Where The Blue Thorns Grow

by Maya Riley

  “Yeah, having a harem can get exhausting,” Gary helpfully chimed in, resulting in chuckles around the room.

  “Alright,” I announced. “I’m going to bed.” I stood up and headed to the stairs. “Because, you know, having a harem is exhausting.”

  I snickered as I made my way upstairs and pushed open the door of the room I’d laid claim to. I didn’t know who was sharing a room with who, so I guessed I would find out in the morning who else was sleeping in the bed with me.

  Without further thought, I grabbed a change of clothes and headed to the bathroom. I quickly turned on the water, dressed down, and stepped into the shower. The gentle water pelted my skin, washing off all the dirt from the day.

  Once clean, I stepped out, dried off, and wrapped the towel around myself. Finally, I opened the door a crack to let out some of the steam and took a breath of the clear air. Relief filled me when cool air crept inside, fighting with the steam-filled air, and I continued to comb the rest of the knots from my hair before using the tiny blow dryer. Going to bed with wet hair wasn’t always the most comfortable thing to do. Once finished, I changed into cotton shorts and a tank, then headed back to the bedroom. After stretching, I flicked off the light, and crawled beneath the covers.

  The softness of the bedding was so soothing that it might be the best night’s sleep I’d get for a long while.

  I felt the mattress dip as a heavy weight settled in behind me. The smell of lemons filled my nose as giant arms wrapped around me, and I relaxed into the warmth of J.D.’s chest. His breath sent a shiver down my spine as his mouth hovered above my ear.

  “Everyone else got their time with you. Now, it’s my turn,” he whispered. “I know it’s only going to be a matter of time before someone else comes in here, but for now, you’re all mine.” He placed a kiss on the spot behind my ear and I turned in his arms to face him.

  He stopped my turn with his mouth, his lips landing on mine, before I could fully settle into the new position. His arms were still wrapped around me, pressed against my back and my head, pulling me closer to him. My hands flew up, palms landing against his bare chest, and my fingers grazed the bit of hair that was beneath them.

  I opened my mouth and let him in, our tongues tangling immediately. His heartbeat sped up, the steady thumping beneath my right palm signaling his excitement.

  His lemony scent swirled around us, invading my senses and driving me wild. I raised my hand so I was cupping the side of his face, keeping him there with me for as long as I wanted. He soared to a spot at the top of my heart, and I had no intention of ever letting him go.

  I wanted to deepen the kiss, but we were already as close to each other as we could be without going any further. Although, I sure wouldn’t be opposed to going any further with any of them.

  I pulled away for a moment to take a breath, and he took the opportunity to kiss along my jawline, before trailing kisses down my neck. The calluses of his fingers gently grazed my upper arm as he reached up to pull down the strap of my tank top.

  His mouth met my collarbone, and his hand held a tight fist in the fabric of my top, holding it down as he kissed and sucked on my bare shoulder.

  The moonlight streamed in through the open blinds and illuminated his blond hair in the dark room. The cartilage piercing on his left ear stood out as the only other thing I could see. Otherwise, it was nothing but hands and lips all over my body. My tongue flicked out to lick his ear piercing, and he sucked harder.

  He pulled my top down farther, as far as it would go, until my breast popped out. He wrapped his warm lips against the nipple and sucked, while his hand continued to trail down my torso, then my hips, until his fingers were dipping into my cotton shorts and underwear. My breath hitched and I arched my back, pressing against him. The anticipation of what was to come began to build up within me.

  His two fingers circled around my clit a few times, teasing me, before dipping into my entrance, where he received a slick welcoming.

  Slowly, he pumped in and out, and my breath quickened. The faster he thrust, the harder I breathed, until finally he curled his fingers, hitting my sweet spot, and immediately his mouth was on mine, swallowing my screams.

  He pulled out and I nearly whimpered at the feeling of emptiness, but he wrapped his arms around me once more and held me close to his chest. His breath fanned across my forehead, the warm air soothing.

