Page 16 of Betraying Him
“Talk to me, Sav,” I murmur and reach out to pull her lip away from her teeth. “What’s going on?”
She stares at me, a look of indecision on her face, before she finally blurts, “I’m scared.”
“About what?”
Her eyes dart out of the windshield before meeting mine once more. “I… I think I want to go on the Ferris wheel.”
I snort, unable to help myself. “Seriously? That’s what you’ve been acting so weird about?”
I know she said she’d never go on it, that she was scared, and the day she went on it was the day she lost the will to live, but this is really freaking dramatic, even bymystandards.
I take a deep breath. Okay, clearly, she’s terrified of the thing and has been spinning herself round in circles about this, but I need to support her, not laugh. That’sifthis is what she’s worried about and she’s not just trying to change the subject. Honestly, I’m not convinced it’s not the latter, but I have to trust what she says.
“Is there a reason you want to go on it? You don’t need to do this, Sav.”
Biting down on her lip again, she averts her eyes. “There’s no use living life in fear, Harley. I want to face at least one thing I’m scared of, and this is something Icancontrol.”
And now I’m back to being worried…
“What else scares you, baby?”
I hate seeing her so vulnerable. I wish I could take away all of her worries, make it so she was never anxious again in her life, but there’s so much I don’t know about her, and that makes it difficult to help.
“The usual things,” she says cryptically before shaking her head. “Enough about this, let’s go.”
Before I can ever mutter a response, she’s out of the car and waiting for me a few feet away.
I guess that conversation is over.
We do our usual things, like walk along the beach, people watch on the pier, and eat lunch before Savannah brings up going on the Ferris wheel again. We get in line for our turn, but during the entire wait, she’s nervous. She bites her nails and shifts from foot to foot until I finally draw my arm around her and pull her to me.
“We don’t have to do this,” I whisper into her ear, and she glares at me.
“Yes, we do.”
“And why is that, pumpkin?” I ask, holding back a snigger. As expected, her lips pull down at the nickname, and I can’t hold back my laugh. Thank God I didn’t, because the wide smile that lights up her face finally breaks the tension I’ve been feeling all day.
When it’s our turn to step into the cab, determination takes over her, and I’ve honestly never been so proud of someone.
It may seem like a small, inconsequential thing to be doing, but this is clearly something that makes her uncomfortable, and to see her face it the way she is, makes me so goddamn happy for her.
As we start to go up, Savannah’s hand latches onto mine ina death grip, and when I glance down at her, I see her pale-faced, wide-eyed, and almost trembling.
Fuck, this was a terrible idea.
I draw my arm around her, pull her into me, and then squeeze her tight, letting her know I’m right here.
“Almost there, baby. You’re okay.”
“This is horrible,” she whines, making me chuckle breathlessly, and I press a kiss to the side of her head.
“I know, but it’ll be over before you know it, and then you can finally say you’ve been on one. It won’t be this big thing you’ve built up in your head anymore, and instead, it’ll just be a thing you and I did that one time. You’ve got this, and I’m so proud of you, Sav.”
Her wide eyes blink up at me in astonishment. “You are? You don’t think it’s ridiculous?”
I shake my head. When she first mentioned not wanting to come on here, I thought it was because she was afraid of heights, but it isn’t. I asked her about it over lunch last week, and it turns out it’s just Ferris wheels in general that have always freaked her out. Something about reading an article where one collapsed, and ever since she read it, she’s been terrified of them and always stayed clear.
It's a valid fear.
