“Hey!” he shouts.
I hear the truck door close and Milo laughing behind me, but soon his breath is fuller and I can hear his footsteps gaining. I reach out in front of me, hugging the ladder as I reach it first. Then Milo’s body is suddenly against me, his hands holding the ladder several inches higher. My pulse quickens.
“You cheated,” he says breathlessly.
I turn slowly, my gaze flicking up to his eyes that are heavy on me. “Did not.”
He grins. “I’m a running back, Sadie Summers.”
“Was,” I point out. “Now you’re Mr. Carter, history teacher who wears sexy glasses for TikTok.”
His grin melts against his cheeks. “Sexy?”
My heart hammers. “I said the glasses were sexy.”
“Noted.” He pushes softly off the ladder. “Ladies first.”
I turn to look at the ladder, and as mygaze travels upward and I realize just how tall the water tower is, another unfortunate realization hits?—
I. Hate. Heights.
“One hundred ninety-two,” Milo says behind me.
“What?”
“That’s how many steps there are.”
“Oh.”
Milo carefully wraps his hands on my shoulders and leans closer, whispering in my ear. “Do it for the plot, Little Miss Goody Two-Shoes.”
His words course through me, unexpected and impossible to brush aside. My pulse stumbles, heat lingering where his voice still feels close. And I have the disorienting sense that this isn’t just about the list anymore.
This is aboutthe plot.My plot.
I amthe leading lady of my own story.
I feel something rise in my chest, and I put my right foot on the first rung.
Here goes nothing.
The first twenty steps come easy, blood pumping through my legs in determination, but I start to slow as I realize twenty steps is almost twenty feet up.
“Don’t look down,” Milo says from below me. “One foot at a time.”
I inhale deeply and take another step. “How many times have you done this?”
“Enough,” he answers, no worry or panic in his breathing like there is in mine.
I start to tilt my head to glance at him . . .
“Don’t look down,” he repeats. “Just listen to me.”
I close my eyes. “Okay, well if you want me to listen you, you better start saying something interesting.”
“Like what?”
I open my eyes, taking another step up. “Like maybe tell me who Raelyn is.”
