“David and Ashton.” He motioned for them to take their blindfolds. “Jarvis and Cody.”
He heard Emma’s gasp before her gaze landed on him, probably in an attempt to shoot some sort of fire. Well, maybe he deserved it, because it did seem mean on the surface. But he’d been doing this a long time, and Emma had to trust him.
Too bad she couldn’t just fall off a chair, let him catch her and be done with it.
Jarvis’s and Cody’s protests mingled, but he waved them off and continued assigning partners. Grumbles permeated the group. Good, that must mean he was on the right track. What was the point in learning to trust someone you were already buddy-buddy with?
He let Stacy and Katie go first through the obstacle course, Stacy blindfolded, which she clearly hated, and Katie leading her, which she clearly loved. They managed to get through the maze of cones, chairs and low-slung ropes with only one or two banged knees. The guys went next, teasing each other and not taking it as seriously as Max hoped.
Until it was time to reverse, and the tormenter became the tormented.
“The golden rule exists for a reason, guys,” Max hollered as snickers rose from revenge being played. Ashton crashed into a chair as David snorted in amusement. “Do unto others, and all that. Not so fun on the other side, is it?”
The lesson finally sank in as the boys began taking the course seriously, leading each other through unscathed. Finally. “Chairs are next.”
More groans, along with quibbles over who would go first and on which team. “That’ll be Tim’s decision.” Max shut down that argument quick. “Emma? A second?”
She joined him on the fringes of the group as Tim began lining up the teams in front of the row of chairs. “You okay with this? I know I put you on the spot.”
“It’s fine.” Her eyes darted to Tonya, then back to his face, something guarded and downright strange in her gaze. “It’s just...I found out...” Her voice trailed, and he wished they were alone so he could cup her chin and make her look at him.
“Found out what? Her secret?”
“It’s not what you think.” Emma glanced back at the girls before meeting his eyes briefly. “I can’t tell you here.” She pulled in her lower lip, looking nearly like a teen herself.
Not what he thought? Then what else was there—and why was it bothering Emma so deeply? He grazed her arm with his fingers, forgetting about their audience. “Are you all right?”
She jerked at his touch but didn’t pull away. “We’ll talk later. Let’s do this.”
She was more willing to fall backward off a chair than talk about Tonya, so it had to be bad. Or maybe it really was that private.
He led them back to the group, where Tim had gotten the first set of teams on the chairs and ready. This time, one person would fall while three caught them. They couldn’t do their original teams of one on one, since there were several teams where one person significantly outweighed the other. He didn’t want to send a whole crew to the E.R.
“Hands crossed across your chest, cupping each of your shoulders.” Max pointed to Cody, who stood on the chair, for once looking vulnerable. Jarvis, David and Ashton gathered beneath him, arms outstretched. “When you’re ready, trust—and fall backward.”
Cody snorted in disbelief, and Tonya, who stood on the chair beside him in front of Emma, Stacy and Katie, looked as if she might faint again.