Chapter 29
Water, she couldn't believe she didn't think to bring water. It was the most obvious supply to bring on a hike. Herry had offered Opal a drink from his nalgene a good five times, each time she politely refused. This time when he held out the blue canister she downed a quarter of it. Leaning over she pressed a hand into a cramp in her side as she panted.
"Are you doing alright, we can take a break," he said, taking his water canister back from her extended hand.
"No," she shot out a finger and straightened, falling into step again, "I can do this."
"Okay," he said as he fell into step behind her, a crooked smile pulling at the corner of his lip. He liked her determination, so what if she wasn't quite as athletic as he imagined the perfect woman for him to be, with an attitude like that there was no reason he couldn't convert her.
Her attempt to dress for the outing was adorable. It was dangerous to look too long at her butt in those tight yoga pants. Hair he'd only seen left down was pulled into a crude pony tail, but a bunny tail would have been a more accurate description. They rounded an outcrop and came to the hardest part of the climb. Opal hunched her shoulders and groaned. The path turned into a staircase of rocks a giant would have problems climbing.
"Alright, it's cool," she shook out her hands and placed them on the first rock, coming to her navel. She tossed her leg over the lip of the stone and rolled up and onto her back. Herry chuckled and watched her do it again for the next few rocks. He hopped up behind her and on the last step placed his hands on her hips to lift her up. She gasped in surprise and reached down to dig her short fingernails into his wrists. Wide eyed she turned to face him as he climbed up beside her.
With a valid excuse to touch her, most importantly her ass, he turned her around to brush the dirt and crumpled leaves off the back of her t-shirt and pants, "You're not really suppose to roll up those."
"It worked," she said, brushing off her front.
"I guess it did," he admitted. With a giddy smile he waved his hand as he hopped down the path, "Come on we're almost at the top."
"Good," she said, continuing to walk along the exposed rock of the mountain the trail had morphed into. It was much more flat now, and the trail was wide enough for her to walk beside her date. She started humming as they walked, now that she had the breath to spare. He glanced down at her with his smile that had refused to leave his face since the moment he picked her up an hour prior. She was bouncing along beside him, watching where she placed her dainty little feet. He looked back to his own footing. The rocks on the path poked up and dove down in a jagged surface perfect to trip stray feet, it was unwise to look away for long.
Herry felt a poke on the side of his hand, assuming it was a biting insect he formed his hand into a fist and brushed the side of it against his pants. It was a few seconds before he felt another touch, this time in his palm, but it was too big to be an insect. Herry's heart leapt into his throat when he realized what it was. Opal had slipped her hand into his, intertwining their fingers. The butterflies in his stomach erupted. He looked over to find her sending him a modest smile, glancing up at him through her eyelashes.
"Is this okay?" she asked, squeezing his hand.
"Yeah," he said on a shallow breath. She nodded; her smile growing as she looked back to the path.
The trail ended at the base of a wooden staircase bolted into the mountain rocks. The steps wrapped around the side of a cliff, Opal gripped his hand tighter when she looked over the railing. A shear drop ended in a pile of boulders six stories below.
"Neat huh?" he asked her.
"Sure, you could call it that," she muttered and he smirked. The staircase led them to the top of the mountain, a flat top about the size of a modest front yard of a suburban home, a railing placed all the way around. The plants growing in the cracks of the rocks were stunted and gnarled. The few trees came to waist height at best. With tiny steps Opal led him over to the edge of the railing. The view was spectacular. The late afternoon sun made the ocean sparkle. From this height the city buildings looked like a child's play set. The magnificent costal forest spread out all around, the redwoods creating a rolling sea of green.
"Wow, I can't believe I've never been here before," Opal said. Herry smiled and sat on the rock, tugging her down with him. She followed his lead and let her head rest against his arm after a moment of nervous hesitation. They admired the view together for a moment longer, hands still clasped on their touching knees. He looked up to the blue sky, dabbed with wispy clouds and let the sound of the gusty winds sweeping around the mountains compose their conversation.
"Thanks Herry," she said, leaning against him further.
"For what?" he asked, sending her down a curious gaze.
"For this evening," she picked her head up to meet his eyes, answering him in light hearted cheer, "This is perfect."
Guilt silenced the flock fluttering in his stomach. He looked back to the ocean, every one of his muscles feeling rock heavy. This had not been his doing. He hadn't even wanted this day to happen just yet, when Cronus was still out there. He felt her shift uncomfortably beside him, felt the burning of her stare fall off his face.
With an obvious attempt to change the conversation she ran her fingers over the red marks on his forearm that were sure to leave scars, "I was bitten by a dog once."
"Really?" he snapped his eyes back to her, his curiosity outweighing his guilt.
"Um-hum, when I was little, on my ankle," she said, "It didn't need stitches though, my dad patched it up."
"He didn't rush you to emerge?" he said, a joking tone to his voice.
She laughed, a sound that made the sun shine a little brighter. She flashed her brilliant blue eyes up to him as she spoke, "No, but he did rush the dog straight to the vet to check its shot records."
"I would not want to be the owner of that dog," he said.
"Why?"
"Because I don't ever want to see your father angry," he said and Opal flushed, "and I'm sure he was then."
She looked out at the view and brushed bangs against the side of her face in an effort to hide it from him.
"John's terrifying," he stated.
She chocked back a laugh and flashed her eyes to him for a quick moment, "Why? Compared to you he's small."
"It's not about how big he is," he paused and waited till she glanced up at him in expectation, "It's because he's your dad. Don't get me wrong, I love your dad, he's hilarious, but to someone that's falling for his daughter, he's terrifying."
