He Promised to Catch Me. Then He Pushed Me Off the Edge Chapter 01

He Promised to Catch Me. Then He Pushed Me Off the Edge Chapter 01

I have acrophobia.

To take care of me, my boyfriend Ethan Vance moved us out of the dorms and into a ground-floor apartment. He always held my arm crossing overpasses. He never let me near a lightbulb that needed changing.

He made me a promise. “Nora, I’ll always be there to catch you. You’ll never have to worry about falling.”

Until the week before graduation.

Ethan and my sister Vivian Campbell, who had moved in with us, told me they had a graduation surprise. They blindfolded me and drove me somewhere I didn’t recognize.

The blindfold came off. Before I could even process where we were, Vivian shoved me off the platform.

My scream tore through the valley. Ethan stood on the bungee platform, shouting into a megaphone like he was having the time of his life.

“Guess your sister was right all along. I’m training to be a pilot. Kind of a bad look if my own wife freaks out anytime her feet leave the ground.”

Vivian was laughing so hard she could barely stand.

“Told you. That little act might fool a guy, but it doesn’t fool me. Jumping off a two-hundred-foot drop and she’s totally fine. It’s all just needy girlfriend games. A little exposure therapy and she’ll be cured.”

I hung upside down at the bottom of the cliff, my whole body shaking, my face bloodless, too shocked to even cry.

But one thing snapped into focus.

If I embarrassed him that much, if I was that clingy, then Ethan could have the sky all to himself.

***

The staff member next to me took one look at my face and went pale.

“What the hell is wrong with you people?! Someone with acrophobia bungee jumping can die!”

He screamed at the crew around him.

“Haul her up! Now! This is on me—I should’ve asked her directly. I heard her boyfriend and her sister were the ones who brought her and figured it was fine. What kind of sick, twisted people do something like this to their own family?”

The moment my feet touched solid ground, I gasped for air like a drowning fish finally breaking the surface. But the convulsions in my stomach wouldn’t stop. I kept retching, over and over.

Vivian covered her mouth and stepped back, disgusted.

“She’s fine. Nobody’s dying. She’s just used to her boyfriend treating her like a fragile little princess.”

Ethan frowned and shushed her, a flicker of genuine fear crossing his face.

He twisted open a water bottle and rubbed my back, trying to soothe me.

“You really are delicate, you know that? All right, Viv didn’t mean it. Don’t be upset. Just breathe through it.”

Viv.

Vivian had only been staying with us for two months.

And he was already using her nickname like that.

I was with him for four years. He never called me anything but Nora.

I shifted away from his hand. I didn’t touch the water. I gave the frantic, apologizing staff member a weak, reassuring smile.

Ethan noticed me pulling away. He didn’t get angry. His smile just turned gentler, more patient.

“Relax. We’re your family. You think we’d actually put you in danger? Look, if this doesn’t work today, fine. We’ll move on to plan B.”

We’ll figure something else out.

My fingers curled into fists. My teeth started chattering.

Ethan had gone with me to my doctor’s appointment. The specialist had been explicit. Don’t force exposure. It could cause deeper psychological trauma.

Ethan had taken pages of notes back then. Pages.

Now he wanted me to “figure something out.”

“Okay, okay, drama’s over.”

Vivian plastered on her innocent smile and latched onto Ethan’s arm.

“My sister’s graduation gift is done. Now yours. Didn’t you say you had a test flight at the academy? Let’s go. I pulled a lot of strings to get you that slot.”

Whitmore Flight Academy was generous with its seniors. Graduating students could bring family up in the aircraft.

Ethan looked up. I saw hesitation flicker in his eyes.

“I don’t know. Nora’s not exactly in any condition to get on a plane.”

Vivian waved her hand dismissively and let out a snort.

“That’s her problem. The whole point of bringing her bungee jumping was to fix this. And look how that turned out.”

She blinked at me with wide, innocent eyes.

“Ethan’s your boyfriend. Flying is his whole life, his whole career. You can’t expect him to sacrifice his future just because you need constant babysitting, can you?”

Hat after hat, heavy with guilt, piled onto my head until the nausea in my stomach turned into something much darker.

Ethan’s eyes searched my face, waiting. My voice came out steadier than I felt. “Go. I can get back on my own.”

Ethan exhaled, visibly relieved. “Okay. Take the train back. The test flight’s gonna run long. I probably won’t be home until late.”

I nodded. Blank and still.

Vivian didn’t wait another second. She dragged Ethan to the car.

I stood there, breathing in their exhaust as they sped off. Vivian’s bright, brash laughter floated back on the wind through the open windows.

“See? Totally fine. Honestly, she can’t even show up for her own boyfriend’s career. Good thing I’m around, or you’d be stuck with a girlfriend who can’t even handle a couple of stairs.”

A low chuckle rumbled from Ethan’s throat. “God. What am I gonna do with you?”