Phoenix

by Crouch, Janie

  Baby’s smile became a little forced. “Yeah, believe me, I’m sure.”

  They made it to the top of the cliff. Both were breathing heavily as they pulled themselves over the top and unhooked themselves from the safety lines.

  “I’ll let you go on ahead.” Baby gave him a little salute. “Nature calls, literally. I’m sure you’d pass me anyway.”

  Riley waggled an eyebrow. “I am the professional. See you at the bottom.”

  Baby waved and rushed toward the nearest set of large bushes in the opposite direction as Riley jogged back toward the top for the rappelling. He stopped when he rounded a boulder and found Amber walking back toward him, face crestfallen.

  “Hey, you’re going the wrong way.”

  Tears welled up in the woman’s eyes. “I know.”

  He reached out toward her. “Whoa. Everything okay?”

  “Yeah. I was up at the rappelling station for a while. I’ve been training to go down the harder rapelling line, but I sort of freaked out when I got there.”

  “It happens. Even to those of us who do stuff like this for a living. We all freeze up some time.” And they weren’t even carrying the emotional baggage of a brother who’d met tragedy going over the side of a ledge.

  “Yeah, I guess so. Finally, Bo and Damon showed up for their second rappel, so I decided to leave. Standing there staring wasn’t going to do me any good.”

  “Do you want to come back up here with me, and maybe I can talk you through it? I’m sure once you get over the edge you’ll be fine. Hell, once you’re over the edge, what choice do you have but to keep going anyway?”

  She gave a little laugh, but at least the pinched look was fading from her face. “Damon was up there. He tried to help.”

  Riley rolled his eyes. “I’m surprised Damon didn’t offer to carry you down in his big manly arms. Damon is a sucker for what he sees as a damsel in distress.”

  “Oh, he basically did. But that’s not what I wanted. Plus, Bo was there, delightful as always. He was fighting with Damon over which rig he wanted to use.”

  Riley rolled his eyes again. “I think, if anything, we’ve all learned an important lesson in this race.”

  “To keep going, no matter what?”

  “Well, no. Mostly that Bo is an asshole, and we should all ignore him.” They both laughed. “But seriously, I’m more than willing to talk you through this if you want me to. I’m sure you can do it.”

  It was the least he could do. Hell, he should’ve been doing a lot more for the Lowe family since Felix’s death.

  She gave him sad smile. “Maybe. I’ve, ah, been seeing a therapist since Felix killed himself. I had a lot of anger.”

  “That’s understandable.”

  “She wasn’t sure I should do this race at all. Said it might be more damaging in the long run.” Amber shrugged. “Maybe she’s right. She also said forcing things could make the situation worse. I didn’t listen to her about the race, obviously, but I think it’s probably better to follow her advice and not force it with this. Go do the easier route.”

  Riley wasn’t exactly sure how he should advise Amber. His normal inclination would be to tell her to face her fears and just go for it, but maybe if someone had told Felix not to take such a big risk on that ski hill, he’d still be alive today.

  “You have to do what’s best for you,” he finally said.

  “Yes. For the first time I feel like I’m doing that.”

  That settled it then. “Good.” He smiled at her. “Follow your gut.”

  “Thanks. Now you get going. We can’t let Bo win this thing.”

  “Oh hell no!” With a wave, both of them took off in their opposite directions.

  “Bo swears the rig on the far left is the fastest one!” she called out as they ran.

  “Thanks!”

  Riley was glad Amber was working through this. Was glad she’d chosen to go the safer route. Recovery looked different for everyone, and he would hate for her to have a setback just to prove something that ultimately didn’t matter.

  When he got to the rappelling stations, Damon and Bo were long gone—already down on the ground. Baby was making his way down the cliffside. He’d chosen the left rig, the fastest one. Riley didn’t waste time worrying about it. He hooked himself into the middle rig a few feet over from Baby’s and got himself lined up correctly.

  A few moments later, with a laughing yell, he launched himself over the side. That first drop was always a thrill he’d never get used to and would always love.

