Slow No Wake

by Dakota Madison

  Good point.

  “There is one catch,” he said. “We have to push start it to get it running.”

  “Seriously?”

  Eddie nodded.

  “Maybe we should just take my car,” I suggested.

  He shook his head. “This is something I want you to experience. A ride like this will get your adrenalin pumping.”

  The last thing I wanted was to be alone with Eddie with my adrenalin pumping.

  “And maybe we can get something else pumping in the back seat later.” He gave me one of his irresistible dimple grins. Oh, God.

  “Let’s just get the pizzas,” I muttered.

  A few seconds later, I saw Daniel running toward us. “I’m going with you,” he said firmly.

  “Don’t you trust your girlfriend?” Eddie taunted his roommate.

  “I don’t trust you,” Daniel shot back.

  “Takes two to tango,” Eddie said. “That little lady of yours isn’t going to do anything she doesn’t want to do. Maybe you’re just afraid she wants what you don’t have or can’t give her.”

  Daniel’s jaw was clenched and I could see he was seething. I decided to take control of the situation again.

  “We have hungry teammates to feed,” I said as I marched over toward my Kia Soul. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see Daniel and Eddie reluctantly follow me. Daniel was a little quicker than Eddie and he made it to the front passenger door before Eddie, who resigned himself to taking a back seat.

  I started the engine as the guys buckled themselves in place. “I don’t want to hear another word from either one of you until we get back with the pizza,” I warned them. Neither one of them said another word.

  ***

  Thirty minutes later, we arrived back to the Ropes Challenge Course with one pepperoni pizza, one sausage pizza and one vegetarian pizza. The others had already set up a picnic table with paper plates, plastic ware, napkins and drinks.

  Ricky was seated between the twins and Brad was at the other end of the table. I sat down directly across from the twins and Eddie and Daniel took either side of me.

  “Did you get vegetarian?” Serenity asked.

  “Of course,” I said. “I’ve got your back.”

  She smiled and grabbed a slice.

  Brad also took a slice of the vegetarian and Trinity grabbed two slices of the pepperoni. I also took a slice of the pepperoni. I noticed that Ricky, Eddie and Daniel filled their plates with all the remaining slices with meat.

  We all ate in silence for a few minutes then Ricky glanced at me and said, “I heard a rumor that you were traveling with us this weekend.”

  I cringed. I didn’t know how much I wanted my co-workers to know about my personal life, not that it wasn’t completely on display anyway, thanks to the feud brewing between Eddie and Daniel.

  “Lexie’s accompanying me,” Daniel interjected.

  “And we’re not supposed to look at her, speak to her, or touch her,” Eddie said dripping with sarcasm.

  I suddenly regretted agreeing to go up North with the guys. What was I thinking? Why did I ever think it would be a good idea to go on a trip with both Eddie and Daniel? Was it too late to cancel? I couldn’t do that to Daniel. I knew how much he was looking forward to me going with him.

  Then Brad saved me by saying, “So, what do you think about the town’s plans to attract a new super mall? They say it will rival Mall of America.”

  The other staff members jumped right into the conversation and I breathed a sigh of relief.

  When the lunch had been completely devoured, the twins grabbed me for a potty break.

  “What the hell is going on?” Trinity asked as she pulled me into the ladies room. “If Eddie and Daniel had swords and it was a few hundred years ago, they’d be dueling over you.”

  “It’s kind of romantic,” Serenity said.

  “It’s kind of like being in the middle of a Shakespearian tragedy,” Trinity said.

  “Or maybe a Renaissance Festival,” Serenity said.

  “I thought things were cooling with Eddie,” Trinity said.

  “That’s what I thought, too,” I said. “I made it clear to Eddie that I was with Daniel, but he just won’t give up. He’s persistent.”

  “And a bit crazy,” Serenity added.

  “That, too,” I agreed.

  “You’re really going to go away with all three of them for the weekend?” Serenity asked.

  “All four of them,” I corrected.

