He Promised to Catch Me. Then He Pushed Me Off the Edge Chapter 02

He Promised to Catch Me. Then He Pushed Me Off the Edge Chapter 02

I sat at the bungee site for two hours before my body finally stopped trembling enough to move. On the train ride back, I scrolled through Vivian’s socials. She’d posted a photo of her and Ethan in the cockpit, sitting shoulder to shoulder. The caption read, [The only one who belongs in your sky is me.]

I stared at the screen. Then I kept scrolling. I couldn’t stop. I didn’t want to.

Vivian had left her old city after a bad breakup. She’d shown up at my door asking to stay with me. As her sister, I gave her the biggest bedroom in the apartment.

At first, Ethan complained. “Well, so much for just the two of us. How long is she even staying?”

Then, somewhere along the way, he stopped asking.

And using my acrophobia as an excuse, Vivian started taking Ethan on trips. Without me. I couldn’t cross the glass-bottomed skywalks. She took him to the amusement park. I couldn’t handle the Ferris wheel or the roller coasters.

Every time I tried to say something, I got the same answer.

“Nora, you’re the one with the issue. And she’s your sister, for God’s sake. You can’t just go around accusing her of stuff.”

But I had told him.

My acrophobia started when I was seven years old. Vivian locked me in a rooftop storage closet and left me there all night.

I closed my eyes. A coppery taste rose in the back of my throat.

A strip of black fabric poked out of my pocket. Ethan’s blindfold. He always carried one. Whenever we came to a high place, he would tie it gently over my eyes. He would scoop me up in his arms and tell me it didn’t matter where we were. He would always hold me up.

Today, he used that trust to nearly drag me into a death trap.

Getting off the subway, I threw the blindfold into the trash. Then I opened the email from my advisor about the graduate research fellowship abroad. I selected Accept.

Back at the apartment, I started packing. It was past two in the morning when the door creaked open. Vivian and Ethan were back. Vivian was still chattering nonstop about how thrilling the flight had been.

Ethan startled when he saw me awake. Then something seemed to click in his head, and he pulled me into the bedroom. He lowered his voice.

“What’s this? Are you mad? I told you I’d be late.”

He pulled a ruby necklace from his jacket and moved to fasten it around my neck.

“A graduation gift to make up for today. You like it? See, Viv does care. She picked this out for you.”

A cold laugh formed in my chest. Rubies had always been Vivian’s favorite. Never mine.

I stepped back. Ethan’s mouth tightened. Before he could say anything, Vivian shoved the door open without knocking.

“Ethan, since we’re graduating, it’s time to find a new place. What about the one I mentioned? It’s close to the airport. I love the open terrace. I can set up a reading nook, maybe do some gardening.”

I glanced at the brochure in her hand. It was for a brand-new high-rise near the airport. The Pinnacle Tower. Forty-second floor. Featuring a large, unenclosed rooftop terrace.

Ethan nodded, satisfied. He turned to me, going through the motions. “What do you think? Living higher up might help you gradually get over your fear. This ground-floor place never even gets sunlight.”

“I don’t think much of it. If you want to live with her, go live with her. Don’t ask me.”

“Nora!”

Ethan’s temper snapped. His brows pulled together.

“What is your problem? We went out of our way to get you a gift to apologize. We spent all night looking for a place that could actually help you. Do you know how long Viv and I worked on this?”

I lifted my head. I looked at him with perfect calm. “The doctor told me not to do this. That forcing it would only make things worse.”

I paused. A small, humorless laugh escaped me. “And did you forget? What happened sophomore year? On the rooftop?”

A girl in the year below us had confessed to Ethan. He shot her down. Humiliated and furious, she tricked me into going up to the roof and locked me out there. I was trapped all night.

By the time Ethan found me, I was drenched in cold sweat, shaking so hard I couldn’t string a sentence together. Ethan was so furious he got the university involved and had her expelled.

Ethan looked away. He couldn’t meet my eyes. Vivian stepped in to smooth things over.

“Alright. Point taken. My sister doesn’t want me around. I saw through the little helpless act, and now she’s pissed. I’ll pack my stuff.”

She turned, like she was actually about to go pack her bags.

Panic shot across Ethan’s face. He grabbed Vivian’s wrist. He wheeled on me, his voice hard.

“Enough! Four years. I’ve put up with this for four goddamn years. I kept my mouth shut before, but you’re seriously still milking this whole ‘I’m scared of heights’ thing?”

Still gripping Vivian’s wrist, he slammed the bedroom door shut. His voice came through the wood, cold and final.

“I’m going to be a pilot. You need to figure out if you can get past this. Because if you can’t, I don’t know where that leaves us.”