Page 86 of Waking Olivia

She almost smiles, and it’s the first glimpse of happiness I’ve seen on her face today. “Are youactuallyadmitting I’ve done something well?”

“Nah, just admitting you’re not quite as terrible at it as you were.”

“Terrible?” she scoffs. “You’re gonna eat your words, asshole.”

When we arrive, the doubts sink in. I’ve chosen a really difficult, technical climb and for all the wrong reasons. I was looking for something hard enough to silence the awkwardness between us, put it on the back burner, but now I’m worried I may get her killed in the process.

“I was kidding before,” I tell her. “You’ve done really well so far, but now that I’m looking at it I don’t know if this is a good idea.”

“Feel free to wuss out,” she says over her shoulder. “I’m climbing it.”

Fuck.

Someone has already established the route, but I don’t necessarily trust it, so I go up first, checking the bolts to about the halfway point, which is as far as I’m letting her climb. I hang my weight off each one to assure myself they can hold hers. When I’m satisfied, I climb back down and grab the ropes.

“Your goal today isn’t to hit the top,” I tell her. “It’s just to get some practice dealing with these kind of angles. There are a couple moments when you’re going to feel like you’re leaning backward. Just know that I’ve got you, okay? If you don’t have the grip strength yet, you can just slide back down.”

She rolls her eyes as cocky as ever. “I’ve got the grip strength,” she says. It should irritate me, but instead, I feel a shot of lust through my stomach so strong that my fist tightens around the rope in response.

It doesn’t go away as I watch her begin to scale the cliff face. She goes at it like she’s on the attack, and something about her intensity makes me long for a whole lot of things I can’t have.

She scrambles to the mid-point far faster than I imagined she could.

“That’s good,” I shout up to her. “Come on back down.”

She looks down, arching a single eyebrow. “Right. After you said I was terrible, you think I’m giving up halfway?”

Shit. I didn’t bank on her not listening to me and why the hellwouldn’tI bank on it? When has sheeverlistened to me? “I didn’t say you were terrible,” I shout up to her, “but seriously, Liv, the climb gets harder and you’ve got to be tiring out. I haven’t checked the bolts above where you are right now either. Don’t be stupid.”

“The next time you don’t want me to act stupid,” she calls back, “don’t make the grave error of telling me I’m terrible at something.”

She resumes her climbing, going past the midpoint, and all I can do is watch. She’s still safe at the moment, not far above the last bolt I checked, but not for long. I have no idea who established this route and how long ago it was. For all I know, a good breeze could knock them loose. I wish to God someone were here so I could hand off the rope and scramble up after her, but I’m stuck watching her, angrier than I’ve ever been.

“Olivia, stop!” I demand as she clips onto the new bolt, but she ignores me. God damn it, I’m never taking her climbing again. If those bolts come out, she could wind up plummeting to her death.

Exhaustion has set in too. There’s a strain I can see in her hands and shoulders that wasn’t there before, and I’m not sure if she’s doing this to punish me, but it’s fucking working. I struggle to think of some way to make her stop while at the same time I marvel at her. Sometimes her grace and agility seem unnatural, and I wish … Fuck. I wish a whole lot of things and not a single one of them will ever happen.

“Come down NOW!” I finally bellow. “I’m serious, Olivia. Now! You’re too tired and you’re going to get hurt.”

She ignores me.

“I’m never taking you climbing again if you keep going!” I threaten in desperation.

“I’m never climbing with you again anyway, asshole!” she shouts back, and I hear that wounded thing behind her anger. “Who the fuck do you think you are anyway? You kissed me and then you just ran off like I was going to stalk you or something.”

“Olivia, that’s not why I ran. Please, come down and we’ll discuss it.”

That’s when it happens, when her hand slips above her and she starts to fall. I watch her progress through my worst nightmare, falling, screaming, the first bolt ripping out of the mountain under her weight and sending her hurtling downward. I watch it happen, frozen in place, so terrified I can’t think.

I already know exactly what will happen. If that second bolt doesn’t hold, she’ll die. It will be too great a fall and her weight will pull out the bolts beneath or she’ll swing into the cliff face like a wrecking ball. It can’t take more than three seconds, but it is the longest, slowest three seconds of my life waiting to see if the bolt holds, the bolt I didn’t secure for her.

The rope goes taut as it pulls against the bolt, and it holds, but the momentum sends her swinging against the face of the cliff anyway. For a moment, I’m speechless. I can’t find the words to ask if she’s injured. It’s been a long time since I’ve prayed but, in that millisecond, I pray as fervently as anyone ever prayed for anything.

“I’m okay,” she shouts down to me as if she knows.

My heart is still in my throat, but I’m able to call up to her. “Just hold still. I’m going to lower you down.”

“I’m okay,” she shouts. “I can climb.”

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