The world looked endless from up here, and that’s what I loved most about it. It was like standing on a cliff, at the edge of the world. Overlooking an icy kingdom.
“Are you getting the hang of what we’re—”
I shot forward like a rocket, bending my knees low to pick up as much speed as possible. The last thing I saw was Carter’smouth drop open. I zoomed past him, snatched one of his ski poles, and whipped it around to smack him on the ass with it.
THWACK!
It was the most satisfying thing I’d done in like… well, forever, actually.
“H—Hayden?”
Well ahead of him now, I dropped the pole in his ski path and made a beeline for Bodie. He still hadn’t turned around, and was snowplowing with such slow, telegraphed movements I made the split-second decision to ski through his long legs. I felt my ass scrape the snow as I surged forward and through, then whipped my head around just in time to catch his reaction. He looked, quite literally, like someone who’d just seen a ghost.
“Ha-haaa!”
Laughing, tears streaming from my eyes, I plunged through the cold, icy air. Sawyer was just ahead of me now. I skied past him in a flash of red, snatching his hat, howling with glee. I swung my hips from side to side a few times, leaning so low I could feel freshly-fallen powder spraying across my face. Then I cut a quick left; and plunged down a double black diamond marked with the name ‘Nitro.’
“HAYDEN!”
Their collective screams were music to my ears. The boys followed, howling out warnings, trying desperately to keep up with me. They couldn’t. I could tell they were experienced, and maybe even somewhat skilled. Bodie in particular seemed to know what he was doing, as he raced ahead of the others and stayed relatively close on my tail.
Still, there was no way in hell they were catching me.
Down and down I plunged, devouring the moguls, shredding the mountain as efficiently as possible to accrue maximum speed. It was still very early, and we’d been one of the first few groups up. I passed nearly all of them as I swished from trail to trail, ultimately spilling out into the wide, shallow slope that ended in the gathering area, and the main lodge.
By the time all three of them skied up to me, I’d shaken the snow from my hat and was standing there with my gloves off. My jacket was covered in powder from half the mountain, and my face was plastered with a shit-eating grin.
“What the hell wasthat?”Sawyer demanded, chest heaving. Melting snow dripped from the tip of his handsome nose.
“What was what?” I asked sweetly.
“I thought you never skied before!?” cried Carter.
“Oh, I didn’t say that,” I shrugged. “You asked me if I skied, and I told you Idon’tski. I haven’t skied since I was sixteen.”
I winked at them, then let out a laugh.
“But I snowboard all the fucking time.”
~ 7 ~
HAYDEN
The cabin was ensconced by pines; a cozy little getaway that felt both wide open to the wilderness yet tucked away and totally remote. As we pulled up, I noticed the owner had already set it up nicely for us. The lights were on; the windows glowing a soft gold against the deepening blue shadows of dusk.
“Home sweet home,” declared Carter.
The driveway was cleared of snow. A curl of smoke wafted up from the top of the stone chimney, which meant they’d even left us a fire. I couldn’t wait to stand before it, close my eyes, and let the heat soak into my tired body.
“And I still say that was pretty messed up,” muttered Bodie. “As soon as we saw you go down Nitro, we thought you were doomed.”
He shot me a dirty look as he dragged his gear to the front door. I smiled and poked my tongue out at him.
“I already told you, my parents put me on skis as soon as I could stand. Killington, Stowe, Okemo — we practically lived in Vermont. I skied for years, until I finally took up snowboarding.”
“Why’d you switch?”
“A cute boy,” I shrugged, coyly. “Met him on the bunny hill, teaching beginners.”