  I kissed his chin, the only part of his face I could reach, and nestled my head underneath his neck.

  We fell asleep like that.

  At some point, I was awakened in the night to someone snuggling up behind me. I began to stir, but was immediately shushed with the taste of strawberry chapstick on the corner of my mouth. I drifted off not long after, safe in the arms of guys I cared about.

  “Wanna go for a walk?” Pete asked, as I finished filling up the coffee maker and hit the start button.

  “Yeah,” I piped up, “let’s go. I’ll get my shoes on.”

  I tied up my hiking shoes and gave one last longing look to the coffee pot. It would take a little while to brew the full pot and would be ready when we got back.

  We walked along, and chatted with fellow climbers and hikers that we came across. We ran into an elderly couple and had a nice, long conversation. They were so sweet and explained how they’d been together for decades. They said they loved young love and asked us how long we’d been together for. When we told them technically just barely a few days, they said we were just the cutest and warned him not to let me out of his sight, or else someone else would quickly try to snatch me up. When we explained that I also had three other boyfriends, the old lady clutched her chest. I wouldn’t have been surprised if she’d had a heart attack right then. The old man gave us all these warnings about what a proper relationship should look like, but when we parted ways, the lady turned and winked at me before turning back to her husband. I smirked and took Pete’s hand in mine, and continued on our way.

  “So,” I started, “guess you better keep a good eye on me or else I’m going to be snatched up by the first guy who sees me alone.” I smirked at him, popping open my water bottle with one hand and bringing it to my mouth.

  He laughed. “I mean, I guess the others might not mind if I watched.”

  My steps faltered and I choked on my water. I heaved forward and water spilled out of my mouth. “Wait, what?” I sputtered.

  He laughed some more and took out a wad of tissues, and handed them to me to clean my chin. “Well, I guess that could be awkward. Not entirely what I meant, but I mean, if this is how it’s going to be, I... guess we’ll see.” He shrugged.

  “So, for the sake of changing the subject,” I said, “how about a race?”

  He eyed me. “What’s at stake?” he asked. “Mostly because I want to know how much of a landslide I should beat you by.”

  Cocky fella.

  I thought it over, remembering the stamina and endurance he had when running. “Uh... maybe just for fun?” I suggested.

  “Don’t think you have a shot against me?” He smirked that damn smirk I always loved so much, especially when it was aimed toward me. It brought his dimples out to play and I fought the urge to place a kiss onto each one.

  “Fine. Loser has to feed breakfast to everyone for each day we’re at a rest point on this mountain,” I decided.

  “Even if that means no dill in your food?” he threatened.

  I placed a finger to my chin, thinking it over hard. He was a good runner, mostly good with endurance running, but I was in good shape too. “That would be a risk I’m willing to take. Yes. But how about we make it only one breakfast? You know… because there’s a lot of people in our group.”

  He chuckled, not wanting to go easy on me since we both knew I’d most likely be the one to lose. “Alright. Then it’s a deal.” He held his hand out, I grabbed it, and we shook on it.

  “Yeah, yeah, yeah,” I grumbled. “Alright then, how far do ya wanna go?” I asked.

 
; “How about one mile? It’ll be a quickie,” he replied.

  I snickered. “I’m all for a good quickie. Better make sure this one is fast,” I quipped.

  He looked at me with a knowing smile, and for a moment I wasn’t sure if we were both actually joking or not. “There are some trees about a mile from here,” he said.

  “There are trees everywhere!” I threw my arms wide, motioning to the mountain range we were in.

  “Yes, true, but there’s some trees about a mile from me. One of them has a blue scrap of fabric hanging from one of the branches. We’ll go to there,” he told me.

  “How do you know there’s blue fabric, and why?” I questioned. I was beginning to feel as though there was more to this than what he was letting on.

  He shrugged. That was it, just a shrug. As though blue fabric tied to a tree on the side of a mountain was the most normal thing in the world. He didn’t say anything, only looked at me, waiting for me to respond.

