Chapter 29 #2
My heart’s in my throat just being up here, without water to catch the fall at the bottom, but there are railings and bannisters and even when those move, the ropes will catch him.
“Are you sure you don’t want to do it too?” he asks as the girl and another employee hook multiple ropes to him, tightening his harness as they go.
“Positive.” Cliff diving is where my adventurous streak reached its limit.
“You ready?” the girl asks as she gives Aiden’s harness one last tug.
He nods his head like an eager pup, and she steps back, managing the ropes of her own harness as she helps him into place.
The railings slide back, leaving them poised above the gorge. I cling to the safety of the chest-high barrier, watching closely while she checks him one more time.
“All good,” she says, stepping back. “All on you now.”
With the go-ahead, Aiden gingerly walks himself to the edge of the platform before he turns to face me. My heart flip-flops, and my grip on the railing turns lethal.
His dark eyes glow red, and for the first time, the colour seems to shimmer as he spreads his arms wide.
“Geronimo!” he shouts—then he falls back.
The railing’s metal bends beneath my fingers as I watch my mate fall to his death. He falls and falls, and while he hollers like he’s having the time of his life, I barely manage to contain my scream as I break out into a cold sweat.
Once upon a time, I’d have cut the rope just to be sure the job got done, but now, I’m so scared that I can barely breathe as I watch him fall from the mountain post at the valley’s highest peak.
It feels like he’s falling for an eternity before the rope finally reaches its limit. He stalls, jerks, and then suddenly, he’s springing straight back up.
I hear his laughter long before he reaches the top, long before he swings up, nearing the other side. He’s high enough for me to spot his innocent grin for a moment before he falls back down to his doom. He screams, elated, while the railing becomes indented with the outline of my fingers.
“How long have you two been together?” the attendant asks, and though I know I should probably look at her, I can’t take my eyes off Aiden.
Need to make sure he’s okay. Alive. The psychopath. And Goddess, I’m worse for encouraging it.
“About a month,” I mumble, only just beginning to breathe as the swinging of the rope begins to slow.
Now Aiden’s just swinging and howling so loudly it echoes across the valley.
“Not long,” she replies, and I hum idly. It wasn’t long at all, but every day with him makes me feel complete, whole, and that makes each day precious. “Is it his birthday?”
“No,” I dismiss as Aiden comes to a halt, hanging upside down just beneath the post. She pulls a lever to bring him up, and he starts the climb. “I just wanted to bring him here.”
“No reason at all?” she asks while she moves about, opening the hatch where the rope slithers through.
“No,” I say, making her hum.
“Well, I think the two of you are very cute,” she says, and when I finally look at her, I find her waiting with a bright smile. It stuns me, and maybe that shows on my face, because she immediately tries to backpedal. “Is it okay to say that?”
She couldn’t know, but her words take me right back to the day we learnt we were mates. The day our worlds finally collided, but not in any way we’d been prepared for. And then, out beyond our lands, an unsuspecting cashier had told us something similar.
Our disgust was probably the only thing we agreed on that day. Goddess, I remember feeling truly nauseous at her statement and now …
“Yeah,” I reply as a gleeful Aiden stops right below us. He’s hanging upside down by one of his legs, ridiculous and alive. It’s so silly and simple, but the sight of him hits me like a warm tide.
“It’s perfectly okay,” I tell her.
“There’s more?!” Aiden blurts the second we’re back in the car.
“Well, obviously,” I say, trying to hide my smile. “I told you, I made plans. But most of it will have to be pushed back until tomorrow because someone wanted to go with the flow.” I cut him a harmless glare.
He shrugs. “I make no apologies.”
“We need to grab lunch first, though. Our stomachs are communicating through Morse code.” I steer us back to the main road, and Aiden snorts as he gives his a pat. “There are some places in the human town, or we can go back to the hotel. Your pick.”
“Why don’t you choose?” Aiden prompts, making me hesitate. “You’ve been doing everything for me since we left home, and trust me when I say I love receiving the princess treatment that I’ve always deserved—” he preens, and I snort. “But you can take this one.”
“But I planned everything for you—”
“Us,” he interjects, sliding a hand onto my thigh. “It’s for both of us, Jewels, so you pick.”
I gnaw on my lip, wanting to argue, but I guess I have been pampering Aiden a lot today. And I do have somewhere in mind that Aiden will absolutely hate, but he did say this was for us, so …
“Okay.”
“I take it back. I take it the fuck back!” Aiden looks around the restaurant filled to the brim with enough plants to match its one hundred per cent vegetarian menu. “I want to go to Popeyes!”
