The Survivor - Cristin Harber Page 0,28
his heavy weight, punctuating the placid stillness that came hundreds of feet in the air. Halfway onto the metal platform, he arched his eyebrows and whistled. “You sure know how to pick a secluded spot.”
They were above a pit of antennas, but at the right angle, the building’s edge seemed as though it were only feet away instead of the semi-safe distance of several yards. “You can go back inside,” she said.
“Then I couldn’t tell you my reason.” He drew closer on the catwalk.
“Bet I could guess.” She fidgeted.
“Actually, it’s more like a question.”
She could guess that too. Are you crazy? Are you insane? What’s wrong with you?
“I want to know,” he said. “Why aren’t you okay?”
She hadn’t expected that one. Amanda bit her lip. “It’s complicated.”
“I like complicated.” The metal grates groaned when he took another step. He eyeballed the catwalk and made a funny face, then added, “I like puzzles. It makes me good at my job.” He held up his palm. “I won’t say another word about work. Even though I know you’re dying to ask what I do.”
She laughed.
“Nope.” He shook his head. “Don’t be cute. I’m not gonna share.”
Her smile almost ached. “I’ll try to contain myself.”
“Try.” He winked. “For my sake.”
The wind picked up again. Goosebumps prickled across her skin as if Mother Nature wanted to make sure Amanda realized her senses had reached a state of hyper-awareness. But with him only three feet away, she needed exactly zero reminders of his presence.
He crouched to eye level. “If I scared you, I didn’t mean to.”
“You didn’t.”
He nodded to himself. “I don’t intentionally say things to make you want to run.”
Amanda grimaced. “It’s a bad habit.”
“Fight or flight?” He pressed his lips together. “That’s a gut-level reaction to keep you alive. Not a bad habit to have in your arsenal.”
She side-eyed him. “You don’t have to pacify me either.”
He chuckled. “Mind if I sit?” He didn’t wait for an answer and swung his legs under the barrier like hers. “I don’t want to pacify you either, and I mean, you take fight or flight to the extreme—”
She groaned. This was almost as bad as talking to her mother about robots and agitated elements.
“But, I’d rather have you knee me in the nuts than run up here.”
Her chin snapped up. “That’s insane!”
He lifted his muscular shoulder. The move tightened the cotton T-shirt across his chest. “I’d take a little pain any day over you hauling ass toward the roof, upset.”
Her heartbeat stopped dead. The blood drained from her face. “You thought I’d jump?”
“It doesn't matter what I thought—”
“Yeah, it does.” Bile churned in her stomach. “Oh my God. I’m an idiot.” He’d shown up so she didn’t swan dive off the roof. Just like Jared would’ve. This guy didn’t want to chat an arm’s length away. He wanted to be able to grab her if she decided to end it all. Amanda reached for the railing to pull herself up. “Thanks for checking on me, but I’ve gotta go fix the cameras you broke.”
“I bet you don’t know about the third F?”
She stopped before she reached her feet. “What?”
He extended two fingers. “There’s fight, flight, and…”
She hesitated, more curious than she let on. “And?”
“Freeze.”
“Freeze,” she repeated, feeling memories from a high school science class nudge the back of her brain. Fight, flight, or freeze. The body’s response to stress. “I’d forgotten about that one.”
“Don’t blame you. It’s the worst of your options.”
Amanda sat down again. “I don’t recall that explanation from science class.”
“Think of it like this,” he suggested. “If you can’t fight or flee, then you’re paralyzed.”
She did have the tendency to freeze up, but that had always played second fiddle to leaving or inflicting bodily harm.
“But you don’t freeze? Then you’re doing better than say…I don’t know.” He shrugged. “Bambi.”
“What?” Her forehead scrunched.
“Jeez.” He scrutinized her. “Who doesn’t know Bambi?”
“I do!”
He laughed. “Think about deer. When they run out onto the road, a car comes, and they see headlights. Some run. Others freeze. Freezing never works out.”
“You made your point.” She side-eyed him. “But now I can’t shake the possibility of Disney horror movies. Bambi versus traffic.”
He rubbed a hand over his jaw. “I didn’t think you were going to jump because I pushed you about the past.” He stared up at the sky, then held her gaze again. “But, I was concerned, and…I wasn’t ready to leave.”
Doubt and desire wound up her back. Amanda’s eyes dropped to the edge of the building instead