High Risk (10 page)

“Right off the bat Xavier attempted an innovative move. But because the distance was
impossible for individual success, he gave up instead of sharing it with the rest
of you. His idea could have triggered others.

“Tripp—you’ve got more sheer upper body strength than anyone else here. Devon, your
agility set you into a starting position fast and easy. Alisha—you will be able to
hit that hold, and once you’re there you’ve got the flexibility for moves these guys
can only dream of. Since you’re the lightest, you also have other advantages.”

“So we can’t complete this challenge on our own?” Tripp asked.

Becki shrugged. “Maybe you could, but as a team
maybe
goes all the way up to
yes
. And if that’s the difference between saving someone’s life or not, which is more
important? Getting to crow as an individual, or sharing the celebration among the
team?”

She moved to face them all, her back toward the climbing wall. “I’m going to make
some wild assumptions right now, but I doubt I’m wrong. When you heard that Marcus
had asked me to come train you, I bet what instantly came to mind were things like
Devon mentioned that night at the pub.
Becki James’s
reputation as a climber extraordinaire. My solo records here at the school, my famous
single-handed rescue last year. Am I wrong?”

Tripp shook his head. “Can you blame us?”

“Not for it being the first thing you thought of, but I’ll be damned if it should
have been the last thing you focused on.” Becki planted her fists on her hips. “This
isn’t school boot camp. You’re not trying to win a job placement; you have one. You’re
no longer six individuals, but a team. Every single training exercise should be done
with that in mind, even if your instructors fail to emphasize the fact.

“Don’t try to be me. I got lucky. You guys are the ones who got attention for your
joint skills, your teamwork. You’re all incredible individuals, but as Lifeline, you’re
a whole lot more. Don’t forget that. You fought for that honor. You deserve that honor.
Now don’t let yourselves slack off—don’t let your teammates take the easy way out—fight
to keep making
the team
stronger.”

Alisha’s chin had lifted. Devon grinned. Someone clapped and the entire team joined
in, the staccato sound echoing off the walls and ringing in his ears. Becki’s cheeks
flushed red, but she smiled.

Marcus wanted to give her more than a standing ovation.

“Go on.” Becki waved them off. “You’re done, at least with me. Check your schedule
for the rest of the day, and I’ll see you tomorrow.”

Marcus waited until the gym was empty, the gear put away as the crew left one by one.
“I’m still applauding. That was damn impressive.”

Becki blew a sigh of relief. “That . . . is reassuring. I’m a little lost right now,
feeling my way, and I don’t want to mess this up.”

“Training my team?”

“That, and the teaching gig in a month for David. Just—starting a new life in a way.”
She laughed, bitterness in the sound. “A new life because there’s still so damn many
holes in the old one, I can’t walk forward without falling out the bottom.”

“Hey.” Marcus caught her by the arm. “You go on and listen to your own lecture. You
don’t have to do this alone. I said I’d help you. The team will help you.”

She paused. Nodded. “You’re right. You’re right, and I said I was going to face the
future and move on. Damn yo-yo emotions.”

“Girl stuff. Can’t help you there.”

Another laugh escaped her. “Don’t be an ass.”

“What?” He slapped her on the shoulder lightly, guiding her toward the offices. “In
the interest of teamwork, I have a suggestion. We talked yesterday about the schedule
for training Lifeline. How about we do the same for our training sessions, so you
have that in place?”

Becki looked him over with a wide-eyed wonder, as if she were surprised he hadn’t
also spouted off some sexual innuendo, as he’d done at every other opportunity up
to now.

“If you’re serious, that would be wonderful. Occasionally doing things last minute
is fun, but I like being organized. Thank you.”

He ignored the sexual side of the equation for a moment. Taking advantage of the attraction
between them seemed a very . . . selfish . . . thing. After her sermon on the matter,
perhaps focusing on the teamwork they needed was the right thing to do.

At least for now. He still planned on getting them back into bed. On trapping all
her wild energy and excitement, and soaking in it. But not today.

Agendas didn’t have to be abandoned. Sometimes they could simply be delayed.

CHAPTER
10

The phone rang.

Marcus ignored it.

His cell phone rang, and he let it go to messages.

The curtains were drawn, the room was dark, and he wanted to crawl under something
and hide.

The fact that he had heard the ring was probably a good sign. Only probably, because
along with awareness of the pain came the realization that while it was dark in the
room, there was light sneaking around the edges of the curtains. Daytime—no interior
lights on—and together that could only mean one thing.

His ghosts had taken over. Now the question was, how long had he been gone this time?

The landline rang again. He reached over the edge of the couch to the side table,
picked up the receiver, thumbed the mute button, and slammed the phone back on the
table.

The pounding in his head was nothing new. He dimly remembered that searing pain in
his left hand had woken him in the middle of the night—and wasn’t that just fucking
great? That something that wasn’t even there anymore could still hurt that damn much.

Marcus grabbed a drink from the fridge and dropped back onto the couch, stared at
the shadows on the walls, and waited for the darkness inside to go away.

He wasn’t sure how long he sat there. Minutes? Hours?