“Too late,” I reply over my menu.
“How did you even find this place?” he whispers across the table with sheer panic in his eyes. “Is there some secret veggie group chat you’re a part of?!”
I snort but shake my head. “I saw it when I was researching the area, and thanks to your generosity,” I grin at him, “now, we get to try it.”
Aiden glares at me, but it’s a harmless thing. For all his dramatics, he doesn’t really hate it. I’ve fed him enough vegetarian meals by now that he knows things don’t have to have meat to taste good.
Slumping back in his seat, he flicks through his menu with a deep frown.
“Everything here sounds weird,” he mumbles, resigned to his fate but not to stop complaining.
“Look—a Double Barley Pozole, like doubling the barley makes up for the fact that there’s no meat—and what the fuck is a pozole? It sounds like a Spanish dance.”
My lips twitch at their corners, but I’m not about to encourage him, so I bite back my smile.
“Eggplant Parmesan, that doesn’t even sound right,” he continues, and I struggle to swallow my next laugh. “Roasted Broccolini and Red Pepper Garlic Frittata … that one actually sounds pretty nice. I think I’ll try it.”
Laughter bubbles out of me, and I can’t stop it. Can’t, because Aiden knows how to make me laugh, whether he’s trying or not.
“What’s broccolini, though?” he asks next, eyes still on the menu. “Is that like vegetarian broccoli? Isn’t broccoli already a vegetable?”
“No more,” I beg with a hand over my stomach. “Aiden, please. Shut up.”
Aiden snorts, chuckling as he holds his hands up. “Guess it’s not.”
I’m laughing again, and can’t stop by the time our waiter swoops in to take our order. Aiden rattles his off, and I point to mine while I bite into my smile, the closest thing to silence that I can manage.
“I love that laugh,” he confesses once they’re gone. “I love it so much.”
I don’t manage my next breath as I stare at him, and the way he leans forward to rest his face in his hands.
My skin suddenly feels too tight for my body, and I still can’t breathe—not when he leans forward to brush the hair from my face and tucks it behind my ear. I stare at him like a lost pup, not knowing what to do after that.
There are words sitting on my tongue, words that feel too big and too much for right now, but they’re there.
When the food arrives, we draw back to our respective sides of the table. Aiden frowns foully down at his plate, but he dives in. A few bites, careful chewing, and bliss replaces the frown.
“I need another,” he says, already almost done, flagging down the waiter.
Three more. Aiden orders three more while I’m still working my way through my pasta.
“A frittata is just a thin-crust pizza with vegetables on top,” he declares after his fourth. “Another!”
“No more, you animal,” I tease, wiping at my mouth with a napkin. “The day’s almost done.”
He glances out the window; the pinks already setting into the sky as the sun begins its descent. “Shit,” he mumbles. “It all went by in a flash.”
“Yeah, but we can still squeeze in that last thing,” I tell him.
“We don’t have to,” he says. “I mean, we can try, and I’m all for it, but if we don’t, that’s cool too. Today’s been great, Jewels.”
“Really?” I check without bothering to hide my worry.
“Yes, really. Are you crazy?” He looks at me like I might be. “It’s been fucking amazing.”
I nod, relaxing slightly at the confirmation. Vacations are rare for alphas, and though this is a makeshift one, it’s the first thing I’ve really done all for him, and I want him to enjoy every second of it.
“But I’m ready to get out of here,” he whispers, looking around. “I swear I feel these plants closing in on me.”
Laughing, I toss the money on the table, grab his hand, and haul him up behind me. “Let’s get back on the road.”
“I’ll take you anywhere, anywhere!” Aiden sing-screams while we cruise along the highway with the windows down. “I’ll buy you diamonds, give you rings. I’ll give you anything, anything!”
The highway is busy, but there’s no traffic as Aiden sings his heart out, and he really does put his all into it, despite the looks he gets from those passing by. He gets a cheer from someone equally crazy as they drive past, but that’s about it.
I stay quiet, focusing on driving while he performs his jam session, and it’s strangely peaceful, even with his bellowing.
I’m not thinking about the pack or our bond, the heat or my parents. I’m not thinking about anything. I’m just driving on the open road with my mate beside me, and just that is perfect.
“Stop the car!” Alarms sound in my head and Alex jumps to life. “Stop the car, Julian! STOP!”
I pull over hard, heart pounding as I look for a threat I can’t spot. There’s nothing but honking from the drivers I cut off and a tent in the distance.