Scarlett Bound

Chapter 9

“What should we do first?” Devin asks me as he looks around from one area to the next. I point toward the back of the building where there's a long row of trampolines set up.

“Let's start there,” I say giddily and take off. The feeling of melancholy has passed. My only focus now is on trying out every available jumping surface in this place. I’ll have time to think about my sad moment later when I’m not with Devin.

The line for these jump pads is short. It looks like people don’t deem these as fun as the rest. All you do is start at one end, bouncing from one trampoline to another until you reach the last one. I guess it’s not as fun because it only goes in one direction and has some semblance of order.

“You can go on up.” The young attendant offers me one of his hands to take to help me up. When I’m inches away from grabbing it I'm suddenly lifted into the air from behind by my hips. Surprised, I let out a high pitched squeak.

“You look like you needed some help.” Devin places my feet on the trampolines firm outer edge. He’s so tall that the extra height from me being up here barely makes me taller than him. The top of his head comes to my chin when I turn to look at him.

“Some warning would have been nice!” I quip.

“Sorry.” He says but he doesn’t look sorry in the slightest. The young man gestures at Devin letting him know that he can come up too. Unlike me and most everyone else here he easily makes his way up here without any help. “Race ya!” He grins and jumps onto the first trampoline. I follow as quickly as I can behind him.

Jumping from the edge, my sock covered feet sink slightly into the stretchy black elastic. It takes me a couple of hops but soon I’ve got a good bounce going and launch myself to the next square. 

“Woohoo!” I shout with a smile on my face so big it hurts my cheeks. Devin looks back at me and laughs when he sees how happy I am. When we get through half the trampoline Devin shows off by adding in a flip from one to the next. I’m definitely not ready to add that type of flare yet. I stick to keeps and jumps. In the end, he beats me by a good minute or two. “That was really fun!” My chest rises and falls rapidly from being out of breath. It’s a lot of work but it sure is fun. “Let’s try the trampoline room.” Grabbing his hand I drag him to our next destination. 

There’s no line for this one. The room is so big that I’m assuming they just have to keep an eye on how many people are in here at a time. I doubt they’ve come close to filling this huge room up. A small little ramp leads up to the netted velcro door that acts as the entrance. 

I release his hand so I can pull the velcro apart to open the door. The room is made of trampolines and pads that's it. The entire floor and all of the walls are made for bouncing or jumping off of. A small group of young kids bounces around in one of the corners of the room. It looks to me like they've claimed that area.

Smaller groups of people bounce back and forth around the entire room. People do flips while others enjoy shoving one another around. Devin bounces past me toward the center of the room and I follow behind him. I try my best to keep my eyes from drifting down to his ass but I’m a healthy horny girl. My eyes glance down momentarily to his tight cheeks and once I've had my feel I look back up. He will never know.

“Come on, Letty, try a flip.” He taunts me.

“If I break my neck you are going to feel really guilty.” I finally give in to his relentlessness. Jumping to gain momentum, I hurl my body up and around managing to land on my feet. Then I elegantly fall onto my ass.

“I give you a seven out of ten.” Devin laughs. “You could use some work on your landing.” I give him a shove and he dramatically falls to the trampoline floor. 

The two of us practice doing flips for the next little while. Well, it’s more like I practice while Devin laughs at me until I’ve gotten a lot better. When I land several times in a row I feel confident in my abilities to do a front flip.

“Okay, we’re kicking it up a notch.” Once I get a couple of feet off the ground with each jump I throw my weight backward to try a backflip. Of course, since it is my first attempt it doesn't end well. I put too much force into the flip landing too far back on the heels of my feet. My sock covered feet flip out from under me and I fall onto my back.

As I lay there laughing at my failure, Devin’s large figure leans over me. He’s holding his stomach because he’s laughing so hard.

“Are you okay?” He asks between laughs. I nod my head at him in answer because I’m laughing so hard I can't even speak. 

“I must be dead or dreaming because not only are you two in the same building but you’re laughing together.” Jackson’s loud ass voice interrupts our bubble of laughter.

“Your sister thought that because she could do a decent front flip she could suddenly do a backflip. Let’s just say that she needs some more practice.” I accept his outreached hand and he helps pull me up. 

“I’d like to see you do better.” I give his chest a light-handed smack and move back to give him some space. 

“Watch and learn.” 

“Dude, what the f**k is going on? I need someone to explain this.” My older brother William who is the least classy of us because every other word out of his mouth is usually a curse word looks at us like we’re the world's most complicated math problem. That’s saying something since he’s a brilliant chemist. He may look like your stereotypical jock with his tall stocky build but he’s all nerd. 

