“You’re not doing the skywalk.”
This time, she did step back. “I certainly am.”
“Really? So you’ve cured your fear of heights, have you?”
Of course he remembered. He remembered everything. “I’ll be fine.”
“That’s not an answer. You’re not doing the skywalk.” He turned and started walking back to the group.
Where the hell did he get off, telling her what to do? Now she wanted to do it just to spite him. She raced after him. “You can’t just make that call.”
“I can, and I am.”
“Uh,no, you’re not. Tilly wants everyone who works here to go through the entire skywalk at least once, and I work here, so that includes me.”
He spun so quickly that she almost bumped straight into him. “Remember ninth grade when we did that tree climb excursion? You got to the top and freaked out. It took an hour for you to let go of the tree.”
Oh, she remembered like it was yesterday. “That was a long time ago.”
He raised a brow. “Has anything changed?”
“Yes, I’m older.”
He crossed his arms. “Why do you want to do this?”
She squirmed. “Because I do.”
“Not an answer.” He started to turn, but she grabbed his arm.
“Jace, I have to. I don’t like being scared of anything, and I don’t want to be seen as weak.”
A muscle ticked in his jaw. “Is this because of Casper and his friends?”
Her heart thudded against her ribs, the memory sending her spine ramrod straight. “No. Why would this be about them?”
“Because after the tree climb, they never let you forget it. They were assholes about it for a long time.”
Not a long time…forever. Or at least until Casper moved away and she didn’t have to see his face again. He used to grab trees and scream to make fun of her. Even threaten to push her over anytime she got near any kind of railing.
Okay, maybe thathadaffected her a tiny bit. “I’ll be fine, Jace.”
He blew out a breath, his head dropping back and his eyes staring into the forest around them before his gaze returned to her. “Fine. But if you’re not okay, you tell me.”
“If I’m not okay, I tell you.”
He looked at her like he didn’t believe her, which was fair; she didn’t know if it was true herself.
With a clench of his jaw, he turned and walked back to the group, and she hurried to catch up.
“Are we ready to go?” Jace asked.
“Let’s do this,” Jake said, clapping his hands together.
Jace walked onto the path first, followed by Jake, Hendrix and Nikita.
Elle tried to step on, only to stop when her belly did a little turn. It almost felt like it dropped into her pelvis.
You can do this, Elle. It’s just a skywalk. You’re safe.
