Colt shrugged his broad shoulders, giving me a sexy little smirk. “Unless you’re too scared...”
He knew I couldn’t refuse a dare. “Never,” I growled, running ahead of him. “Eat my dust.” Colt stayed a step behind, allowing me to lead the way. It was eerily dark, and to tell the truth, I was a little afraid. I’d never have admitted that to Colton, however. I had a reputation as a badass to uphold. But then something howled in the distance, and every hair on my body stood on end. Stopping abruptly, Colt slammed into my back, but unlike the last time, there was nothing within reach to stop our fall.
“Shit! Are you okay?” Colton lifted onto his knees, rolling me over to my back.
I nodded, my heart racing. There were rocks digging into my back and twigs sticking out of my hair. As uncomfortable as it was, I never wanted to move from that spot. With Colton hunched over, running his hands over my body. Looking at me like I was the most precious thing in the world to him. His concern made my heart dip.
“Yeah,” I breathed heavily. “I, ummm...I heard something.”
The left side of his mouth curled. “Did you?”
“Are you sure we’re allowed out here right now, Colton? Are you going to get me arrested?”
His tongue darted out, rolling over his top teeth. “Technically...no. But—”
I felt my eyes widen. “So, we’re trespassing?”
His hand rubbed across my forehead, moving the hair from my eyes. “No, Bonnie, I”
Lifting a hand to his face, I traced his bottom lip, cutting him off. “Cuz, that’s kinda hot, Clyde,” I rasped, chewing my lower lip.
“What is? Breaking the law?” A laugh rumbled from deep in his chest, echoing through the Hollywood hills.
“Mmmhmm,” I moaned, gazing up into his smoldering stare.
Colt went quiet, dipping his head to brush his thick lips over mine. His nose bumped my nose and then his mouth was back on mine, his hands were cradling the sides of my face. His fingers massaged my scalp while his thumbs softly rubbed over my jaw.
A knot formed in my stomach. My hips lifted from the ground, rocking into his. I could feel him hardening with every thrust, and I was so hot. Panting into his mouth, I gripped two hands full of his hair and pulled. I wanted him. All of him. I was desperate for him to ease the throbbing between my legs. To feel how wet I was for him. To see how crazy he made me.
Something about being out there in the open. The fear of being caught...it had turned me into a wanton hussy. Fuck taking it slow. I wanted him to rip my clothes off and make love to me right now.
“Allie,” Colt moaned against my lips. His hands tensed in my hair, pulling. It’s like there was a direct connection from my roots to my sex because that little move had me trembling with need.
“Colton...don’t stop...Please.”
His brows dipped. I could see him wrestling with something in his mind, so I reached between us, palming his erection. Trailing my hand up and down softly, loving the feel of him twitching in my palm in response.
His hands went to his waist and victory was within my grasp. Colton gripped the band of his shorts, and just as he was about to free his brilliant cock, a bright spotlight shone down right on us.
“What the?” Colton jumped up, grabbing my hands and pulling me to standing. I had no clue what was happening. Desire muddied every one of my thoughts. Had we been caught? Where was that light coming from?
Both of Colton’s hands went into the air with his middle fingers extended, and then he folded in half, laughing.
What was happening? “Are we going to jail?”
Colton’s laughter only intensified, so I kicked him in the shin, because desperate times, right?
“Ouch, Alex!”
“What’s so funny?” I demanded, crossing my hands over my chest.
He cleared his throat. “What I was saying before you distracted me being all sexy and shit...” He raised his right brow. “Is that my buddy, Wyatt, works here and let us in thirty minutes before they usually open so we could make it up the hill in time for the sunrise.”
Poking my bottom lip out, I frowned. “So, we’re not outlaws?”
He snorted. “Not hardly.”
“Some friend.” I harrumphed, turning to head back up the winding path. “Cock-block,” I muttered under my breath. Colton must’ve heard because his maniacal laughter followed behind me. I’m glad he found this funny because I was going to die of blue clit.
“You wouldn’t happen to have a cigarette?” I asked, peering at my best friend over my shoulder.
“You don’t smoke, Al.”
I let out a loud sigh. “I know.” But fuck if I didn’t need that cigarette something fierce.
The hike was steep and rocky. Thankfully, Colt and I were both in pretty good shape and made it without any issues, but we were both panting by the time we reached the top.
“Just there to the left,” Colt instructed, placing a hand on the small of my back as he guided me to the right spot. “There,” he said, shining his flashlight into a small clearing. Right near the edge of a cliff was a pine tree sitting all alone. It felt like we were cut off from the rest of the world. The feeling was so out of place in the middle of such a busy city.
“It’s beautiful. What is this?” The sky was just beginning to lighten to a deep purple. From here we could see out over the Hollywood hills. It was breathtaking.
“Come on.” His knuckles rubbed up and down my back a few times before he took my hand. I followed him to the tree where he pulled out a tin box. It was army green and inside were a couple of notebooks, various trinkets, and a shit ton of business cards. We sat side by side on a large boulder and Colt pulled out one of the books, opening to a page in the middle. The entries were dated from 2007 all the way to the present.
“Is it a journal?”
“Yeah, sort of. There was a fire in the hills back in 2007. This tree was the only survivor. People started hiking up here to visit the tree as sort of a good luck omen. Someone along the way nicknamed it The Wisdom Tree, and it stuck. This tree even has its own Instagram page.”
Colt held the flashlight over the book as we read through page after page of entries. Some visitors simply recorded the date of their visit. There were lots of short poems and some very profound words of advice. It was especially neat to see the ones who came back multiple times. We even found a few suicide notes that were obviously jokes. One was signed Pauly Shore. It was one of the coolest places I’d ever been. I felt like we were part of some secret club. “This is amazing.” I looked over to my best friend with his big goofy smile and fell a little more in love with him. “We have to write something...”
Colt took the book and pen from my hand. I watched over his shoulder as he wrote. “I’m here today with my best friend, Allie, and it’s really sort of perfect. This tree has withstood the unimaginable, and like this tree, I know that no matter what figurative fires life throws our way, we’ll come out standing. July 14th, 2017. Colton Fowler.”