A Muse Her

Chapter 5

Maia looked down at the vast blanket of snow below her surrounded by snow capped mountains and lush pine trees. She gulped. "What the fuck was I thinking?" she whispered, knuckle gripping the thick lead of parachute rope securing her to a wall of ice. "Mateo! This is not what I meant when I said Donny needs a hobby!"

"You're alright." Mateo chuckled beside her. "We're almost to the top. I won't let you fall and neither will our guides."

"Fuckin' better not," she said, looking up at their guides at the top of the wall anchoring their lines. "Why the hell did you choose ice climbing?"

"Because it's fun and definitely something a spy would be into," he said as they slowly climbed up to the peak. "And the view is amazing up there."

The joy radiating on Mateo's face nearly–almost–made her forget that they were too many feet above the ground on a slab of fucking ice. She was fine with him teaching her how to shoot a rifle and hunt deer, but this! This was completely out of her comfort zone and she wasn't sure how the hell that asshole talked her into this.

"Come on, Maia," Mateo said, looking back at her and holding out his hand. "There's spiked hot chocolate and special brownies at the top."

Right. He lured her into this because the ad boasted of a cannabis fueled feast at the top of the icy mountain and she figured it couldn't be that bad if they were offering weed.

She slipped her gloved hand in his and let him help her up and over the last bit of the climb. She laid in the snow, glaring up at his smiling face. "Imma need more than brownies, sir. I need a big fat –"

"Blunt?" he said, slipping a case of pre rolled joints from the inside of his coat pocket.

"Yes," she murmured. "And a burger."

"That was a good climb, Miss Jefferies!" the guide said, helping her up. "First time is always the scariest." He smiled, unclipping her from the lines. "You and Mr. Casparij will be staying in the big cabin on the edge. It's got everything you need. Plenty of munchies, weed and firewood for you."

"Thank you," she said, pulling off her helmet with shaking hands. "But I'm not sure I'll be trying that again."

"We hear that all the time, but they always come back," the guide beside Mateo said. "This guy was one of them. This is your fifth time, right?"

"It is." Mateo grinned. "I learned to enjoy that climb for this amazing view and the generous hospitality up here."

"We aim to please, Mr. Casparij," the guide said, patting Mateo on the back. "Have a good time."

"Thanks," Mateo said, sliding his hand to the small of Maia's back and holding out the case of blunts to her. "I'm sure you need one of these now."

"Yes," she said, tucking her gloves in her coat before she snatched the case from him. "I don't care what y'all say. I am never doing that shit again." She stopped walking and held out her shaking hands. "Look at me! Damn climb got me shook."

Mateo laughed. "I'm sorry, but I promise you'll appreciate that climb when we get to the cabin."

Maia narrowed her eyes at Mateo as she unzipped the slim black case, plucked out a blunt, the red zippo lighter and lit it up. She took a long drag, soaking up the calming citrus and lemon herb before she blew out a hefty cloud. "That sounds like some shit Donny would say to Tati. I like it," she said, taking another drag. "But I ain't buying it, sir. We have a perfectly good view at home and plenty of food and weed. I don't need to climb a fucking ice mountain for that."

A rumble of laughter burst from Mateo's lips and the rich baritone sound of it rippled down Maia's spine at the unfiltered joy on his face. "God, you make me laugh too much," he said, wiping the tears rolling down his cheeks. "Seriously, you'll like this and didn't that climbing experience give you some good content?"