  The twins both raised their eyebrows. “There’s another one?” They asked in unison.

  I nodded.

  “You’re a brave woman,” Trinity said.

  “Or maybe I’m the crazy one,” I said.

  The twins both laughed at me.

  ***

  After lunch, it was time for the climbing wall. This time, we broke into our groups of three and Eddie gave us instructions that each group had to figure out a way to get all of their members over the wall.

  Brad and the twins went first. Brad brought the twins into a huddle, apparently to discuss their strategy. I couldn’t hear what was being said, but I could see the twins nodding their heads in unison. It was nice to see Brad being civil, even cordial, with the twins. I was seeing sides to Brad I never realized existed.

  When the huddle broke, Brad bent down and Trinity put her legs around his neck. I cringed as Brad got up holding her on his shoulders. He was a little wobbly at first, then righted himself. I held my breath when Trinity rose to her feet on his shoulders. I had to give Brad credit for being a lot stronger than I would have ever thought. I couldn’t see his face, but I imagined it was probably pretty red.

  Trinity was raised high enough that she could lift herself up onto the small platform at the top of the wall. When Brad turned to face us, he looked a bit winded. I could see he was trying to compose himself and catch his breath. Trinity wasn’t a big girl, but Brad wasn’t a big guy either. It took some strength and fortitude on his part to get Trinity high enough to climb up the wall.

  Serenity was next. She didn’t appear to be as strong or physically fit as her sister, so I could understand why they placed her second. She would have Trinity at the top to give her a hoist.

  Brad and Serenity repeated the same moves that Brad and Trinity had just done. When Serenity was high enough to lift herself, Trinity grabbed hold of her and helped her up the wall.

  Brad now stood staring at the wall. I wondered what his next move was going to be. The twins both got on their stomachs at the top of the wall, but they couldn’t quite reach Brad to give him a hoist up. Brad then backed away from the wall and tried to make a running start. He was able to walk up the wall a few feet, but it still wasn’t enough for the twins to reach him.

  Brad shook his head and threw up his arms. “We just don’t have enough people to do it,” he said.

  Eddie nodded in agreement.

  We were all silent for a minute staring at each other.

  Then Eddie said, “It’s okay to ask for help.”

  Brad looked at Eddie then looked at our team. “From you or from them?”

  “Either or both,” Eddie replied.

  Brad thought about it for a minute. I could see the wheels spinning in his head. He asked Daniel to remove his belt then he held on to one end then tossed the other end up for Trinity to grab. Using the belt, Trinity was able to pull Brad up enough for Serenity to grab hold of his arm. Then Trinity grabbed the other arm and with Brad half climbing the rest of the way, the twins were able to get him high enough so that he could lift himself over the wall.

  Ricky and Daniel didn’t have any trouble hoisting me high enough that I could make it up to the top of the wall. Then Ricky got a push up from Daniel and I was able to pull him a bit until he could hoist himself the rest of the way. Ricky then used the belt to pull Daniel part of the way up and I grabbed his arm and gave him a bit of a pull until he was over the wall with us.

  When we were all at the top of the wa
ll, Eddie started a round of applause. We all joined in clapping, then laughing. We were all exhausted, but we’d done it.

  We took a short break and Eddie gave us all bottled water from a cooler. I swear we all downed our bottles in one gulp.

  Then it was time for the final element of the day. The overhead ropes. As we all stood under the massive ropes structure, I wondered what I hell I had gotten myself into.

  “There are several ropes elements. Today, we’re going to do the tight-rope walk at the top,” Eddie informed us.

  I gulped. I had seen people walk tightropes, but they were in the circus. They had practiced their whole lives and tightrope walked on a daily basis. My feet never left the ground if I could help it.

  When I glanced over at Daniel, he looked like he was gleaming. Of course, he’d be excited about a thing like this. He did kite surfing, which was an extreme sport. This probably seemed like nothing to him. Ricky was also grinning. I noticed the twins looked as dumbstruck as I did. Good, at least I wasn’t alone in my lack of enthusiasm and downright fear.

