it!”

“Got another one to the right!” Piers said. He turned, and I waited until the gun was pointed at the right jet to shoot.

“
Pew! Pew!
”

Our screen flashed red again with a word in large type: HIT.

“HIT? What does that mean?” I cried.

“It means we’ve been hit!” Piers shouted. “Hold on!”

The plane turned sideways, and Piers crushed me with his body.

“Why are we flying sideways?!”

“Evasive maneuvers! Evasive maneuvers!” We swung the other way, and this time I was the one crushing Piers.

“That’s good,” I said. We weren’t getting hit anymore.

“Oh? You like being on top?” Piers smirked at me.

“Look out!”

I pulled up the joystick and started shooting at a blue jet that had suddenly appeared in front of us.

“
PEW!
” I shouted, the screen lighting up blue. “
PEW PEW PEW!
”

We were hit again. My heart sank and the jet nose swung upward.

“What are you doing?”

“I’m looping!”

“You have to tell me when you’re going to loop!” I yelled, my stomach rising into my throat.

“Alright! I’m going to loop!”

“
Ahhhhhhh!
”

Chapter Nineteen

When we finally landed, I stepped out of the jet plane with shaky legs. Piers helped me down the ladder.

“How do you think we did?” I asked.

“Pretty damn good. You’re a natural.”

“Thank you. You were quite the pilot yourself.”

“And for someone who’s anti-fun and scared of flying, you sure do have the biggest, goofiest grin on your face.”

“Do I?” I grinned even bigger. “Maybe I’m not anti-fun after all.”

“That was awesome!” Kate shouted. She came over to me and high fived me. Dylan beamed at both of us as the camera crew circled around us. I’d gotten so used to them being around that I didn’t even notice them half of the time.

“Go team blue!” Dylan shouted.

“Boo!” I shouted, sticking my tongue out at him. “Go team red!”

“Wait, you were team red?” Kate asked. “You traitor!”

“Glad you guys had fun,” Julie said, sidling up next to me. “I had to listen to Mia scream any time the plane moved at all.”

“I had to listen to Lisa shout
Pew Pew Pew
every time she shot a laser,” Piers commiserated.

“How are you all doing?” The head flight instructor popped over to our group with a tablet in his hand.

“Awesome!” Dylan shouted. “Who won? Red or blue?”

“Looking at the hit count, it seems like… the blue team won.”

“BOOYAH!” I shouted, as Kate and Dylan shouted “
NOOOOO!
”

“But—” the instructor continued. “It looks like the winning plane was actually a red plane.”

“HA!” Dylan shouted.

“Tallying up the winners… in third place, with twenty-seven confirmed hits, was a blue team, with Rosalita and Tanya!”

“Yay!” they said, jumping up and down.

“There were only five teams,” Mia snapped at them. “That means you’re third place loser, too.”

“In second place,” the flight instructor continued, ignoring Mia, “we have another blue team. With thirty-three confirmed hits, Piers and Lisa!”

“So close!” I said, giving Piers a medium-high five.