Chapter 23
Twenty-Three
ELI
The tattoo on the back of her neck was a dove.
I hadn’t been able to get a good enough look at it again since the first night—a combination of it being in an awkward place that was usually covered by her hair, even when it was tied up in some way, and because I forgot it was there.
But staring at the back of her neck was the safest thing to focus on in a world post ‘Fuck, Eli’.
And now I knew. It was a highly detailed line drawing of a dove.
It was beautiful.
“This isn’t too bad once you get onto the wall,” Addie said.
She wasn’t that far off the ground, hanging on one hand, looking down at me.
The muscles in her forearm were tensed, her legs solid.
There was nothing about her that seemed to suggest that hanging off a wall by the fingertips of one hand was difficult for her.
I wondered, not for the first time, if there was anything that she didn’t take to like a duck to water.
“Addie, what you did to get mere feet off the ground seemed more complicated than I think I am capable of.”
She dropped to the floor like she wasn’t three feet off it, her knees bending, and her thighs absorbing the impact, meaning I had no choice but to look at her again.
She was wearing all black—leggings and a longline sports bra that wasn’t padded because, once again, I could see the pebbling of her nipple piercing.
It shouldn’t have affected me, and two days ago, it wouldn’t have.
But now, I was actively trying to think of ways to give myself the ick so I wouldn’t get hard in a pair of shorts that were just a touch too small at the best of times, in a harness that was highlighting my crotch.
“It’s not complicated. You just have to put one foot in front of the other.
Well, not quite. That won’t work here because we’re going up.
But there are some good foot and handholds towards the bottom here, so it’s easy to get a start on it.
Unless you are afraid of heights. Are you afraid of heights?
Because if you are, then you should have told Kayla so she didn’t drag you here in the first place.
” She stopped talking and took a deep breath.
It felt oddly reassuring that Addie was rambling. It was the only sign I had that she was affected by what happened, like I was.
“Just step up to the wall and reach for the holds that feel natural for you,” she said, stepping to the side to give me more access to these supposedly good holds.
I was still unclear why I had agreed to rock climbing.
Even when Kayla had suggested it, I had a feeling it wasn’t going to be my thing.
I couldn’t even tell you why. Maybe I was worried that it was going to wreck my hands.
Maybe I did have a slight fear of heights because now that I was standing at the bottom of the wall looking up, I felt a wave of nausea rush over me.
A wave that was calmed when I took a deep breath and was greeted by the scent of almonds.
Now that Addie was by my side, I did what she asked and reached for the holds that felt most natural to me. It was a lot easier to get a grip than I thought, and I wrapped my fingers around the two holds I selected and held them tightly.
“That’s good. Now get a foot on the wall. You might want to go with your right leg.” Addie’s voice was close to my ear. Her fingertips brushed against my right thigh as she moved to indicate which hold I should put my foot on. Goose bumps erupted along my leg, and I put my foot where she suggested.
“Now pull yourself off—up. Pull yourself up.”
If Addie had slipped up like that a week ago, I would have teased the hell out of her just to watch her get more flustered and annoyed that she had misspoke.
As it was, I pushed off on my right leg and then got my left foot on the wall and tried to assess the best place to put my hands next.
“Go for the red one by your left hand,” Addie said quietly.
I chanced a look at her, but her head was cast downwards as she secured a stray braid back into her bun.
I turned back to the wall and grabbed the red hold with my left hand and wondered about my next move.
“Should I go for the green one next?” I called down.
“That’s probably a good shout. But remember that your legs need to get up the wall as well.”
I turned my head to look at her. “What, you don’t think I could get up this wall on pure upper body strength?”
Her head snapped up, eyes zeroing in on my arms before they dragged themselves to look me in the eye.
She huffed out a laugh as she took her position at the bottom of the wall and grabbed onto a hold. “I think you’d make a good go of it,” she said as she began her ascent.
“I’m sorry that we didn’t actually spend that much time together doing this,” Kayla said as we returned our equipment. She had a flush to her skin, and her eyes were brimming with excitement. I think I may have introduced her to a climbing friend for life.
“Don’t worry about it. You looked like you were having fun, and I was just going to slow you down. You would have felt bad about going to do that monster wall.”
Both Kayla and Lucy had tackled the wall with the overhang that made me feel sick just looking at it. Addie and I had watched them, feet firmly on the ground.
“It was so good. I know I can get higher. I think I just need to change my grip on one of the smaller holds.”
I smiled at her joy. “I hope you get to figure that out.”
Kayla rested a hand on my forearm. “Let me take you out to get some food. Make up for the fact that I left you to do an activity you clearly hated.”
I shook my head. “Can’t. Addie and I are going shopping for some home bits so we can look a little less like we live in a show home. Just let me pick the activity next time?”
“I can agree to that,” Kayla said with a smile before she walked away.
I looked around for Addie and found her waiting outside the toilets. Her eyes locked with mine, and she nodded and held up a finger.
I stayed where I was, and a couple of minutes later, Addie walked over to me while Lucy walked out of the building.
“Should we go make our house a home then?”