Where The Blue Thorns Grow

by Maya Riley

  My heart skipped a beat in the erratic rhythm it was already pounding.

  “And I mean it,” he continued. “I have for so long. And I’m not only saying it because I’m fucking the girl of my dreams against a climbing wall in the place of my dreams. I fucking mean it for real.”

  I tugged at his hair, making him go even faster. “I’m all yours,” I promised. “I always have been.”

  My breathing was ragged. My mind was shredded. I couldn’t think straight or form any more words.

  He pounded into me again and again. His thumb flicked my clit and then pressed against it, on and off. He tilted his hips and his dick hit the sweet spot and I came apart.

  My screams rose and scared the nearby wildlife. Birds emptied the trees around us as our shouts of ecstasy filled the air.

  He stilled inside me and we both rode out the waves of pleasure. Once we’d both calmed down, I wrapped my arms around him and held him tightly against me.

  “Fuck, love,” he murmured.

  “Yes, that is precisely what we just did,” I replied, making him laugh. His face was buried in my neck, and I could feel the rumbles from his laugh vibrating through my body.

  He pulled out and placed a kiss on my neck.

  “Fucking you against the rock wall is exactly what I’ve been wanting to do ever since I first saw you. And then every time I was with you after that. You just made one of my biggest fantasies come true,” he told me.

  I blushed. “Glad I could be of service,” I quipped with a salute. Why the hell did I salute to that? Why was I so weird?

  “So…” I coughed, ready to change the subject. “Wanna go another round?” I asked, and he raised an eyebrow at me. “Of climbing!” I quickly corrected, realizing my mistake.

  He just looked at me with laughter in his eyes, hesitating before zipping up his pants.

  “Well, I’m glad that wasn’t embarrassing or anything.” I took off my harness, crumpled up my torn clothing, and discarded them into the trash bag. Walking over to his pack, I found the cleaning wipes and cleaned myself up some. Then I rummaged through until I found his spare shorts and slipped them on, then replaced my harness back on over them.

  The shorts were a bit large on me and my harness barely fit over the extra material, but they would do.

  “I’m good,” he finally responded. “I got my energy out.”

  Oh yes he did. We both did.

  I pulled out a bottle of water and a baggie of trail mix, and sat down and leaned my back against the wall. He did the same and joined me, sitting down next to me.

  “So, how are you holding up?” he inquired.

  I looked at him. “After our wall fuck? Well, as you can see, I’m currently on the ground,” I answered.

  “You know what I mean.”

  “I’m doing alright. Everyone keeps asking me that though. I love how concerned you guys are. Just as I told the others…” I popped a few pieces of chocolate and nuts into my mouth and chewed, thinking over my next response. “I don’t know,” I finally said. “It’s just... I don’t know.” I shrugged. “I mean, they show up here out of nowhere all ‘oh yeah, we’re going to join you on the most difficult climb you’ve done yet. We’re going to be right alongside you as you do the one thing that we’ve been trying to pound out of you for years.’ This is the thing that split the family apart.”

  I took a drink of my water, and continued, “I have no idea how I’m supposed to react. I have no idea how I even want to react. I just don’t know. I don’t know how to talk about my feelings on the matter. So I’m just going to wing it. See what happens. Although, if I’m honest with myself, I’m really eager to see how it goes and how they hold up. I’d given up hope for the family years ago, but I don’t know. We’ll see.” I popped some more trail mix into my mouth and chewed.

  He realized I wasn’t going to say anymore, and said, “They do seem to want to do this. I don’t think it’s as much out of obligation as it is for their own benefit. I know you’ve said they’ve been pretty detached for a long time. But I think they may have had a light bulb moment and realized that you’re right.” Between mouthfuls of his own trail mix, he added, “I mean, I obviously don’t know them as well as you, but just an observation from an outsider.”

  We continued to sit there in silence, the only noise was that of our mouths crunching and the bugs buzzing around us.

