“I don’t think so. What’s up?”
I kept myself cuddled into him as he told me about his week, filling me in on the small bits I’d missed with our opposite schedules. We traded childhood and adulthood stories while his light touch teased the underside of my thigh. When the sun rose, neither of us had slept yet, but our souls were refreshed in the home we’d found in each other.
19
Number 23 – Climbing a Mountain
“This was a bad idea,” Caty groaned, stopping to stretch her calf muscle. Her hair whipped around her face as the chilled autumn wind picked up to bite at her pale cheeks.
“Climbing a mountain is Number 23 on the list,” Brady reminded her for the third time that morning. Caty was hardly carrying anything in her pack, but she complained most frequently. Brady handed her his water. “This is the only mountain that doesn’t require oxygen tanks and has a trail that goes to the top. We do this, and we’re king of the hill.”
Caty wiped the sweat from her brow. “I feel like we should’ve trained better for this. I mean, Vi used to go up that stupid hill every night after work when her car was busted, so she’s not dying over here. You’ve got to give me more time to prepare for this stuff, guys.”
Eli didn’t say anything to Caty’s whining, which I appreciated. “The trail looks like it splits off up there. Any ideas which way we’re supposed to go?”
Brady pulled out his map, but just as he opened it, the breeze picked up and whipped it out of his hands. We all watched with similar expressions of worry striking our faces as the map flew, and then floated, descending without conscience that we still very much needed its guidance. Brady covered his mouth in chagrin. “Oh! I feel like that was ominous. Um, what do you guys think? Should we turn back? Did anyone think to grab a spare map?”
I tried not to lose my cool, but my jaw clenched without my consent. “We’re not turning back. We’re halfway up this stinking mountain. If you think I’m climbing this high again, you’re off your rocker. It’s now or never for me.”
Eli nodded, and Caty seemed to agree. “I vote the path to the right,” Caty offered, choosing the one with more greenery and less rocks. Everything around us had been a mix of green, brown and gray when we’d started out, but it had devolved into straight gray for miles, making us all wish for a little variety.
“Aye. I’m sure they all lead to the top. One way or the other, we’ll get there.”
We were all sweating bullets. Even with the wind trying its best to cool us, there was no escaping the heat from a rough workout that never seemed to end. We’d been hiking this rocky, steep trail for four hours, and were only a little more than halfway to the top.
I longed for my bed, though it was barely ten o’clock in the morning. Actually, to call it my bed was probably incorrect at this point. Eli had slept wrapped around me every night this week since that first time. I wasn’t actually sleeping much, but these were the best sleepless nights of my life, so I didn’t complain.
Caty had given Dennis this speech about wanting to keep things fresh with the illusion of mystery before the wedding night, which got her out of hump day. She officially moved back in with us without tipping her hand that she knew of his affair. None of us had actually talked about the sleeping arrangements, but Caty’s stuff had been moved into Brady’s room, and Eli’s things had migrated to mine. This giant mountain aside, the four of us were pretty blissful from day-to-day. Caty without the stress of smiling at her cheating fiancé, Brady being on a home-daily schedule finally after his week-long haul, and Eli and I… well, we were just plain blissful.
I linked my little finger around Eli’s, drawing out the subtle smirk he wore just for me.
We veered off to the right, taking that trail for the next forty minutes until the greenery, and the path, came to a sudden stop. “Did we pick the wrong trail?” Caty whined.
“Aye, but tha’s alright. It looks like right overhead is the real one. We just have to scale this, and we’ll be on our way. Might’ve even saved ourselves a few hours. Good choice, Caty.”
“What’d he say?” Caty scrunched her nose and tilted her head at me every time Eli spoke.
“We’re climbing this,” Brady answered, pointing upward. The wall was straight up, and nearly twice the height of Eli, which was no small thing.
I wanted to groan, but kept that little gem tucked tight inside of me, so I didn’t look like a wuss. Oh, how I wanted to wuss out on this. I raised my hand to volunteer myself. “Let me try climbing up. If I can get up there, I’ll tie a rope somewhere, and you all can climb up easier.”
