Page 47 of Fractured Trust

Chapter 22

“I’m scared of heights, Noah.” It was as close to a whine as Noah had ever heard coming from Summer’s mouth. She obviously heard it too, because a flush swept across her cheeks, and she looked away from him to the fake rock wall in front of them.

“I know, but it’s perfectly safe. There’ll be a line attached to you, so if you slip, you won’t fall. And I’ll be belaying you.”

Summer turned to look at him again, her green eyes scrutinizing him, and he grinned at her and winked. She rolled her eyes, then turned back to the wall, before glancing at the instructor waiting patiently nearby, a harness dangling from his hand.

“When you told me to wear comfortable clothes this morning, I thought we were going for a hike,” she mumbled.

“Trust me, Summer,” Noah said, needing her to do this with him. It was one of the reasons he’d brought her here today. Part of his plan. The tour was barreling closer, and he wasn’t sure if she was where he needed her to be yet. All he knew was where he stood. The last few weeks with her had filled something in him. Something that had been sitting empty since that fucking horrible morning when he’d listened to her message telling him they were over.

She took a deep breath in. “Okay,” she said, even as her hands trembled when she raised them to tie her hair back in a low ponytail with the elastic band she’d pulled off her wrist.

Noah’s confidence continued to grow. If she could trust him to do this, maybe she’d be able to trust him to always be there for her. He just needed that to happen before she decided to pull the plug ahead of the tour.

Noah nodded at the instructor. He came to this place often enough that the staff and most of the regular customers were familiar with him. The first few times he’d come, he’d ended up signing a ton of autographs and posing for photos, but since then things had calmed down. These days, he mostly got left alone to do his own thing. His bodyguard was sitting off to the side though; he wasn’t taking any chances with Summer.

The instructor walked over and talked her through how to put on her harness. Once he’d strapped her in, Noah took over and explained the belay system to her. Since he was belay certified, he’d be holding the line attached to her while she climbed. If she slipped, his weight would stop her from falling. She swallowed hard but nodded her understanding. After that, he got her to chalk her hands up to give her better grip as she climbed.

It was obvious she was nervous, her face slightly paler than normal, eyes a little wider. But she went along with everything he and the instructor told her to do. Pride swelled in his chest. She was going to do it, and he was going to make sure she felt safe the whole time.

When she was ready, he showed her how the belay would run through an anchor on the wall and clip into the harness he’d be wearing as he stood on the ground below her. He explained that as she climbed, he would take up and let out the slack, so on the off chance she did fall, she wouldn’t fall very far because he’d catch her with the line.

She threw him a look that constricted his chest—eyes big, bottom lip caught between her teeth. She was genuinely scared. He stepped forward and cupped her face, using his thumb to tug her lip out from between her teeth. He skimmed his mouth over the slightly swollen flesh, then whispered, “If you fall, I’ll catch you. Every time, okay?”

Summer’s gaze tangled with his, and time seemed to stop for a second. He hoped she understood what he was telling her, but she just exhaled and closed her eyes for a second. When she opened them again, there was resolve there; the flash of fire he loved to see.

“Okay, let’s do this,” she said and smiled. Forced as it was, it still caused his chest to tighten. He’d suspected it before, but now he knew. He’d never stopped loving her. Even in his darkest moments after he’d seen her with Deacon. After he’d found out they were engaged. When he was blind drunk and doing the things that everyone expected rock stars to do. He’d never stopped. He’d merely buried it as deep as he possibly could in the hopes that eventually it would disappear, and he could forget about her. He’d gone back to doing what he’d always done, putting a happy face on, acting the part of someone who didn’t have a care in the world, who never let anything, or anyone, get him down.

At least he had until he’d seen her again, and the memory of everything he’d lost had blindsided him. But he was going to fix what went wrong before. He was going to make her his, for good.

First, though, he was going to get her up this wall safely.

“Okay, Sunshine, let’s get you started,” he said. “First, just climb up a few feet, and then I want you to let go so you know I can catch you if you slip.”

She slanted a look at him, then turned back to face the wall. “Okay.” She took a deep breath. “Okay, I can do this.”

Then, following his instructions, she used the handholds to climb a little way up the wall. And when he told her to lean back and release her grip, she did, letting out a little squeal as the harness caught around her thighs and hips.

He got her going again, and she slowly and hesitantly made her way farther up the wall. He was careful to pay attention to how she was doing, but he couldn’t help but occasionally be distracted by how fucking hot her ass was in the tight yoga pants she was wearing. The way it flexed as she moved from one foothold to the next.

His dick twitched, and he coughed and shuffled his feet, shooting a glance at the instructor that was standing off to the side. The man quirked an eyebrow at him, and Noah shook his head and looked back up at where Summer was getting closer to the top of the wall.

He called out encouragement as she crept upward, her movements getting slower as fatigue and probably nerves set in. But she kept going until her outstretched hand hit the top.

“Noah, I did it!” she called down excitedly. “I made it!”

“I never had any doubt, Sunshine.”

A pause. “Um, Noah? How do I get back down?”

“Let go like before. I’ll catch you with the belay,” he called up to her.

“I’m too high up. Are you crazy?” she shrieked.

“How did you think you were going to get back down?”

“I don’t know. Climb?”

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