  He was most likely right, as he usually was. We’d just see where it took us and what happened. I’d never once thought about what might happen after this trip, but now I was super curious as to the effect this would have on my family. My parents and I.

  We shall see.

  Ryan

  Cam’s ass hung in the air, hypnotizing me with its rhythm as it moved up. When she reached the top and I held her weight on my end of the rope, I watched the beacons slowly get closer as I lowered her back to the ground.

  Tomorrow we’d be continuing to the next section of the Carbolitas, and we couldn’t be more thrilled. The one day delay was surely needed, as neither of her parents were in climbing shape anymore. They did well, and I had to admit I was impressed. I’d heard vague things about them over the time I’d known Cam, but it was great to see them trying. Normally, once a family was broken, no one would try to stitch the pieces back together. Tomorrow they’d get on the bigger route walls, and we’d see how it went.

  “She’s doing really well,” Steve commented from my right, and I turned my head slightly to see him looking up at Cam and shielding his eyes against the bright afternoon sun.

  “She’s worked hard. She’s actually been ready for this for years. She only made herself wait until now because it was when she made the promise with her brother to do this. Otherwise, she could’ve climbed this whole thing four times over by now, I have no doubt about it.”

  “She always was stubborn. It’s no surprise to me. She takes after Susan in that area. When she was eight years old, she wanted to enter a bouldering competition.” There was an extra glint in his eye apart from the sun’s rays, and I thought I saw a spark of pride at whatever memory he was sharing. “We told her no, she wasn’t ready for it yet. Train some more and enter another one later. You know what she did?” He faced me, a smile cracking his lips in the process.

  “She did it anyways?” I guessed the only possible answer.

  He laughed a deep belly laugh. “She did it anyways. Not only that though. She forged our signatures and she came out on top. She blew all of her competition out of the water. And it didn’t stop there. She somehow managed to sneak onto the boulder for the adult competition after. She only made it as far as she did because nobody was going to lay a hand on a little girl. All those big climber guys, they were outshone by a little eight-year-old girl. That did well for their egos.” For the first time since I met him, all of a day ago, the lines and years that aged this man melted away, and I saw a glimpse of the proud, young father he once was. “Of course, once we found out, we were too proud to ground her.”

  I glanced back up, and Cam was about fifty feet away now. Her head was turned to the side, her eyes wide as she looked out at the spectacular view that you can only witness with your feet off the ground. Her hand clutched at the piece of jewelry around her neck.

  “I’d never stopped being proud of her. She was always just like Susan, and she still is, even if she can’t see it.”

  With that, the conversation was over.

  After lowering her a couple hundred feet, Cam’s feet touched the ground. We were just doing some warm-up routes today. Nothing too strenuous, nothing to wear us out for the rest of the trip, but just enough to keep us in climbing shape and keep our calluses going strong. Plus, Susan and Steve could really use the practice, since it’d been years since they’d done any climbing at all. They did surprisingly well for that.

  I let the rope slacken so Cam could untie herself. Once she was free, she handed the end off to Steve. He was next and he wouldn’t climb unless she belayed him. I quickly u
nhooked my carabiner and handed it off to Cam, who took it less reluctantly this time. She wasn’t too thrilled that she was the only one who could belay him, but I believed it was helping rebuild their fractured relationship, and I wasn’t going to stand in the way.

  Steve said she got her stubbornness from Susan, but after only a day with the three of them, I realized her stubbornness was the two of them combined, and much more than anyone may have realized.

  She walked away, shaking out her arms to relieve the pressure in her forearms, and went to get a drink from her water bottle.

  I checked to make sure Steve was tied in properly, and he was, with a double figure eight.

  Once Cam was finished, she closed the cap, set the water bottle back down, and took out a little baggie of trail mix. While it was an easy couple hundred-foot route, I got the feeling she still wanted to procrastinate having to belay Steve.