  Eddie glanced in my direction and gave me his dimpled half smile. A shiver ran through me. I tried to play it off as fear of the tightrope wall, but deep down, I knew better. Eddie still had the ability to turn me to jelly with just one sexy look.

  “You don’t need to worry too much,” Eddie said. “You’ll each be strapped to a safety harness, so if you fall off the rope, which I hope you don’t, you won’t fall to the ground. It’s a safety precaution so you won’t get hurt.”

  The thought of being strapped to a safety rope didn’t lessen my fears very much. It was still a very long was up there and it seemed like a long way back down to the ground.

  Serenity raised her hand.

  “Yes,” Eddie said acknowledging her.

  “Can we give it a pass if we don’t want to do it?”

  “You can always give it a pass, but I would prefer you didn’t. I’d like to see you move beyond your comfort zone.”

  As soon as he said move beyond your comfort zone, Eddie stared right at me. He was definitely outside of my comfort zone, but I wasn’t planning on moving beyond it any time soon.

  I glanced over at Daniel and he was staring daggers at Eddie. I guessed he wasn’t too thrilled about the thought of me moving beyond my comfort zone either. Daniel was definitely firmly within my comfort zone. In some ways, he was my comfort zone.

  Eddie gave us a demonstration about strapping ourselves into the safety harness. Then he asked for a volunteer to go first. I must have been momentarily possessed because I raised my hand.

  I could hear Daniel let out a small gasp. I glanced over at him and he had worry in his eyes. I gave him a reassuring smile, but it didn’t seem to ease his fears much.

  Eddie got me strapped into the safety harness and then I climbed the small ladder up to the top of the end pole. I noticed Eddie was climbing up the ladder on the other side to meet me.

  Panic set in as I looked down and realized how high up I was.

  I could hear Eddie’s voice say, “Don’t look down.”

  Too late.

  I could feel myself wobble a bit, so I looked over at Eddie and tried to steady myself. For the first time, he wasn’t looking at me lustfully. He wasn’t trying to seduce me. He was actually looking at me more like a friend. And there was something else in his eyes. I couldn’t quite place it because I had never seen it in his eyes before, but it may have been love.

  I slowly stepped onto the tightrope and told myself I could do it. I continued putting one foot in front of the other until I was about a quarter of the way there.

  Terror gripped me again as I realized I was in the air without the safety of the large end pole behind me.

  “You can do it,” Eddie reassured me. Just hearing his voice and seeing that loving look in his eyes was enough for me to gather the strength I needed to make it the rest of the way.

  When I got to the other side, Eddie embraced me in a hug. He felt warm and safe.

  As good as it felt to be in Eddie’s arms, I suddenly felt uncomfortable when I remembered the rest of the staff, and Daniel, were on the ground watching us.

  “You should probably let me go,” I said.

  Eddie kept me in a tight embrace. “I don’t want to let you go.”

  I knew he meant more than just that moment. “You have to let me go.”

  “I can’t.”

  “Please.”

  I could feel the breath leave his body but he was still holding me. I was so caught up in the moment of feeling Eddie so close to me and the tenderness between us, I hadn’t even realized that Daniel had climbed up Eddie’s end pole.

  “Let Lexie go,” Daniel said.

  Eddie did as he was told then he looked over at Daniel. “You shouldn’t be up here, man.”

  Daniel let out a single laugh. “Like you have anything to say about what someone should and shouldn’t do.”

  “You need to get down so Lexie can climb down.”

  Realization crossed Daniel’s face. “Right, sure.”

  Daniel climbed down the pole and I climbed down right after him. Eddie stayed at the top for a moment, then climbed down after us.

  Daniel was now standing so close to me we could have been attached at the hip. When Eddie returned to the group, I noticed ‘old’ Eddie had returned. There wasn’t a trace of the loving man, who had embraced me at the top of the pole. He was a charismatic asshole again.

