Page 10 of Mountain Trial

Luc pushed himself forward until he found himself next to the Korean skier.

“Y a-t-il un problème? Peut-être que je peux aider,” he said, glaring at the snowboarder.

Helmet and Sprayer looked beyond them towards their coach, who seemed to be watching the interaction with interest.

“Leave him, man, he’s not worth it. Let’s do this,” Helmet said, finally.

Luc watched them jump. Sprayer’s jump was only okay. His balance was slightly off, so he never hit the height he needed to fly. Helmet’s jump, however, was something else. He flew over the edge, packing in a head-over-heels flip and several spins before landing on the airbag. Predictably, the helmet rolled off his head, but Helmet just laughed.

“Not bad for a warm-up jump,” he said, picking up his helmet and bouncing off the air cushion. His cocky, effortless style reminded Luc of himself, a long time ago.

Luc shook his head to clear it. He straightened in his chair and focused on taking deep breaths until it was his turn to jump.

Chapter 4

Kat

Kat watched, absentmindedly, as Jens used his sleeve to polish a small green apple to within an inch of its life. When he caught her looking, he offered the fruit to her. “Want one? I’ve got another one in my bag,” he said. “You know what they say about apples, one a day …”

Kat laughed. Jens was their team’s doctor. She shook her head. “No, thanks. I’m not hungry.”

“You’re not a fan of competitive sports, are you?”

“Why do you say that?”

“You’ve been frowning ever since we got the assignment,” he said, shrugging and pointing at the first aid banner behind them. “It’s okay. I’m not sure this is the best use of our time, either.”

The problem isn’t competitive sports. It’s me.

The PGHM had been tasked with setting up the rescue and assistance plan for the Victory Games. She and Jens were here today to get a feel for the jump area and start planning for the number of people who’d be here to watch the competition on the tenth of this month.

Kat forced her face into what she hoped was a neutral expression. Competitive skiing and snowboarding set her teeth on edge at the best of times, but with Jacques here it was even worse.

Speak of the devil.

She watched him fly up into the air, going into a gravity-defying flip. Although she hadn’t followed his career closely, she wasn’t surprised at the level of skill he’d achieved―Jacques had always been talented and driven to succeed. He’d also had a mean, abusive streak, of which she’d been the target for a while.

As he landed on the air cushion, his helmet fell off, which meant it wasn’t properly tightened at the chin.

Typical Jacques.

She turned away from the jump to look at Jens, wondering what to say to him.

Damien and Drake already knew about Jacques―it was only fair to let the team know as well.

Kat was close to everyone in the team. She wasn’t worried any of them would think her weak. But she also didn’t want them to go all macho on her and think they needed to defend her honor.

“That’s my ex-boyfriend,” she said simply.

Jens arched an eyebrow, leaning back on his chair and crossing his long legs in front of him. He looked at Jacques with interest. “I didn’t know that. Any chance of the two of you getting back together again?”

Kat shivered, then covered it with a laugh.

“Not a chance in hell. He wasn’t a kind man,” she said, clamping her lips together.

Jens’s warm, brown eyes went dark.

“It’s not going to affect my work,” she said. “I can do my job.”