  “Alright,” I agreed. “I’ll race you. But if you win, just remember. Dill goes in everything, especially breakfast food.”

  “That’s right. You like it in your eggs too. I’ve never met anyone else who does that.”

  “Yeah, I’m weird. I’ll own it.”

  “What if you win?” he inquired.

  “Well if I win…we’re going to need to stock up on all of the dill that’s available here,” I responded with an evil grin.

  “We’re going to eat it so much that you’ll all be sick of it and give me all of your portions, and then you’ll have to wait until lunch to eat, because there won’t be any options for breakfast other than the beloved and sacred something-with-dill,” I answered, quite proud of myself for having a plan and the greatest incentive ever. Now, I really had to win, for the sake of dill.

  “Okay,” he drawled. I must have made him speechless. I hoped I didn’t just give him even more of an incentive to win. It was only one mile though, so I’d give it all I had. I was going to win, I was determined.

  He drew a line in the dirt with the toe of his shoe. “We’ll start here. First one to grab the scrap of fabric, wins,” he instructed.

  “Got it,” I replied, and placed my feet apart. One foot forward, toe at the line, and the other one behind my back, ready to kick off and get this started strong.

  “On your mark,” he said.

  “Get set,” I added.

  “Go!” he yelled, and we both kicked off at the same time, leaves and dirt flying up in our wake.

  We remained neck and neck for most of the way, both of us pumping our arms and legs to go faster. I leaned forward, urging my body to increase its speed by the fraction of a second that I’d need to win. I pulled ahead just a little and felt butterflies of victory when I saw the scrap of blue fabric come into sight, but then right at the last leg of the race, he pushed ahead and got the fabric first.

  I was right behind him and knocked into him, since I was still going full speed. We fell to the ground, both laughing. He was lying with his back on the ground, and my chest was pressed against his, heaving with each breath. I was laughing too hard to keep my eyes open, and I felt the rumbles of his own laughter reverberating from his chest.

  After a minute, he stopped. I opened my eyes, still laughing my ass off, but then stopped when I saw him looking at me oddly. His hands both reached up and cupped my face, pulling it closer until our lips were touching.

  After a nice, hot, passionate kiss, I pulled back and said, “Well, if that’s what I get for coming in second place, then I’ll take it.”

  “You’ll always come in first place with me.” He pulled me back down for a kiss before rolling us over so he was on top of me. I was beginning to really like this mountain even more than I’d expected. If I’d get kissed and aroused here this often, then I’d gladly come back every year. Or just not leave. This could be my way of life now.

  I paused at that and thought it over. It really wouldn’t be the worst thing. After all, it wasn’t like I really had any plans after this. But, I’d go wherever my guys went. They were always a part of me, but even more so now.

  “What’s wrong?” he asked.

  “Huh?” I responded ever so eloquently.

  “Where are you?”

  I was confused. “Uh... on this mountain, with you and the guys for the climb up the Carbolitas.” I didn’t understand his question. What did he mean where was I? I was under him, duh.

  “I mean in your head.” He emphasized his words by tapping his forefinger against my temple. “I know you’re physically here with me, but what’s going on inside your head?” he clarified.

  I sighed. “A lot of things.”

  He let go of me and sat back on his knees, still straddling my torso. “What’s wrong?” he asked again.

  “It’s… I don’t know. It’s nothing,” I hedged, not wanting to ruin the moment.

  He raised an eyebrow, not buying it. I knew from previous experience he wasn’t going to let me go until I told him. At least, not until I told him something, even if it wasn’t everything.

  I sighed again. “Alright,” I capitulated. “I don’t know, I was just thinking of after.”

  “After?” he parroted.

  “Yeah, after all of this.” I waved my hands around, indicating the mountain we were on. “After this trip. Since Clif died, I’ve never thought past this journey,” I confessed. “My only goal was to get here. I wasn’t going to go anywhere until I made it to the top, and whether or not that happened, I hadn’t thought about what would happen next.”

