He hadn’t. He’d loved her, and he wasn’t afraid to tell her.
They’d barely made it to a nearby emergency cabin before ripping each other’s clothes off.
She rubbed her chest as she stood there staring off into the past.
God, she’d thought they would be together forever.
“Okay, I’m finally here.”
She was startled back into the present by Riley’s words and his laborious breathing.
“Jesus, are you okay?” His face was bright red like he’d been sprinting for the two miles. He should know better than to be trying to move at that speed so early in the day. There was way too much race left for him to be expending that sort of energy.
“Yeah, just haven’t worked all my kinks out yet. I…” He trailed off.
She reached for him, but he turned away to look at the bridge, so she let her hand drop.
“I wanted to try to talk to you while we were here. I thought it might…” He shook his head and trailed off again, not looking back at her. “But I think I better just get across. I shouldn’t stay here.”
She had to swallow a sob. This was what she’d wanted, right? For him to move forward. For him to leave her behind.
But oh God, did it have to be right here where everything had first started for them? Maybe it did. Full circle.
“Yeah, you should go,” she said.
Just be strong for a couple more minutes.
Do you love him enough to give him a clean break? A fresh start?
Her fingers itched to reach for him, her nails biting into her palms inside her jacket pocket. “Just go, Phoenix. Just go.”
Because if he didn’t, she was about to break down and tell him everything.
He hesitated and her heart thumped in her chest. If he turned around now and told her he loved her, she’d break.
But he didn’t. He grabbed the harness on the ground, slipping his backpack off and putting the harness on his body. Without a word he put the backpack back on and hooked himself into the line, double-checking the carabiner for safety.
Not once did he look at her. He didn’t crack a joke. He didn’t wink or tease her about the dry RV.
But when his hand grasped the stability rope, it was shaking.
He had to know. He had to know that this was the actual end for them.
He stopped. Seemed almost paralyzed.
“Just go, Phoenix. You’ll be okay. You can do it.”
She had to wrap her hand over her mouth to keep back her sob. He could do it. But could she?
Without a word he took the first step onto the narrow rope, balancing himself with the two higher ropes. If he fell, he wouldn’t go far because of the safety harness.
But she knew Phoenix. He wasn’t going to fall. And he wasn’t going to look back.
Once he was a few feet out, she turned away. Why torture herself? Why watch him make it across to the new future and leave this gaping ravine between them?
She began to walk away, her heart shattering into more pieces with each step.
But call her a glutton for punishment, because as she got to the last spot where she could turn around and still see, she did so. She had to look at him just one more time.
Shock flew through her system at what she saw.
He was barely halfway across, stiff, when he should’ve already been almost to the other side by now.
And then his body began to shake, and he let go of the hand ropes, collapsing. It was only the connection to the safety harness that kept him from plummeting to his death.
“Riley!” she screamed, running back toward the bridge.
He didn’t move.
Chapter 17
She ran back up to the rope bridge, still screaming his name. The way he’d fallen had pushed him about two-thirds of the way across the narrow ravine, hanging at an unnatural angle from his harness.
He was out cold.
Or worse.
She grabbed one of the harnesses and slipped it on herself, then clipped herself into the safety rope.
She didn’t let herself even stop and think about what could happen, the things that could go wrong if her MS decided to make itself known right now.
Riley needed her.
Her heart was threatening to leap from her chest.
She cursed herself for not bringing her gloves. The rain wasn’t unbearably cold, but the rope was stiff and rough on her palms, not meant to be handled by naked skin. She moved one step at a time, forcing herself to remain steady, looking in front of her rather than at the ten-story drop beneath her.
She’d been over this rope bridge before, she reminded herself. Had traversed higher and wider ravines than this one. Riley had made sure of it. He had always found a way to bring out the most adventurous side in her—bring out the impossible in her.
He’d never goaded her or tried to talk her into things she wasn’t ready for. He’d just helped her learn skill after skill until one day, she found she was ready and able to do the crazy things.
They’d rarely done normal date stuff, and now she was thankful for it.
Oh God. He was just dangling here.
“Talk to me, Phoenix,” she yelled out over the sound of the rain. “Riley!”
All the things that could’ve happened to him—aneurysm, seizure, heart attack—ran through her mind. He wouldn’t be the first athlete to die of natural causes while in the middle of an event like this.
It felt like eternity to get to him, although it was probably less than two minutes.
“Riley! Talk to me, baby.”
Relief flooded her system when he groaned and moved slightly. She still couldn’t see his face, but he obviously wasn’t conscious. But he was alive. That was the most important thing.
She needed to get closer to him to evaluate his condition. That meant she was going to have to let go of the waist-height balance lines.
As soon as she did so, she was going to fall. Her safety rope would catch her.
But fuuuucck. Knowing one small rope and harness were all that kept her from certain death—especially after watching what had happened to Riley and Baby yesterday—did not give her the warm fuzzies.
But she didn’t have time to feel uncomfortable. Not with Riley dangling unconscious.
Gritting her teeth, she crouched down on the walking rope and let go of the balance ropes. She gasped past the sickening lurch in her stomach as she fell the few feet before the safety rope pulled taut on her harness, stopping her fall.
She reached over and grabbed Riley. He was struggling to breathe. His face was swollen.
Anaphylaxis.
Her brain spun into overdrive. He could’ve been bitten or stung by any number of creatures, causing a reaction that was blocking his airway. She had to figure out a way to get him off this damn rope bridge. There was no way she was going to be able to hoist up his dead weight, and she wouldn’t be able to balance him even if she could.
He didn’t have that sort of time. He needed epinephrine right now.
The nearest EpiPen was back at the RV. It would be much quicker to just leave him here and bring her med kit back.
But God, just leaving him here, dangling off the bridge in this storm? There was lightning. He could be hit before she got back.
She felt almost paralyzed with indecision.
Think, Riley.
She had to leave him. It was dangerous, but attempting to get him off this rope bridge was going to take time she didn’t have until she got the EpiPen.