11. Reed

Reed

11

The best thing about big cities is all the things to do. Around every corner, there's something happening, and it's impossible to get bored. When I was a teenager, I'd sneak off the compound with Lyla and Ellie, and we'd explore LA like it was our own personal playground.

Until my brother would inevitably find us and drag us back before our fathers caught us.

Exploring is something I've missed in the years I've spent with Carter. He was never as adventurous as me, and he preferred nice dinners in restaurants to a slice of pizza from a cart on the street.

So when Mason surprised me by wanting to just spend the afternoon wandering, he didn't realize how much I appreciate that kind of freedom.

After lunch, we grab ice cream and go window shopping. We laugh at the ridiculous dresses that probably cost more than the cars driving down the street and try to imagine how he'd fit into some of the men's suits with his oversized frame.

Carter always expected me to be dressed to perfection. To be perfectly presentable from the moment I woke up until the moment I went to bed. But as I look up at Mason and he smiles at my nearly makeup-free face, I can't contain the faintest flutter that comes to life in my chest.

"Where to now?" I ask when we stop outside a nondescript door a few blocks away from Twisted Roses.

"You'll see." Mason pulls the door open and waits for me to walk past him.

Stepping inside, I'm met with ceilings that go up at least five stories. It's not what I expected from the sidewalk, and my eyes widen as I take in the big open space. Rock-climbing walls are everywhere, with the highest one in the very back where a few people are currently descending.

"Rock climbing?"

"Didn't you say you were going to climb Everest someday?"

"You remember that?" It was a random joke I told him at the bar while we were waiting for drinks the last time I was in town.

"Well"—Mason waves his arm out—"I do. And you'll need to get some practice in first."

It might be the single most thoughtful thing anyone has ever done for me. While I love how protective my brother is, he treats me like a fragile creature that needs to be caged sometimes. Mason wants to set me free from everything that's been holding me back these past few years.

He wants me to live again. And not only that, but he's also taken me somewhere he genuinely thinks I'll like.

"Bad idea?" He looks down at me, and his eyebrows pinch as he meets my expression.

It must be impossible to read, given the concern that washes over his face. But that's only because I'm in shock, staring around, not sure what to think.

"No." It's almost a whisper. "Not at all."

The smile that climbs his cheeks sets his blue eyes ablaze. It colors his cheeks, and I almost melt at the sight of it. One glance and my heart would be in trouble if I was looking for anything more than a friend.

"Good." Mason walks us up to the counter and hands over his card to reserve our spot.

The girl behind the desk bats her lashes at him and flirts not so subtly as she takes our information down. I'm getting used to seeing this reaction when it comes to Mason interacting with women. One smile and they melt.

I get it; I'm not immune either.

"Just out of curiosity…" I lean my hip against the counter when the woman helping us goes to retrieve our harnesses. "What if I was afraid of heights? Did you consider that?"

"I did." He faces me. "But you don't strike me as a girl who's afraid of all that much, so I figured it was worth the risk."

I wish I could see myself through Mason's eyes. I'd like to get lost in the fearless girl he imagines me to be. I'm scared of plenty, and most of those things aren't easily overcome. But the way he grins as he hands me a harness says he believes I could do just about anything.

I can't figure out why he has so much faith in me when I don't have any. But I bask in that and let it be enough.

Once we're in our harnesses, and it's our turn, Mason lets me pick the wall. I point to the tallest one, and he shakes his head with his laugh, but something about his reaction tells me he isn't surprised.

As soon as the ropes are secured, we start our climb.

"So, I take it you're not scared of heights either?" I ask as I grip a fake rock overhead and start to maneuver my way up.

"Not really." Mason moves up, but with his height, he's able to easily close the distance.

He could probably scale the wall in half the time it would take me, but he moves slowly so he stays at my side, reanimating a long-lost flutter in my chest.

"At least, so long as I don't look down." Mason moves up a few more feet.

Glancing back, I see how far off the ground we are and realize we're making quick progress. "Don't look down then."

"Did you seriously just look?" He glances over, and when I nod, he bursts out laughing. "See what I'm saying? You're fearless, Sticks."

My cheeks burn with the sound of his laugh—with the comfort of his praise. With the encouragement to do something more than sit around and be someone else's trophy.

It's exhilarating.

We quietly make our way a little higher, and it gets trickier the further we go. It's a puzzle to solve as I decide which rocks to grab onto and which ones to rest my feet on. The challenge is a relief when I've spent so much time in my thoughts lately.

Mason is a few feet up, so he pauses, waiting for me to catch up to him.

"You all right down there, shorty?"

"I'm not short." I stop beside him, narrowing my eyes. "You're just obnoxiously tall."

"Obnoxiously, huh?"

I shrug, trying to bury my smile. He makes me too comfortable. We'll playfully flirt even if I know he only sees me as a friend, and it puts me at ease.

Reaching for another rock, I aim a little higher than I should, and one of my feet slips out from under me.

For a second, the fear of falling rushes through me, even if I know I'm secured by my harness, and nothing will happen. But it's the unknown. The moment I'm weightless; my heart jumps to my throat.

For a second, I lose all the air in my chest until Mason reaches out and wraps his arm around me.

It all happens so fast; I'm not sure how he does it without losing his own balance. He grabs me when I start to sway away from the wall, tightening his grip to hold us against it.

My heart is racing as he yells down to the people below us that I'm okay, and I tip my forehead to the wall once I stabilize myself, trying to catch my breath.

One second.

One little slip of the hand and everything changes.

It's not something I'm unfamiliar with.

"You good, Reed?" Mason's still holding the wall above him, but his other arm stretches out so it's secured on the other side of me, caging me in his grasp.

His chest brushes my back with every breath, and he's so warm, I'd like to sink against him and find the comfort I've been desperate for.

"I'm okay." But even as I say it, I don't peel my forehead from the wall.

I keep breathing.

I'm here.

I'm safe.

Mason's quiet and so close his breath tickles the hair on the back of my neck. He waits for me to catch my breath and to find my balance. His silent patience says more than words as he waits for me.

I've been clinging to a wall—in love, in life.

I've been careful with every move out of fear that one wrong one would send me plummeting. I've been up here alone because I refused to believe I needed anyone's help when I was raised to be independent.

A biker's daughter.

Fearless.

But at that moment, I was scared just like when I ran from Carter. I was afraid of the aftermath even if there's no anticipating what's to come.

And without asking, Mason stayed with me. He caught me. And accepting help didn't make me weak like I thought it would. It gave me the strength I've been missing.

Lifting my forehead off the rock wall, I turn my face to the side and look up at him. He's so close, our faces are inches apart. The dark blond scruff on his jaw is perfectly trimmed, and his bright-blue eyes shine down at me.

I swear the ocean resides within them. Endless possibility. I've always been afraid of the water, and yet, he makes me want to swim.

"Thank you," I whisper.

"Of course, Sticks. I've got you."

Those words. That smile. The fact that he means it. I could be floating.

"You good now?"

I nod, biting my lip, and his gaze drops to my mouth for the briefest second before once more meeting my eyes.

"All right." He peels his hand off the wall on the other side of me, and I miss his body heat the moment it's gone. "Race you to the top then, Sticks."

I thought I was done smiling when I came to LA. I didn't think it was possible anymore. But every time Mason looks at me, I can't deny the fire burning in the pit of my stomach.

"You're on."