The front door opened.

He moved instinctively. The crash of the bottle hitting the door frame sang out the
same moment his brother swore.

“Shit, stop. It’s me. David. What the hell?”

God.
He didn’t want to explain ever again. Didn’t want to talk. Marcus grabbed the arm
of the couch and held on for dear life. “Get out.”

David was already stooping to pick up the broken glass from the floor. “No can do.
You’ve been MIA for three full days. According to our agreement, I’m allowed to come
kick your butt at this point.”

Shit. Three days meant Thursday. Still, he wasn’t ready to move. “I can throw something
else at you if you want. I’m changing the goddamn rules. Get out. Now.”

David laughed, the glass echoing as it hit the sides of the metal garbage can, sending
shards of pain through Marcus’s temples. “Nice try. I’m not listening.”

He came and sat on the coffee table directly in front of Marcus.

Marcus’s jaw ached from grinding his teeth. He glared at David, hoping his expression
alone would be enough to persuade his brother to turn and walk away.

David raised a brow. “Interesting. Does the caveman-slash-madman look work well on
women?”

“Fuck. You.” Marcus dragged his hand through his hair, then changed his mind, pointing
at the door instead. “I’m not ready for an intervention. Tomorrow.”

David’s cocky smile faded, replaced with sympathy. “Look, normally I’d leave you alone.
I understand you have . . . issues. But this time is different. No extensions. Deal
with it.”

“Dammit, David.”

“She’s threatening to come over here.”

Marcus stopped cold. “Who?”

“Becki. When you didn’t show up at training a couple days back, I covered for you.
Hoped you’d be out of your funk quicker than usual. This time you have to choose to
drag yourself back to the real world, bro. Once I assured her you weren’t deathly
sick or something, she got royally pissed. She’s ready to kick my ass, your ass. Hell,
she’s been kicking your team’s ass—you might want to consider pulling yourself together
for their sake.”

“What the hell has she been doing with the team?” He slid forward in his seat.

David hesitated, then spat it out. “She’s kind of taken them over. You had all the
rest of their training organized, but when you didn’t show up, she stepped in and
has been running the show. She thinks you jammed out on her. Something about missing
training plans, and ignorant assholes . . . and there was more, but I was trying to
keep far enough away from her that she couldn’t hit me, so I might have missed a few
of the more choice swear words.”

Marcus laughed before he realized what he was doing. Her actions were twisted enough
to break through the pain. Only Becki.

David nodded. “I thought that might get your attention. Come on. I get it that you
need time, but grab a shower. I’ll make you some food. You need to get moving or don’t
blame me when Genghis Khan shows up here to haul you out to the training centre.”

The idea of anyone calling sweet Becki terrible names was funny as shit. “In spite
of the fact I still feel like crap, fine. I’ll be there.”

His brother stood and pulled him off the couch, shoving him toward the back of the
house. “Shower. You’re currently the nearest thing Canada’s got to a nuclear meltdown
situation.”

“Get the fuck out. I can wash my own ass.” Marcus paused in the doorway to his bedroom
to confirm that his brother hadn’t followed him or did something stupid. Fortunately,
David had headed to the kitchen and was ignoring him. “You’re a bloody pain, you know
that?”

“Dickhead,” David shouted back easily. “God, what died in your fridge?”

Marcus retreated to the shower. His head still throbbed, but his curiosity was high
enough to drag himself out of the house. After he’d shoveled in whatever David managed
to drop before him.

He hadn’t tasted a thing, too intent on discovering what kind of punishment he would
have to take for disappearing without an explanation. Because he had a feeling Becki
hadn’t liked it one bit.

There was no sign of anyone in the gym, even though he recognized the cars in the
parking lot. Marcus checked the pool, the weight room, the boardroom. No one. Frustrated,
he pulled out his phone and called her.

“Marcus. How nice. Where the hell have you been?”

The chill in her voice shouldn’t have made his dick harden. “Taking a vacation. The
palm trees were calling my name. Where are you, and what’s this bullshit I hear about
you taking over my team?”

“Well, you weren’t there. Someone had to do it. And if you have any more ideas of
talking smack to me, shut up now, because I won’t take it. You left without a word.
I did my job and you weren’t there, which means I’m not the one who’s a bastard. Also?
I don’t care about excuses. You’re three days behind on the training you and I specifically
sat down and planned, and if you think I’m going to let you fuck with my head anymore
in terms of spouting off about teamwork and shit? Dream on.”

The violent sexual attraction he felt as she called him out wasn’t right. His urge
to track her down and fold her over the nearest flat object so he could fuck the hell
out of her wasn’t normal.

But he was honest enough to admit he wanted to. “Issues of you and my training aside,
you didn’t answer the question. Where are you?”

“Outside.”

“Oh, that’s helpful. We’re in the middle of a one-and-a-half-million-acre national
park. It’s damn big outside, Becki. How about a more specific clue?”

“You’re the goddamn search-and-rescue ace, so search.”

The line went dead, and he swore. Stomped out the gym doors to start a calculated
hunt.