  She acted like she wasn’t too thrilled with this situation, but I’d seen the tiny spark of joy in her eyes when she thought no one was looking. The tiny glimmer of pride she had on her face when both her parents climbed their routes clean and with no issues. I believed it was easier for her to show a tough exterior, rather than let them in and get hurt all over again if something went wrong between them. I was going to do what I could to make sure it all went right.

  “Cam, are you about ready?” Steve called.

  I went over and stood next to her, and asked, “Are you alright?”

  She tossed a few more pieces of trail mix into her mouth and sealed the bag shut before placing it back into her pack. “Just peachy,” she muttered around a mouthful of food, some of the crumbs falling from her mouth and down into her cleavage. We both looked down at it.

  “Well, that was sexy,” she commented.

  I grinned. “Here, let me.” I smirked as I reached a finger in between her boobs, scooped the crumbs out, and put them in my mouth. “Mmm,” I added.

  “You’re so weird,” she remarked. “And my parents are probably watching,” she reminded me, as though that would get me to stop.

  “That’s okay. They know about us,” I replied.

  I raised an eyebrow. “About us?” she questioned.

  “Yeah. About all of us.” I shrugged. “They were curious why so many guys were ready to defend you in a split second with no warning and nothing to gain. Not that we really even need a reason, but we explained.”

  Her eyebrow remained raised. “That’s... okay, cool. And they took it well?” she pressed, worry in her voice.

  “Actually, your mom took it rather well. It was your dad who was pretty skeptical though. I’m pretty sure he still is too.”

  She shrugged, walked over, and grabbed the climber end of the rope. She hooked it into the carabiner and secured it onto her harness. After checking her harness and secureness, she checked his double figure eight knot. He hadn’t forgotten how to tie it, but I’m thinking that was like riding a bicycle. He checked over hers, and gave the thumbs up.

  “Ready darling?” he asked.

  “Yup. Ready.” She pulled out the slack and was in position, waiting.

  “Climbing,” he stated.

  “Climb on,” she replied.

  He grabbed on to a couple good starting handholds, and then placed his feet on the wall. He’d already checked out this route with his eyes, so he had his first few moves planned out.

  He moved swiftly up the wall, surprising us. He moved like he knew what he was doing. Guess if you spent your life climbing, the skill wouldn’t disappear with the years.

  He continued to move swiftly, each foothold methodically planned out, and each hand placement precise. I watched him carefully, just like any one of my other climbers, and studied him.

  “He has the same climbing style he had back when I was younger and we all climbed,” Cam noted. “He’s about to fall soon. The slight twitch of his calf is the same as it used to be.” Cam sharpened her focus, and her arm muscles were readied to catch his fall on instinct if needed. And sure enough, his foot slipped.

  “Rocks!” he called out. “Falling!” he yelled next, even though Cam was already being pulled up into the air.

  Cam

  My left hand remained on the rope above the Grigri, and my right hand held the other end of the rope down and back behind my butt. He greatly outweighed me, especially with his new dad bod, so he fell a little farther than the others would have.

  By the time he’d stopped falling and I’d stopped flying upward, we were nearly within touching distance of each other. I’d been pulled up a good twenty feet, and he’d fallen a much farther distance, about sixty feet. He was less than five feet above me now.

  “Hey girl,” he said all casual-like. As though falling over sixty feet attached to a single piece of rope was nothing to worry about. “Good to see you here. How are you?”

  I’d play along with his awkward small talk. “Doing good,” I answered, “you know, just hanging around.”

  The lamest climbing joke of all time, but it made him laugh. I looked up at him. “So, how are you doing? And I mean really, how are you doing?” I asked, all levity gone from my tone.

  He looked down at me and for a brief moment, I saw the image of Clif flash across his face and I was startled. I was glad he was taking some extra seconds to answer, because I needed that time to get myself together once more.

  “I’m doing alright,” he responded. “Not good. Not great. But just, alright.”

  “Why just alright?” I questioned, wanting to be nosy. Now that he was tethered to me, I was forced to talk with him, so I may as well make it count.