Her face burned red all the way up to her hairline. She untangled her fingers form his and scotched a breath away. He followed her, pressing his knee against hers again.
"Opal," he said, his voice hardly loud enough to be heard over the gust of wind coming from the ocean, making the stray curls on her head dance.
Her face still bright red, she looked to him.
"I really like being with you," he leaned down to whisper closer to her ear.
"Me too," her voice was only a mumble, he couldn't hear the words but he could see them on her lips. His breathing hitched and his nerves began to jump looking at her slightly parted lips, full and pink, begging him to kiss them. Hesitantly he reached out his hand and gently cupped her cheek in his palm, chilled by the wind. She didn't scream or squirm away, so slowly he leaned his head down to place his lips against hers. His kiss was barely a brush. He couldn't hold it any longer than a second in fear of going into cardiac arrest.
He pulled away and took back his hand, looking down to her in paralyzing curiosity. She watched him silently, her eyes locked onto his and her breath coming in shallow gasps. When she didn't offer him any feedback he got to his feet and rubbed the back of his neck bashfully, his cheeks warm. He hummed as he tried to think of something to say, but couldn't find any words. Panic began to pound through his veins. Had that been a wrong move? He offered down his hand to help her to her feet and instantly went to let go once she was. Only she didn't let him take his hand back.
He watched her bite her lip as she looked away to the ground, anxiety gripping his lungs. If she took any more time his heart was going to burst from his chest. After a painfully long moment, sure to be shorter than he imagined it, she reached up her free hand to place on his shoulder, at the base of his neck. The touch sent a jolt of electricity through him, radiating across his entire body. She rose up on her tiptoes to place a kiss on the bone of his lower jaw; it was as high as she could reach. She dropped back down to flat feet leaving his skin tingling. She gave him a sweet smile, cheeks flushed. A dopey grin wormed its way across his face, he wanted to spin her around, dance, holler off this mountain top… he wanted to vomit.
"Umm," she cleared her throat and asked, "What does this mean?" His guilt rushed right back to punch him in the gut. What was he doing? He couldn't do this, not now. Cronus was too much of a threat to let him start a relationship. He shouldn't have kissed her. It was a stupid mistake to lead her on.
He closed his eyes and sighed, "Before we talk about this I need to tell you something."
"Mmm?" she prompted.
"I wasn't going to ask you out," he bit the inside of his lip and looked out to the ocean, "Theresa kind of set that all up."
"What?" she asked, her voice small. She dropped his hand, but she might have well just tossed her fist in his stomach.
"It's not that I didn't want to," he looked back to her, "I just… my life is really complicated right now and I don't want to pull you into it all."
She blinked at him in confusion and shook her head, "I don't understand."
"I just don't want my problems to become yours."
She bit her lip and nodded, looking up to him with hopeful eyes she asked, "I'm sure it's not that bad, everyone comes with a little bit of drama right?" He swallowed down his bitter laugh and shook his head.
"Opal, I really like you," he said, a desperate plea working its way through on his voice. With a frustrated sigh he continued, "I can't be in a relationship right now, but soon I hope I'll have my problems figured out."
She nodded, the comprehension on her face was not entirely there, but she reached for his hand again and said, "I can wait."
"Yeah?" he asked a crooked smile tugging at the corner of his mouth.
"You're worth it," she said with a smile. She shook off his firm grip on her hand, she wasn't sure if he had realized or not, but his squeezing had kept getting tighter as they talked. She saw the pang of disappointment register on his face before she tossed herself against his chest, wrapping her arms around his middle for a strong hug.
It took his brain a moment to work out exactly what had happened. When it did he relaxed into her embrace, happily returning it as he let out a relived laugh, loud and deep. He couldn't believe the woman standing in front of him, she was so understanding without knowing anything at all. He matched her force and squeezed her firmly.
He didn't know what she saw in him to make her decide to wait. He was sure there were plenty of other guys that would love to have her, guys that were much more charming and confident than he was. Why she wanted to hold off for him he would never know, but words couldn't describe how happy he was that she did.
He could have stayed like that all evening, but before their hug extended for too long he opened his eyes with the intent to pull away. He was met with blood red eyes and a crooked grin smiling at him. Herry tensed, his muscles going rigid as his heart pumped adrenalin through his body.
"Herry?" Opal pushed away to look up to his face, worry on her voice from the sudden change in his mannerism. All he could do before Cronus held the tip of his scythe to his forehead was smash his finger into the panic button on his PMR tucked away in his pocket. A beam of orange light struck him and his world went black.
Opal watched Herry's eyes roll into his head. He fell to his knees. She did her best to cushion his fall to his side, but his head still cracked against the rocks. His name ripped from her throat. She knew nothing about first aid. She called his name over and over. Hands shaking furiously she felt around his head and checked her fingers for blood. Nothing, thank god. She smacked his cheek lightly. He didn't stir. Her insides felt like someone had reached into her mouth, pulled out her stomach and shoved it back in upside down. His chest was raising and falling, that was a good sign. She reached for his pocket with intention for his phone, she could call someone, but someone gripped her wrist.
A panicked squeal jumped from her throat. She whipped her head up with eyes the size of golf balls. The man was big, larger than Herry. Something tugged at her gut. Somehow she knew he wasn't there to help. She latched onto Herry's shirt, wrapping her fists into the green fabric.
"Herry, please, wake up," her tears strangled her voice, "Herry!" Her fists were ripped free from Herry's shirt as she was yanked her to her feet by the stranger. He smiled a cruel expression that froze her blood in her veins.
"Ah, young love," Cronus said as he leaned into her face, opening a portal to pull her through, "it's going to ensure you'll be pursued."