Jackson on the other hand looks like a cocky playboy and that’s exactly what he is. He may be on the shorter side compared to the rest of my brothers but he doesn't let that phase him. You will never see him less than perfectly put together. He’s vainer about his eyebrows than I am which is also saying something because I’m a makeup guru! He has always been into nice clothes and anything else shiny or expensive. His job as a recruiter suits him perfectly. Since he’s so good at it, he makes a lot of money. He’s recruited some of the best players throughout the team's history.

“We had a talk and figured things out. No big deal. Now watch. Devins is going to show me how a real backflip is done.” He claps his hands and rubs them together to prepare himself. When he looks up his eyes immediately meet mine. He gives me a wink then he jumps once, twice, and effortlessly flips backward. Landing on flat feet, he bounces a few more times till he stops. 

I flash him the middle finger because I’m about as classy as Williams can be. He just laughs and bows at me. The guys greet each other then start catching up on things that have happened since the last time they were together. I let them have there moment of bro time and bounce around like a little kid hopped up on sugar.

“I could watch your sexy ass jump up and down all day,” Rye says from behind me. He lands a smack on my ass right before I turn around. When you’ve been friends for as long as we have it creates a special bond. Like if any other guy in the world said that to me or smacked my ass without permission I would be introducing them to my fist but with Rye it’s different.

To say that I’m comfortable around him would be an understatement. Growing up, we were always there for each other. Whether it be he needed help with paying for lunch or needed a shoulder to cry on. We would tell each other everything. All the big moments in our lives we had each other there for them. We even shared a bed when we had sleepovers growing and we still don’t mind sharing a bed now.

A friendship like ours is rare but I wish that everyone could have one like ours. Knowing that I have someone who will always have my back or that I can go to for anything is a relief. It gives you ease of mind like nothing else.

“That’s the most action I’ve gotten in weeks.” I rub the cheek gently easing the slight sting. That was a solid smack.

“Girl, that’s just sad.” He says with his arms crossed and hip c****d to the side which looks a little funny since we aren’t on a flat surface.

“Trust me, honey. I know. I’m glad that you could make it. Is Susie coming too? I put my phone in one of the lockers after I texted you guys so I never got a chance to see any messages.”

“She’s on her way. You gave her the perfect excuse to get out of this coffee date she was on. Apparently the guy was a total creep. She said she’d tell us all about it when she got here.” I nod my head in acknowledgment and gesture over to the loud obnoxious group of guys. Unfortunately, two of them are my brothers. They can be so embarrassing sometimes.

“My brothers joined us and Devin’s here.” He looks over at the group and I can picture a stream of drool running down his face. 

“Yum.” I fake gag because gross. Those are my brothers. “I wasn’t the only one checking out your ass either.” He wiggles his eyebrows at me suggestively and tilts his head at Devin. I choose to ignore him and jump over to the guys. Lining up my body with Jacksons, I shove into him when I’m close enough sending him sprawling to the ground. He immediately jumps up and begins chasing after me.

Only when he’s tackled me to the ground and made me scream mercy does he decide we’re even. Then they all try to help me do backflips. I think it’s just an excuse for them all to show off. Each one of them has to do a backflip for a live demonstration so I can really understand how I’m supposed to do it. 

When they’re all done several, one after the other, I throw my hands up in exasperation. Not everyone is born with the gift to do perfect backflips. It must be a guy thing. Even though I manage to do a couple of them where I landed properly most of the time I end up on my back. 

“Let’s try this instead. Give me your foot and I’ll launch you.” Will gets down on a knee and clasps his two hands together giving me a space to set my foot. I step into his hands then place my hands on his shoulders. It's just like the trick you do in a swimming pool. He counts to three then sends me flying into the air. 

I land perfectly and fist pump the air. Suddenly, I’m whirled around by my shoulders. Devin’s brown eyes shine bright with excitement as he stares down at me.

“I have a great idea for a photo.” He explains his idea to me. By the time he’s done, I'm as excited about it as him. It’s amazing how something so random can spark an idea. What's even more amazing is how beautiful he makes such a simple idea sound. I’ve never seen him so excited before. In his eyes not only is their excitement but an endless passion for his love of photography.

“I’m down but first I want to jump into the foam pit.”

“Deal.” He says with a laugh. Grabbing my hand, he leads us out of the trampoline room to the foam pits.