  He took the cliffside even faster this time, his pace almost reckless. He wanted to catch up with Bo and Damon. He caught Baby about halfway down.

  “I thought that was supposed to be the fast rig, Bollinger.”

  Baby laughed. “Fast one? Definitely isn’t with me on it. I don’t know why going up the cliff is so much easier for me than going down. Story of my life, I guess.”

  Riley chuckled. “Well, you’re still in first place for the nonprofessional athletes. So you’re doing pretty fucking good.”

  Riley swung himself over toward Baby to give him a high-five.

  Which saved Baby’s life as something happened to his rig much farther up, toward the top of the cliff. Baby began to tumble backward, falling with nothing to catch him but the bottom of the canyon still another seven or eight stories below them.

  Riley grabbed for Baby with his free hand, years of honing his reflexes allowing him to catch his friend’s wrist. He grunted at the weight.

  The emergency rope had failed. The only thing keeping Baby from falling were their grips on each other’s wrists.

  “What the fuck?” Baby’s eyes were huge as he reached up to grab Riley’s wrist with his other hand.

  “Shit.” Riley gritted his teeth. Damn it, Baby was no lightweight. “I don’t know. Something happened to your rig.”

  Riley had no idea what and there was definitely no time to figure it out now.

  Yells were coming from the bottom of the cliff wall, and at least one of the voices was Wildfire’s. No doubt Zac and the others were doing everything they could.

  But nothing could be done quickly enough to save Baby if he fell.

  “We need to get you hooked to my rig.” He bit out the words. “You’re going to have to crawl up me.”

  Baby was already moving as Riley spoke, letting go of Riley’s wrist with one hand to wrap his arm around Riley’s waist.

  Neither of them wanted to let go of each other’s wrist so that Baby could make the transfer, but both of them knew it had to happen.

  “Ready?” Every second they hesitated was more strain placed on their bodies. Exhaustion would become a factor quickly.

  “Yup.” Baby’s voice was tight. Riley couldn’t blame him.

  “One. Two. Three.”

  With a groan, he swung his arm back. They both let go of each other’s wrists and Baby’s other arm wrapped around Riley’s waist. Baby immediately reached up and grabbed Riley’s harness. It was still a lot of pressure on Riley’s body from the added weight, but at least it wasn’t all on his arm now.

  He could hear Baby’s deep breaths behind him. They were in a less precarious situation than a moment before, but still dangerous.

  “Man, I don’t think I can hoist myself enough to clip onto your harness. I think we should just get down as fast as we can.”

  “How’s your grip?” Even as Riley asked the questions, he began inching down the side of the cliff. A controlled, slow descent was harder on the muscles, especially with a two-hundred-pound tagalong, but actual rapelling with leaps and slides wasn’t even an option with Baby’s precarious grip.

  “Not going to lie. I definitely wish I were holding a cold brew right now rather than staring straight at your ass.”

  “Hey, while you’re down there…”

  Baby chuckled. “No offense, but if I’m going to be this close to someone’s ass, I prefer it to be the female variety, and not while I’m dangling off the sid
e of a cliff.”

  “Dude, you better just hope I don’t get any sort of stomach upset like you had a few minutes ago.” Another few steps down. Slowly. Painfully.

  “If you’d be so kind as to notify me ahead of time if that’s going to happen, I’ll just go ahead and let go and plummet to my death.”

  Riley continued to move as quickly and steadily as he could, ignoring the strain on his own muscles. “Yeah, can’t blame you. Definitely the less agonizing of the two options.”

  He could hear the sounds of people below much clearer now—multiple voices in various stages of panic, yelling different things.

  He ignored them all, except for one. “One step at a time. One step at a time. One step at a time.”

  Riley blocked out everything else except the sound of Wildfire’s steady voice. She wasn’t the loudest, definitely wasn’t the most frantic.

  But she knew exactly what he needed to hear.

  Every step down the cliff wall was agonizing on his quads. The harness, not meant to support the weight of two fully grown men, was digging into his chest and shoulders to the point of drawing blood.