  NINE

  Drift

  I was so exhausted by Thursday evening, all I could think about was getting home, changing into my pajamas and climbing into bed with a good book.

  Imagine my surprise when I saw a petite blonde sitting on my doorstep. “What are you doing here?”

  “Did you get my letter?” Hannah asked as she rose. I noticed a large duffle bag was lying on the ground next to her.

  I motioned toward the bag. “Are you planning on staying a while?”

  She kicked some sand on the ground with her flip flop. “I don’t really have anywhere else to go.”

  I crossed my arms over my chest. “Why is that?”

  “Well, it’s kind of a long story, but dad kicked me out.”

  I heaved a sigh. Even though we still had a lot of issues to deal with, could I leave my sister to live on the streets? I had to admit, a small part of me sought revenge and that part of me thought that her being homeless and jobless was justice for her betrayal. But a bigger part of me wanted to help my little sister when she needed me.

  I unlocked my door and entered my apartment. I expected her to follow, but she just stood in the doorway. A lone teardrop escaped down her face as she stifled a sob.

  “Are you going to stand out there all night? Rumor has it my landlord is a pervert, and he lives two doors down.”

  Hannah scooped up her duffle bag and hurried into my apartment.

  “You’re going to have to sleep on the couch until we can get a bed for my spare room,” I said.

  “It’s okay. I don’t mind.”

  “You can come to work with me tomorrow. If you have no objections, I’m going to sign you up for our volunteer program. It will give you something to do until you’re able to find a job.”

  Hannah nodded. “Sure, whatever you want.”

  “When you’re at work with me, under no circumstances are you to ever interact with Mr. LaRoche. Got it?”

  My sister nodded.

  “I’m serious,” I warned her.

  “Okay,” she said. “I’ve got it. Anything else?”

  “Yes; I’m going camping this weekend and you’re not invited.”

  “Why not?” protested my sister.

  “You’ll have to excuse me if I don’t want you anywhere near my new boyfriend.”

  Hannah heaved a sigh. She looked like she might cry.

  “You can watch movies or go to the beach. It’s only a few blocks from here. You should find plenty of things to keep you occupied.”

  “I fe
el bad that you don’t trust me. And I want to meet your new guy.”

  “It will take some time for you to earn my trust again. You’ll probably meet my new guy tomorrow but it will only be in passing. We work together, but we don’t want everyone to know we’re together. Got it?”

  “I get it,” she said.

  “You can put your bag in the spare room. We can pick up some stuff for you on the way home from work tomorrow.”

  Hannah nodded and trudged toward the bedroom. Then she turned back to me and said, “Thanks, Lexie. I really mean that. I know you didn’t have to take me in but I’m glad you did.”

  I gave her a half smile, which was so symbolic of my current feelings for my sister. Half of me was happy I could help her and half of me was waiting for her to make another stupid choice that would ruin my life.

  ***

  Driving to work, I reminded my sister of my rules. “And what did I say about Mr. LaRoche?”

  “Stay away from him.” Hannah rolled her eyes. “Although you never told me why.”

  “You don’t have to know why. Just do as I said.”

  “Okay. Jeez,” she whined.

  “The guy I’m dating is Daniel. If we run into him, just act casual. I don’t want anyone to know we’re dating.”

  “Got it.” Hannah sounded exasperated.

  “Except the twins already know,” I said.

  Hannah raised an eyebrow. “The twins?”

  I grinned. “I can’t wait for you to meet them.”

  ***

  “Trinity, Serenity, I’d like for you to meet my younger sister, Hannah. She’s staying with me for a while.”

  The twins gave my sister broad smiles.

  “For a minute, I thought you had a twin and were holding out on us,” Trinity teased.

  I never thought I looked that much like my sister. I always considered her much prettier and she was definitely more carefree and outgoing than I ever was.

  “It’s so nice to meet you,” Serenity said as she extended a hand to Hannah.

  “Nice to meet both of you,” Hannah said as she shook Serenity’s hand.

  Trinity just gave her a quick wave and Hannah waved back.