Page 21

AUTHORIZED PERSONNEL ONLY.
Perfect.
“Last chance to chicken out,” I whispered, fingers curling around the chain-link.
Jessa rolled her eyes. “If we die, I’m blaming you from the afterlife.”
“Deal.”
We scaled the fence fast. Years of barre work gave me the kind of balance that made rooftops and scaffolding feel like stage sets.
The structure creaked under our weight as we climbed the first exterior catwalk, then up the maintenance ladder bolted to one of the support pylons. My breath was tight in my chest. Not from fear. From anticipation.
Jessa climbed beside me with a muttered curse.
“You owe me a drink if we survive this.”
“If we survive this,” I said with a grin, “I’ll buy you the whole damn bar.”
But we didn’t stop. Because I wasn’t looking for permission. I was looking for a reaction. And somewhere out there in the dark, I knew one very specific man was about to give it to me.
The wind whipped harder the higher we went, tugging at my curls, plastering my tank top to my skin. The harbor stretched out below us—black and shimmering, speckled with tugboats and cargo lights. Charleston twinkled at our backs.
“Jesus, Vivi,” Jessa muttered as we perched on the crossbeam maybe four stories up, legs dangling. “This is ... fucking insane.”
I tilted my head back and laughed into the wind.
“This,” I said, “is living.”
She pulled out her phone—because, of course, she did—and aimed the camera down toward the water, then toward our feet hanging off a literal death trap.
“Smile for your stalker,” she said, teasing.
I didn’t even blink. I looked straight into the lens and smirked.
“Already watching,” I said under my breath.
And I wasn’t wrong.
There was no way Eliaswasn’tseeing this.
Someone would tag it. Someone always did. Charleston’s thrill-seeker crowd lived for this kind of thing. I could practically feel his eyes on me from wherever he was holed up—watching, seething, probably destroying a keyboard with his bare hands.
God, I hoped so.
The wind howled, and somewhere far below, a horn blared from a barge slicing through the harbor. Jessa nudged me. “Okay, I hate to ruin your death-flirting vibe, but I think we should climb down before someone calls the cops.”
“Five more minutes.”
“Vivi—”
“I want him to come find me,” I whispered.
Jessa blinked. “What?”
I stood slowly, shoes wobbling on steel, arms outstretched like wings. “I want him to lose control.”
The wind whipped my hair across my face, and my body vibrated with the hum of the city, the danger, the high of being untouchable.