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As soon as I went up the ladder and got to the highest step I needed to change out the lights, it gave out beneath me. I stumbled, lost my grip, and expected to fall to the ground. But instead, when I landed against something hard, it didn’t hurt like I thought it would.
“Gigi.”
I opened my eyes, not realizing I had closed them and found Vince holding me.
“Are you okay?” he asked, his face pale.
“I…” I looked around me.
The step on the ladder was split in the middle like someone had cut it in half. My stomach twisted, bile rising to my throat.
“Queenie.” Vince put me gently on my feet but kept his arms around me. “Hey.”
“I’m fine,” I finally told him.
He turned me, checking me over to make sure that I was actually fine like I told him. “Are you sure?” he asked, keeping me close.
I nodded but I couldn’t help but wonder if the ladder had been tampered with. No. I was being paranoid. There was no way that someone could be that ruthless. Not at the center. Everyone who came into The Dove Project was there to help others, provide for them, care for them. It wasn’t possible that someone would want to hurt me.
“Gigi.” Vince wrapped an arm around my shoulders, leaning his forehead against the side of my head. “You sure you’re good?”
“Yes.” I cupped his arm. “Thank you for catching me.”
“Always, baby. I’ll always catch you.”
I shivered, knowing that he wasn’t just talking about me falling off the ladder.
“Hey guys.”
Both of us turned to my mom coming toward us from down the hall.
“What’s going on?” she asked, glancing at the ladder.
“The step broke and Gigi fell,” Vince explained, keeping his hand on my hip.
“Oh God. Are you okay?” Mom asked, inspecting the step.
“Yeah.” Even though what I had with Vince was new, I liked the fact that he wasn’t afraid to touch me in front of people, especially my mom. I stepped back, a soft sigh escaping me at feeling his hard body pressed up against mine.
His eyes burned into my head, his hold tightening on my hip as if to say,‘I got you, babe.’
“Your dad isn’t going to like this,” she mumbled, inspecting the ladder. “We got some new volunteers. I’ll have to look into things.”
“I’m sure it was just an accident.” But even though those words left my mouth, I knew they were a lie. Someone did this deliberately. I just didn’t know who or why.
“We run background checks on everyone, but I’ll see if I can find out if anyone was here who wasn’t supposed to be,” Mom gritted out, giving me a hug. “I’m glad you’re okay.”
“Me too.” I didn’t want to think what damage falling off the ladder could have caused. I had already destroyed my knee by doing a spin and jump wrong. I could still feel the pain as my leg had twisted in a way that hadn’t seemed humanly possible.
“Queenie.”
I jumped, forgetting Vince was behind me. “I’m fine,” I told him when that frown between his eyebrows deepened. “I promise.” I stood on tiptoes, placing a soft peck on his cheek.
When I went to pull away, he wrapped himself around me.
“If something happened to you...” His voice trailed off, his face pushing into the crook of my neck.
I was momentarily shocked by the nervous energy coming off of him. “Hey.” I returned the embrace. “I promise I’m fine.”
