As I pulled into the parking lot at the state park, I caught sight of a familiar G-Wagon and grinned. I parked and climbed out of my SUV. “Who let the riffraff join practice?”
Caden looked up from the duffel he had balanced on the back hatch of his vehicle. “You mean the riffraff that’s gonna kick your sorry ass on the rock?”
I strode across the gravel lot. “You forget that the only thing you’ve had to practice on for the last five years were those pathetic manmade walls in New York. It’s different out here in the real world.”
Caden rolled his eyes. “I don’t need practice to decimate you. It’s just an innate gift.”
I moved like I was going to punch Caden in the gut and then pulled him in for a hug. “It’s good to have you back. How’d you know we were meeting?”
“I called Holt last night to see if I could requalify for the team since I’ll be around for a while. He told me to come today.”
“That’s great. We missed your ugly mug around here.”
Caden’s gaze swept the parking lot and the area where some of our team members were gathered. “Where’s Gigi?”
I groaned. Grae hated it when he called her that. “Please, for the love of all that’s holy, don’t piss my sister off. I really don’t want to have to bury your dead body.”
A grin stretched across Caden’s face. “No one I like riling better than her.”
“Until she poisons you and kicks your ass over a cliff.”
The two used to be friends when we were younger, but something had changed when we were in high school. They’d started bickering more than getting along, and now they fought like cats and dogs. But Caden got some thrill out of doing battle with her. Maybe it was because he’d lost his sister, and he and his brother didn’t come close to getting along. He likely missed that sibling ribbing. But I’d never seen anyone make Grae madder.
Caden chuckled. “She could try, but I’d never go down like that.”
“Well, luckily for you, she’s not here today. Only half the team is meeting. The other half will meet next week. She’s having brunch with Wren and Mads.”
Caden took a second to study me. “How are things going there?”
Wasn’t that the fifty-million-dollar question? Sleep had been all but nonexistent for me lately. Every move Maddie made had me constantly aware of her presence. Her scent. Her feel. Her temptation.
“Things are okay. Her dad’s getting out of prison.”
A muscle in Caden’s jaw ticked. He and Maddie weren’t nearly as close as she and I were, but they had still been good friends. “Shit. I can’t believe he qualified for parole.”
I nodded. “Why that piece of garbage would even think about trying to come back to Cedar Ridge is beyond me. But this is the address he gave the parole board.”
“I’m surprised he didn’t try to get a job in the city. He’d have more luck keeping a low profile.”
Because Jimmy Byrne had enough arrogance to think that no one would look at him differently after almost killing his own daughter. I worked my jaw back and forth, trying to loosen it. “He probably thinks life will just go back to normal.”
“He’s in for a rude awakening.”
“Damn straight.”
A loud whistle cut through the air. “Come on in,” Holt called, waving us toward the rockface as the wind rustled the trees around us.
Caden shut the back of his SUV, and we headed for the group.
“Thanks for coming, everyone. And welcome to our new team members.”
There was a round of applause and back slaps for the new folks.
Holt pointed to the equipment at his feet. “Today, we’re going to work through rope rescues. We’ll start with some simple climbing exercises from the ground and then head up to the top and do some belay work with backboards and dummies.”
That phantom energy swept through the group. The hit of adrenaline that fueled us all. Working with a SAR team was a jolt every single time. It was exhausting and draining at times, but there were always moments when the reality of what we were doing hit. Then, there was nothing like it.
“Okay,” Holt began. “Pair up and get in your climbing gear.”
“What do you say?” Caden asked. “Partners?”
“Just like the old days.”
We both pulled on harnesses, checking the buckles and carabiners. Caden grabbed us a rope. “You want first or second climb?”
I grinned at him. “I’ll go first. Show you how it’s done.”
“You mean show me what to avoid?” he chided.
Holt’s gaze narrowed on us both. “No ridiculous stunts on the rockface. I know how you two are.”
I gave him my best innocent look. “Who, me?”
Holt snorted. “Like the time you and Caden made your own parachutes and jumped out of the tree next to the house? You’re lucky you didn’t break your necks.”
I sent him an affronted look. “We were teaching ourselves aerodynamics.”
Caden choked on a laugh.
“And how’d that work out for you?”
I’d been in a cast and sling for six weeks. “Whatever.”
“Just remember that itchy-as-hell cast before you do something stupid,” Holt said as he walked away.
“Never wants me to have any fun,” I muttered.
“He’s probably still pissed about the time we got the four-wheeler stuck and blamed him for it,” Caden said.
I winced. “Whoops.”
Caden chuckled and clapped me on the back. “Let’s get this show on the road.”
