Chapter 12 First Flight
First Flight
Lawrie
Ernest had made sandwiches for the long car ride back while we’d waited for the delivery, which turned out to be a large duffel.
He’d also packed a backpack with pretty much the standard things I usually took with me on a hike; water bottles, a small first-aid kit, a compact blanket, and a few power bars.
We were about to go flying. Fuck me. When would I wake up from this insanity?
The car zoomed up the highway, leaving the bustling city behind, and I wondered how the hell I was going to fly with a dragon. Would he like clutch me in those claws? Because that didn’t appeal.
“You won’t hold me during a flight, right?”
“No. That would be impractical. You’ll get up on my shoulders.”
“Like a kid at a fair?”
“Exactly.”
I snickered. “This is crazy, Ernest.”
“You’ll love it.” He sucked in a breath, and his gaze flickered to me before refocusing on the road. “You’re not afraid of heights, are you?”
“Not more than an average person, I guess.”
“Great. Sorry, I should have asked earlier.”
“Nothing can actually happen to me, can it?”
“No. Of course not.”
Right then, my phone vibrated in my pocket. I pulled it out with some effort, squirming in the seat.
Seeing the name, I groaned. I was about to face the interrogation. “It’s Josh. He’s going to question me about you.”
“Take it.”
Okay. Here goes nothing. “Hi, Josh.”
“What the fuck, Lawrence?”
“Um.”
“You’re still with him?”
“Yes.”
“That’s a long-ass date. What gives? Are you at his place?”
Would he leave it if I told him Ernest could hear? “I’m in the car with Ernest now.”
There was a beat of silence. “You sound weird. Do you need my help? Should I call the police? Where are you?”
I gasped out a half-laugh. “Jesus, Josh. No! Ernest and I… We’re dating.”
“Dating,” he repeated.
“I got a week off at work, and I’ll be staying with him.” I cast a helpless glance at Ernest, but he was looking at the road with an amused expression on his face. Damned dragon.
“You took a week off at work,” Josh parroted, his tone dripping with disbelief. “If you’re trying to calm me down, you’re failing. You never take time off. Never. I am going to assume you’ve really been kidnapped and are trying to subtly signal me I should call the cops.”
I rolled my eyes. “Josh, stop it. I’m serious.
It’s kind of sudden, yes, but Ernest and I are together.
” An idea occurred to me, and I prayed it would work.
“It’s calm at the office this week. Sullivan’s forcing me to take leave so he doesn’t have to pay me for the few days of vacation I couldn’t take out last year.
” I didn’t like lying to my friend, but what was I supposed to say?
I couldn’t tell him that leaving Ernest for one minute would probably make me vomit.
Ernest flashed me a curious glance.
“And it’s not so sudden. I met Ernest at Sullivan and Burnes before the holidays.” That wasn’t a lie. Technically.
“You didn’t tell me about him.”
“I didn’t want to jinx it.”
“Put him on speaker,” Ernest said.
I turned to him with surprise. “What?” I mouthed.
“Come on. Speaker.”
He asked for it. “I’m putting you on speaker, Josh.”
“What?” my friend managed before Ernest took over the conversation.
“Hi, Josh. I’m taking Lawrie to the mountains for some stargazing. You don’t have to worry about him. I haven’t kidnapped him, and if I have my way with him, I assure you, it’s going to be consensual.”
I must have been beet-red. Ernest’s short speech had a great effect, though. It shut Josh up.
“Okay,” he stammered out.
“We’re almost at the parking place, so Lawrie will call you some other time. The restaurant you work for—is it any good?”
Josh went mute after the non sequitur but recovered quickly. “We’re great. Japanese fusion. We’ve been recommended in the city guide three years in a row now.”
“Could you get us a table for two on Friday?”
“We’re fully booked,” my friend said with a hint of pride in his voice.
“Saturday?”
“I might be able to do that.”
“Thank you, Josh. You’re a star. Have a great week.”
“You too.”
Ernest gave me a gleeful eyebrow waggle.
“Bye, Josh,” I said and quickly ended the call.
“That went well,” Ernest said, smiling smugly.
“He thinks I’ve gone insane.”
“He’ll get used to us together.”
Well, given enough time, maybe I would too.
After he parked, Ernest pulled the large duffel out of the car and carried it onto a nearby clearing. When he opened it, the contents spilled out onto the grass.
“What’s that?” I scratched my head, staring at the pile of ropes, belts, and buckles, plus what looked like carabiners.
“Safety equipment.”
“Safety? Isn’t this enough?” I gestured down my body encased in the tight black suit and boots. The helmet sat on a rock to my left.
