Wet: Part 2 (18 page)

She finally slid out from under his arm and held her breath, waiting, hoping her escape didn’t wake him. She carefully crept out of the media room and went to the breakfast bar to look at the reservation confirmation for the zip line. She found the name of the company the guys had booked their excursion with and walked into the office. She sat down at the computer, took a deep breath, and started typing.

Chapter 17

T
hursday morning, Rhees didn’t need to prepare breakfast or lunch. The zip line company offered a package deal, which included meals, and the men had already paid for both. Rhees ate an apple and left the fruit out for the girls, knowing they only ate real food when their dates were around.

The zip line company provided a shuttle and the guys played Cutthroat while they waited for it to pick them up. Paul had a glass of juice while he waited for his turn at pool.

Bryce hollered a string of cuss words when he missed his shot.

“Get your ass out of my way, and I’ll show you how a real man plays pool.” Always so full of himself, Taylor pushed Bryce out of the way.

Ashley had been on a mission to annoy Paul as much as possible since the first day. She felt the need to prove him the bully whenever possible. She walked past him just as he lifted his glass to his mouth, and she bumped into him, pretending it was an accident. Orange juice spilled down his shirt.

“Dang it!” he yelled, brushing himself off, evaluating the damage, and didn’t notice the stares being shot his way from his friends.

“Dang it?” Taylor asked. “What the fuck is this? Kindergarten?”

“God, Paul. You had the nerve to accuse me of being henpecked,” David said.

Paul finally realized what he’d said and it bothered him. He knew it shouldn’t, but he felt conflicted between his old Taylor, Bryce, and David self and his new Rhees-inspired self-project. He wished he’d kept the two separate. He should never have come. He laughed it off, but he couldn’t get it off of his mind and he grew irritable.

The van showed up and Rhees practically had to tackle him for a good-bye kiss, the only girl who bothered to give her man one. She’d made Paul feel even more self-conscious as his friends so obviously noticed and gave him taunting looks of disappointment. Rhees stood on the porch and waved as the men loaded the van and then she strode back into the house. She headed up the stairs to get ready.

Rhees had just made it to the landing at the top when she heard the door slam so forcefully, the whole house shook.

“Danarya!”

She dropped her head back and looked up at the ceiling. “Shoot.” She turned slowly to see Paul standing in front of the door, his feet spread apart, his hands fisted, and his murderous glare, the one she hadn’t seen for months, fixed on her.

“The driver wanted me to let you know that you’re welcome to come with us
now
. The zip line company noticed the same address and thought you might be more comfortable coming with a familiar party than by yourself . . .
later
.” He strained to sound pleasant and calm.

The other guys made it back into the house to offer Paul moral support while he laid down the law to his woman. Rhees had to think about her next move and decided to play it with the same calm, cool, and collected tone he’d used.

“Please thank the driver for his consideration, but I will be keeping my original appointment.” It came out as steadily as she could manage.

“Like hell you will!” Paul yelled, dropping all attempts to sound reasonable. “You’re cancelling. I told you I didn’t want you going alone.”

“I’m not cancelling,” she tried to say, but it came out as a hoarse rasp.

“God damn it, Rhees. I’ll cancel for you then.” Paul didn’t stop swearing as he stomped off toward the office, intending to go online and do just that.

“Paul, no. You have no right to do this.” She leaned over the rail so she could still see him as he moved toward the room behind the stairs.

He stopped, looked up, and raised an eyebrow at her, challenging her to stop him.

She pinched her lips together in anger and ran into her bedroom. She grabbed her wallet, a jacket, and her backpack, and ran down the stairs and out the door as fast as she could. She jumped into the front seat of the van and slammed the door. She even locked it for good measure, although the sliding door behind her was still open.

“Thank you. I will be going now instead of later,” she said to the driver.

Paul wasn’t far behind her and he actually tried to open her door. He jumped in the back of the van. “Rhees! Stop acting like a baby. Get out of the van and we’ll talk about this later.”

She ignored him, staring rigidly out the front window. He growled and slugged his own backpack on the seat, already in the van. She shuddered at his display of anger but held her ground, refusing to look at him. The other guys made it back and each of them gave her a dirty look as they loaded the van.

