Page 87 of Fighting With Light

“You split the difference by keeping your underwear and boots on?” I ask her.

She shrugs. “It looks that way, doesn’t it?”

“You are a wild one, Aelia,” I grumble. She grins and starts climbing out, entirely unbothered that sheisessentially naked, sans her boots. I can’t help but smile because that’s something I love about her, she does things then asks questions later, which I realize is quite reckless…but I do it all the time.

“Come on, slow poke!” she yells. And I hurry to follow her.

Once we get to the top, she looks over the edge and then at me. “Together?” she asks.

I smile and hold out my hand. “Together.”

We hold hands, take a few steps back, then run to the edge, launching ourselves off the side. Our hands separate as we fall into the pencil position. The smaller and thinner you make yourself when you fall from certain heights into the water, the better. It won’t knock the air out of your lungs and you won’t hit the water like concrete.

My head bursts to the surface about the same time as Aelia’s and we each take turns, jumping from different heights. I manage to do a backflip off one of the rocks and I can’t stop smiling at her because it feels good to be alive. We’re hidden away at the bottom of a volcano in El Salvador and it’s better than any wave I’ve surfed or any rock formation I’ve ever climbed. And it’s because ofher.

“Liam!” Aelia calls. I look around for her and can’t find her swimming or up on one of the rocks.

“Where are you?” I call.

“Back here!” she yells, and it sounds like it’s coming from the waterfall. I swim over to the edge, wondering how she got back there. You can’t swim under the falls, it’s too heavy, so she must have figured a way around. There’s a section of the falls where the water doesn’t fall as hard, making it easier to go under.

“Come here, Tarzan,” she calls, and like a siren song I follow.

I swim under the softer water and find Aelia sitting on the edge of a rock with her boots and socks next to her while her feet dangle in the water. She found an alcove beneath the falls and there is enough space to sit beneath the rock where the water carved it out. “This is cool,” I tell her and haul myself up next to her.

“I wonder if at night there’s that glowing plankton here,” she says, looking up.

“I think those are just an ocean thing,” I say, wondering if they are here. I know they are at home.

“Oh,” she sighs.

“Maybe I can take you when we get to California?” I ask her.

She smiles and nods. “I would like that.”

My thumb traces her bottom lip, and our eyes meet in the muted light. I don’t know why I do it, I just feel like I have to.

“Liam,” she whispers.

I lean forward and touch my lips to hers. “Later,” I murmur and she seems to take the hint, pressing her mouth to mine. She scrambles to get on my lap. We seem to keep coming back to the water. It feels like a place that calms us both. It’s centering, it washes me clean, it helps me forget the blood on my hands for a moment.

Thrusting my tongue into her mouth, she moans and nips at it as she rubs up against me. I grin, pulling back. “You’re like a feral cat.” I chuckle.

Her face drops into a pout, and she slaps my shoulder playfully. “That’s okay, I like kitties.” I grin. She rolls her eyes and leans to kiss me again. I lift my chin then she bypasses my lips and leans into my neck.

“You’re ridiculous.” She laughs a little and drags her tongue up my neck.

I grip her thighs within my large palms and we’re pressed so tightly together ifshe just moved an inch…

Aelia comes back to my mouth, gripping my hair in her fist and pulling my head back. “I need you,” she whispers.

All she has to do is ask and I will give it to her. I plunder her mouth and drown. Her hand tightens in my hair, and I drag my hands up and down her body, mapping it in my mind.

She whimpers and reaches for my shorts, popping the button.

I groan into the rock and it’s swallowed by the sound of water. She nips my chin and I search for her lips again and she pulses her hips against mine.

“Baby,” I groan.