by Quell T Fox
“And what if I did? You jealous?”
“Nope, not at all.” Lenny shrugs, ending his sentence on a tiny laugh.
“And make sure you put on comfortable shoes.” He looks at me when he says it, and I’m a little offended. Why’s he picking on me?
“Flip-flops are comfy.” I put my hands on my hips and purse my lips.
“Okay, comfortable and safe.” He adds.
“Flip-flops are–“
Maddox gives me this look that makes me zip my lips. His don’t fuck with me look.
“Fine! You’re all a bunch of party poopers around here.” I shout, throwing my hands into the air.
“Not me!” Lenny adds in.
“Don’t count on it.” I say under my breath. Apparently still too loudly, because he heard me.
“Hey, what does that mean?” He actually sounds upset by my remark and I feel a little guilty about it. I don’t need to lash out at him, even if I do think he’s keeping something from me. From us. There are better ways to go about it.
“It means that we all know something is going on with you, because you’re being weird.” Maddox says what I was thinking. Either saving the day or making it worse. I don’t know yet, but I’m sure we will soon enough find out.
“I’m always weird.” Lenny stands with his hands in his pockets, rocking on his heels. He’s dressed in black joggers and black chucks, with a white t-shirt. He must have those shoes in every color.
“Not Lenny weird, just weird.” Callan interjects. Lenny doesn’t say anything to that. Not that I expected him to, because I think we’re all a little shocked at Callan chiming in on this. What do you say back to Callan? There is no arguing with Callan… he’s right like all the time.
“I’m sorry guys, I’m just… home sick, I guess.” He runs his hands through his perfectly, straight hair, plopping back down onto the couch. He looks tired.
“Lenny, you hate being home.” Maddox stands in front of him, giving him a look that would scare the pants off me. “We’re not stupid, Leonard. We know you’re hiding something.”
“Don’t fucking call me that, Maddox.” Lenny stands as well. His hands at his sides, balled into fists. His jaw clenching. He has the height over Maddox, but Maddox has the strength. Lenny is lean, where Maddox is built like a truck. They stand head to head for a minute, and I worry that they may go at it.
“Whatever,” Maddox heads towards the door. “I’ll be waiting for you all downstairs. Comfy clothes and sneakers.” He gives me another look before opening the door. “No exceptions.” I disappear into my room and change quickly into a pair of black leggings, a grey t-shirt and sneakers. Fucking sneakers. When I come back out, the guys are dressed and waiting. Alec didn’t change, he still has on his khaki shorts and black sleeveless shirt… and sneakers. Callan has on fitted grey shorts with a white t-shirt… and sneakers. I’m suddenly wanting to piss Maddox off again over the things I’m wearing on my feet. Welcome to life with Maddox.
***
An hour later we are sitting in the Jeep, in front of a large, grey brick building. A bright, blinking sign hangs over a set of glass doors that reads Sky Adventures. I’m not sure how I feel about this. If he thinks I’m sky diving, he’s got another thing coming. I’ve mostly gotten over my fear of heights, but that doesn’t mean I’m in a place to jump out of a plane.
Callan opens the back door and I step out of the car, first, since Lenny opted to sit in the middle this time. Lenny jumps out after me, for once his phone is out of sight. He’s still playing dumb about whatever it is that’s going on, but luckily there wasn’t any more arguing about it. Which makes me feel better and worse at the same time. Do I ask him? I feel like I’m being petty over being mad at him for not paying attention to me the way he normally does. But I don’t recall ever saying that I wasn’t petty, so oh well.
“What? Did your phone die?” Maddox teases, clicking the button to lock up the Jeep. I’ve always been a Jeep girl, and it’s nice being in one. I wonder if he’d let me drive it though, that would be amazing. I prefer the older models, this one is brand new, but I’d still drive it and enjoy every single second of it.
“Fuck off, Maddox.” Lenny throws his arm around my shoulder and we walk to the door together, Callan leading and Maddox and Alec behind. Lenny feels stiff on the side of me. Not his normal loose self. We walk through the first set of doors, and then the second. My jaw drops at the sight in front of me… or should I say, above me?