He found them at the far end of the building. Or more accurately, he found them
on
the far end of the building. Running across the roof. Marcus bit back the shout that
wanted to escape, ordering them all to the ground.

Couldn’t interrupt like that, not only because it wasn’t safe. Frightening one of
them into a wrong move could send them tipping toward the earth—no crash mats, no
protective gear.

He was going to find Becki and rip her a new one for whatever the hell game she was
playing with his team.

He was spotted before he took more than two paces into their line of sight. Tripp’s
call was followed by brief waves from the squad before they ignored him and continued
moving forward, the entire group bunched up and hanging on to each other.

Marcus hurried his step, trying not to stomp like some pissed-off juvenile. He got
to the edge of the parking lot in time to observe them forming a human chain, lowering
Tripp from the top of the two-story building to the narrow flat-topped roof over the
entrance doors to the gym. With him acting as anchor, one by one the team crawled
their way to the ground. Alisha was the last to be lowered, dropping from his hands
into the outstretched reach of Devon.

She settled against him for a second, face to face, before they flew apart like two
positive magnetic charges. They jerked around to gaze intently back at Tripp, last
man on the building.

He made as if to jump, and Becki sang out, “Forget it. You want to start all over?
Don’t be impatient and blow it now.”

Marcus hadn’t seen her, leaning against the smooth wood of a birch as she stared at
Tripp, glancing at her stopwatch.

Xavier and Anders rushed forward and formed a cradle with their arms. Alisha stepped
into it and stood, instantly lifted high enough to catch hold of Tripp’s fingers as
the man reached down from his sitting position.

Somehow they pulled him off the roof and caught them both, Tripp changing places with
Alisha, Devon there to help them both to the ground, like some intricate cheerleading
routine. The five of them rushed forward to tag the tree Becki leaned on.

She clicked off the stopwatch and sighed heavily, totally ignoring Marcus as he stomped
over to join their circle.

“No. Please, no—tell me we did it faster this time,” Xavier groaned.

The others added their pleas, Anders dropping to sit next to Devon in a heap. “If
we messed up again, I’d like to suggest something easy instead. Like a five-mile run.”

Becki spun the stopwatch around, and they all leaned forward to peer at it.

Their shrieks of delight nearly drowned out her words.

“Good job. You’re done. Showers, stretch, and tomorrow I’ll let you play with ropes.”

“Thanks, Becki,” Alisha called, already racing toward the change room doors. “Hi,
Marcus. We missed you.”

Sure they had. The team scattered quickly enough he managed to contain his anger until
the last one was gone.

Becki grabbed her bag from her feet, turning without a word toward the building.

“Oh no, you don’t walk away from me without telling me what the hell you were doing
with my team.”

“Training them,” Becki shouted over her shoulder as she kept going.

“They were on the fucking roof with no gear.”

Becki planted a hand on the door handle and tossed him an evil glare. “They were never
allowed to be more than two feet from another team member any time they moved. They
were each other’s protective gear. They were being a team, which, if you had been
here at the start, you would have known was the goal of the session.” She bolted through
the door before he could stop her.

He was going to go out of his goddamn mind.

Marcus jerked the handle to discover she’d locked it. By the time he’d dug in his
pocket and found the correct key to open the stupid thing, she’d disappeared. The
gym was completely empty.

He marched across to the women’s change room and stormed in.

Becki turned from the lockers and dropped her fists to her hips. “Excuse me? Get out.
Alisha is showering.”

“Climbing the outside of buildings is illegal and dangerous. I thought you’d gotten
that kind of immature stunt out of your system years ago.”

She stared him down. “Well, if you don’t like my teaching methods, you can take over.
Or you can show up on time so we can discuss things first, and we’ll all be much happier.”

She spun on her heel and headed toward the showers.

“We’re not done,” Marcus snapped. “I’m supposed to train you. Help you work yourself
back up to being safe on the wall.”

Her pace slowed before she rotated on one heel, arms crossed in front of her chest.
“I don’t feel like climbing right now, thank you.”

“I don’t fucking care what you feel like. Gear up.” His roar echoed off the walls,
made even louder by the fact that the shower had cut off.

Alisha stuck her head cautiously around the corner, water dripping from her hair.
She glanced between the two of them. “Umm, everything okay?”

“Just a discussion of training methods.” Becki’s voice came out rational and calm.
Light-years away from the maniacal asshole he must have sounded like. “Marcus. Wait
for me in the gym, please.”

Great. He slammed out the door and paced the floor, fighting to bring his temper back
under control. Slowing his breathing, making the effort to look around and consider
what training he could possibly do with Becki that didn’t involve him tying her up
and either spanking her ass or fucking her blind.

This wasn’t what he needed. Not today, not with pain still pulsing through his brain
and his arm aching. Although, to be honest, usually after he’d experienced an episode,
or whatever he wanted to call them, he’d be exhausted and pissed for days.

Now he was pissed, but strangely energized. He had enough in him to want to take Becki
over his knees and—

“Bye, Marcus.” Alisha again, sneaking out of the change room with a towel still wrapped
around her head, basically racing for the exit.