Chapter 16
No Rest for the Wicked Game
TRE
“It’s going to be sunset soon. How much longer to camp? I’m starving.”
“Just around the bend,” Kyle answers, steering us through a long, peaceful stretch of river as we slowly paddle.
“Oh, come on, Kyle. Don’t give us that tourist crap,” Cade demands. “I’m surprised you can’t hear my stomach echoing off the cliffs.”
I point ahead, up in the sky. “Hey, look at that!”
“That’s not camp. I don’t see anything.”
“Oh, you just missed it. That was the last fuck anyone gave about how hungry you are.”
Cade’s paddle slaps the river loudly a split second before a stream of water sprays me.
I grin and continue paddling. “I’ll tell you what. You set up my tent for me when we hit camp, and I’ll start making dinner right away. I’ll even make sure you get the first plate if you put my tent as far from yours as possible.”
“What, my stomach was so noisy it kept you up last night?”
“You definitely kept me up half the night, but it wasn’t either of your stomachs.” I smirk at Cade and Jordan.
Lucas and Cade both laugh while Jordan blushes, saying, “Sorry.”
As we paddle around the next bend, Kyle announces, “There it is.”
We steer out of the slow-moving channel in the center of the river to a pebbly beach on the right bank.
It gently slopes up to a sandy clearing above the high-water mark, leading to a thin tree line.
We won’t be alone tonight. There are a handful of climbers illuminated against the cliffs by the late afternoon light.
Once the raft is close enough to the bank, Lucas and I hop out to pull it ashore. The hip-deep cold water is refreshing in the summer heat.
We set about unloading the gear onto the beach and then move the raft above the waterline. Kyle helps me set up the camp kitchen while the others allocate our individual gear to tent spots they’re choosing at the edge of the tree line.
I’m about to grab some food from the coolers when I hear a voice shouting from the cliffs that sounds strangely familiar.
Wait… climbers? No, there’s no way. I rush across the beach to the cliff wall. The group of climbers comes into sight as they erupt into cheers. Apparently, somebody up there is impressive.
Holy shit, that is him, I think an instant before asking, “Ewan? What are you doing here?”
He’s standing at the base of the cliff with three women who look vaguely familiar, and his head whips around at my question. If Ewan’s here, then where’s—
“What the fuck, Ewan? I’m going to fucking kill you!” comes roaring down from the cliff above, which seconds ago was the source of celebration.
Ewan has the most annoying shit-eating grin on his face as he yells back, “You gotta make it to the top first, sis.”
My stomach drops through my feet. I look up and my head spins. I’m not sure if it’s from the sudden shift in perspective or the anxiety strangling my heart. I haven’t seen her since I screwed things up, and now she’s here?
Fiona calls down, “Oh, you think so?”
“Yeah!”
“Ready to lower!” Fiona sounds even more furious, if that’s possible.
“Lowering,” the Black woman holding the rope calls out.
“What? Kelly, no!” Ewan hisses.
“When the climber wants to come down, you let them down, Ewan,” the woman says. “You know the rules.”
My vision clears, and I see that ass lowering toward us.
Thin athletic shorts that reach halfway down her muscular thighs are pulled taut against her skin by the climbing harness.
The straps of the harness seem designed to highlight each ass cheek as she sits into it, making her descent.
Muscles in her back and shoulders I’ve only imagined are visible as she gets closer.
“Hey. Hey, numb nuts!” Ewan shakes my shoulder. “Let’s go.”
“Huh?” I eloquently interrogate.
“Hurry up before she gets down here.”
I follow him as he races to the beach. “What the hell’s going on, man?”
“Look, I told you before, if you two spent some time together, you’d get over fighting with each other.
You’d probably be friends. But that wasn’t happening since you’re both stubborn dickheads, which sucks for me because that means I have to listen to both of you complain about the other.
When they asked me to join their trip, I saw a way to force you to hang out. ”
“You planned our rafting trip, so you knew what campsites we’d stop at,” I realize.
“Yeah. And then I made sure her group decided to climb these routes today, and here you are.”
“I take it she didn’t know either?”
“Of course not. She’d probably rather have canceled the trip than spend an entire night around you. But that’s the point, Tre. If you just be normal you and not the you who constantly argues with Fiona, this shit’ll end, and neither of you will hassle me anymore.”
We reach the camp kitchen, and the other guys are off in the trees with the tents.
The tents… Okay, I can work with this, I think.
“Alright, man. We’re all on vacation, so let’s just have a good time.