  He sighed. “I’m just alright, kiddo.” He hesitated, wanting to go on but seemingly unsure how to continue. “Candy left me,” he finally divulged.

  “Oh,” I said. I was glad for that, but I had no idea what he was getting at or where this conversation was going.

  “She said I was too attached to my family,” he added.

  I snorted. “That’s a good one. Thanks for that laugh. Unless there’s another family I don’t know about and who she was referring to. But otherwise, that’s funny.”

  “Look, Cam, I really am sorry for what I put you and your mother through all these years. You didn’t deserve that. Neither of you did. I regretted it for years, ever since shortly after I left,” he explained.

  “Then why did you?” I challenged, an accusatory tone slipping into my voice. “Why didn’t you ever come back? It’s because we weren’t good enough for you, right? You needed to surround yourself with people who didn’t remind you of him.”

  He looked down at me, his piercing blue eyes cutting through mine. “That is not at all true,” he argued. “I didn’t come back because I wasn’t ready. You both deserved so much better than what I could give you. I was a mess and I still am. I’ve been trying to get my shit together, I just don’t know. I fell into a dark hole.” His gaze became distant. “Did I ever tell you that it was my fault?”

  “That you left? What do you mean? What was your fault? You leaving was your fault, yeah.”

  “When he fell. I should’ve made sure the equipment was more secure. And he was climbing on my old rope, which probably should’ve been thrown out. But I was careless,” he rambled on.

  I studied the shell of the broken man above me. “So you’ve been blaming yourself all these years? You weren’t angry at us, you were just upset with yourself?” I confirmed.

  “Pretty much,” he said. “I’m so sorry.”

  I laughed, a very inappropriate thing to do in a moment like this. He glared at me, his face full of confusion. I’m sure I confused him. Who in their right mind would laugh during a time like this? Me, of course. The fucker is me.

  “Look,” I started, “what happened was very unfortunate. It’s done. It’s been seven fucking years, so it’s about time to end your pity party and join the real world.” I was laying it on thick. But the truth fucking hurts. “There were many things that could’ve been done differently. L
ike for instance, Clif could’ve paid more attention to the rope and gear than to his phone. Or, he could have not cleaned the route. We didn’t want him to, because having that extra bit of protection is precious, but he did it anyways. He loved cleaning routes. Or, even better yet, I was supposed to go last. It was supposed to be me splattered at the bottom of that canyon.”

  Images flashed through my head from when we found him. Steve had set up the emergency anchoring and propelled down and I was next. My mother went last, she was still too broken on the cliff and we left her, but she still followed, leaving some of her broken pieces behind on that ledge.

  Once I got down there, there was nothing left, nothing to identify him by, other than his harness that was laying on the ground in the midst of a massive pool of blood and guts. He had a closed casket funeral, because there really wasn’t anything to actually bury, aside from his harness, which was in his coffin right now, along with what was scooped up.

  “So why are you telling me all of this?” I asked. It wasn’t like this would change the last few years.

  “Because I just want you to know that I’m sorry. I’ve lived with the guilt and I didn’t want you to follow the same path. I’ve been so selfish. On our way up here, your mother shared with me that she’d been blaming herself too. So I thought there may be a chance that you might. I’d been living in the dark for so long that I’d forgotten I wasn’t the only one there.”

  “I don’t,” I blurted. “I mean, yeah, I was supposed to go last on that climb so I always thought that maybe it was supposed to have been me. But the truth is, it wasn’t, and that way of thinking wasn’t going to get anyone anywhere. It wasn’t going to propel us forward like we needed, it was only going to hold us back. So, I got over it. I threw myself into training. I kept climbing. I set goals and made this the only priority in my life. And here I am now, all because I didn’t give up.”

  “You’re right,” he agreed.

  Of course I was right. I was always right. My hand grabbed onto the small locket around my neck and I closed my eyes. Clif had given this to me the day we’d made our pact. It was the shape of mountains. It symbolized us. We were together right now no matter what. Regardless of time and space.