Chapter 31
Julian
“Alright,” I say as we reach the edge of the hotel’s borders, where a paved trail begins. “We’ll need this.”
Aiden turns just in time to watch me pull the thin strip of cloth out of my back pocket.
“The blindfold, again? Really?” he asks as I dangle it from my finger.
“Yeah. Really,” I reply, pressing it to his chest. “I really like surprising you.”
“Apparently so,” he sighs, but he takes the cloth and dutifully ties it around his eyes.
I wait to see if he’ll react like he had on our way down here, but when I slide my fingers between his, his breathing remains steady.
“You have to listen and be careful,” I warn as I flex my fingers in his. “We’re going uphill.”
“Up a fucking mountain,” he says, letting his head fall back. “This is a dumb idea. Like a really dumb one. You, of all people, should know better.”
“I would carry you,” I admit as I lead him to the first step. “But I don’t want to. Here—leg up.”
“Aren’t you the sweetest?” He drips sarcasm, moving hesitantly.
I smile to myself as he clings to me with one hand, the other hovers at his side. We move like that, step by step, until he’s confident that I’m not about to toss him off the edge, then we pick up the pace.
I focus on our feet while my mind replays what happened today—the way Aiden completely lost it. I’ve seen him blow up plenty of times, so I knew he had a temper, but this was different. He’d freaked out because I wanted to swim in a shark tank.
Somehow, the same guy who’d been all too happy to set off fireworks that were basically nuclear weapons had clamped up at the idea of me trying my hand at something crazy.
I’d tried to compromise, but he still walked away from me. Watching him go had terrified me more than I was prepared for. Aiden had become so open about talking things out, to doing everything together, that when he suddenly did the opposite, I panicked.
We made up, and I’m pretty sure we’re fine again, but it isn’t exactly the start to the day I wanted, when this is very likely the day we’ll be completing our mate bond.
I honestly expected to have been long past that point by now when I initially booked the trip.
But since we’d gotten here, Aiden and I hadn’t been so …
feral. Maybe it’s because we’re so relaxed, or the comfort of spending every waking moment together again, but the need to mate felt a little less insistent—like we could do this at our own pace, on our own time.
That wouldn’t last for long though, so I wanted it to be tonight. I still want it to be tonight. I just hope the slight hiccup hasn’t derailed us.
“Let’s play a game,” I suggest with a glance at Aiden.
The summit is still a while away, and I’d rather fill it with something other than the thoughts swirling around my mind.
“What kind of game?” he replies when he’s gained the nerve to walk and talk. “I’ll punch you if you say I Spy.”
“No,” I laugh as I lead him up another step. “I was thinking One Word.”
“What the fuck is One Word?” he asks, nose wrinkling beneath the fabric.
“Don’t worry. It’s simple,” I promise. “We have to make up a story, but we each only get to use one word at a time. If you pause for more than a few seconds, you lose. Like, I’ll say ‘once,’ then you’d say ‘upon,’ and so on.” I guide him around a fallen branch. “Understand?”
“Yeah,” he confirms. “You start.”
“There—”
“Once,” Aiden follows hastily enough to make me grin.
“Was,” I continue, and we fall into the rhythm of things with ease.
A boy called Ramon. Ramon had five donkeys and three rhinos.
“Wait, pause,” I laugh, nearly tripping him as I do. “Why in all the realms does a kid have three rhinos?”
“Because I said so,” Aiden retorts succinctly, but there’s a smile on his lips. “Continue.”
Ramon had six brothers and only one sister, Jessica. Now Jessica was a big whore.
“What the fuck, Julian?” Aiden sputters, laughing so loudly it echoes into the valley.
“She’s a whore,” I reply with a matching grin. “Keep going!”
“Alright, alright!”
Now Jessica liked to sleep around, because she was a whore.
She slept with the entire baseball team, basketball team, tennis club, badminton club, the football team and even the cheerleading squad.
Ramon was embarrassed because of his sister and asked her to stop but she just slapped him and walked away.
Ramon was mad and decided to tell her parents, but they died that night in a plane crash.
“What the hell?!” I burst out laughing.
“Let it be!” he insists, waving me on to continue.
As the eldest, Jessica became their guardian and started sleeping with guys and girls all over the house.
Ramon got angry and decided to burn down the house with her inside while his other siblings were out. But Ramon didn’t know that Jessica snuck out the back door and survived.
So one day she—
“We’re here,” I cut him off as I spot the perched platform with its stationed employees. By the way they’re giggling, I’m pretty sure they caught the edges of our story.
“What? No!” Aiden groans, refusing to take another step. “I want to know what happens next!”
“I know you do,” I chuckle. I step in front of him to squeeze his cheeks, stretching his pout out. “We can continue another time.”