Eli and Brady held out their hands to give me a boost, but I turned them down. “It’s alright. I’d rather get a solid foothold from the bottom.”
“But we can boost you up at least halfway, so you don’t have to climb as far,” Brady pointed out.
It had been way too long and arduous a hike for me to have tact, so I belted out the truth without qualms. “I don’t want Eli to know how much I weigh, okay? I can climb it by myself.”
Eli whirled on me, gripped the front of my tank top and jerked me to him, pressing his sweaty chest to mine. “There’s not a thing I don’t want to know about ye, Mouse. I wouldn’t shrink an inch off that perfect arse of yours. Now let Brady and me help ye, so we can cross this mountain off our list.” Then he kissed me without preamble, and without apology to our audience. It was rough, and gave me a hint of his strength that he’d been quieting, so as not to spook me. We were both sweaty and dirty, but somehow, Eli seemed to like me this way. He bit down on my lower lip, making my spine arch and my body twist around his. It was impossible to hold myself back, so I didn’t. I let his tongue sweep across my lower lip after the bite. Stinging, then soothing, stinging, then soothing, as was his way when he was truly riled up.
When we finally came down from the kiss, my limbs weren’t good for climbing – or anything, really. I was limp in his arms and malleable to his touch. He was breathing hard through his nose, and looked like he wanted more than we could share in front of our friends. “We’ll be finishing tha kiss when we get back,” he warned me with a palpable hunger in his eyes. “For now, let’s get up this mountain.”
I nodded, stepping back so I could shake out my arms and legs to get them ready for the task at hand. With the rope looped over my shoulder, Brady and Eli boosted me up gently, but I still felt unsteady. The wind whipped at me, yelling that it didn’t care if I fell, and it wouldn’t quiet down to respect the effort of my ascent.
“You’ve got this!” Brady and Caty cheered from below me, but it was Eli’s outstretched arms that made me feel secure. I knew that if I fell, he was strong enough to catch me. It was a strange feeling to trust a person with that much of yourself, but I knew that if I wanted to test out whatever Eli and I were playing at, I needed to rely on him – to trust he wouldn’t let me fall to my death.
Not having done much rock climbing in my life, I studied each foothold and crevice before I put my weight on it. My fingers ached at supporting their fair share of my weight, but they didn’t wuss out on me. My whole body seemed to rally, urging me on to remind me that our bucket list was supposed to push us. As the wind belted the loose strands of hair around my face, I gritted my teeth against the parts in my psyche that threatened to let me quit. I didn’t want to look back on my life and regret the chances I never took because I was afraid.
Fear hadn’t suited my mother, and I was determined it wouldn’t suit me, either.
It was a slow process, and my fingers were shaking by the time I reached the top, but eventually my shin scraped over the edge, and I was up. I scrambled to the far wall and placed my hand over my chest, letting out a triumphant noise that could barely be heard above the rapid jumps of my heart. “I did it! I’m amazing.”
They were saying something below, but I couldn’t hear above the wind. I crawled over to the edge, and peered down to them. They looked far smaller, and the climb much taller than I remembered it.
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A thrill of accomplishment washed over me. Even though we still had far to go, my heart lit up with the rush of “I did it.” I didn’t want to be afraid of my life, or back down when something I wanted was just out of reach. I wanted to stand tall. I wanted… I wanted to climb mountains, apparently.
I had a surreal feeling that I might topple over the edge, so I backed up a few inches and cast around for something to anchor my rope to. There was nothing, save a few rocks that didn’t look sturdy enough to help me out. I sighed, psyching myself up for the next part. “Okay, guys. There’s nothing for me to tie the rope to, so I’ll have to pull Caty up with it.” I tossed the frayed end over the edge and let it dangle.
Brady was saying something in Caty’s ear as Eli tied the rope around her waist. She looked frightened, which tightened a knot in my chest. I liked Caty confident, and wanted to vanquish anything that made her cower with a crack of my Wonder Woman lasso. I didn’t have the strength or tools of the Amazonians, but I wound the rope around both my forearms, and braced myself as best I could. Brady and Eli boosted Caty as high as they could manage, so I only had to pull her up about eight feet.
