Teach Me To Live (Teach Me - Book One) (27 page)

“Madison,”

I interrupted my father. “So, I’m telling you that I’m not asking for your permission. I’m asking for your support. I’m asking you to give me your opinion, to which I will take into consideration, always. But I’m not asking for your permission. I will make my own choices regarding the people I spend my time with, the places I go, and the schooling I choose to attend. It is my life and I have a dream I intend to follow. I’d really like it if you were there to walk beside me and offer your support when you can, but I don’t need you to tell me how to live my days.”

To my surprise, my father nodded. “When are you planning on leaving?”

“For camping?” I squeaked, surprised to have acquired his support so quickly, and well, easily.

“Yes,” he nodded. “For camping?”

“Tomorrow.”

“We’re taking the detour!” Raina clapped excitedly bouncing in her seat.

We were in Kaiden’s truck, as his truck had back seats that Austin’s didn’t have. Unlike Austin’s old nineteen-something, Chevy truck, Kaiden had a big black 2015 Dodge Ram. It was a beauty, but I loved the comfortable feel of Austin’s old truck. The seats were so much springier, and the ride as a whole, felt different.

I was sitting on the middle seat at Austin’s insistence, and his arm was around me. Raina was sitting up in the front passenger seat and Kaiden was driving.

“The detour, as in the one we used to take years ago?” Kaiden asked, somewhat hesitantly.

“Well, yeah,” Raina bobbed her head. “Maddy hasn’t been and I think it will be fun. Come on people, adventure. This is a month of pure, delicious, heart racing adventure.”

This girl has to be an adrenaline junkie to string those words together in a sentence. I could only imagine the horrors this detour would bring upon me. If there was anything that I wasn’t—it was an adrenaline junkie. I didn’t like carnival rides and I hated the thought of hiking up a steep part of a mountain or even doing something like rock climbing. I knew rock climbing was controlled and whatnot, but I wasn’t particularly keen on heights. The adventure I had been raised to appreciate consisted of Alaskan cruises, safe sandy beaches, and resorts. I’d never really been given the opportunity to crave the adrenaline kind of adventure.

“Exactly what is the detour?” I asked, feeling my heart begin to beat unsteadily.

“Ah,” she wrenched around to look into the back seat. “You will
love
it!”

I didn’t think she knew me well enough to determine that with accuracy, but I nodded regardless. “Sure.”

At this, Austin laughed. “I think it’s a great idea, Raina.”

“Really?” Kaiden raised his brows in the rearview mirror. “You think Madison will like this?”

“Raina’s right, Kai,” Austin nodded, grinning. “This is a month of living life to the fullest. Besides, we have to teach Madison, here, to let loose a little, and live.”

Kaiden’s grin matched his brother’s in the mirror. I felt my stomach knot, but I agreed against all my better judgments and fears. I was through allowing my fear to guide my every move. I was through allowing my anxiety to cage me. I was through not living my life to the fullest extent possible. So, I replied with a sureness I didn’t exactly feel, “Yes, a summer to live.”

“Woohoo!” Raina cheered, holding up her bottle of iced tea. “To a summer of living!”

I giggled, feeling the knotting in my belly, that was of course still there, morph into something more. Something akin to excitement.

I couldn’t exactly say where we were, but we had been driving West toward Jasper and the mountains we intended to spend a few days camping in, before Kaiden turned the nose of his truck to the South. I knew the North Saskatchewan River was somewhere in this direction, but apart from that, I wasn’t sure what we were doing or where we were going. With each minute that passed us by, however, I felt Austin’s excitement grow.

Kaiden pulled his truck to a stop when the gravel road ended, and I felt my own excitement drop into something that felt a whole lot like dread. On top of not being much for adrenaline, I also wasn’t one for surprises. I liked to see what was coming for me well before it hit me in the face. This time, I knew no matter how many times I asked what we were doing or where we were going, I was going to get the same infuriatingly vague response. “You’ll see.”

I hated that response.

The truck’s engine turned quiet and before I knew what was happening, the doors were opening and bodies were jumping down from the cab.

“Austin,” I hissed his name when he disappeared from beside me to stand on the outside of the cab. “What on earth are we doing?”

“Come and see.” He winked his heart stopping blue eye at me and I glowered.

“How about you tell me.”

Raina popped her blonde head around Austin to announce. “I promise you’ll love it. You might not think you’ll love it, but as soon as you do it, you’ll see.”

“Um,”

Austin reached into the truck. His hands moved to capture my waist and then he was dragging me across the seat and from the truck. My feet connected with solid ground as I peered anxiously up at him. His hand moved to grab the back of my neck and then he pressed his lips to mine. “I want to ask you to do this for you, beautiful. But since I know you probably won’t, I’m going to ask you to do this for me.”

I palmed his shoulder, pushing him gently away as I huffed, “You do not play fair, Austin Weir.”

He grinned. “Would you prefer me to play fair?”

Eyeing him seriously, I decided that no, I really would not like for him to play fair. Austin playing fair would be boring as all hell, and I quite enjoyed the times he shocked me. So, rather than taking the safe road, I said, “No. I wouldn’t prefer that.”

“Good,” he said. He cocked a grin that made my heart flip in my chest. Then his hand moved to mine and he weaved his fingers through it.

We met Kaiden and Raina who were standing on the other side of the truck. They were both grinning like they had a secret and Kaiden had a black backpack thrown over his shoulder. I wondered what was inside, but I didn’t have the courage to ask.

