Jack should be up there.
He’s climbed and filmed Sulli before. But apparently at the RV camp yesterday, he tore a muscle in his shoulder playing basketball with most of SFO and Jesse.
I wasn’t there. But as the story goes, Oscar raided every RV for ice, even knocked on other campers’ RV doors to gather more ice. Ensuring his husband had proper first-aid.
Jack’s seventeen-year-old shaggy-haired, surfer brother is here to help shoot, but Jesse isn’t that skilled at rock climbing. Winona ended up offering to get some footage for the production team. She loves photography, but mostly, she was just excited to climb next to her sister.
I run my palms together a few more times, glance at Banks. Glance at Team Apex. Glance at her cousins. Glance at Ripley. Baby needs a bodyguard. Glance at SFO and Jack’s cameras. A tripod is set-up near me and Banks. The lens is aimed at Sulli.
Jack adjusts the camera on the tripod. His teenage brother is squatting closer to the rock face, filming from a different angle.
My eyes flash back to the rock at sudden movement. Winona. She drops her Canon. Hooked to her neck, the camera thumps against her chest, then she slips.
Maximoff pushes off the rock with his feet, giving her slack as the rope catches her fall.
Sulli never flinches. Still focused, she rises.
“Watch out for those fire ants! I hear they can be bad around here!” Lincoln on Team Apex yells up at Sulli.
Now she flinches, and instinct propels me towards these idiots. I’m boiling and running, and Banks is hot on my heels. Just as livid, and we’re not even twenty-feet on them when they bolt.
Racing away like—
“Fucking cowards,” Banks growls the words I feel.
Breathing hard, we glance back at Sulli.
She’s rappelling.
I head quickly to the tripod. “Did she slip?” I ask Jack.
He shakes his head. “I think she was freaked out.”
I frown, and Banks’ eyes tighten on Sulli, more concerned. Like a boyfriend would be. Jealousy bites at me.
Banks is on my side. Better to have him overly concerned about Sulli than only partially. That’s what I’m telling myself.
I rest my hands on my neck, hot with frustration from so many directions. And I whisper to Banks, “We should’ve cut them out on Day 1, not had a prank war.”
“It’s too late now.”
What was I thinking?
Probably, have fun with Sulli. Yeah. I can’t help it—I enjoy having fun with her, spending time with her, kissing her. I remember shopping for crickets, trying to pay for her, taking her on an afternoon date.
Regretting the prank war means taking back those moments, and I won’t return those. Not for any price, not for anything. So I shelve the bowl of Instant Regret this time.
But Team Apex can’t distract Sulli while she climbs. If she’d been free-soloing today, she could’ve fallen and been severely injured or died.
My muscles tighten. “Next time they come back to watch her, we threaten them,” I tell Banks like an order.
He nods, “Don’t have to tell me twice.” He’s all-in.
Intimidation is literally our best bet.
Sulli safely on the ground, we all start packing up to leave.
I help Sulli coil her rope, and Banks hands her a water bottle. Close by, Jack is on his knees packing up the tripod in a case.
He catches my eyes. “Same old, same old, right?” he asks in a staple-Jack-Highland-smile. Bright and charismatic—the kind that made me not trust him. Now, I know that smile as purely genuine.
But being real, constant positivity is off-putting to me after a while. I wouldn’t hang out with the sunshine Care Bear every day of the week, so I take Jack in small doses. It’s one of many ways we’ve maintained a good friendship after a rocky start.
Same old, same old.
He’s trying to be casual and friendly while production is intermingling with security. I like Jack, but I hate production.
Cameras impede security. Their presence is a bullseye on all clients. Passersby will see the camera crew before the famous person and immediately run over to play spot that celebrity.
Luckily, we’re not in the city right now. And there aren’t many threats around.
I smile back. “The same old shit never really gets old for me.” I could watch Sulli climb and swim every day for the next hundred years.
He nods, snapping buckles on a black case. “I’ve been meaning to tell you, there’s a new crew member on We Are Calloway who’s single. She’s super cute. I talked you up for a solid ten and gave her your number.”
My stomach pole-vaults in the ground. “You what?”
Sulli definitely overhears. She turns her back to Jack and me.
Shit.
Banks looks between us like pain is rushing in, a hole in a boat that I can’t plug fast enough.
He wants to comfort her. I know he does.
Jealousy gnaws harder at me, but a part of me wishes one of us could hug her right now without drawing suspicion.
“I gave her your number.” Jack frowns at my distraught reaction. “Is that okay?”
I’m barely breathing.
Jack thinks I’m single.
But I’m actually taken.
Mentally, physically, emotionally closed off to anyone but Sulli right now, and the thought of uttering the words, I’m single to Jack is going to kill me.
It’ll be like casting that into the universe. Breathing reality into it. And then I’ll wake up in Philly without her.
Single.
And I can’t lie again. Not like last time. It eviscerated me, and it’ll eviscerate her.
I try to deflect. “You’re still wingman-ing for me as a married man?”
He stands up. “It’s actually easier now to send women in your direction. Her name is Jennifer by the way.”
Sulli takes the largest swig of water. Her back still to me.
Awesome.
Another Jennifer. Sulli already saw the first Jenny before Yellowstone, and now there’s another waiting for me back there.
“She might call you,” Jack adds.
Perfect.
Just perfect.
I force a smile and run a hand through my hair. “Thanks,” I say into a nod, about to add a but.
Sulli just thuds to her ass on the ground. My whole body clenches in pain. Like I emotionally kicked her.
Shit.
Just shit.
Banks crouches down to Sulli, and quickly, I say the rest to Jack, “But I’m not interested. Can you tell her that for me?”
“Yeah, no problem.” His attention swerves as Jesse approaches.
“Kuya, don’t lift that,” Jesse says, jogging faster. “Let me help.”
I slip away and walk around Sulli. Facing her, just as Banks stands up.
She inhales a strong breath. “Two Jennifers?”
I hold out a hand. “One Sullivan.”
Her lips rise, and she clasps my hand. I help Sulli to her feet.
Unfortunately for me—Jane, Maximoff, and Winona crowd around Sulli. Pushing me and Banks further back from her.
Once we start heading to the RV campsite, I lead out front, and Banks jogs up to my side. I can feel the stress emit off him like toxic smoke.
“What’s wrong?” I ask, readjusting my radio. The trail back to camp hasn’t been cleared in a while, and I’m careful not to trip on rotted logs. “Is it Sul?” I glance back, but she’s still chatting with her family.