Paxton screamed my name.
My hands caught the outcropping my toes had been aiming for, my muscles locking as the impact jarred every molecule in my body. Another scream bubbled out of my throat as agony lit up my arms like flames, protesting every damn thing about this situation.
The pounding in my heart grew increasingly loud until I realized that it wasn’t my heart at all—it was footsteps.
“Leah!” Landon’s face came into view at least ten feet above me, sweat-soaked and beet red. “It’s okay,” he said between heavy breaths.
“This is not okay!” I yelled back. “I can’t hold on much longer.”
“No, but you’re a fighter, and we’re going to get you out of this, you understand?”
I nodded the tiniest fraction, scared to move any muscle. Landon surveyed my surroundings, leaning way too far out over the edge.
“There’s a foothold above your right foot if you raise it a few inches,” he said.
Slowly, I did as he suggested, and found it. My muscles screamed, but I pulled up enough to stand on the small ledge, bringing my left foot, too. It took my weight and held it, but given the way pieces crumbled, I couldn’t depend on it. “I don’t know how long this will hold.”
I didn’t know how long I would hold.
“Can we get a fucking rope up here?” Landon asked.
“It’s coming!” Penna yelled.
“Hold on, Leah!” Brooke added, the sound echoing around me.
I focused on the rocks directly in front of my face, but they morphed in my mind, changing colors, texture, until I wasn’t on a cliff in Morocco, I was back above the car crash with Brian’s body burning beneath me.
Just let go, my memory called to me. No one is coming for you. You can’t hold on. Just let go and it will all be over, the pain, the fear, all of it. He’s already dead.
But it wasn’t Brian beneath me, it was Paxton—whom I loved—who was very much alive. Still, my choice remained the same. I wasn’t strong enough to hold on indefinitely, and I wasn’t brave enough to let go, so I hung in limbo like I did then.
“Leah, with the angle you’re at, I can’t get to you. You have the only foothold, and if I come down, I’ll crush your fingers, which would be pretty detrimental to the goal, don’t you think?” Landon asked.
“It could put a damper on things,” I said, my voice shaking with my gulping breaths. I couldn’t get my breathing to slow, or my heart rate to calm. “Landon,” I said quietly enough so only he could hear me. “My hands. They’re bleeding, and I’m going to slip. I’m going to fall.” Every second my muscles grew weaker, my grip less firm.
“Yes.”
He said it so calmly that I didn’t panic when I looked up at him, even when more of the rock crumbled beneath my feet. “I’m not going to last until the rope gets here.”
“No.” His eyes were soft, steady.
“Leah, you’re doing great. Just hold on, baby!” Paxton yelled up.
“Am I going to die?” I asked Landon, like he held the answers to the universe.
“No.” He shook his head. “But this is going to take everything you’ve got. Are you ready?”
“Paxton shouldn’t see,” I said. “He shouldn’t have to watch.”
“He’s not leaving you. That’s why I’m here and he’s still down there, waiting for you. We’re going to have to be quick, before you lose too much strength to do this.” He turned his head and spoke over his shoulder before looking back to me. “The crew made it back up. There’s no rope, Leah. This is all about to be on you.”
I didn’t know what he had in mind, but I could barely hold myself here, let alone do any acrobatic feats. And Paxton…he was going to see me fall. He’d be the first one to my mangled body.
“Paxton,” I said quietly. “I love him. I never told him, but I love him.”
“He knows. He might not admit it, but he knows. We all do. It shines out of you two the minute you’re in the same room—anyone can see it.”
“I don’t want him to watch.”
“Leah, listen to me,” Landon snapped. “You’re not going to die. I forbid it. I’m not going to lose my best friend’s girl on some jump in Morocco. This is not how your story ends, and it’s not how his ends, either. Do you understand? He’ll be destroyed if anything happens to you, so if you can’t fight for you, then you fight for him. Got it?”
I swallowed as my arms started to shake from exhaustion.
“Pax!” Landon yelled down.
“Yeah?” he answered. “Is my girl okay?”
“I need her to jump, Pax.” Landon kept his eyes locked with mine as he said it.
“You have to be fucking kidding me!” I yelled.
“Okay!” Pax called out at the same time.
“It’s gotta be quick, brother, she’s weakening fast!”
“Firecracker, you okay with this?” Pax asked me.
“No!” I shouted as more rock gave way beneath my feet. My arms would never hold me if I lost my foothold.
“Concentrate on my voice, Leah. You can do this. You’re going to have to jump backward to clear the rocks beneath you. Do you understand?” Landon asked, never looking away.
“Rocks equal kersplat?” I questioned softly.
“And water equals safe. Water equals Paxton. Got it?” Landon asked, a trace of fear seeping into his eyes when my fingers slipped another centimeter.