Still. Eight feet, even when you’re hefting up a pixie, is no small thing. I grunted and used as much of my leg muscles as possible to brace myself and lift with my sturdy thighs, so I didn’t exhaust my arms or strain my back. The wind was no friend to me, and gave a pestering amount of resistance, telling us to turn back, and that the list was too grand for us.
That very thought scared me more than toppling off the mountain. I didn’t want to live in a world where my dreams would always be out of reach. I didn’t want to die an old woman with a long list of regrets. My mother hadn’t worked her fingers to the bone so I could live a “good enough” existence. I gritted my teeth and pulled as hard as I could, until my best friend’s blonde hair appeared over the side of the mountain.
I nearly wept when Caty fumbled over the edge and scrambled to my side. We flung our arms around each other and let out squeals of elation and what-the-crap-are-we-doing-up-here. Caty was always quick to cry, and let out several tears onto my dirty shoulder. “How did you do that?” she marveled, pulling back to look at me like I was something amazing.
“I love you,” I stated simply. “I’d never let you fall.”
“I love you so much!” Caty blubbered, emotional and tired. People wondered how the three of us could be so close – why we would choose to live together when really we didn’t need to. Those people were usually the types who led a relatively predictable existence. The three of us had been through loss of parents, the birth of new careers, cancer, and a bucket list that challenged us to stick together and rise above the chaos that threatened to bully us into a life of normalcy.
“I’ve got you,” I promised.
I thought she would say something next about pulling Brady up, but she stiffened when something behind me caught her eye. “Violet!” she shrieked, panic shooting through her body and zinging into mine.
I turned my head to see what had freaked her out more than being hoisted over the edge of a mountain. I swallowed a scream when I saw with a sudden jolt of horror the calculating face of a mountain lion staring at us.
20
Cat and Mouse
With cunning and menace, the giant cat considered just how much of a fight we might put up. I could see the desire to strike in her eye, and knew I couldn’t let Caty get mauled before she’d seen Dennis punished for all he’d done.
I stood very slowly and shifted Caty’s trembling body behind mine, rising up to stand. “Get the knife from my pack,” I instructed in as calm a voice as I could.
The guys were shouting instructions that were carried away by the wind. I’m sure they were helpful tips, but up on our level of the trail, the whole world seemed to boil down to me and the giant cat. The more the furry hunter’s stare focused on us, the more I lasered in on her. I clutched the puny swiss army knife in my fist as if it were a capable machete. I could hear the guys trying to climb up the side without a rope, grunting and calling out to let the predator know that we weren’t alone up here.
For a second, the cat looked as if she might cut and run, being outnumbered as she was. But when Caty’s sobs grew audible, the mountain lion could smell an easy takedown. When she took a rapacious step forward, I mirrored her actions, letting her know I wasn’t going to go down without a fight.
“Violet, stop! She’s going to bite you!” Caty wailed, making matters worse.
“It’s all going to be okay,” I told myself more than her, trying to keep my voice even. If the lion bit me, it wouldn’t move on to Caty. Caty would be alright, and that was all that mattered to me in that moment. I could feel my maternal instincts rising up in me, protecting Caty with my body. My chin raised, and part of me knew that my mother’s spirit was calming me from losing my ground to the hunter.
“Get back, Vi!” Brady shouted, though I couldn’t even see his head yet. The guys weren’t anywhere near being able to be helpful, so I knew it was only me there to protect Caty.
