Romantically Entangled

Chapter 20

Nicki

I am about to be dangling off a cliff with only a lousy rope between me and certain death.

The wind seems a lot stronger on top than it did below. I am frozen with fear. But I don't want anyone to know it.

I'd followed Bey and the ROTC members a couple of miles along a winding path that curved up and around, through trees and around boulders, until we were standing on top of the sandstone cliffs.

The guys, all clad in fatigues, jumped into action, anchoring rappelling ropes to two thick tree trunks that stood about ten feet from the edge.

Then they quickly wrapped other ropes around their rear ends, creating harnesses with an elaborate system of knots.

And then, before I even realized what was happening, they'd clipped themselves to the rappelling ropes and, one by one, simply walked off the cliff.

Headfirst. Hollering and howling and whooping as if it was the greatest moment of their lives.

They sounded young and brave and free. And completely insane.

Bey stood near the edge with a beat-up iPad in her hands, reading out what sounded like a safety checklist before each team member stepped off the cliff. She looked deadly serious and sounded very business-like.

But now that the last person has seemingly disappeared into thin air, she is looking at me. I'm sure I look scared to death, because I am.

No fucking way.

"No fucking way," I repeat what I was just thinking.

I start to back up, turning to head down the path I just came up. "No way, Bey! Are you kidding me?"

I'd been all brave and gung-ho about this down at the car. But not now.

Bey is instantly at my side. "Nicki." Her voice is warm, reassuring.

She sticks the iPad under her arm and puts both hands on my shoulders. "You're not going down like that."

She chuckles and pulls me to her.

"I'm sorry. I should have warned you. That's the advanced way to do it. They call it Aussie Style. These guys have been trained to do that. You're going down butt first, slowly, with me right there next to you."

She laughs again and kisses me, and I stand there feeling foolish.

"Oh." That's all I can manage.

"And remember, you don't have to do this at all. No one's going to think badly of you. None of those guys down there will, I guarantee you. The only thing they're thinking about is how to get you away from me."

I'd seen the hungry way some of the ROTC guys looked at me when Bey introduced me.

But I do not want to back out in front of them. Or in front of Bey.

"I'm doing this," I say, squaring my shoulders.

I walk back toward the edge to a pile of rope and start wrapping a length of it around my waist and through my legs, then try to tie it the way I'd seen the others doing.

"Hang on, hang on." Bey tucks the iPad into the backpack on the ground nearby; then she's again at my side.

She gently takes the rope from me.

"You gotta know what you're doing with the seat; otherwise, you could get yourself killed. Besides, I brought a harness for you. It's safer, especially for a tiny one like you."