Banks.
He curves an arm over my shoulder. And my whole body sings as his head dips and lips meet mine in the most breathtaking kiss. It’s his hand that steals all my fucking senses—his hand that slips up the nape of my neck to my jaw. Holding my face protectively.
The kiss feels long but I know lasts only seconds. We break apart and I touch my tingling lips. He whispers, “I’ll be waiting for you down here.”
I inhale. “Alright.” Why do I not even want to leave anymore?
Banks looks like he wants to say more. Loving words scream inside his eyes and wail to be let out, but he cages them, his breath rising and falling heavily.
His staggered breath begins to stagger mine. I never really knew how this kind of love could be written in someone’s gaze before they say the words, but I see them so clearly in Banks.
“I’ll come back to you,” I whisper.
It’s a promise that I shouldn’t make, but I’m feeling more than thinking.
He nods a lot, his lip rising. “Happy Hallow Friends Eve, mermaid.”
I smile. “Maybe this’ll turn out to be the best one.”
“Third time’s the charm,” Banks says, and then he glances at Akara, who hangs a few feet back from us.
They switch spots, and I tell him, “You weren’t so bad back there, too, Kits.”
Akara takes off his beanie, pushing his hair back. “Well, I would’ve punched that asshole, but now I’m waiting for the lawsuit.”
I forgot the bodyguards get sued often. Assault charges are common, even if it’s all in an effort to protect my family.
Banks calls out, “I’ll help you with the paperwork.”
Akara smiles back. “You better.”
I try to keep upbeat, but I just see their friendship. It’s good and solid and has history before me. I hope that it still survives after me too.
They might choose each other.
Maybe they should. Maybe that’s how this all needs to end. But my insides feel crushed with weight even imagining going back to the start. Losing the romance and love I’ve longed for.
Akara focuses on me. “Concentrate. Don’t let me or Banks or any nagging thought distract you up there.” He cups my cheeks. “Okay?”
I cup his face with my chalky hands. “Okay.” I tap his face, creating handprints.
He smiles, then drops his hands, kissing my cheek. “See you, lover.”
See you, Kits.
I can’t even say the words. My mind is on the ascent. My path. My route. I’ve rotated back with a clear head, and I breathe in and grip the first handhold of rock. Pulling my body up with my muscles, I ascend.
I move fast.
Precisely.
My limbs know what to do and where to go, and I just go. Wedging two fingers in the tiny fissure, I find a better foothold and shimmy up the crack that widens with every twenty feet. Until I’m over two-hundred feet off the ground, and I can fit my whole body in the fissure. I do a split and shake out my arms. Balancing all the weight on my legs.
And I glance down.
Akara and Banks are specs in the distance. Wind whirls, but it’s not too gusty. I smile up at the last two-hundred feet of ascent.
What my dad once did.
I blow out a breath and keep climbing.
Fear is nowhere to be found when my confidence has propelled ahead. Dousing all reservations. I push harder to make better, faster ground, and when I’ve reached the top, I pull myself onto the ledge of the peak and stand up.
Feeling how small I am in this big wide world, I take a seat on the highest ledge. Not afraid of heights, I look every which way.
And I try to picture my dad up here in his young age. “I did it, Dad.” I’m more excited to call him, to tell him everything, when I know I should also be soaking in the moment. My smile flickers in and out.
I can barely make out Akara and Banks waving up at me.
I wave down to them, but their voices are inaudible.
And I look up at the clear blue sky. I stare out at the gorgeous mountain ranges, and I glance at the emptiness beside me. Then back down at the people waiting for me at the bottom while I’m alone at the top.
Climbing four-hundred feet has never felt so far away before.
It shouldn’t fucking feel like that.
This was a goal I completed. An achievement. A pump-my-fist-in-the-air success.
I hate this loneliness. This was the exact opposite of what I thought I’d