Page 53 of Winging It with You

“Hi,” he says, leaning back to look up at me, but I tighten my arms around him so he can’t go too far.

“Hi.”

His eyes find mine and really hold them. “You did it.”

“I have you to thank for that,” I say, pulling him closer. “You’ve been saving me a lot lately, Bennett.”

Asher’s smile widens. “Some would argue you saved me first.”

But I’m interrupted before I can tell him I’d do it over and over again as long as it gets us to where we are now.

“If you two will step over here…” a voice calls from behind us. “And we’ll get you down.”

Down.

After the climb up, and now having Asher in my arms, I’d completely forgotten that we still need to get down somehow. I should have been paying more attention during Dalton’s not-so-vague opening monologue.

Hands locked, Asher and I walk over to the other side of the landing, where we’re met with another set of harnesses.

“Think they get some sort of sick enjoyment out of tying us up?” Asher asks, leaning in.

“I would,” I say with a wink, which makes him laugh. Maybe we should take some of these ropes back to the hotel room.

Asher and I are marionetted by the crew. Moved and adjusted and strapped in tighter and tighter. We stand face-to-face as we’re fastened to each other.

“We’re about to jump, aren’t we,” I ask, trying to mask my growing nerves with a smile.

“Looks like it,” Asher says, searching my eyes. “You okay?”

I nod—unconvincingly, I’m sure. “Mm-hmm.”

We’re escorted to the daunting ledge, shuffling awkwardly, and when we reach whatever spot has been determined we’ll leap from, thick red cords are attached to our harnesses. Our pending descent becomes more and more real in my mind, and all I can think about is my mom.

Either because of Asher’s questioning or, more honestly, I just miss her. And though she’s never done anything like this before, I just know she’d be fearless in a moment like this.

“Ready?” we’re asked, and I for one am certainly not.

Reaching up to place a hand on either side of Asher’s helmet, I adjust his head slightly so the lens of his camera is right on me and just hope that Arthur uses this clip when he’s editing it all together.

“Hola, mamá,” I say, speaking directly to her because I now know she’s watching. “Te extraño y te amo. This one’s for you!”

Asher looks back up at me when I’ve finished, a tenderness behind his expression. “You’re kind of amazing, you know that?”

“Oh, I don’t know about that,” I say, looking down and away from his compliment.

He reaches up and places a hand on my face, forcing my gaze back to his. “I do.”

His sudden honesty makes me swallow hard. “You realize you’re going to be the one to get us over the edge, right?”

He smiles. “I’ve got you,” he says and wraps his arms tightly around me. We’re practically fused together now, standing on the edge of this free fall. Which isn’t something I’ve ever wanted to do or would even remotely consider doing.

But here I am, doing it for Asher.

There’s the prize money, sure. But being strapped together on the edge with Asher Bennett is an added bonus.

Something changed on this climb.

Something I’d been hiding from for far too long. And it took Asher’s prying nature to open my eyes to just how much I’d been holding on to that lingering familial baggage. I look back in the direction we just climbed from and it’s as if this climb was some cosmic nudge for me to leave everything I’d been grappling with on the ground behind me.

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