Hayden
Davidwastalking,hisvoice cutting through the cold with all the grace of a dull blade—something about breakfast, lift passes, schedules, all the pointless shit I couldn’t bring myself to care about. My eyes weren’t on him. They were locked on her.
Edwina stepped out of the dining hall in that goddamn green sweater, the one still burned into my memory from earlier. Her cheeks were flushed, skin glowing with a warmth I knew too well, and her hair, tied up messily, strands loose around her face, was still begging to be pulled. My chest tightened, the image of her back against that door, breathless and trembling under my hands, flashing behind my eyes so vividly it made me dizzy.
And then I saw him.
Noah—the little shit—stood too close, all confidence and easy charm, his grin wide, his hand hovering near hers, and she didn’tpull back, didn’t shift, didn’t give him the rejection he fucking deserved. She only laughed, soft and distant, a sound that tried to pass for indifference but failed miserably. Pretending I hadn’t had my fingers inside her less than an hour ago. Pretending she hadn’t whispered my name against my mouth while I swallowed every sound she made.
David’s voice cut in, sharp, amused. “Hayden? You even listening, or did the mountain air fuck the brain right out of you?”
I didn’t answer. Couldn’t. Because Noah leaned closer, said something, and she smiled. Looked down. Bit her goddamn lip.
That was it. The switch. The snap. The entire world funneled into that single moment. My jaw locked so hard it hurt, a slow, seething pressure winding through every muscle in my body until I could barely breathe.
She promised me.
Said she wasn’t going skiing.
Said she wasn’t going with anyone.
And there she was, standing beside that grinning little bastard in the same sweater I’d pulled against the wall while she came apart on my hand.
“Jesus Christ,” David muttered, following my stare. “Don’t tell me this is about that pretty brunette who just walked out surrounded by a bunch of horny students.”
I kept my eyes on her, refusing to glance his way, every thought drowned beneath the noise of fury and the heavy pull of possession twisting through me.
“Are you fucking kidding me?” David continued, his tone twisting into disbelief. “A student, Hayden? You’ve really lost your goddamn mind.”
I exhaled through my teeth, long and quiet, the kind of breath that barely held back the violence itching beneath my skin. Noah’s hand brushed her arm again. My fists clenched before Icould stop them. Every instinct I had screamed to move, to grab that smug fucker by the collar, to grind his face into the nearest wall until he forgot how to smile at anything that breathed.
“She lied,” I said finally, the words edged in something sharp enough to draw blood.
David turned toward me, eyes narrowing. “So what? She’s twenty-something, full of hormones and bad decisions. That doesn’t mean you get to fucking lose your mind over her.”
“She’s not one of them,” I said, voice hard enough to fracture.
David blinked, whatever humor he had draining fast. “Then you’re in deeper shit than I thought. Because if she’s not just another girl, then this thing you’ve started? It’s not going to end clean.”
I looked past him, out toward the slope where she’d disappeared into a blur of color and noise. I could still feel her. Still taste her. Still hear that little gasp she made when I pressed my hand between her thighs and told her she was mine.
David let out a long breath, shaking his head. “You look at her like a man about to destroy himself.”
I finally turned to him. My voice was low, certain, already past the point of return. “I already fucking did.”
He stared at me, jaw tight, expression caught between pity and disbelief. “Then for fuck’s sake, Hayden, I hope you know what the hell you’re doing.”
But I didn’t. Not really. All I knew was this, if that boy touched her again, I’d kill him.
And I’d smile while I did it.
Hours crawled by, each one heavier than the last. The light outside had shifted from that pale mountain blue to a dull,bruised gray, the kind that warned of storms before anyone bothered to listen. The wind had teeth now, dragging across the slopes, whispering in cruel tones that something was wrong, that something was missing.
And she still hadn’t fucking come back.
Edwina Carter. Gone for hours. Gone since the moment she’d walked out of the lodge with that idiot’s laughter still hanging off her mouth. Noah. The fucking boy I’d told her to stay away from. The one she’d smiled at. Said yes to.
I glanced at my phone again, already knowing it was useless, no service, no connection, just a dead screen staring back in silence. If she’d tried to reach me, I’d never know. If she’d called for help, I wouldn’t have heard. And that thought, it dug into me, deep and vicious.
