13. Lucky
Lucky
Despite my lack of sleep, we got an early start the next morning. I got ready quickly, packed my backpack full of everything I thought I might need, then met Nick at a cute little seaside breakfast spot.
Nick was a little quiet this morning, but I figured it was just because he’d had a late night.
We both had.
I’d watched Jeopardy! reruns for over an hour, trying to cheer myself up, and I’d heard Nick in his room talking with his brother when I’d finally gone to bed, so we were both dragging.
I mourned the fact that I didn’t do coffee. It would have been so helpful this morning.
“You ready to see waterfalls?” I asked, piling the ketchup onto my omelette.
Nick kept watching as I kept squeezing the bottle. “Are you sure you have enough? Here. You can have my bottle too,” he said, his lips twitching in silent laughter as he tried to hand me his ketchup bottle.
“Harty har har. Very funny. I like a lot of ketchup. It’s better that way.” I set the ketchup down and reached for the hot sauce. I was in the mood for spicy today.
Nick’s eyebrows went up. “Are you sure about that hot sauce?” He looked like he desperately wanted to laugh.
“Stop policing my eating habits,” I growled, shoving a bit of omelette in my mouth. Then my eyes went wide, and Nick started busting up laughing, sliding me his chocolate milk.
“There’s my girl,” he said fondly. “For a minute, I wasn’t sure.”
I gulped down his milk, and then, when that wasn’t enough, gulped down my water.
“Hot!” I gasped, my eyes watering like crazy. “How do people eat this stuff?”
Nick added hot sauce to his biscuits and gravy, shrugging. “You get used to it. Some people can handle heat, and some can’t.”
“I ate the sriracha peanuts last night, though, and they were good!”
He chuckled. “No idea, sunshine. Let’s order another omelette for you.”
I made a face at him.
Since we’d gotten to the parking lot early, we were able to get a good spot. There was a fee, of course, but it wasn’t too bad. Nick had rented a jeep from our resort, and we’d driven over with the top down, which was amazing in Maui.
The weather was perfect today. The sun was out, but it wasn’t too hot, and there wasn’t any cloud cover or fog.
I scrambled out of the jeep, excited, and started loading on the sunblock. I’d taken off my sweatpants and sweatshirt, and had on my hiking shorts and tee shirt underneath. My shorts were the quick-dry kind, and were a cute baby blue, and my shirt was the same material in pink.
Nick was wearing the guys’ version of the shorts in dark teal—although his were longer—and a dark tee shirt.
I made sure my hiking shoes were tied properly, wrapped a sweater around my waist in case I got cold, loaded the bottled waters and snacks we’d picked up on the drive into my backpack, and shut the door.
I was ready!
Nick’s chuckle behind me made my stomach swoop, and I turned quickly and smiled at him. He had a backpack on too, and I’d bet anything his was carrying emergency equipment. If Nick were human, he would have been a boy scout.
He pulled me toward him and into his arms. “Morning, sunshine. I just realized I haven’t hugged you yet this morning.” He nuzzled my neck, which made me laugh.
“I thought you were one of those disgusting morning people. Where’s your pep?”
He laughed and kissed my nose, making my eyes cross. “I am one of those disgusting morning people. But I’ve been dragging a bit this morning. It was a late night, last night.”
He took my hand and we headed for the opposite side of the parking area where the trail started. It ran parallel to the ocean for a bit, before diverging, so the scenery was really pretty.
I was trying not to worry about the chaos magic this morning. Last night had been kind of mortifying. To have that happen, not just in front of Nick—who was probably used to it—but in front of his brothers as well, had not been fun.
I’d been feeling a little sore about it last night, wishing things had gone differently, but I was determined not to let it get to me today! I wanted to enjoy this day with Nick.
Speaking of, the trail had started climbing in elevation about twenty minutes ago, and now my thighs were killing me, and my lungs were sending me desperate SOS signals.
Nick, however, looked as cool as a cucumber.
“Stop for a minute,” I groaned, leaning over with my hands on my knees, trying to catch my breath. When I noticed Nick was just calmly waiting for me, and not struggling at all, I scowled at him. “Why are you not even sweating? That’s not normal.”
He was watching me with that fond look in his eyes and small smile that made my insides all gooey. “Want me to carry your backpack?” he offered.
I straightened up. “No! I can carry my own backpack, but thank you,” I said grudgingly.
It was sweet of him to offer, after all, even though he was secretly laughing at me.
