Page 36 of Word to the Wise

Once we’re in our harnesses, and it’s our turn, Mason lets me pick the wall. I point to the tallest one, and he shakes his head with his laugh, but something about his reaction tells me he isn’t surprised.

As soon as the ropes are secured, we start our climb.

“So, I take it you’re not scared of heights either?” I ask as I grip a fake rock overhead and start to maneuver my way up.

“Not really.” Mason moves up, but with his height, he’s able to easily close the distance.

He could probably scale the wall in half the time it would take me, but he moves slowly so he stays at my side, reanimating a long-lost flutter in my chest.

“At least, so long as I don’t look down.” Mason moves up a few more feet.

Glancing back, I see how far off the ground we are and realize we’re making quick progress. “Don’t look down then.”

“Did you seriously just look?” He glances over, and when I nod, he bursts out laughing. “See what I’m saying? You’re fearless, Sticks.”

My cheeks burn with the sound of his laugh—with the comfort of his praise. With the encouragement to do something more than sit around and be someone else’s trophy.

It’s exhilarating.

We quietly make our way a little higher, and it gets trickier the further we go. It’s a puzzle to solve as I decidewhich rocks to grab onto and which ones to rest my feet on. The challenge is a relief when I’ve spent so much time in my thoughts lately.

Mason is a few feet up, so he pauses, waiting for me to catch up to him.

“You all right down there, shorty?”

“I’m not short.” I stop beside him, narrowing my eyes. “You’re just obnoxiously tall.”

“Obnoxiously, huh?”

I shrug, trying to bury my smile. He makes me too comfortable. We’ll playfully flirt even if I know he only sees me as a friend, and it puts me at ease.

Reaching for another rock, I aim a little higher than I should, and one of my feet slips out from under me.

For a second, the fear of falling rushes through me, even if I know I’m secured by my harness, and nothing will happen. But it’s the unknown. The moment I’m weightless; my heart jumps to my throat.

For a second, I lose all the air in my chest until Mason reaches out and wraps his arm around me.

It all happens so fast; I’m not sure how he does it without losing his own balance. He grabs me when I start to sway away from the wall, tightening his grip to hold us against it.

My heart is racing as he yells down to the people below us that I’m okay, and I tip my forehead to the wall once I stabilize myself, trying to catch my breath.

One second.

One little slip of the hand and everything changes.

It’s not something I’m unfamiliar with.

“You good, Reed?” Mason’s still holding the wall above him, but his other arm stretches out so it’s secured on the other side of me, caging me in his grasp.

His chest brushes my back with every breath, and he’s so warm, I’d like to sink against him and find the comfort I’ve been desperate for.

“I’m okay.” But even as I say it, I don’t peel my forehead from the wall.

I keep breathing.

I’m here.

I’m safe.

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