Page 3 of Fighting With Light
“It’s breathtaking. I never wanted to leave. Make sure you send me all the pictures and give me all the details.” I nod, biting down on my smile. I love visiting new places and exploring the world. Dad kept me locked up tight when I was younger with the excuse of threats. I was a child, I didn’t know any better. And though it was understandable from a parenting standpoint, that’s not the case now. I refuse to let him keep me under lock and key again. There’s too much of the world to see.
“Promise, and Vi?”
“Yeah?”
I lean over and reach for her hand, and say, “Please be careful. Okay? I can’t have my best friend getting kidnapped or something like that.”
She squeezes my hand back. “We both know I’m way too much trouble to kidnap. I’d ask them too many questions and want to see what’s under their masks. So they would end up giving me back,” she says, wiggling her eyebrows. I giggle, and then she laughs, and we both burst out in laughter because she’s right. She would be a terrible option for kidnapping.
3
Liam
“See you later, Liam!”Rob, one of the instructors, calls as he walks out of the small building. Really, it’s more of a shack. I wave and finish looping my rope together. We run rock climbing and cliff diving excursions for tourists. I’ve been here for so long I got bored, and added more climbing on top of my surfing schedule. I started working with them because I thought it could be fun, and it’s a great way to meet the ladies. But this is my last excursion, so I can focus on preparing for the championship right around the corner. It will be a sad day when I leave because I love everything about Bali: the surf, the sun, the rocks, thewomen.
There’s a group coming in about five minutes, so I check through the gear, the fall pads, and everything else we will need. This climb isn’t super challenging and is belayed by me and the other leader, Trick, which will reduce most injuries, hopefully.
I hear Trick talking outside and go out to say hi to everyone so we can start the safety training. A few more people walk in and I smile at each of them. Trick opens us up and I hold up the rope to demonstrate the proper figure eight, then how to properly put the harness on. I hear more footsteps on the gravel and look up to greet the last additions. My throat tightens and my heart drops.
She’s here.
The Costa mafia princess ishere,in Bali, and is apparently going on one of our expeditions. She looks at me and smiles. I stare at her for a little longer, looking for every minute sign of deception. But I get…nothing. She looks me in the eye and I don’t see a flicker of resentment, but most importantly, I don’t see anyrecognition. Adrenaline is zipping through my veins as she gives me a blinding smile and moves her eyes to Trick.
Is it possible she doesn’t know who I am?No, it can’t be. It just can’t. While I watch her from the corner of my eye. I pick back up with Trick as he continues the demonstration. We explain how we will go about belaying people and then instruct everyone to find the right loaner pair of climbing shoes.
Aelia Costa goes over to the shoe rack with everyone else and she doesn’t pay any attention to me, not a sly look over her shoulder or peek out of the corner of her eye.
“Hey, man, are you okay?” Trick asks. I nod and keep looking at her. He chuckles and elbows me. “I know you like to get with the ladies, but remember, it’safterthe excursion.”
I force a smile. “Just checking out my options,” I quip back.
He laughs, shakes his head, and starts gathering our gear. This is way too coincidental. I almost pull my phone out of my pocket and text my brothers, but I’m over twenty hours by plane away from them. If something happened, there’s no way they could get to me in time. I’m on my own right now.
I look around the surrounding area for her bodyguards or the groupies she usually has. She had quite the entourage in Hawaii and Vegas. But I don’t see anyone acting like they belong to her. It’s just a bunch of tourists. Forcing a deep breath into my lungs, I make myself go with the group instead of cutting out now. If she’s here for something, I need to know and I need to warn my brothers. They might not be able to help me, but at least they would get a warning.
Trick has one pack on his back. When I finish stuffing mine, I sling it over my shoulders like a pack mule. We like to have the over-enthusiastic tourists carry one of the fall pads. They are light, but awkward and fun to watch them bump into things with.
We go through the checklist with the group. Everyone has what they need and Trick leads the way into the rainforest while I bring up the rear. Aelia glances back at me. I give her a blank stare and she smiles again.What is she up to?
We hike for about forty minutes to the rocks that we plan on climbing and then get set up. Each person gets their harness on and their shoes to wait theirturn. The area around the rock face has been cleared with machetes so everyone can see around them. The rainforest is beautiful, but deadly. All kinds of things have bitten me—I almost died once because of a pit viper. I definitely didn’t tell Mom about that because she would have lost it and demanded I come back home. Grown man or not, I would have because she asked.
The places I travel to are home to some of the most dangerous animals on the planet. It’s kind of fun though, but the snake bite wasn’t.
Trick and I check the rocks for any friends in the cracks by free-climbing it, and he finds a harmless little rat snake and tosses it further into the jungle. Some women scream and we chuckle, finishing the climb before we repel down. Trick calls for the first two people to start and Aelia jumps at the opportunity. Usually, the moment we get here, everyone is too nervous to do it, even if it’s not that hard. And with the snake eviction, it always makes people more fearful of climbing the rocks. I guess Aelia likes a challenge.
She gives Trick a passing look and comes right for me. I force a smile, still trying to figure out what she’s doing here. She reaches for the carabiner and I hook her up to myself, tying us and checking our ropes.
“On belay?” she asks.
I check the ropes one more time and nod.
“Belay on,” I reply.
She looks up at the rock face, plotting her route to climb. The holds are pretty easy and there are lots of options to choose from. One of my favorite things about climbing is the way it makes my brain stop. Rock climbing is a puzzle, and when you free climb like me and don’t have a route picked, the potential to die is much higher. Free climbing includes a rope catching you if you fall, but anything can fail.
“Climbing,” she calls over her shoulder. Her hazel eyes pierce my veil of indifference and I focus on her.
“Climb on,” I tell her. She nods and takes the first hold. I watch her carefully, allowing more and more rope to be pulled up. If she were to fall, it would be my job to hold on to the rope. She’s a tiny thing, maybe a little overfive feet, so she would be an easy catch for me. I’ve had to catch grown, two hundred-pound men, and that wasn’t easy.