“This way,” Kaiden announced trudging toward the thick overgrowth surrounding what was once a beaten down path. I wondered if it was animals who had made this path, and abandoned it, or humans. Again, I didn’t ask because I was almost afraid of the answer. I mean, what if we encountered a wild animal or something?

The path wasn’t nearly large enough for us to walk side by side, therefore Raina followed Kaiden, I followed Raina, and Austin followed me. The further we walked, the more certain I was that we were coming close to water. I was pretty sure that there was a river nearby because the sound of water crashing against rocks was very similar to the sound of the river behind Austin and Kaiden’s house.

Still, I didn’t say anything. I just walked deeper into the trees.

A bridge came into sight before the river did. It wasn’t an overly large bridge and it didn’t appear to cater to an overly busy road, but still, it was a bridge. It was about six or so meters above the water. Below, the water was calm. It was a beautiful and somewhat broken image. The bridge wasn’t a pretty one with wooden planks and red painted railings as one might imagine, but instead, it was thick and concrete, something the ever-changing Alberta weather wouldn’t damage. Bulky concrete pillars were the foundation holding up an even bulkier guard railing. The bridge was only two lanes, one for each direction of traffic and the shoulders weren’t very wide, so the bridge itself wasn’t large by any stretch of the imagination. But that wasn’t what made it a beautiful picture.

This image was beautiful because of the thick and plush trees. They stretched into the brilliant blue of the sky overhead. The deep and somewhat dark green of spruce trees fringed the vibrant strands of the grass swaying delicately in the minimal breeze. There was a concrete road that came and went, disappearing around the bend, seemingly lost in trees. The same could be said for the calm stretch of the river that snaked through the land. The image in its entirety, broken bridge and all, was a perfect representation of peace.

This was not adrenaline.

“What do you think?” Austin asked beside me. His hand moved to hold me around my waist, tugging me into his side.

I didn’t tear my eyes away from the hidden gem. “I think it’s beautiful.”

“Me too,” Austin replied. “Mom and Dad used to bring us out here when we were little with Raina’s parents. We’d hike through the trees and picnic right over there,” He pointed to a small patch of grass that overlooked the rocky descent into the river. “And when we got older and started coming out without our parents, we would jump into the water—from the bridge.”

Okay—that was adrenaline at it’s finest.

I gasped, “You did not!”

“We did,” he grinned. “And we’re going to do it again.”

“Oh, I don’t think so,” I shook my head. “You can’t possibly think that’s safe.”

“It’s safe enough. We’ve been doing it for years. Know a bunch of other people who’ve been doing it for years.”

Kaiden jumped into the conversation, “Already done it once this summer.”

My mouth popped open. “You have!” I was stunned. “With who?”

Kaiden pointed to Austin and I gasped once again. “Are you for real?”

“Yeah,” he chuckled. “But it was cold as shit then. The water should be warmer now.”

I frowned, looking once again at the picture that wasn’t really all that beautiful, but more terrifying. “I don’t think this is a good idea.”

“It’s probably not,” Raina said, but then she smiled and shrugged. “But I’m going anyway.”

And then as if the fact that she announced she was jumping off the bridge wasn’t enough, she pulled her shirt off—standing in front of me, Kaiden and Austin, in her bra. My eyes bugged and I hissed. “What are you doing?”

She winked. “Take your clothes off, babe. You’re not going to want them getting wet.”

“Oh my gawwwd!” I shook my head. “You’re stripping down to nothing—like from your bra and panties, too? In broad daylight? In front of people?”

She laughed at this. “No. These goodies,” she pointed to her
goodies.
“Are for my eyes only. Or at least my eyes and the lucky man who convinces me he deserves to see them.” Kaiden groaned and she turned to the bridge, unbuttoning her shorts as she moved. “But my underwear is the same damn thing as my swimsuit and I have no desire to get my clothes all wet—so . . .”

“I get it,” I assured. But she was nuts if she thought I was taking my clothes off in front of
Kaiden!
I still hadn’t even allowed Austin to see me naked or almost naked in broad daylight. I mean, this was so far from an adrenaline introduction I didn’t know what to do.

“Kai, you jump with me,” Raina instructed. “Once we’ve assured Maddy that she will live when she jumps, maybe she won’t be so afraid.”

“Who said I’m jumping?”

Raina smirked and it didn’t take me long to realize what she was smirking at. Austin had leaned down to announce darkly in my ear. “You’re jumping, sweetheart. If I have to pick you up into my arms and jump with you, you’ll be in that water.” He paused and I shivered. “I suggest you take off your clothes—unless you feel like driving all the way to Jasper wet.”

“Don’t think so, babe,” Kaiden shook his head his eyes pinned on me. “Strip, Maddy. Your ass isn’t sitting wet in my truck.”

Oh, my god, the world really has tipped on its axis. My boyfriend’s brother was telling me to strip in front of the woman I was pretty sure he loved, and my boyfriend wasn’t saying anything in my defense. I mean, in what world was this normal?

Oh hell, this wasn’t normal. Not. At. All.

I opened my mouth to say that I had no intention of stripping or jumping into the river from the edge of the bridge, when Austin’s hands were suddenly gripping me, lifting me right off my feet. I screeched, “What are you doing? Oh no, nonono!” I shook my head, struggling against him as he walked me closer to the ledge. “Austin, stop!” I screamed and he laughed.

He set me on my feet near the edge of the bridge where an almost naked Raina was standing, grinning like a crazy person. Hell, maybe they were all nuts.