The lion’s lithe movements were fluid. Her spine seemed to slither like a snake along her lean and muscular back. She was graceful, and if I wasn’t on her dinner menu, I would have been enraptured by the leonine seduction in her walk. She sauntered toward me, still testing to see if I would run, and she could give chase. She let out a loud an irritable roar, making my teeth rattle, but I knew I’d crossed the point of no return. I couldn’t back down now. She was inches away from lunging. Though I had a small knife, she had large claws and teeth that she bared at me. I hissed back, though I couldn’t tell you why. My bite was nothing to hers. All I knew from treating some of the more aggressive and unstable patients, was that I couldn’t show fear. The neighborhood I walked through on my way home wasn’t all that safe. I liked to tell Brady, Caty and Eli it was no big deal, but there were late nights that I felt the panic of being a single woman in a rougher city. I couldn’t show fear then, and I wasn’t about to start now. I had no idea if the “show no fear” credo would translate to animals, but it was one of the few tools in my arsenal at the moment – Wonder Woman lasso be damned.
I wasn’t expecting the lion to clear the distance between us so quickly, nor the paw that aimed for my face. I let out a furious scream as I raised my arm to shield my eyes, taking a clawed hit across the outside of my forearm. I should’ve sobbed, or fallen back atop Caty, who was hovering and crying behind me, but an indignation rose up in me that I couldn’t reason away. I forgot about the usefulness of my Swiss Army knife, and clenched my fist around the steel with rage. Without a thought in my brain, I wound my fist back and socked the giant cat across the face, scaring myself and making Caty scream anew.
The lion roared at me, and looked ready to pounce yet again, but Eli’s shouts from behind me gave the animal pause as he climbed up over the side. He charged around Caty and me, and shouted at the mountain lion with a vengeance that told the creature we weren’t to be messed with. Eli on a mission was an incredible thing to watch. His muscles were tensed, and his voice held a command that made me jump. I momentarily forgot the searing pain in my arm. The mountain lion turned and ran with all the agility and tenacity of a hunter-turned-hunted, who didn’t want to be whipped up into a kitty cat stew.
When the predator was long gone, Eli whirled on me with wide eyes and fear on his features. “Did ye just punch a mountain lion in the face? Was tha your plan?”
I shrugged, shaking as my adrenaline ebbed. “I d-didn’t have a plan. She was going to eat Caty, so I had to do something.”
“She was about to eat your face!”
“Don’t yell at me!” I shouted, frustrated that anyone had the audacity to be short with me in that moment.
Eli lowered his chin and held up his hands. “You’re right. Tha was out of line. I just… And then… Ye could’ve died! I saw it all, but I couldn’t get to ye fast enough. I climbed as quick as I could, but ye still got marked! I’m so sorry
, honey. I’ll take rock climbing lessons or something, so the next time this happens, ye won’t be without me.”
I blinked at him, confused and amazed that this was the source of his temper. “That’s… If you ever yell at me again, do it like that. That’s the sweetest thing, Eli. You’re really mad because you wanted to protect me from the lion?”
Eli looked up to the sky, as if praying for patience. “I’m climbing up this stupid mountain to be sure ye make it down alive. Every time ye sneeze, my heart races. This?” He pointed to my arm that had blood drooling down the side. “I can’t handle stuff like this.”
“Hello, you’re a boxer, and a bodyguard. You’ve seen a little blood before.”
“Not on your arm! Ye aren’t allowed to bleed. It tears me up to see ye hurt.”
“A little help!” Brady called, his voice pinched.
Eli moved around me to get down on his knees and hoist Brady up over the precipice. Then he stood and made his way back to me, lowering my shaking form to the rocky ground so he could examine my arm. “Oh, Mouse. These two gouges won’t cause ye much trouble, but this one’s deep. Which one of our packs has the first aid kit?” he called over his shoulder to the others.
Brady shook out his arms and fumbled with his backpack, producing a small kit he almost dropped in his angst to get to us. He wrapped Caty in a tight hug and collapsed to his knees, pulling her down with him so they could assure each other that they were safe.
Eli sorted through the contents of the kit, avoiding my eyes while we both came down from the terror. The more I calmed myself, the more I started to feel the searing sting from the claw marks. He took his time disinfecting my arm, slathering ointment over the slices, and wrapping it with a long bandage. He kept his eyes on my wound as he spoke. “I don’t want ye fighting mountain lions anymore, understand?”
Violet’s Bucket List Page 15