But this is a fucked-up way for you to go about this, so your penance is to set up my tent for me.
I have to cook for everybody, and I need to get started while there’s enough light. Have your group come join us.”
“They’re making you cook on your vacation from cooking?” Ewan asks.
“I was outvoted, so yeah, that’s what’s happening, and I need you to set up my tent. When you get over there, tell Cade I said ‘new deal.’ You handle mine, but show him where Fiona’s is because Cade has to put his next to hers.”
“Why would—”
“Just do it. If you want us to spend time together, then that’s the deal.” I stare straight into his eyes.
“Alright, whatever,” Ewan replies and walks off toward the trees.
I pull my camp shoes on and step out of my tent, zipping it closed before walking into the woods. When I’ve gone far enough that I won’t unintentionally attract any wild animals, I unzip my fly and take a leak on the nearest tree.
Now that I’m free from that immediate need, my mind replays dinner, desperately searching for any sign of interest from Fiona. The situation is hopeless.
Angry chittering interrupts my thoughts, and I look up into the boughs above me. In the fading dusk light, I can make out the bushy tail of a Douglas squirrel.
“Oh hey, little guy. Is this your home? Sorry, I’m just about done,” I tell it.
The noise continues, its tail twitching.
“Fine, fine. I’ll leave your tree alone,” I reply, giving myself a couple of shakes and then zipping up. I glance around, but there’s nothing to serve as a seat, so I walk to the next closest tree and sit against the base. The chirruping dies down.
I look up into the branches where I last saw the squirrel, struggling to make it out in the growing darkness.
“What do you think, little guy? How do I handle things? Fiona was pissed when she left after…” I don’t finish but take a moment to look around for anyone who might overhear, which is absurd.
There’s no one out here. “She’s kept away from me since then.
She hasn’t even been getting coffee. I don’t want to be that prick who hurt her in high school, but if she’s avoiding me, what can I do?
The whole time I was cooking, I only saw her as she walked to her tent, and she still looked pissed.
She didn’t come close enough to get dinner.
She just had one of her friends pick up her plate.
They sat on a couple of rocks with no room for anyone else, so I couldn’t even eat near her. ”
I pick up a small stick and begin breaking off sections.
“I want to make things right, but I can’t. And I can’t get her out of my head, either.”
The squirrel chitters at me from its low branch.
“Talk to her while she’s angry? Yeah, I guess that’s what I’ll have to do. Thanks, buddy.”
The chittering continues as I stand and walk back to my tent.
“You totally did! I swear I thought Kyle was strangling a cat, you were screeching so loud, Cade,” I say.
“Yeah, and you looked like a drowned rat when we hauled your ass back in,” Jordan adds with a smirk.
“Whatever. I’d like to see how cool you are tumbling through a rapid,” Cade mutters good-naturedly.
“We’d have to actually fall out first,” Lucas rumbles without even turning to look at him, and we all burst out laughing.
Next to Lucas on the log, Kyle leans forward to poke the wood in the campfire, sending a wave of sparks flying up with the smoke.
“That’s like this one.” Tess nods her head at Cath, on her left. “Try giving tips to your climber with this banshee shrieking ‘You can do it!’ in your ear.”
“Yeah, Tess, you were helping Kelly so much up there. She’d be lost without your tips,” Ewan says with more than a hint of sarcasm in his voice.
“Fi knows what I’m talking about. You had her help and still couldn’t top out. Isn’t that right, Fi?”
“Yeah,” Fiona replies tersely.
“Excuse me for trying to be encouraging,” Cath answers in mock-indignation.
“I prefer telling people they’re screwing up when they screw up,” Fiona says, but she’s staring hard at Ewan, not Cath.
Nobody quite knows how to respond to that, and we sit in an awkward silence.
Fiona glances around after a moment, then excuses herself with a clipped, “I forgot something in my bag. I’ll be back. ”
The fire crackles amid the lack of conversation. I drain the last of my beer and get things started again. “So, Kelly, I take it you’re pretty good, then?”
“Well, I’ve done the routes around here a bunch, so I’m kind of used to them,” she deflects.
“Please. Knock that off, Kell,” Tess says. “She was actually a pro climber for a while…”
As the chatter picks back up, I quietly stand to make my own exit, but Ewan notices. “Here, Tre, I’ve got more in this cooler.”
“Uh, no thanks, man. Bathroom break.” I raise my eyebrows and incline my head in the direction his sister went.
As I stride off, Cade calls after me, “Try not to get eaten by any bears!”