"I mean, yeah, you got a straight shot to the edge of town, but it's going to be hell getting down this giant rocky cliff, and don’t even talk about getting up." Bricks relayed as he held his hands over the brim of his cowboy hat to shield the mid-morning sun shining brightly in his face. He looked down on a sizeable rock-laden hill with random evergreen trees shooting from its side and stretching towards the sky. At the bottom of the hill lay the edge of the town of Rocky Mount. You could see some sparse trees leading into a large open lot with a considerable building sitting in the middle. The lot had no neighboring buildings, and across the street, there were some businesses. The rocky hill sprawled for miles to the right and a shorter distance to the left, where it met a small road leading into the Rocky Mount.

"I can get up and down it, no problem." Alexia flippantly stated.

"We all can't be super athletes’ girl. I think the best bet is the road to the left." Bricks replied

"You think they won't have the roads covered during the meeting?" Alexia questioned, just a touch of condescension in her voice.

"Yeah, but you think they are just going to turn a blind eye to the giant hill that leads into town. Both these people have armies at their disposal; I don’t think manpower will be an issue for them." Bricks shot back with a just slight hint of frustration creeping into his tone.

"Well, there you go! I guess we just rely on INVISIBLE BOY and call it a day." Alexia quipped as the venom dripped from her tongue in reference to Scott.

"You gotta let this Scott thing go, girl. It ain't healthy. It's been years now." Bricked said to his smaller blonde companion.

"Must be lonely on that soapbox." Alexia sniped back as she pushed her feet against the rocks at the top of the hill to test their sturdiness.

"Don't go biting my head off, girl. I ain't the enemy, and neither is Scott." The prominent hulking man responded while trying to maintain his calm. He felt caught in the middle of a drama storm that could threaten the mission.

"You just can't let this go, can you." Alexia removed her hair from its ponytail angrily. She ran her hands through her hair and then grabbed the back and redid her ponytail with a quickness and precision that was impressive and almost tactical.

"You always have to push it, Bricks! First, stop calling me girl! I am a woman. I am sure the women you usually talk to find it charming but, I find it patronizing. Second, who the hell are you to tell me how to feel and how long to feel it?! You never stay long enough to develop feelings for a woman, so how could you know what it feels like to have the man you love tell you that he doesn't want a relationship? It's not me, right? You just don’t want a relationship! Well, not three months go by, and suddenly he has a girlfriend. How the hell is that supposed to make me feel Bricks?" Tears began to well up in Alexia's eyes, and her voice began to crack despite her attempts to fight it back. This eruption of volcanic proportion had clearly been in the making for quite some time. The emotional lava would scorch everything in its path, which could be a problem for Bricks as he was the only one around to absorb it.

"Should I feel great about myself? No, I should just let it go, huh? Now that he married HER, who must be so much better than me? Right? I mean, she must be, and then to top it all off, he has a baby! It seems like a good time to let it go! I loved him! I did everything for him! I mean everything! He was supposed to marry me, and we were supposed to have kids!" The tears were now streaming relentlessly down her cheeks one after another. Thankfully she was not wearing any eye makeup.

"I...uh...um" Bricks was truly speechless for one of the few times he could recall. He searched the ends of his brain, trying to find the right words, but none seemed fitting.

"Thanks for making me cry, you jerk!" Alexia bent down into a crouching position with her hands covering her face.

"Shoot, I'm not so good with the crying stuff. Should I hug you or maybe call Yumi on the earpiece?" Bricks pointed to his earpiece.

"I swear if you touch that earpiece or me, I will remove your manhood and feed it to you!" Alexia's tone sounded very much like that was not an idle threat. Brick’s hand instinctively shot down to his crouch in a defensive posture.

"Dang gir...uh Alexia. I just want to help." Bricks patted his groin gently to seemingly reassure the boys down there that everything was going to be alright.

"Take pictures of everything around here on your phone, and let's get back to camp. I'm going to sit down for a minute, by myself. Just please don't talk to me for a little bit." Alexia walked away from where they were standing and disappeared into the woods.

"Alright," Bricks said and sighed. Relieved that conversation was over, Bricks pulled out his phone and went on snapping pictures. Part of him told him to follow Alexia and try to console her. Thankfully the other parts of him decided that part was stupid, dangerous for his manhood regions, and he ignored it.

Bricks snapped pictures of the surrounding area from every angle that he could reasonably reach and lingered an extra 15 minutes to let Alexia collect herself before walking back towards the camp. He saw Alexia not far off, sitting under a tree staring off into the distance. Tears were no longer streaming down her face, which Bricks assumed was a good sign. Her eyes were a little red and puffy but not overly noticeable.

"You ready to head back." Bricks extended his arm to the woman sitting under the tree. Alexia took Brick's large hand, her hand disappeared inside his large bear paw, and she pulled herself to her feet. She gave the hulking man a quick hug.

"Sorry I blew up on you. You didn't deserve ALL of it." Alexia said as they began walking side by side to the campground.

"I get it. I really do. I am a lightning rod for emotions from women. Usually, it's passion, but sometimes it can go the other way." Bricks said with a sly smile.

"I think the other way you're referring to is called regret." Alexia nudges him in the ribs with her elbow.

"Very funny. Now I gotta ask one question and promise not to get mad at me?' Bricks asked

"I can't make any promises on that," Alexia said

"Fine. Back there when you said you did everything for Scott? Were you talking about butt stuff?" As soon as the question left Brick's mouth, the fist of the much smaller blonde woman next to him flew into his upper arm.

"Jerk!" Alexia said to him, fighting back the urge to laugh at the massive dark-skinned cowboy walking next to her.

"That means yes." Bricks said as he quickly moved out of arms reach.