“This is fucked up, man,” Taylor said to Paul. “I never would have guessed
you’d
be the first one to fuck up Testosterfest.”

Ashley suddenly showed up at the van before Taylor could get the sliding door closed.

“Why does she get to go? David! If she gets to go, why don’t I get to go too?”

Rhees jerked around in her seat to glare at Ashley. “I asked if you wanted to come. You said you’d rather go shopping at Wal-Mart. I, personally, don’t mind shopping at Wal-Mart, but you made it quite clear that you meant no.”

“I did not. I’ve wanted to come all along,” she whined.

“We don’t want to be stuck here by ourselves.” Liz and Jeannie showed up.

Everyone already in the van rolled their eyes and groaned, except the driver, who watched with fascination.

“Get in!” David yelled to Ashley, flashing Paul another dirty look.

Taylor punched Paul’s arm while slinging a string of offensive words.

Paul would normally have fought back, but he was so incensed, he couldn’t bring himself to do anything except stare angrily at Rhees. She looked straight ahead again, pretending not to notice.

oOo

They arrived at the facility and unloaded from the van. Rhees didn’t make a move to get out until the others had moved inside the building, except Paul, who stood at the entrance, holding the door for her, glaring off into the distance with an impatient look on his face. His lips didn’t move, he clenched them so tight, but the muscle in his cheek twitched furiously. She tentatively climbed out of the van and brushed by without looking at him. He didn’t look at her either, but the scowl didn’t appear to be leaving anytime soon.

They checked in, paid for the unanticipated guests and got in line at the buffet-style cafeteria to get breakfast. Rhees didn’t get in line. Paul watched her vigilantly while she found a table and sat down before he finally got in line. He made a face and gestured at the food, telling her she should eat, without having to break his silence. She shook her head and looked away.

The minute Rhees realized Paul’s attention had finally turned to the buffet instead of her, she bolted and headed toward the zip line orientation.

Paul didn’t notice Rhees had taken off until he had his food and headed toward the table where the others had started on their breakfast.

“Where’s Rhees?” he asked. The guys ignored him, confirming the tension hadn’t eased.

“I think she’s in the bathroom,” Liz finally answered, trying to be helpful. She seemed the most uncomfortable with the strain in the air between Paul and his friends.

He sat and had only taken a few bites when he figured out Rhees hadn’t just gone to the nearby restroom.

He swore. He’d been swearing under his breath since they’d left the beach house, but this time, he didn’t care who heard him. He rose from his chair so fast, the legs squawked piercingly against the hard floor in protest. He took one quick glance around, determined which direction to go, and shot off after her.

oOo

It seemed to take forever for the attendants to strap Paul into his harness, find him gloves big enough to fit, and a helmet. He tried to rush them, repeating over and over that he needed to find his girlfriend.

“I’m sorry sir. We won’t be able to let you ride if you don’t listen to the orientation, and give us time to suit you up.”

“Paul Weaver.” He heard his name called with a thick accent.

“Soy Paul.” He raised his hand to flag down the girl calling his name.

She told him, in Spanish, that a woman had asked her to get a message to him.

“Donde esta?” he snapped at the girl, and she told him Rhees was already on the gondola, headed up to the start of the zip line.

He took the note and unfolded the paper.

I’M GOING HOME. I’M DONE. RHEES

“What is it?” Bryce asked. The others had caught up to him; however, Bryce and Jeannie were the only other ones already in their harnesses. The other girls were driving Taylor and David crazy. Liz was having second thoughts, unable to make up her mind, while Ashley complained about how ugly the harness looked on everyone else and how it would wrinkle her outfit. Taylor cursed every few words and ranted.

“This is the reason we don’t bring girls to do Testosterfest activities.”

Paul stared at the note for a full minute, ignoring Bryce’s question. He just took off at a dead run toward the loading dock.

He made it to find thirty other people in line ahead of him, waiting to board the gondola to the top of the jungle canopy. He cussed when he didn’t see Rhees in the line, which meant she’d already boarded one of the cars, on her way up. He pushed his way ahead, ignoring the complaints from the other patrons until he reached the platform.