  “Hang in there, Baby,” he said through gritted teeth, ignoring the stinging sweat dripping into his eyes.

  “Hey. Nobody puts Baby in a corner.”

  Riley would’ve chuckled if he’d had the extra energy. Instead, he continued to move downward until finally they were close enough to the ground that the people there were able to grab Baby and help him off Riley’s waist.

  The relief of no longer holding Baby’s weight was instantaneous. Riley lowered himself the rest of the way to the ground, leaning back against the cliff wall as someone reached over and unhooked him.

  There was chaos all around as volunteers shot dozens of questions in their directions, checking the gear, and looking over him and Baby for injuries.

  He found Wildfire. She looked up from examining Baby’s hands to meet Riley’s eyes.

  He gave her a slight nod, communicating with her in the way they had for years, when it hadn’t always been easy to talk outright with one another.

  She needed to know he was okay.

  He needed to give her that reassurance.

  He wanted more. Wanted to pull her into his arms and just breathe in her scent.

  This wasn’t the first time he wasn’t able to do that. They’d traveled to places all over the world where public displays of affection were completely unacceptable, if not illegal.

  But always before, he’d known it was just a matter of time until he had her in his arms where he wanted her.

  She looked away, and frustration pooled in his gut.

  Damn it, there wasn’t anything he could do about the situation with Wildfire right now. And for the first time, that was okay because there was plenty of other stuff to be furious about.

  Like how one of his friends would’ve been dead right now if it hadn’t been for a random, midair high five.

  “Where the fuck is Bo?” Riley asked. “He’s got some god damn explaining to do.”

  Chapter 14

  “You’re frustrated, Phoenix. It’s been a hard few days for you. Your girl breaks up with you. You’re not doing as great in the race as you would like…”

  It was all Riley could do not to leap across the table and punch Bo in his smug face.

  “Enough, Bo.” Zac pointed at the other man from where he sat. “Or Wyatt and I are going to step out of the room and completely ignore what happens in here for the next thirty minutes.”

  Wyatt had arrived as race support with Anne, who’d been helping with medical. He’d gotten there just in time to see this afternoon’s fiasco.

  But neither Wyatt nor Zac would need to leave for thirty minutes. It wouldn’t take that long for Riley to beat the shit out Bo.

  Bo just shrugged. “What? Look, I’m sorry about what happened to Baby. And I’m really glad he wasn’t hurt. But the fact is, I didn’t have anything to do with that equipment malfunction. Phoenix over here just wants to blame someone for everything because he’s not winning.”

  Riley’s eyes narrowed and he slammed his fist on the table, ignoring the pain. “You went too far. Way too far. It’s one thing to mess around with my navigation boxes. It’s another thing entirely to do something where somebody could’ve gotten killed.”

  “Like I said, you’re pissed. I get it. But don’t go blaming me for every single problem that happens in this race.” Bo leaned back in his chair, arms crossed over his chest.

  They were in the cabin Zac had been using as an office since the race started. This conversation needed to take place in private. Baby wasn’t here—he thought what almost everyone else was thinking: that the whole situation had been an unfortunate equipment malfunction.

  Riley thought otherwise.

  “I’m not accusing you of every single problem. Just the ones that keep happening when you’re around. Interesting how that worked out. Damon already said he left before you did. Would’ve given you time to mess with the rig.” He turned to Zac. “We could have been carrying Baby out in a body bag. This is bullshit.”

  Bo shook his head. “What, Phoenix? Trying to get Zac and Wyatt to cancel the race? Is that what you do when you’re not in first place?” He shook his head, tsking. “Trying to get Zac to cancel the race so you don’t lose?”

  Riley gripped the arms of the chair to keep himself in it. “This is bullshit,” he said again.

  Bo stood up. “Can I go? I had nothing to do with what I’m being accused of and unless there’s some sort of proof, I’m not going to sit here and argue with someone who is just upset that the race isn’t going his way. And unless you really are going to cancel the race to placate Phoenix, my time is better spent preparing for what’s ahead of me tomorrow, not whining about what happened today.”

