Laughing, Riley threw an arm around him. “There’s some truth to that.”
His laugh sounded hollow though. Like he was pushing himself not to show what he was really feeling. Yeah, they’d need to talk. But first they needed to relax, let loose, unwind, and have some fun.
It was good to see that the clouds from the night before had vanished, leaving behind brilliant blue skies dotted with wisps of clouds. Tripp was whistling as they walked across the courtyard to the climbing wall, having already had the foresight to arrange for safety instructors to be there to rig them up and monitor things. Zakk hadn’t even considered that when they’d come out here but leave it to Tripp to be thorough and plan ahead.
And to think, the guy worried that planning made him dull, boring, and less attractive than his twin. It sucked and he hoped that sometime in the future, he could show Tripp that wasn’t the case, but like with everything else going on with them, it was time that they really needed to work shit out.
There was another reason he’d lain awake last night. He’d been waiting for the sound of Dez’s Shadow firing up and roaring off into the night. Around sunrise he’d finally drifted off grateful it hadn’t come.
“Going down is going to be awesome after everything it’s gonna take for us to get up there,” Tripp remarked.
“In my experience, going down is almost always awesome,” Riley shot back.
The sinfully filthy look that Tripp shot him nearly melted his socks off. Add in the way Tripp licked his lips and Zakk was left with the sudden impulse to grab him by the hand and drag him all the way back to one of their rooms so he could demonstrate exactly how amazing it could be.
“Man, if Zakk were a cat, I’d say you were the catnip plant he was ready to gobble up,” Riley remarked, as an image of Tripp with his pants around his ankles, head tipped back as he whined flashed through Zakk’s brain so fast it took his breath away.
“If shit turns X rated, just remember that you were the one to egg it on,” Zakk quipped.
“Dude, I don’t wanna know what kind of freaky shit you two get up to,” Riley replied. “I need brain bleach god damnit! There is an image of the two of you in some weird Spiderman position trying to fuck one another as you crawl up the wall.”
Zakk sputtered, nearly choking on the bottled water he’d been drinking.
“Great, nowIneed brain bleach,” Tripp replied. “Please tell me you weren’t picturing that, costumes and all.”
“How else would I have known it was Spiderman?” Riley remarked with that trademark Riley shrug. “Naked and you could have been Thor for all I’d known.”
“How!” Tripp sputtered. “I would like to know how that can even be a thing you think about!”
“Well between your hair and the muscles, it could have been a toss-up.”
“Oh my god!” Zakk bellowed. “Why are you indulging him in this?”
“Because it amuses me. I’ve got half a mind to try and write a song about this shit.”
“What are you gonna do with the other half of your mind while the first one’s writing?”
Now that stopped the three of them in their tracks. Tripp alternated between opening and closing his mouth like he was going to fire off an answer and blinking in disbelief.
“Yeah, I got nuthin’” Zakk muttered.
“Bullshit,” Tripp remarked. “You’ve got a hellova lot more than a mouthful, that’s what you’ve got.”
Riley sputtered, while Zakk pinched the bridge of his nose, hoping the riggers weren’t listening to this conversation, but one look at their faces when they stepped up to the lines, and it was clear to see they’d heard every word. He liked this place. The two man and one woman crew looked like they were trying their damndest not to crack up and laugh along with them. Judging by the way he was trying to hide his grin behind his hand, even as tears leaked from the corners of his eyes, one of them was having a difficult time with it.
“Are you enjoying your stay?” his rigger asked.
“We needed this,” Zakk said. “I might make a follow-up appointment before I go.”
“That would be wise, especially if you have a specific season in mind.”
“No, just the inevitable need to get away.”
“In that case, avoid winter. Seems like the claws come out over those dates.”
“I’ll remember that.”
Harness, lines, everything attached and triple checked, then it was nothing but him and the hand grips. Stretching his arm out to reach one did more than loosen tight muscles, it eased the tension in his neck, elongated his torso, made sucking in a deep, full breath easy as he hauled himself a little higher. Thought, worries, even the laughter they’d shared on the trip down drifted out of his mind, paving the way for a warm, empty focus. There was nothing but him and the next grip. Each color represented a different level. He could climb up the easy ones and practically race to the top, or he could draw out the climb by challenging himself to use only the hardest ones.