He kissed me again and went to stand with the others. Paxton, Landon, Penna, and two of the junior members all stood at the edge, ready for their turn.
I sent up a prayer that they’d all make it safely, but I had to have faith that they knew what they were doing.
“Remember to jump out. If you go straight down you’ll bust open on those rocks below,” Paxton ordered, and my nerves crept up a level.
“See you at the bottom!” Landon called out, taking a few steps backward and then running off the cliff face and disappearing.
I heard a splash a few seconds later, and the Renegades cheered. My curiosity got the better of me, and I took a step forward, but not too much. What was the fun if I didn’t see them do it? The two junior Renegades went next, one giving off a high-pitched scream that reminded me of an angry toddler.
Then Penna jumped, and I held my breath until I heard the splash, and then her voice as she surfaced in victory.
“Kind of a rush, isn’t it?” the camera guy asked me. “You should come look from up here. It’s completely safe.”
I inched forward, my stomach dropping when the pool came into view below. I needed to see that he hit the water, that was all.
Paxton winked at me with a Wilder grin, backed up a few steps, and ran for the edge, soaring into the air with a triumphant yell as he flipped once and landed in the water feetfirst, missing the rocks by a good fifteen feet.
Thank you, God.
Landon cheered from the shore, but I couldn’t breathe until Pax surfaced, inhaling at the same moment he did.
“Let’s head back down,” the camera guy said, and I nodded as he turned to leave.
“I’ll be right behind you,” I said, looking back to Paxton. “You okay?”
“Absolutely! Get your gorgeous ass down here so I can get you wet!”
“Paxton!” I laughed.
“Water, of course. Only water,” he promised, but I could see that smile from here.
“Right,” I said with a sarcastic nod. “I’ll be down in a second.” I backed up a couple feet and blew him a kiss, poised to turn.
The rocks rustled behind me—no doubt the camera guy was getting tired of waiting. “Better jump.” A sinister whisper hit me at the same time the blow came to my upper back.
All I heard was the blood rushing through my head, the pebbles skidding beneath my sneakers as I slid toward the cliff’s edge. It was over before I even realized it had started, my momentum carrying me past the point of no return.
I grabbed for the bush at the edge, making contact as I fell over the side. My right hand closed around the branch, screaming in protest from the wood cutting away at my skin as it slid down my palm.
“Leah!” Paxton’s yell sounded like it was miles away.
My shoulder jerked as it caught my weight, the rest of me slamming into the cliff face. Pain exploded in my cheek, but I didn’t let go.
“Leah!” Paxton screamed again, but I couldn’t force sound through my throat, not even to scream. “Baby, you have to reach up with your other hand. Somebody get to her!”
“Landon’s already running!” Penna answered.
Using all of my strength, I swung my left arm up enough to grab the branch. It was barely as thick as a curtain rod. There was no way this thing was strong enough to hold my weight. My toes scrambled to find purchase against the rock face, but there was nothing big enough for my foot.
“Firecracker, talk to me!” It was only the sheer terror in Paxton’s voice that broke through the lump in my throat.
“Pax!” Was that even my voice? Something wet ran down my arm, and my hands felt slick against the branch. Blood. I had to find a foothold.
I slipped, catching myself at the tip of the branch, but my foot found a tiny outcropping that my toes might fit on. My right toes made contact, and I breathed a slight sigh of relief. “I…I think I found something.”
“Hold on!” Pax yelled. “Landon’s coming.”
“Don’t leave me!” I cried out.
“I’m staying right here, baby.”
He sounded so far away—because he was.
It had taken us ten minutes to hike up here. There was no way Landon was going to make it faster than five. I just had to hold on for five minutes.
I moved my left foot over, hoping to find another toehold to take some of my weight off the branch, and off my ruined hands. The weight on the tiny ledge was too much—it gave way.
A primal scream ripped from my throat as my feet kicked, but my hands held steady, my grip slick but still firm on the wood. My breath came in giant gulps, and I kept my eyes focused on the wood.
Don’t look down. That had been what kept me alive after the accident.
How the hell did I end up here again?
The wood at the base of the branch creaked.
My head snapped up, and my eyes darted to the bush. No. No. No. “Pax, it’s gonna give!”
“Just hold on!” he yelled again. “Damn it! Why the hell don’t we have an emergency crew here? Something?”
The branch tore at the base, and I slid another foot down the cliff wall with a shriek, but it didn’t snap completely.
At the same moment, my toes grazed another outcropping just beneath me. Maybe it could bear my weight, maybe—
It ripped clean through, the sound tearing apart the tiniest hope I’d had of surviving this. God, Mom. Dad. And Paxton’s going to see it.
This time the branch didn’t stop me, coming clean out of the ground. I let go and dug my fingertips and toes into the rock as I fell.