“Don’t worry, folks.” Noah beams at the camera. “Lila is inverycapable hands.”
I think I hear Lou make a choking noise, something like a laugh disguised as a cough, but maybe it’s just the distant churn of traffic.
Taking a deep breath, I try to look far more calm than I feel. While Noah cheerfully chatters, explaining that he’s slowing down the process to demonstrate better, I’m hooked up to a rope, which is secured to a pulley system fastened to the roof.
It’s an effort not to insist that I personally check that the pulley reallyisbolted down properly. Mostly because I didn’t get the chance to Googlecan you die from a forty-foot fall.
I’m pretty sure the answer is yes.
But this is important. I need to be brave. Noah needs me to trust him.
When Noah hooks our harnesses together and coaxes me closer to the edge, I tense.
“Naturally, most people are pretty freaked out by the prospect of descending that far to the ground,” Noah babbles happily, totally in his element. Idly, I notice that Jake’s assistant is once again checking the extension cord and various cables, but I try to focus on my hero instead.
“I’m not freaked out at all!” I insist.
Noah laughs. I’m obviously not convincing.
“It’s okay,” he assures me. “The good news is that this is just a demonstration and you’re not currently faced with a choice between falling with me or getting caught in a fire.”
“Yes, that’s very great news.” I playfully cringe at the camera, purposefully hamming it up so that my nerves won’t seem too real.
“This right here is an automatic belay device,” he carries on, gesturing to the clunky metal thing he fed the rope through. It’s attached to him with a complicated knot, but I’m fastened to him with nothing but a thick strap with a carabiner on either end.
Which I’m sure is totally normal climbing equipment, but I am very much afeet on the groundtype of girl.
I miss the rest of his explanation about the equipment. I hope he said it’s failsafe and tested to handle at least five thousand pounds of weight. Just in case.
“Okay, Lila.” Noah wraps an arm around my waist, guiding me so close to the ledge that the heel of my sneaker flings a pebble off into the abyss. “Are you ready?”
The cameras. The campaign. Eyes on the prize.
“I’m ready, Lieutenant.”
“I need you to wrap your arms around my shoulders—yes, good. Just like that. I’ve got you. Trust me, I’m very strong.” Noah pauses to grin at the camera, earning a chuckle from Lou. “Now, plant your feet just like this—great job. Okay, on the count of three, you’re going to lean back with me.”
“Lean back?” I squeak before I can stop myself.
“Exactly.” Noah gives my waist a reassuring squeeze. “Keep your legs straight if you can, but otherwise just hold on to me and know that I won’t let you fall.”
He’s good at this, the soothing words and gestures of comfort. Noah knows how to make people feel better about any situation, and I think that’s why I’ve felt so drawn to him. I’m his mirror.I want to be helpful. I want to solve problems. That’s why I went into public relations—because I know how to look on the bright side of things.
“Okay.” I swallow hard. “Let’s do this.”
“One… two… three!”
For all his playfulness and prankish behavior back at the station, Noah doesn’t fool around for a second. The maneuver over the edge of the rooftop is slow and methodical. There’s no jolt as I tilt backwards in his arms, and for a moment I almost don’t even feel like we’ve begun falling.
But then he shifts, bracing his legs against the side of the building as we angle completely off the ledge. The only thing keeping me from certain death is the strap tethering me to him and the iron-tight grip I’ve got around his neck. If the latter is uncomfortable for him, he doesn’t so much as flinch.
Instead, he smiles easily up at the camera, which Jake is now aiming over the side to get the shot. The lights swivel, washing over us at a better angle.
Then there’s a quiet curse from up on the roof.
The lights flicker ominously. I gasp.
Unbothered, Noah uses the belay device to propel us farther down into the alley below. The sun has fallen fast, and thestreetlights are too far to reach the back of the warehouse, leaving the ground below coated in pure shadow.