A ropes course.
But not just any rope course. The painting on the wall tells me that it’s the largest one around. And boy is it. I look up, up and up, and count four levels. It goes the entire length of the inside of this building, which reminds me of a gymnasium, just bigger. The far end goes up only two flights and I silently decide that I’ll be staying over there.
Maddox takes the lead, shouldering by Lenny in the process. He’s such a jerk. He heads to the man behind the counter, to the left of us. He’s large, and not in the bad way. He’s tan, dark hair and eyes with muscles on top of muscles. His arms look as if they’re going to rip out of his shirt. You ever see the videos of those guys with the huge arms that can’t reach behind their backs? Yeah, that’s this guy. For me, it’s too much. I hear the tone in Maddox’s voice when he greets the employee. It tells me that he’s feeling insecure. He has no reason to be. Ever.
Maddox pays for us all and hands out the waivers for us to sign. We fill them out and hand them back to Glenn. Not a fitting name, if you ask me. Who am I to judge? I’m named after a day of the week.
“Follow me and I’ll take you over to get strapped up. You all done this before?” He looks back over his shoulder as he asks. He’s shorter than my guys. Only a few inches taller than me, actually.
We all shake our heads. Good. I’m not the only virgin here.
We follow Glenn to the other end of the room. There are a few people up on the beams already, all at different levels. My hands start to sweat as I watch someone all the way at the top. They’re walking across a chain bridge that is wobbly, with nothing to hold on to. As we walk further down, I notice there is a zip line along one of the walls that goes from the third tier to the second. It looks like fun, but it may be out of my comfort zone.
Glenn stops at a wall lined with firetruck red lockers.
“Please place any loose items in the lockers and take the key with you. Part of the waiver you signed stated that we are not liable for any missing or damaged items. I say that, because I know most don’t read things they sign.” He claps his hands together once. “Please, do not try sneaking your phones up there. I promise you that if it falls, it will break and you will severely hurt someone if it were to land on them. There are cameras up there that will take photos for you. The first one is free, anything else after that you can pay for. You will view them after your climb and decide if you’d like to purchase them at that time. No, we cannot shut them off for you.” We take our things, mostly cell phones and keys, and pile them into one locker. Maddox takes the key and clips it onto his belt loop. “You going to survive being so far away from your phone?” Maddox takes another dig at Lenny, but he doesn’t bother to respond. Good for him.
I elbow Maddox and give him the knock it off look. The elbow was meant to hurt him, but I honestly think I hurt my elbow against the hardness that are his abs. I’m so pathetic. Of course, he smirks at me when I flinch at the contact. And his smirk grows when he catches me rubbing my elbow.
“Follow me, please.” Glenn walks along the wall of lockers towards two guys standing next to a set of chairs. They’re chatting together, and only stop once we make it to them. A warm breeze crawls along the back of my neck. I turn to find out where it’s coming from, and when I do, I’m faced with a very large chest that is attached to Alec. His citrus scent invades my nose, it’s intoxicating. I turn back around before I throw myself at him. Being rej
ected here is not something that I could handle.
“This is Jared,” Glenn points to the tall blonde first, who waves at us and gives a bright smile. He looks the Captain of a football team. “And this is Roger.” The older gentleman gives us a wave and smile too. He’s older than all of us, you can tell, but he’s still good looking and definitely in great shape. His short hair and beard are greying, and it looks really good mixed into his dark hair. “They will help you get strapped up and onto the ropes. Enjoy guys.” Glenn smiles before backing away and heading to his spot at the desk.
“All right, form two lines and we will get you going.” I stay where I am, which is closest to Jared. Lenny lines up behind me, with Callan and Maddox forming the other line and Alec waits in the middle. He stands with his arms folded across his chest. His eyes are focused above him, on a child that looks to be around ten. He watches him intently as he pulls himself across a cargo net. His eyes are sad, his face hard. My eyes trail the muscled lines from his forearms up to his biceps. One arm is covered in a beautiful array of colored tattoos, the other is bare.
