He Promised to Catch Me. Then He Pushed Me Off the Edge Chapter 06

He Promised to Catch Me. Then He Pushed Me Off the Edge Chapter 06

It took Ethan over a month to find me.

I walked out of the neuroscience lab and saw the black SUV parked at the curb.

Ethan was leaning against the door. His shirt was rumpled. Dark stubble covered his jaw. He’d last weight. His eyes had sunk deep into their sockets. He looked gutted. Like something had scraped him out from the inside.

The second he saw me, he straightened up. His lips moved a few times before sound actually came

out.

“Nora.”

I froze.

He started toward me, fast. I put my hand up when he was three steps away.

“How did you find me?”

His eyes were glued to my face. There was a starving, desperate kind of look in them. Like he was

afraid I was a hallucination.

“Dr. Cole’s public email. I sent dozens of messages. His assistant finally gave me your address.”

His voice was wrecked.

“Nora. Let’s talk.”

“Talk about what?”

My voice was flat.

“I was clear about the breakup.”

Pain ripped across Ethan’s face. He reached for my arm. I pulled back. He stood there frozen, like I’d

\ hit him.

“I was wrong that day.”

His voice cracked.

“I shouldn’t have left you alone on that mountain. I shouldn’t have… made you take that gondola.”

“I kept thinking about it after I got home. I know I screwed up. Please. Come back with me. Forgey, the stupid acrophobia treatment. We’re done with it. No more. Okay?”

I looked at him. I’d looked at that face, those eyes, for four years. The regret in them looked real.

But I couldn’t forget him on that bungee platform, shouting into a megaphone.

“Your sister was right. I’m gonna be a pilot. How pathetic would that look-my own wife scared to climb a stepladder?”

I couldn’t forget that mountain trail. Him and Vivian and my mother walking ahead without a

backward glance while I stumbled bloody behind them.

“Ethan. You still don’t get it. The acrophobia was never the problem.”

He stared at me, lost.

I hadn’t even finished when I saw another car pull up behind his.

Vivian stepped out, heels clicking. My mother followed.

The two of them advanced on me like a hunting party.

“Nora!”

Vivian was shouting before she even reached me.

“Are you done with this tantrum? Do you have any idea Ethan pushed back his final flight evaluation just to chase after you? What gives you the right to screw him over like this?”

My mother trailed behind her, her expression complicated and weary. She didn’t start lecturing me

like she always did. She just tugged at Vivian’s arm.

“Viv, just hold on.”

“No, Mom, don’t stop me!”

Vivian yanked her arm free, jabbed a finger in my face.

“Are you really that clueless, or do you just not care? He’s been flying back and forth, burning through routes, trying to find you. He put his whole career on hold. Look at him. He’s a wreck. Do you even have a heart?”

I watched her righteous, furious face and let out a quiet laugh. “Vivian. Are you done with your

performance?”

She froze. “You took him to the amusement park. You climbed into the cockpit with him. You shoved me off a bungee platform. And you want to talk to me about having a heart?”

I tilted my head. The whole thing felt almost comical now.

“You were having a pretty good time then, weren’t you? You kept saying I was faking it. That I didn’t have real acrophobia. But you forgot, didn’t you? I got it because you locked me in that attic.”

Vivian’s face went white. Ethan turned. He stared at Vivian, and for the first time, there was nothing but hatred in his eyes. My mother stood frozen, helpless.

I didn’t have it in me to watch these three act out their drama anymore.

I walked around them, headed for my apartment.

“Nora!”

Ethan ran after me.

“Wait. I forgot. I forgot you told me how it happened.”

I stopped. I looked back at him.

“Ethan. You didn’t forget. You just wanted to take Vivian’s side.”

His lips shook. He couldn’t get a single word out. Behind me, Vivian started screaming, tears in her

voice.

“Mom! Do you hear her? She’s trying to turn Ethan against me!”

“That’s enough, Viv.”

My mother sounded exhausted.

“Stop yelling.”

I walked inside my apartment and locked the door.

Outside, dusk finally gave way to darkness. Streetlights clicked on one by one.

I leaned against the door. The pressure in my chest finally started to ease.

A knock came from the other side. Soft. Once. Then again.

Ethan’s voice, muffled through the wood, raw with tears.

“Nora. I’m sorry. Please. Just open the door. I just-I just need to see you. Just for a second. Please.”

I didn’t move.

A long time later, it went quiet.