“What the hell was that allabout?”
“I told her I’d rather climb without a harness, and she said it was not an option. These straps cling to all the wrong places, man. I hatethem.”
Laughing, Aidan slid the helmet on and looped its strap before replying. “Guess, you’d hate a cracked skullmore.”
“Easier for him to crack the pavement instead.” Tristan’s amused remark sounded right behind Aidan. “He thinks his head is harder than theground.”
“Not as hard as yours,” Noah retorted, then turned to Aidan. He leaned close to Aidan’s ear and cupped his mouth as if to tell a secret, but spoke loud enough for Tristan to hear him. “I’ve been trying to convince him to start a rock band for almost two decades. He just won’tlisten.”
That sent Aidan’s pulse racing and piqued his already keen interest in the two Americans. Their dynamic evidenced their long term good relationship, which Aidan considered essential for a music group to thrive. His previous two experiences died before they had a chance to start mostly due to internal rivalries and inflated egos. Noah and Tristan’s friendship constituted a positive sign the universe was sending him, if Aidan ever needed one. He would stick around those guys to learn more about theirplans.
“Sounds awesome. I want to hear all about it after I kick your ass in this competition,though.”
“Ah, the naiveté of youth. I miss it.” Noah clamped a hand on Aidan’s shoulder. “You think you can beat old Uncle Noah here just because you barely left kindergarten, eh? I’ll show your sorry Irish arse who’s the boss of wall climbing aroundhere.”
“I bet you’ve been doing this way longer than me, but that doesn’t mean you’d do it better. Orfaster.”
Noah and Tristan boisterous laughter was contagious. Aidan laughed along, not sure why he didthough.
“What?” he inquired, when the Americans looked at himfunny.
Tristan set the record straight. “Noah’s never climbed as much as afence.”
“You guys ready?” the lady with the pink hair asked in English thistime.
Aidan nodded, and Noah seconded him. They followed the woman, and she deftly hooked their harnesses to the ropes dangling from the top of the twenty-three feet wall. With no more than eight feet in width, the climb could become cramped for the two men and their wideshoulders.
Dragging his stare all the way to the top, Aidan assessed the difficulty and decided he had done much worse than that route. The inclination was not as steep as the wall in which he used to practice for the college competitions. The top was not as overhanging as most of the competition walls Aidan had won in thepast.
Glancing sideways, he spotted Noah’s knitted eyebrows as he also surveyed the challenge ahead of them. “Care to make this moreinteresting?”
“Sure, but I don’t bet money,” Noah promptlyexplained.
“Me either. You’ve got something way more valuable to methough.”
“Whichis?”
“A rockband.”
“I don’t have it yet, but I intend to. If I get my blockheaded childhood friend around to agreeing to start it, ofcourse.”
Aidan swept his gaze around and confirmed Tristan wasn’t withinearshot.
The pink-haired instructor raised an arm above her head. “On yourmarks.”
They stepped ahead to the two yellow lines marked with tape on the wooden floor of thepier.
Before she told them to get ready, Aidan turned his head to the right, and dropped his voice. “How about this? If I win, you let me join your band. If you win, I’ll help you convince Tristan to start aband.”
The woman shouted, “Go!” And he didn’t wait for Noah’s reply before sprinting forward andupward.
Years of training and competing in the college circuit gave Aidan an unfair advantage over his naïve American competitor, but he didn’t consider that cheating. He had plans for their future together, and he wouldn’t apologize for coming on strong to get their band where he envisioned it shouldbe.
At the top. Which Aidan reached before Noah got to climb the first third of thewall.
Laughing his head off, he high-fived the monitor standing on a platform on the top of the wall. But, he didn’t join her there. Instead, he looped the rope under his butt and between his legs, then secured it inside the pulley above his head, locking it. He swayed on the impromptu rope swing, his feet dangling free, the ocean breeze cooling the sweat that made his shoulder-length dark hair cling to his neck. Luckily, the ponytail kept it away from his face, so he drank in the breathtaking view of the bay and the bridge in front, and the mountainsbehind.
When Noah got close enough, Aidan stretched his hand and pulled him up, helping the monitor hoist the out-of-breath American onto the flat platform. He joined them withouteffort.
As they unhooked the ropes and climbed in the open elevator to get down, Noah grinned like a little boy unwrapping a birthday present. “Impressive. Where did you learn to climb likethat?”
“Collegecompetitions.”
Noah scratched his head, then burst laughing. “Guess you didn’t think that bet through, boy? How the hell are you going to join my band if I don’t haveone.”
“Well, you will when I help you campaign for it, right?” Aidan winked, but it took a moment for his meaning to sinkin.
“Sneaky little bastard. I likeyou!”
