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Jade held up one finger. “Want to try going upside down?”
Every Bishop at the table shouted no.
I turned toward them. “That sounded rehearsed.”
“It wasn’t,” Ruckus called. “We’re just united by terror.”
Micah pointed at Clayton. “This is still your fault.”
Clayton raised his drink. “Worth it.”
Rook shook his head. “Your funeral.”
I looked back at Jade. “Yes.”
She grinned. “Of course.”
Then her expression turned serious.
“Not a handspring. Not anything cute you’ve seen somebody do on the internet. Basic invert. I spot you the entire time. If I tell you down, you come down.”
“Got it.”
She positioned me. “Hands here. Not too high. Good. Bring your knees up first.”
I tried. My hips moved approximately nowhere.
“Try again.”
I did. Better. My core caught this time.
She kept one hand at my hip and the other ready near my back.
“Tuck tighter.”
I did.
“Now hips.”
For one bizarre second the floor vanished from where it belonged.
My hair dropped straight toward it.
I made an involuntary sound somewhere between a laugh and a curse.
Jade caught my hip. “There. Hold.”
I was upside down. Not elegantly. Not independently.
But definitely upside down.
The entire club appeared backward beneath me.
Lights. Tables. Faces.
A dozen football players had apparently lost their minds.
My skirt had surrendered entirely to gravity.