“Okay pretty lady, step over here and I’ll get you all set up.” I realize that I’m being spoken to, so I turn and catch Jared’s eyes. He winks and I can’t help but blush. His eyes are a gorgeous blue, like Lenny’s only darker and not as beautiful. I see out of the corner of my eye that Maddox is wearing that scary look on his face, shooting daggers our way. He’s such a creep.
I step forward, Jared gives me a look over and then walks to the wall and pulls a colorful harness off a hook. I use this time to turn towards Maddox and stick my tongue out at him. He doesn’t react, but I laugh inside. Jared walks back towards me, placing the harness on the ground at my feet, setting it just right. “Right foot in the blue and left foot in the red, please.” I step into it and as I do, he pulls it all the way up my thighs.
I can feel Maddox’s gaze burning holes into me. A moment later I hear a grunt and roll my eyes, stifling a laugh. Jared is still on his knees in front of me, tightening the loops on my legs, he looks up and smiles at me. I smile back, because that’s the polite thing to do. Pissing off Maddox is just a bonus.
Jared stands, holding a loop at the front of the harness. “Hold onto this please. Hold it tight.” He reaches around me, probably closer than necessary, but what can I say? I’m cute, I can’t help it.
“Is that necessary?” Maddox grinds out. I don’t look at him, but I know he’s pissed. He’s Maddox, does he have any other emotions?
“I’m sorry, would you like this pretty girl to fall off the ropes and die?” The thought causes my mouth to dry and sends a strike of fear through me. The thought of falling and dying in here, not a good one. I take a deep breath and push the fear away. I’ll be fine. People do this all the time, and they come out alive. If it were too dangerous, the place wouldn’t be open.
“Shut it, Maddox. This was your idea, remember?” I smile sweetly at him, but there is a hidden aggression behind it. One that I hope he can read. I catch Lenny and Alec chatting in hushed whispers behind me.
“Boyfriend?” Jared asks quietly. Though I know Maddox heard him. Fucker hears everything.
“Kind of. Get that a lot, don’t you?” I ask loudly, making sure that Maddox hears me.
“All the time.” Maddox clears his throat loudly. I turn and flip him the bird. He stares, his jaw twitching.
Jared finishes tightening the harness on me and then walks me to the stairs that lead to level one. Callan meets us there a moment later. Roger starts to put the harness on Maddox while Jared explains what to do. He pulls a long rope that’s connected to the top rail that has a carabiner at the end. The carabiner clips onto the front of my harness and he does the same for Callan, with the next rope in line.
“Keep the rope in front of you at all times. Do not loosen any part of the harness. Walking up these stairs and around corners you will hear a click every three feet. This is a mechanism put in place that keeps the hook forward and from falling behind you. It would also stop you from falling down the stairs completely. You can continue to move forward without issue, but in order to come back you must pull the red rope on the side.” He demonstrates by flinging the rope up the steps, the sound clicks and falls back and stops a few feet from us. He pulls the red rope on the side, which releases the rope and it slides back to the bottom. “Once you’re up and on the corners, just keep going around, not backwards. One person at a time on an obstacle. Go slow, take your time and have fun.” He winks as I take a step, I give one look at Callan and my fears disappear completely.
“How you doin’ Cal?”
“I’m good, Friday.” He doesn’t look good. Not at all. In fact, he looks like he might pass out.
“You sure?” I question.
“Yes. I have statistics, but heights still freak me out a bit. I’ll be okay once I’m up there.” I give him a nod before continuing up the stairs.
I make it to level one with Callan closely behind. I stop and look down to see that Maddox and Alec are at the bottom of the stairs with Roger giving them same spiel that we just got from Jared, who is now hooking Lenny up into his harness. Now that I’m up here, it isn’t as bad as I thought it would be. I give one last glance down at the boys below me, not missing the fact that the harnesses are bunching up their junk in the front and making it oddly appealing.