“No, it’s not,” Ernest replied pleasantly. “I’m not diving to catch you with my claws if you slide off my back midflight. Have you ever been rock-climbing or bungee-jumping?”
I gulped. This was getting very real, very fast. “No.”
“Come here.”
He pulled a bundle out of the pile and unwrapped it. “Step into these loops.” I did as instructed, and Ernest directed my arms through another two loops. Four iron clasps met in the buckle in my middle. He locked the buckle and patted my chest. “It’s a standard parachute harness. No worries.”
“Why do I need a parachute harness?” I squeaked.
“You’ll see.”
And he stripped naked.
Gaping, I stared at Ernest completely in the buff in the middle of a meadow. Would I ever get used to how perfect his body was?
“Ready?”
The last time I’d seen this, I’d fainted.
I sincerely hoped I was better prepared this time around.
Just to be sure, I closed my eyes for a moment—I wasn’t keen on seeing the face-elongation again.
A few exhales and then a deep grunt reached my ears.
When I opened my eyes again, it was there. He was there.
Huge body, surely thirty feet from head to tail, sleek black skin, bright yellow eyes with a thin band of blue around, thorns lining the ginormous head, and—Lord, help me—claws. Twenty knife-like claws.
He blinked and took a step forward. On instinct, I stumbled backward, but he didn’t come closer to me.
With his head and one clawed front foot, he poked at the pile of belts and buckles, spreading them until he found a large loop.
He nosed it for some reason. Or not nosed; he tried to put his head into it.
On the second try, the belt stuck to his muzzle, and Ernest the dragon threw his head back, bowing his long neck so the loop slid down to his shoulders.
With an elegance a bus-sized dragon had no right to possess, he put his front legs through another pair of loops and shimmied.
He fucking shimmied, his T-Rex-like behind shaking and tail swirling.
The harness settled between his shoulder blades.
“A little help?”
I jumped at the sound of his voice. It sounded like Ernest but through a frigging megaphone.
“Uh. Sure.”
With a claw, he pointed at a couple of buckles hanging off his chest.
Okay. I can do this. I’ll just take a couple of buckles and lock them over a dragon’s chest. No biggie.
With how my hands were shaking, it took a while. Ernest didn’t move a muscle, only his barrel of a ribcage expanded with his breaths. The mass of his body radiated heat. When my fingers brushed his skin, it felt dry and silky smooth.
Don’t look between his hind legs. You don’t want to know.
“Thank you,” Ernest said, obviously trying to speak as low as possible. Even so, the ground vibrated under my feet with those simple words. He stretched his long neck and flexed his wings.
“Whoa!” I flailed backward, staring up at the majestic silhouette against the darkening sky.
“It sits well,” he said. “Good.”
I blinked. This was surreal. It was Ernest but wasn’t. I was terrified of him…but wasn’t.
He held out a couple of short ropes with carabiners on both ends.
“These go into the yellow loops on your chest.”
With better control over my hands, I clicked each carabiner into place. I was starting to get the principle of this setup.
“And when I’m up there,” I said, pointing vaguely at his back, “I’ll lock the other two into your harness, right?”
“Exactly. In case you faint again, you’ll remain dangling off me instead of free-falling into the void.”
One of his orange-sized eyes slowly closed, the pupil narrowing, then reopened, and the pupil adjusted again. The other eye remained pinned on me. The sequence of movements was so weird I shuddered. Was he trying to wink at me?
I grimaced. “Don’t do that. It looks creepy.”
He blinked with both eyes this time and tilted his head to the side. “I don’t want to look mean, so I tried for playful.”
“Ernest, when you wink, it doesn’t look like a wink. It looks like you’re rolling your eyes out of sync, like you’re nauseous or something.”
“Oh. Sorry.”
I thought he winced, maybe? His freaky fangs showed for a second while his black lip curled. I shuddered and waved my hand in front of my face. “It’s fine. What’s next?”
At that, he crouched with his front legs and laid his neck into the grassy field with a soft thunk.
“Hop on.”
Oh shit. This is it.
I couldn’t wait too long, or my courage would fail me. Taking regular, slow breaths, I inched closer and hesitantly placed one hand on his shoulder. He was too big for me to climb up without stepping on his legs.
“It won’t hurt you?”
“No. Get up there.”
Inhale, exhale, inhale, exhale. “Okay.”
I gripped the belts leading down his back and around his front legs and pulled myself up until I stood on his thigh. Grunting, I dragged myself high enough so I could swing one leg over him. I settled at the base of Ernest’s neck, my legs dangling by his shoulders. That hadn’t been too hard.
My hands rested on the silky skin of his neck. So amazingly smooth. I stroked experimentally, just learning the texture. Ernest rumbled under me, and I jolted.