  “What do you mean what would happen next?” he inquired, sincerely trying to understand. “You mean you might not come back to town? You don’t know if you’ll continue to climb? Or do you just mean where will you be physically, like what state or town or country?”

  “Yes, pretty much all of that except the climbing part,” I told him. “I’ll always climb, but I don’t know where. I’ve played with the idea of buying an old van, decking out the inside, and driving around to all sorts of climbing destinations. Living out of the van, without a care in the world other than will it rain that day and limit my route-climbing options. Possibly never going back to where I came from. But, until recently, I didn’t care if I ever went back. But now I don’t know.”

  “What else don’t you know?”

  “My whole life, this has been my only goal. I just never thought about what would happen if I made it past my twenty-fifth birthday,” I explained. “I don’t know what my next big goal in life will be. If, or when, I get down from this mountain, I don’t know what to do with my life. And I don’t think I can go back to an office job like my mom wants.” I let out a weary sigh. “Hell, she doesn’t even know that I left it a few months ago.”

  “Why do you say ‘if’ you make it past your twenty-fifth birthday?”

  I dragged my shoulders across the ground in a shrug, and bit my lip when a rock scraped against my arm. Smooth, Cam. Save the cuts and injuries for the wall instead. “Clif died climbing. I kind of always figured that would be how I went too.”

  Pete’s face fell and I rushed to backtrack. “I mean, I’m not going to jump off the top or anything. It’s just something you can’t help but wonder about.”

  Terrible backpedaling.

  “Have you ever thought about what would happen when you made it to the top?”

  “Yeah, I’d be accomplished.”

  The tips of his dark blond hair waved around as he shook his head. “I mean, when you get down. This whole trip is supposed to be a positive experience. Sure, it won’t be the hardest thing you’ve ever done, or possibly will ever do, because let’s face it, you’re most likely going to tackle a much harder climb in your life. But…”

  “Uh-oh, there’s the but.” I attempted to lighten the mood with no success.

  “But,” he continued, “what you don’t realize is that you’re the only one holding yourself back. You’ve accomplished so many great things and you’re well on your way t
o doing more. Expect yourself to make it to the top, to make it back down, and to continue to live. Life is too dreary when you let doubt weigh you down.”

  I sighed. “Well, if you’re going to throw logic and positivity at me, I guess I could give it a shot. You’re right though.”

  “And don’t worry about pleasing others. The first person you need to focus on is yourself,” he insisted.

  I smiled. “But you’re always focusing on me more than yourself.”

  “That’s because you have been my life goal for so long. I don’t care where I am or what I’m doing, as long as I’m with you,” he replied, making me blush.

  “Well, what’s a girl supposed to say to that?” I countered.

  He leaned forward until our noses were almost touching. “You don’t have to say anything. You can say and do whatever you want. The only thing I ask is that you don’t run away, unless you tell me first that you don’t want me, and then I’ll be off. I promise,” he said.

  “Of course I want you. I always have,” I admitted. I closed the final distance between us and our lips met yet again. This was definitely something I never wanted to leave behind.

  After a few moments, he pulled away from me. I gave a small whimper and he smiled. “Hold on, bronco.” He lifted his leg up and over me until he was standing by my side. Reaching up, he grabbed on to a rope I hadn’t noticed before, since I was surely distracted and for good reason, and pulled until the other end came down with a little basket attached to it.

  He clutched the handle of the basket with one hand and let the rope go with the other. He set the basket on the ground and lifted the lid. After reaching inside, he pulled out a bottle of wine and two glasses.

  “Well, aren’t you the romantic one,” I praised with a smile.

  He grinned at me, set the wine and glasses down, and then reached back in. He pulled out some clear containers with cantaloupe and whipped cream next. “I was going to get strawberries, but cantaloupe was all they had,” he admitted sheepishly before pulling out something wrapped in tin foil. “Also, a couple slices of pizza. Because a picnic wouldn’t be the same without pizza.”