I picked my backpack up again, and swung it over my shoulders, trying not to stagger at the weight.
For the last few minutes up the trail, it had begun to feel like a fifty-pound boulder was on my back.
As we started down the trail again, I said in a reflective tone, “I guess lifting the chip from the dip to my mouth doesn’t count as exercise, huh?”
He busted up laughing and reached for my hand again. “Sadly, sunshine, it does not.”
I was feeling pretty proud of myself, because we’d finally made it.
The trail itself was supposed to have been only an hour, but it had taken us closer to two because I’d had to stop so frequently.
But I had been determined, and looking across at the beautiful waterfall spilling down into the deep pool below it, I could definitely say the hike had been worth it.
“Wow, it’s so beautiful!”
There was mist in the air from the waterfall, and even though we were surrounded by trees on all sides, the sun was shining in through the tops of them and had created a little rainbow in the mist.
I drank it all in.
We weren’t standing there very long before the older couple standing a little in front of and to the side of us started talking. We were standing so close to them, we couldn’t help but overhear.
“Well, this was a bust,” the older man said.
His wife, I assumed, with her curly grey hair and soft, stocky frame, looked at him. “What do you mean? This is the spot the kids said they cliff-jumped from.”
Her husband gave her that same fond look that Nick had given me a little while ago. “Mae, we’re old, hon. What were we thinking?”
She put her hands on her hips and scowled at him. “Well, you may be old, but I’m not!”
“Okay, if you really want to jump, I’ll jump with you,” he said, and I thought it was rather brave of him, because the drop was not insignificant.
They both toed closer to the edge, looking down.
After a moment, his wife said, “Carl?”
“Yes, dear?”
“I think we’re too old for this.” She looked over at him. “I don’t want you to get hurt following me on some fool idea.”
Aww. My heart.
“Are you sure,” he asked. “We can try?”
She shook her head, and hugged her husband around his middle. “No, but let’s go down to the bottom of the cliff and watch the kids jump in.”
I looked around me. There wasn’t anyone else here that I could see. The four of us were alone.
Nick, having eavesdropped on their conversation as well, stepped forward. “Can I help you both down there?”
Mae lit up and threaded her arm through Nick’s. “We’d love that, wouldn’t we, Carl?”
“Thank you, young man,” Carl said, and I snorted. That young man was probably older than he was. Immortals really didn’t talk about age, because it didn’t matter all that much, but I knew for a fact that Nick was older than me.
By a lot.
Nick winked at me then started helping them down. Pretty soon, I lost sight of them, and just stood at the edge of the cliff, gazing in awe at the waterfalls. They weren’t thunderous, like some waterfalls I’d seen, but they were large.
“Well, what do we have here?” someone behind me said, making me spin in place.
Three guys stood there, but they all had a variation of yellow or golden eyes, so I knew they were supernaturals. Most likely shifters, though I had too much human blood in my veins to be able to tell what kind.
“Hello, beautiful,” the tallest one said, moving closer to me. He was large too, and I didn’t like my chances of trying to fight him off, not to mention the two guys behind him.
“We were just looking for someone to play with,” he said with a smirk, reaching for a strand of my hair.
I knocked his hand away. “Leave me alone. I’m not interested.”
His hand gripped my hair and yanked me to him, pulling me close to his snarling face. “I’m not interested in whether you’re interested,” he said with a growl.
I yanked my head back, but he wouldn’t let go of my hair. I was just about to yell for Nick when he said, “You know what? I’ve changed my mind.”
And then he pushed me off the cliff.
I shrieked as I dropped like a rock.
Right before I landed I heard Nick screaming my name.
Unprepared for the jump, I hit hard, driving the air from my lungs as my body sank to the bottom of the plunge pool.
My lungs started burning immediately, but I tried to ignore the desperate urge to gasp, and instead readied myself to push off the bottom once I hit, and swim like crazy for the surface.
But somehow, once I hit the floor of the plunge pool, my shirt and one of my shoes got caught in the snarling debris and rocks at the bottom.
I heard another splash, but I ignored it.
Trying hard not to panic, I tried to yank my shoe off, but my foot was pinned beneath the rocks, and it wouldn’t budge.
Crying, frantic now and desperate for air, I tried to yank my foot free again when a large hand moved mine out of the way and did it for me.
Nick wasn’t able to budge the shoe, but he got my foot free.
My shirt was a total loss. He had to rip it down the middle so it would release me.