“Lean back, Jason. Like that. Good. Now cock your hip to the side. Not like that. You look like a fucking cocktail waitress. Better. Now give us a smolder.”
“What the fuck,” I say. “I do notsmolder.”
“Nice, that’s perfect,” he says, though what I think I was giving him was a glare. “Great, now let go with one hand and lean farther back.”
I technically don’t need either hand, because the harness started holding me as soon as I leaned back. But my head is spinning from his stupid instructions, and all I want is to get off of this wall.
“Am I done yet?” I ask.
From behind me, I hear Rich call, “If you would cooperate, you’d be done faster!”
I am sick of cooperating with Rich. I’m sick of playing nice with these people.
“You get about five more seconds,” I say to the photographer, and he makes this clucking noise and tells me to twist in my harness so he can get a shot of my ass.
“That’senough.” My face is burning, even though I’m not working up a sweat justhanginghere. I don’t even bother to call back to Geoff, I just unclip and hop off the wall and land in the middle of the crash pad. “I’m out.”
“We say when you’re done, Jason,” Rich calls, but I ignore him. “Did you get that?” he says, more angrily, to the photographer.
The photographer takes one look at me and must decide I’m not worth it. He gives a thumbs-up to Rich, who sighs. “Fine. Kate, you’re up! Jason will help you into the harness.”
Fuck.Fine. All I want to do is get the hell out of here and out in the open air somewhere where I canbreathe. I’m suffocating, and I don’t know why, and I don’t know what to do about it. Out of the corner of my eye, I catch Emily looking at me with a concerned expression, and that only makes me more upset, because what the fuck is she so concerned about? She wasn’t worried earlier when she waslaughingat me.
I grab one of the harnesses from the duffel at the edge of the crash pad and bring it back to Kate, who steps up onto the crash pad looking like she’s won the lottery.
Of course it’s Kate. It had to be Kate. She’s the least dressed of all of them, and by far the most aggressive, way worse than Destyny. She smiles at me and does that hip cock thing without looking like a cocktail waitress. “Nice job,” she says, and as I hold the harness up for her to take, she steps right up to me and reaches around and pinches my ass.
My whole body freezes. It’s like I’m not really in it anymore, like some foreign entity has taken control. I stare down at Kate, who is still standing in my personal space, and looking at me with this expression that is probably supposed to be seductive. It’s not like I generally have a problem being touched, and in fact, have to watch myself that I respect other people’s boundaries, because I don’t think anything of smacking someone’s arm or slinging an arm around their shoulders.
This doesn’t feel like that.This is awful and invasive, and holy shit, I can’t handle it anymore. I drop the harness and step off the crash pad. It’s a testament to how upset I am that I don’t even pause to take off my climbing shoes—which I only wear while I climb—before I head off down the path away from Kate, away from Rich, away from the Not-Wives and photographer.
But not, of course, away from the cameramen, who follow after me at a run.
Thirteen
Emily
OH. HELL. NO.
As I see Kate pinch Jason’s ass, I step forward, ready to ream her out so bad she won’t even be able tothinkabout a dude’s ass without flinching. But then I see Jason’s face, and his expression is a mix of horrified and “I’m going to be sick,” and he runs off, several cameramen dashing after him.
Things start clicking into place for me—his discomfort at the way the Not-Wives are always eyeing him like he’s therealmountain they want to climb, the way he’s been looking like he just wants to fold in on himself.The way he glared at me after the thing with Destyny—
Oh, god.
Fury and guilt war through me, and when I see Kate roll her eyes and mutter to Calista, “What’s his deal?” I lean into the former.
“What the actual fuck?” I yell at her, not caring that there are cameras all around, that they’re stepping closer even as I’m getting right up in Kate’s face. “What were you thinking?”
That’s not a great question. I know all too well what she was thinking.
Kate tries to look unflappable, but she takes a step back and wets her lips nervously. “Just because he’s your boyfriend—”
“No,” I growl. “It’s not just because he’s my boyfriend. It’s because he’s apersonand not some sex object for you to grab and leer at. So stay the hell away from him.” I round on the others, who are all gaping. “That goes for all of you. He’s here to show you how to climb and host your show. Andthat’s it.”
“Now, Emily dear,” Monroe starts, but I don’t bother listening to her. I need to find Jason.
I take off down the path where he fled. It’s a good thing I’ve been doing all those spin classes, because he ran a decently long way, and I’m sweating like a rotisserie chicken by the time I reach him.