I took the rope and headed over to a good climbing spot. I flaked the rope in a figure-eight pattern so it was ready for use, letting my fingers skim over the surface, feeling for any snags or signs of weakness. Handing the end to Caden, I watched as he ran it through his carabiner and then attached it to mine.
I walked up to the rock, mentally planning my climb. There were already metal rungs from past climbers to attach the rope to as I went. I rose on tiptoe, my fingers itching for the high that came from conquering the rock beneath me. “On belay?”
“Belay on,” Caden answered.
I grabbed for that first easy handhold and used my feet to propel myself upward. You always wanted your legs to do the greatest amount of work because they tired less quickly than your arms. But, sometimes, I got impatient and went for speed over logic.
The search for hand and footholds was half the fun. Like a barely visible puzzle you had to complete while running a marathon. It didn’t take me long to get into the rhythm. The higher I climbed, the more challenging it got.
I connected my rope to each metal rung and carabiner I passed. Voices drifted up from below me, and I picked up my speed. It might’ve been juvenile, but I got a charge out of reaching the top of a cliff first.
My muscles burned as I reached those last few feet. My shoe dug into the rock crevice, and I propelled myself upward. My hand flashed out, slapping the top of the cliff.
“Show-off,” Caden called from below.
“You could learn a few tricks from me,” I shot back.
I leaned back, letting the rope take my weight. There was something otherworldly about hanging off the side of the mountain, trusting that your climbing partner had your back and just taking in the sky. It was blue and without a cloud in sight today.
“Nash,” Caden barked. “Grab the rock.”
I was instantly on alert. Caden’s tone wasn’t the kind giving me a hard time. He sounded panicked.
I righted myself, reaching out for a hand or foothold. The snapping sound might as well have been a gunshot. The rope flew through the air at an unbelievable speed. But everything slowed around me.
The thoughts came between heartbeats as I searched for anything to grip, Maddie’s face flashing in my mind.
My fingers caught on the edge of a piece of rock. My shoulder jerked, and white-hot pain flared through the joint. I cursed but forced my feet and other hand to find purchase. Breathing heavily, I took a few seconds to get my bearings.
Shouts and curses sounded from below.
“Stay where you are,” Holt barked. “Did you not check the rope?”
My back molars ground together. “Of course, I checked. I didn’t feel a damn thing wrong with it.”
“I’ll climb up and bring you a rope,” Holt said. “Everyone else, get back on the ground. I want to do an equipment recheck.”
I glanced down as pain pulsed in my shoulder. I had at least fifty yards to go, but the adrenaline was already leaving my system. “I gotta move, or my body’s gonna give out.”
Holt cursed. “Slow and steady. Someone get the damn mats.”
I could hear a commotion below and knew they were placing the mats for free climbing beneath me. But those wouldn’t help me much if I fell from this height. I didn’t let myself think about that. I only focused on putting one foot below the other. I could barely move my left arm, but thankfully, I could still grip with my hand—it just hurt like the blazes of hell to do it.
As I stepped down, my foot slipped. Gasps sounded from below, but I grabbed the rock with everything I had, righting myself again. The pain had spots dancing in front of my vision.
“You got this,” Caden yelled. “Don’t be a wimp.”
His words had a pained chuckle escaping me. “Sure you’re not talking about yourself?”
“Naw, remember that time I pulled you out of the rapids? You would’ve drowned without me.”
My lips twitched. “You mean when you saved the cooler of beer tied to my innertube?”
“Potato, po-tah-to.”
Caden kept shooting the shit, telling story after story, until I finally reached the ground. When my feet touched the mat, a whoosh of air left my lungs, and my legs trembled.
“Sit,” Holt ordered.
I collapsed to the mat, cursing as pain flared again in my shoulder.
Holt instantly began assessing me. “Your shoulder’s dislocated.”
“I know.”
“We need to get you to Doc.”
I groaned. “She’s gonna be so pissed at me.”
“She’d be more pissed if you got dead,” Caden cut in.
“What the hell happened?” Holt asked.
“I’ve got a decent idea,” Roan said, striding up.
I hadn’t even known he was here today. But what was new? My brother moved with a kind of silence jungle cats would envy.
“What?” Holt growled.
Roan held up a rope. “Take a look.”
Holt’s gaze swept over it. “Looks normal.”
Roan nodded. “And if you were doing a quick once-over, it would feel that way, too.” He ran his fingers over a spot in the rope over and over. “But if you go really slow, you can feel a depression in the center.”
He pulled out his pocketknife and nicked the outer layer of rope, exposing the inside. Filaments were snapped in half beyond what Roan had cut. A muscle in his jaw flexed. “At least three of these ropes have been tampered with.”
