Jace
“What the hell am I doing?” I whisper to myself, but Lennox still hears me and responds.
“A really cool thing for charity,” he yells, combating the wind whooshing at the top of this way too tall building.
We’re both in our harnesses, and the cable rolls over the top of a small crane-like object that’s connected to the cement pillar at the top of the roof.
That only makes me feel slightly better. Still, my stomach is in my throat, my heart feels like it might explode and I think I might vomit.
“Alright, you’re good,” the main safety guy, Bodhi, who looks like a special ops guy from a video game dressed in all black, says with a thick Australian accent. His T-shirt barely fits his biceps and he probably fights kangaroos for fun.
Andi’s recording and walking around us as we step near the ledge. The crane operators have us turn around so we’re facing inward, then crouch down as we dangle our feet over the edge and grip onto the lip.
I can’t believe I’m doing this. I came here to talk him out of it, not jump off a building with him.
I guess I know the answer to the age-old question my mother would always ask me whenever I wanted to do something my friends were doing.
‘If your friends were going to jump off a bridge, would you?’
I think about that for a second, taking in my surroundings.
It’s not a bridge, mother, I tell myself.
“Okay, use one hand to grasp the cable, lean back and press your feet into the side of the building then let go and take a hold of the ATC with your dominant hand.”
The ATC being the friction device that will prevent me from plummeting to my death. That and the three other backup devices they claim to have on the harness.
I peer over at Lennox; he’s sticking his tongue out concentrating hard on the multiple line up of tasks and within a minute his feet are in place, one hand on the rope and the other on the friction device.
I suck in a deep breath and do the same. I’ve always been fairly athletic; I did play sports and I’ve done a few stunts in my lifetime, but this is a far stretch of anything I’m comfortable with.
Still, I plant my feet, get in place, and finally let go of the death grip I had on the building’s ledge. Annnnnd now I’m hanging eighty stories up with faith that a rope and a few cables will save my life.
What the fuck was I thinking?
It’s for a good cause. It’s for a good cause. I say over and over again.
“Alright now fellas, just like we showed you earlier. Press into the balls of your feet, give yourself a little jumpy jump and loosen the grip on the ATC. Rinse and repeat. By the time you hit the bottom you’ll be wanting to do it again.”
I doubt that.
The man from down under turns to look over his shoulder, then back to us.
“Andi wanted me to let you know that you just crossed over a hundred thousand dollars for your fundraiser,” he tells us with a proud look on his face.
“That’s bloody brilliant, mate!” Lennox holds out his palm for a high five at the massive man, but the Aussie scrunches up his face, shaking his head as he points at his cable.
“Oh yeah, got it,” Lennox says with a nervous laugh.
He glances over at me and his eyes are bright shining with nothing but pride and mouths, ‘Thank You’, to me.
Even though Gordon is probably going to kill me and that new attorney that I’m supposed to meet with next week won’t approve, I can’t help the pure joy that passes through me when Lennox looks at me like that.
The nerves subside a bit as I nod, smiling back at him.
“Ready?” he asks.
As if we timed it, our feet press into the glass panel and we float back, loosen our grip and rappel a few feet down the building.
The short burst of the freefall makes my stomach float up to my chest, but I push through and do it again. It’s unbelievable and addicting.
I turn to look at Lennox, his messy hair whipping around in the wind as he rappels down at the same speed as me with a larger-than-life smile on his face.
My pulse is racing, my heart is pounding in my chest and the adrenaline, taking over any logic, is moving at warp speed.
We repeat the motion over and over, making our way down the building.
He’s laughing, I’m smiling, it’s the most freeing feeling I’ve ever experienced.
We’re a little more than half way down when we hear our names being called. Shifting my gaze to the building to the left of us, there are a few people with professional style cameras, waving and screaming at us.
Lennox taps my shoulder and points behind us where another group is camped. Of course, the paparazzi made it out as soon as they heard, finding ways to get into the buildings that surround ours.
He gives them a little wave and shrugs at me while holding out his fist.
We fist bump each other, both of us still beaming mile-wide smiles from the high of the descent as we start making our way down the final stretch.
The crowd grows louder, chanting our names, cheering us on.
This is the most surreal experience I've ever had. It’s an adrenaline rush like nothing I’ve ever felt, it’s stupid and reckless, but as our feet hit solid ground I’m surprised that I’m not relieved, instead disappointed that it’s over.
“Bloody hell, that was fucking amazing!” Lennox screams as he runs his hands through his hair, attempting to tame it.
But, I think that’s something endearing about him. His hair, his smile, not even those fierce green eyes can be tamed. That’s probably my favorite, yet most frustrating thing, I like about him.
The crowd is exponentially larger now and I’ve been around long enough to see where this is going.
“Come on, we gotta go.” Lennox glances around and nods, but waves and blows kisses to the crowd as he follows me.
Howard is waiting next to one of the security guards and ushers us to a small path around the side of the building. We high five a few people on the way out then walk down a driveway ramp into a garage with more security.
“We got it,” I say, waving Howard off so he doesn’t open our doors, then we all climb in simultaneously.
Lennox shuts the door behind him and swivels in the seat to face me. “Moose, that was—”
“Amazing!” Elodie interrupts him with pure excitement in her tone.
His face falls, surprised she’s here. He covers it up quickly and smiles as he holds out his hand. “I’m Lennox.”
“Elodie.” She returns a smile as she shakes his hand. “That was so exhilarating to watch. Did you see?” She holds her phone out to us. “You guys raised over five hundred thousand dollars!”
“What brought you both here?” Lennox asks. There’s a slight vexation in his tone with the word both, as he takes in her date night attire.
“We were finishing our dinner and I saw that Andi was going live. After she said what she was doing and then you were introduced, Jace made Howard come straight away. He was coming to stop you, not join you.” She turns to me, pressing a hand to my shoulder.
“I can’t believe you did that!” She gushes, shocked but impressed. I think.
Lennox glances over at me with a sobering expression behind his eyes. He’s thankful but I think the reality of our world is crashing down just as quickly as our adrenaline spike.
Now that I’m back in the car I’ve realized how stupid that was. Sure, it was for a great cause, but I probably just put a nail in my own coffin when it comes to the conservatorship.
Fuck.
“Thank you, mate. I can’t tell you how much I appreciate you doing that. We wouldn’t have raised half of that without you.”
Pride fills my chest because I know how much it means to him, but I can only manage a tight-lipped smile in return with the unknown repercussions of what I did tonight.
“Jace.” Elodie places her hand on my forearm, grabbing my attention. “Would you mind dropping me off first? I have an early start in the morning and need to get some rest.”
I glance over at Lennox and his eyes are fixed on her hand still on my arm, then he shifts in his seat to look out the window, avoiding my gaze.