Page 21 (1/2)

"You’ll do fine" He bent down, kissing her cheek "It really isn’t that hard, and I won’t let anything happen to you I promise"

She s pictures of the glittering rocks Then they started up the rocky hill bathed in sunlight, et a feel for the terrain Pebbles and loose dirt streamed down behind them as they made their way up

"This really isn’t bad," she said, stopping and glancing behind her "Whoa Okay Remind me not to look back"

He turned around Beth’s spine was ra to her, he slid a little as he placed a hand on her shoulder Face pale, she gripped his arm "Are you sure?" he asked, worried

"Yeah, I just don’t think I’ve ever been this high up before"

Dawson sh up, Bethany"

Her throat worked "It doesn’t feel that way"

Was she afraid of heights? Oh crap, if that were the case, this was a bad idea "You want to head back down? We can"

"No" She shook her head, giving hiers off his aro slowly, okay?"

Part of him wanted to pick her up and zip her back down to the meadow below, but she insisted and he trusted her to tell hih

Twenty minutes later, he scrambled up the flat rock and reached down to her "Give me your hand I’ll pull you up"

Eyes narroith deterh his chest in response to her trust Tugging her up, he held her until she was ready to stand And when she did, he noticed that her legs shook a little as she turned around

Bethany clutched the ca around her neck "It’s beautiful"

He rose to his feet, placing his hands on his hips as he took it all in The sky was that rare, perfect kind of blue Clouds were fluffy, looking like they were painted in Tips of ancient elround below

"Yeah," he said slowly "It’s alanced over her shoulder at him "It would be so cool to be able to sit up here and paint"

"We could do that"

Bethany laughed "I don’t think I’d be able to get my stuff up here"

"Ye of little faith," he teased "I can zip your stuff up here and have it ready in three seconds"

She grinned "It’s so strange Soet…what you are"

Most people wouldn’t kno to take that, but he recognized it for what it was And that hy he…why he loved her

Looking away, he clamped his mouth shut The words had been in his chest for weeks,to be spoken, but any time he tried to force them out of his mouth, he locked up Bethany hadn’t said those words, either, and if she didn’t feel the same, he was afraid he’d scare her off

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw her inch cautiously toward the edge "Be careful," he said

"I’m always careful"

Dawson pivoted around and crossed to the other side of the rock Fron his eyes Neither hi of this year Soon, he realized, soon he would have to face the What would he say? There was no way he could even entertain the idea of being with someone else But he couldn’t tell the And that would go over like a--

A wicked sense of dread shot through hilanced down at the sandstone rocks below his feet The crystals embedded deep into the sediment winked The surface was shiny, still daasp shattered his core, barely audible but as loud as thunder The scream that came next chilled his entire body

There hadn’t even been a second--tih His heart pounded in his chest as he whipped around, catching the blurred outline of Beth’s flailing arms

Lead settled in his sto out of his for about it He was fast, but all it took was a second--a second for gravity to do its thing To reach up and suck Bethany down into nothing but space

But it orse than just empty air, because then he would’ve had ti that the side she’d slipped off of had several jagged outcroppings that were bone breaking

And one, a spike about ten fight long and six feet wide, had stopped her fall about thirty feet down

Chapter 17

Daasn’t thinking

Two seconds had passed Two fucking seconds for him to shed his hule--one leg under the other, an ar

So red pooled under the left side of her head Not blood--it couldn’t be blood Whatever it was--because it couldn’t be what it was--leaked fro fallen even farther

He couldn’t think

A part of his brain, the huainst his chest, sing her in the whitish-blue light