He swats my hands away, and I let him so that I can undo the blindfold. When it slips away, Aiden blinks, wincing against the sunlight before squinting up at the large gazebo. Ropes stretch down the mountain’s perch to the base of the hotel below, so far now that it looks like a house.
“Ziplining?!” he shrieks as he starts to dance on his toes. “Goddess, you really are the best!”
He barely gets the words out before he’s on me, lifting me off my feet, I don’t bother trying to quiet my laughter as happiness floods me anew.
By the time he puts me down, Aiden’s beaming bright enough to light the Plains, and he stays that way as he leads us up the rest of the path, hand tightly wrapped around mine.
There are a few others present, some just watching, and another couple goes soaring down as we step up to the post.
“We can go down together?” Aiden asks excitedly as he watches the pair zip down.
“Yeah,” one of the workers confirms before they lift a large harness towards us. “And you’re just in time for your slot—Mr. Heil?” he asks hopefully, and I nod.
I thought I’d be a little nervous once I got here and maybe chicken out, but as I’m discovering the more time I spend with Aiden, I don’t scare nearly as easily as I thought I did. Turns out I’m a bit of an adrenaline junkie.
We’re strapped in before we know it, standing on the edge with matching helmets, mine red and Aiden’s black.
“Whenever you’re ready,” our instructor says with a thumbs up. “Feel free to take a running start.”
“Race you,” I taunt, which is all it takes for Aiden’s eyes to flare at the challenge.
“What’s the point?” he replies confidently. “I’m heavier, so I’ll go faster. I will beat you.”
I cock a brow. “Is that so?”
“Yeah, it is.”
I glance back, making sure to do an exaggerated double-take. “Is that a tiger?!?”
Aiden’s head snaps around, along with the working employees, one of whom shrieks. While they’re all distracted, I grab the rope and launch myself off the ledge.
“Julian!” Aiden booms furiously at my back while I cut through the air like a bullet.
It’s much faster than I expected, but I can’t stop laughing as the wind rushes past me.
Everything is a wonderful blur of greens and blues that my eyes focus on in short, random bursts. I throw my arms out at my sides and let my head fall back—I’m flying. It’s pure exhilaration.
It’s like last night again. I’m free, alive, and experiencing so much in this world. It’s ironic that the very last person I ever wanted is the one showing me how.
I glance back and forget to breathe.
Aiden’s lying spread out, his arms loose at his sides, staring at the sunset descending over the distant mountains. He’s entranced by the view, but I’m enraptured by him—by the slow pull of his smile, and the way his eyes seem brighter than ever with the sunlight reflecting in them.
I almost wish it’ll never end, that we’ll stay gliding here forever. But all too soon, we’re back on solid ground. At least I’m not alone.
“What was that about being heavier?” I say once we’re free of our gear and walking back towards the hotel.
“You cheated!” he protests, eyes wide, golden and beautiful.
“We’re in the woods, Aiden. How could you fall for that?” I reply, using his own words against him. He narrows his eyes at me, and I can’t help but laugh as warm memories surface. “What’s next? Are you going to trip over a rock?”
“Come here!” he shouts, grasping for me, but his fingers barely graze my arm before I take off at full speed.
It’s just like the last time. I’m running ahead of him, laughing at the top of my lungs while he chases after me. But now my feelings for Aiden are so much deeper.
It’s not just the bond telling me that this is my person. It’s my heart confirming that he is. It’s so different—wanting him beyond instinct. It feels somehow bigger, brighter. And I want it all.
My heart is bare to him now, and my mind happily muddled when he’s around. It’s a good kind of different, because with him, I’m alive and happy. Goddess, I’m so fucking happy.
Knowing there’s no reality in which he’ll ever catch me, I ease up so he can close the distance. He snakes his arms around my waist, lifts me off the ground, and as he stumbles to a stop, I laugh and pretend I’m trying to break free.
Aiden spins me around in the air while he laughs with me, and the sound … It’s like happiness, bottled. I get drunk off of it. When he puts me down and turns me face him, my legs are like jelly beneath me.
“Thank you,” he says for the billionth time. His hands on me, warmth around me. “Thank you for all of this. For doing this for me, for being so fucking perfect. Thank you.”
I simply hum in understanding as I stare at him and into those beautiful, dark eyes that he only shares with me. He stares back and my heart starts racing all over again, except we’re not running.
We’re standing still, but I feel like I’m back in the air, staring at him smiling at the sun.
A new warmth floods my body, rushing into every crevice and making its claim. It’s not completely unfamiliar; I’ve felt it before, in small bursts when he smiles at me or holds me at night. Only now, it’s so much stronger, and it’s meant for Aiden and Aiden alone.
I think … Goddess, I know … I’m in love with Aiden Calderon.