“Which way are you going?” Callan asks me. I look at my options, there’s only two at this stop. One that resembles a tight rope and another that is a balance beam.
“I’m going this way.” I point towards the rope, feeling brave.
“Adventurous. I like it.” Callan winks at me and takes off in the other direction. I bite my bottom lip between my teeth, fighting back the urge to chase after him and bite his lip instead. I move forward and step onto the rope and it wobbles fiercely. I grab onto the ropes on the side to balance myself and move slowly. It gets easier the more I do it. I’m almost to the end of the rope when I hear a rough voice call after me.
“Wait up!” It’s Alec. I look back at him and wave.
“No can do, Hikikomori!” I shout back. The next obstacle that I reach is two rows of monkey bars with the rope rail down the center. There is also a rope below for help. I try it without using my feet on the rope below. Not a good idea. I’m halfway to the end and my arms are burning something fierce. Alec is waiting at the beginning for me, his arms crossed and an amused look on his face.
“What’s wrong? Take on too much, Little One?” Did I just earn a new nickname from Alec?
“Never!” I shout back. Foot in mouth. My hand slips and my heart stops. I reach one foot to the rope and grab back onto the bar with my other hand. I make my way across to the next platform. I look to the other side of the room and see Lenny walking across the balance beam, Maddox is jumping platforms and Callan is climbing up to the next level.
We continue on this way for over two hours. I make it through the entire course, even braving it on the zip line. Go me! It wasn’t easy, but I’m glad I did it. It was thrilling. Alec continued to chase me, and it was adorable, to say the least. I kept getting away (because only one person on a course at a time, remember?), but he thought up a little game. We started timing each other on the courses to see who would complete them faster. Timing as in counting, since we don’t have our phones. I tried counting faster when it was his turn, but that didn’t work. I ended up in a fit of laughter over it. He beat me on every obstacle. Obviously, since he goes to the gym and all. But I’m not complaining. Watching his muscled arms strain as he moved across the course made losing worth it. I’m not normally a sore loser anyway.
We found a few of the cameras and even posed for a photo together. I met up with the other guys, each taking our own photo and then we all managed to get together on one of the main platforms to pose for a group photo. We bought all of them.
I walk out of the building with Lenny ho
lding one hand and Callan holding the other. The act from Callan making my heart warm with affection. We’re moving in the right direction.
“You guys want to go for dinner?” Maddox asks, and we all agree yes.
We get into the car and Maddox takes us to a Mexican restaurant that he found on his GPS.
Yes. Margaritas.
CHAPTER 8
Friday
We leave the restaurant a couple of hours later and we are all feeling good. Really good. The time spent was spent well, with everyone talking, and laughing and getting along. This is what I hope is planned for our future. Days like today.
The entire day has gone by perfectly. Well, that’s what I think. But I’m drunk, so what do I know?
On the car ride home there is a smile on my face that just won’t go away. I flip through the photos of us on the ropes, each of them causing a smile bigger than the next. To see everyone getting along, the way they did at dinner today makes me heart fill with happiness. Sure, Maddox kept throwing digs at Lenny about the phone thing, but Lenny ignored it. I think the rest of the night will be perfect as well, that is until we reach the hotel room and Maddox pulls Lenny’s phone from his hands. That’s when everything goes to Hell.
“Let’s see what has had Lenny’s attention all night.” He says with a slur.
All night? I don’t think it was all night. I don’t think he was on it at dinner, was he? Too many margaritas. I’m pretty sure he wasn’t…
“What the fuck, Maddox! Give me my damn phone.” The door clicks closed behind us as we pile into the suite that we’ve been sharing.
“No. I want to see what’s got you so preoccupied lately.” Maddox stabs his finger at Lenny’s phone, unlocking it I assume. They’re close enough to have each other’s passwords, so whatever Lenny is doing can’t be that bad or he’d try harder to hide it.