  Riley stood too. This motherfucker was going down. But before he could move Wyatt’s hand fell on his shoulder.

  “Get out,” Zac said to Bo, tilting his head toward the door. “But I advise you to stay well clear of Riley and the other competitors. And you better hope nothing else goes wrong right after you were the last person to be near it.”

  Bo’s eyes narrowed, but he kept his cool. “Fact of the matter is, I don’t have to cheat to win. And I think everybody in this room knows it.”

  Nobody said another word as Bo walked out.

  “This is not about me wanting to win.” Riley sat back down. “This is about Baby nearly dying today.”

  “Trust me, we’ll be keeping a close eye on Bo to make sure he’s not up to anything sketchy.” Zac ran a hand over his face.

  “We looked at the ropes and rigs ourselves.” Wyatt came to sit down next to Zac. “There was no overt evidence of foul play. Just some fucking really bad luck—the anchor system bolt had loosened and the stopper knot at the end of Baby’s rope had come untied. Both of them happening at one time was high unlikely but, unfortunately, not impossible.”

  Riley rubbed his eyes. Jesus, he was exhausted. “We all know that no overt evidence doesn’t mean there was no tampering. Just because Bo didn’t leave a handwritten note doesn’t mean he didn’t mess with it.”

  Zac leaned his elbows on the table. “Riley, think about what you’re saying. You’re saying Bo was willing to kill someone for this race. It doesn’t make any sense. It especially doesn’t make sense to take out Baby.”

  Bo hadn’t been trying to take out Baby. He’d made it known that the left rig was the quickest. If Baby hadn’t already been on it, that’s the one Riley would’ve chosen. But he didn’t have any proof of it.

  Yet.

  He wasn’t going to say anything until he did.

  “We’ll keep an eye on him,” Zac assured him once again. “And whether you like it or not, Bo’s not wrong about the stress you’re under.”

  “We robbed you of your downtime for the mission in Egypt, then you had the breakup with Riley, and then you went straight into this race.” Wyatt shook his head. “Don’t discoun
t the stress all of that is putting on you.”

  “I guess I ought to hit the sack then.” Riley stood up.

  “Go see Riley or Anne,” Zac said. “You’ve got to get cleared before you can start tomorrow.”

  He nodded. “Okay.”

  “Phoenix…”

  Riley turned back to look at Zac.

  “Get some rest. I know that’s hard in a race like this. But it will make a big difference.”

  The guys didn’t say anything else.

  The hell of it was, they weren’t wrong about anything they were saying. Bo wasn’t wrong. Riley was stressed. He did need rest. WAR probably hadn’t been a good idea with so little preparation time.

  But he also knew in his gut that what had happened today hadn’t been an accident.

  He wouldn’t be getting much rest anytime soon.

  Chapter 15

  It was a full four hours after watching Boy Riley’s harrowing attempt to get Baby down the cliffside, and Riley still didn’t feel as if she could manage a full breath.

  Something had changed inside her, watching that. Baby might have been the one in the most immediate danger, but Riley hadn’t been safe either. She knew enough about rappelling to know that a harness could only support so much. It wasn’t meant to hold the weight of two. They both could’ve plummeted to the ground.

  Not only that, she knew as a nurse there were a dozen other ways Riley’s career could’ve been ended with an accident like this: injured back, neck, rotator cuffs… Any could’ve meant Phoenix would be out of the extreme sport world for a long time, if not for good.

  Standing there, willing him to make it safely to the ground, had been all she could do.

  “Are you okay, kiddo?” Anne asked. Riley forced herself to stop her pacing next to the picnic table and sit down next to Anne. All the competitors were in the main section of the camp. Riley was waiting for Boy Riley to get out of his meeting about what had happened today.

  “I just need to check him out for myself, make sure he’s okay. You know, professionally.”

  “And personally,” Anne said. “I want you to say it. You need, personally, to know that Riley is all right.