“Excuse me. I need to get on now. My party is ahead,” he told the attendant loading the gondola, pointing to the cars already filled with people and climbing their way up the jungle. He strained to see which car Rhees was in so he would have an idea how far ahead of him she’d managed to get.

“Your party will wait for you at the top. Stand over there. I’ll call you when I need a single rider.”

Paul knew Rhees had no intention of waiting for him and he was ready to pull his hair out by the time they finally called him. He wasted no time jumping in so the gondola could be on its way.

“Sir! You must sit. No standing in the car.”

Paul sat to appease the man, but stood again as soon as they were on their way and the attendant turned his attention back to the next load. He continued to look for Rhees to no avail. The gondola climbed through the jungle, rising higher and higher from the ground below. In places, they floated two hundred feet above the ground while they skimmed along the treetops. His car finally reached the point where they broke above the trees and the view opened up, when he spotted Rhees, at last, nine cars ahead of him.

“Rhees!” He cupped his hands around his mouth and yelled.

He saw her look up to see who’d called. He waved. She folded her arms and made no attempt to return his greeting. He could feel the heat of her glare despite the distance the nine cars put between them.

“Wait for me when you get to the top!” he yelled again.

Rhees shook her head with enough exaggeration to make sure he saw it across the long gap. He was too far away for her to see his expression, but she knew a Paul-Storm was brewing, and she didn’t want to be anywhere near it when it broke. She looked away to make her point.

She refused to look his direction again until she heard several people scream, sending her heartbeat on a race. The distraction with Paul had kept her mind off of the heights and the nervous anticipation of the impending zip line ride—fear of what she was about to do. But the screams brought it all back. She looked around to see what caused the commotion—sure someone had fallen to their death and sure she would be next.

She looked up and found the reason for the screams. She watched in horror as Paul flew from his gondola car to the one ahead of him. Again, there were screams, and she realized he’d jumped twice. He caught the rail, and as he pulled himself up and into the car, the gondola jerked and he fell back. He dangled from the car with only one hand. Rhees screamed and raced to the back of her car to get a better look, causing her car to sway and the people in it to yell at her.

The people in Paul’s newly acquired car scrambled to help, pulling him inside. She watched as he shook them off, apparently trying to convince him not to jump again.

“Stop, Paul!” Rhees shrieked. “You’re crazy! Just stop it, right now!”

He jumped again and caught the rail with his hand. Swinging his leg up, he wedged his foot between the rungs on the rail and used it as leverage to pull the rest of his body into the car. Rhees watched in horror, hopeful, but concerned for the people in the car as they attempted to keep him from jumping again.

She knew him too well and worried about anyone who stood in his way. He managed to stand, wrestling with them as he forced his way over the rail again, but thankfully, they’d succeeded in pulling him back inside with each of his attempts, so far. 

“Paul! Stop! Please!” Rhees begged hysterically. He didn’t listen. She watched him struggling to free himself from the grip of the people trying to hold him in the car, determined to jump again. He was coming for her, and he would kill himself trying.

“Paul! I swear, if you jump again, I will too!”

That got his attention, but he didn’t believe her. He pulled himself free and climbed over the rail again. Someone regained a hold of his leg so he couldn’t leap. Rhees stood, taking advantage of his distraction. The people in her car didn’t notice her climb onto the bench and she grabbed the rail that encircled the car. She looked down. The tops of the trees were so far down, and the ground, she couldn’t see it through the high canopy. It made her dizzy, and it took a second to regain her equilibrium.

The car ahead was about eight feet away. She wasn’t sure she could make it, and wished she could get a running start. She would have one chance to grab hold of the bar, and she reminded herself how her body’s weight would work against her own hands. She would have to not only catch it, but hang on for dear life. 

She turned back to look at Paul. He stood, poised to jump, so she pulled herself up and threw her leg over the rail. She was too short and lost her balance trying to hoist the rest of her body over. She wobbled and her hands slipped just as someone in the car grabbed her, giving her the brace she needed to right herself on the outside of the rail.