My eyes were drawn everywhere at once. The bright flags hanging on streamers stood out against the crystal-blue sky. Sounds of traffic, people, and bells from passing bicycles rang out on the crowded street.
“Is that…?” Rachel asked, looking toward the awning of the next building over.
“That’s a monkey!” I told her.
The smile that curved her lips was breathtaking, breaking through the prickly barrier she kept up.
“Does it ever hit you how amazing this all is, how lucky we are?” she asked, stepping into the street to cross.
I yanked her back just before a bicycle could take her out. She fell into my arms, and I held onto her for a second longer than was necessary. “Every day since you showed up.”
She looked up at me. “Lunch,” she whispered.
I nodded and let her go. We picked our way across the street to the café where the others waited.
“You made it!” Pax called out from the circular table. Leah, Little John, Alex, and Gabe were there, Penna holding down the opposite side of the table with her leg elevated on an empty chair. “We already ordered for you guys.”
“We would have waited, but the plane leaves in three hours,” Leah explained with a sympathetic look.
“No problem. Thanks for taking care of us,” I said, pulling out a chair for Rachel. She eyed me with a healthy dose of skepticism but took her seat before I did mine.
“So, I know your name is Rachel…” Alex started, his eyes locked on her.
This was not going to go well.
The guy was grunge to his core, shoulder-length hair and a permanent half-baked look. He was also one of the only Renegades who might be able to snowboard that ridge with me and not get himself killed.
“Yep,” Rachel answered, playing with her fork.
“We’re dying to know, are you…the Rachel?” Gabe questioned, leaning forward. He was cleaner cut, but I was going to punch his pretty little face if he looked at her like that for one more second.
Damn it, why didn’t I cover this with them?
Rachel sighed and rolled her neck. “That’s me, the curse,” she said sarcastically.
“Seriously?” Now Alex’s eyes were ready to pop out.
“Absolutely. I have no idea why the hell you guys even let me come along. I’ll probably call down lightning before we get to the airport.”
“How can you think that?” I asked her, unable to sit there and listen to that shit.
“Oh, for fuck’s sake,” Penna snapped at the guys. “She’s not a curse. I was stupid when I said it.”
“You’re not,” I told Rachel. I hated that she’d let that into her head. It wasn’t her fault that I’d been majorly distracted after I left her. Hell, it was less than what I deserved for what I’d done to her.
Our lunch arrived before I could take it any further. I gulped down rice, vegetables, and some kind of curried chicken, knowing it would probably be my last good meal for the next few days. I was going to need some serious carb loading for the week ahead.
“So you ready for this, Nova?” Alex asked. “I only know of two other big-mountain free riders who have done that ridge.”
Rachel paused with her fork halfway to her mouth.
“I’m in the best shape of my life. What can you say for yourself?” I ragged on Alex.
He pulled his shirt up, exposing six-pack abs. “I think I’ll be okay.”
“Yeah, well, let me know how those treat you at twenty-one thousand feet.”
“Twenty-one thousand feet?” Rachel asked, her voice weaker than usual.
With one glance at her, I could tell that she knew, and she wasn’t amused. Or impressed.
“You want to board like a god, then you have to get closer to them,” Gabe answered, high-fiving Alex.
“Wait, I thought we were just going to see the Everest base camp,” Leah said, her eyes narrowing on Wilder.
He leaned forward and kissed her forehead. “Don’t worry. I’m not going up there with them to board, just to watch from the advanced camp.”
“You’re not?” she asked, clearly relieved.
“He’s not good enough,” Rachel said quietly. “Not for what they have planned.”
“Rachel!” Leah exclaimed.
Part of me wanted to crow that she knew I was better than Pax, but the look in her eyes told me she wasn’t in the mood.
“No, she’s right,” Wilder said. “Sure, I can snowboard, but this big-mountain free-riding stuff is way beyond me. Even I know my limits.”
“How dangerous is it?” Leah asked.
“It’s up there,” I admitted.
“Leah told me you wanted to board up here, but I was hoping my first hunch was wrong,” Rachel begged me. “Tell me you’re not going for the Shangri-La spine wall?”
“I promised I’d never lie to you again,” I answered. I wouldn’t. No matter how painful the truth was, that was all Rachel was getting from me.
“We can’t even get your body down if something happens to you,” she whispered.
She was right. If anything went wrong up there, it was twice as dangerous to try to bring a casualty down, but I had zero intention of dying.
“I always did love the mountains,” I said with a lopsided smile. “I’ll be fine.”
“You don’t know that.”
The blatant fear in Rachel’s voice got to me like nothing else could. The snarky, prickly shell she wore never intimidated me, because I’d always known what was underneath. Hell, the sharper her tongue, the harder my dick got. But seeing a glimpse of this Rachel, the soft vulnerability she kept so closely guarded—this was the Rachel I loved, the one who could break me down with a look or a touch.
“I’ve spent the last year training for it. I’ve done Denali, the Alps, even headed down to South America to make sure I’m ready for this,” I assured her. “I just need a few days at altitude and then it will be manageable.”
Sure, being at sea level for three months hadn’t done me any favors, but—
“I’m not going to advanced camp. I’ll come back down with Leah and Penna.”
Oh, hell no. “What? No. You’d kill to be in on something like this, even if it’s navigating from camp. I know you can’t board it, but this is the stuff you thrive on.” I needed her there, watching, supporting, keeping my ass in check.
“The last thing you need is me up there distracting you. One stroke of bad luck—”
“No.” I cradled her face, needing contact even though I knew she was likely to shove me away. “You are not bad luck, and no matter the shit we’ve been through—I want you there.”
“Landon.” She closed her eyes and shut me out.
I stroked her cheeks with my thumbs until our gazes met. “Besides, I’ll do better if I’m showing off for a pretty girl. I can’t exactly let myself fall on my ass in front of you.”
She let her breath go on a ragged exhale. Her shoulders fell, but I knew better than to think she was defeated. “Fine.”
The battle was won—for now. No doubt we’d have the same argument up until the moment I hiked up that ridge. “Good.”
Alex cleared his throat, and I became more than aware that we were having a private moment in public. I released her soft skin at the same second she pulled away.
“Okay, final mission brief?” Pax asked, sliding over the file I’d spent the last six months compiling. “This is your show now.”