by Cole Lepley
“Relax. Just do what I do, and you’ll be fine.” He pulls his hat down further and gives me a thumbs up.
“Ollie, that is not how skiing works,” I say through my teeth.
He smirks. “Just avoid the trees.”
I’m about to argue his logic when Mason comes up behind me and clasps his hand on my shoulder. “Let’s take one last run and head into the lodge for a drink.”
Oliver’s grin widens. “Dad, you read my mind.”
Mason just shakes his head as he and Trevor make their way to the edge of the slope. I grab Oliver by his jacket to hold him back for a minute. He laughs. “You’re not going to die, Hunter.”
“No, that’s not it.” I lower my voice even though the slopes are fairly crowded today. “What if they start asking a lot of questions? Like, ask us if we know anything?”
He shrugs, planting his poles into the snow. “Be cool. My family is pretty tight with several members of the board so that’s helpful.” He makes a face. “It’s also why Elliot is so concerned about you two getting ousted. I would try to avoid any mention of the dirty sex you two have been having all over the school.”
“Good advice, genius,” I remark dryly.
“I try,” he says before shoving off down the slope. I take a deep breath and follow.
Someone above was definitely looking out for me as I glide not so gracefully to the bottom of the hill. Oliver gives me a nod. “See, easy.”
I withhold my urge to punch him as I amble up the stairs to the patio that leads into the bar. Usually there isn’t a sight that makes me happier than Elliot’s face, but right now, I really wish she wasn’t bartending.
She doesn’t notice us walk in right away, and I can’t help but stare at her. Her smile glows on her face as she greets customers and exchanges pleasantries. I also like the way she has her hair twisted intricately on top of her head. It’ll give me something to grab onto later.
Oliver nudges me from behind. “Being cool would include not fucking staring at Elliot,” he whispers.
Her curious eyes meet mine as we all take seats at a table off to the side of the bar. The connection is brief, but it is still enough to make my heart beat a little faster.
Mason circles his hand above his head and Elliot immediately begins filling pitchers of beer. He looks to us. “You guys hungry?”
Oliver cocks his head. “Seriously?”
“Elle, bring menus too,” Mason calls to her.
Elliot is already on her way over with a tray of frosted mugs and pitcher in her hand. She sets it down and pulls the menus out from under her arm handing them to Oliver. “I already grabbed them before you asked.” She nods to Oliver. “You think you’d have that thing memorized by now.”
Oliver dramatically opens his menu. “I like to be spontaneous sometimes. Nobody likes to eat the same thing every day.” He smirks at me, and I stifle a laugh.
“Elliot, I was sorry to see that you were ill during the play last week. It wasn’t the same without you,” Trevor says to her as he takes a menu.
Elliot gives a small smile. “Yeah, it was unexpected.”
“I noticed Judah Holloway was there as well. I’ll bet he’s tearing up the field at Cornell. He surely is missed.”
“I’ll be sure to pass that along,” Elliot replies. She’s using her polite voice, but I detect the tension in her tone.
Mason raises an eyebrow. “You two seeing each other again?”
Elliot nods. “Yep.” She avoids his eyes and begins to turn away.
This makes her father smile. “Hopefully he keeps it together this time. I would hate for him to try and drown himself in our pool.”
Oliver spits out a mouthful of beer. “Dad, you are so brutal.”
He shrugs. “I’m just honest. People can’t handle honesty.” He directs his eyes at me with his last statement, and I take a drink. Something tells me he’s not as unobservant as he seems.
Elliot manages to escape, and the conversation moves forward onto more desirable topics. That is until, Trevor speaks again. He turns to Oliver. “I’ve been meaning to ask you a favor.”
“Sure.”
Trevor laughs once. “I didn’t tell you what it was yet.” He crosses his hands in front of him. “The locker room is a good place for gossip. I need you to keep an ear out for any rumors about teachers acting inappropriately with students. I have some anonymous tips, but no names yet.”
I suddenly realize I wasn’t actually breathing the entire time he was speaking. The fact that no names were given is a good thing, but I’m wondering why Cameron didn’t just come right out and say what happened? Unless it wasn’t actually her that said anything?
Oliver leans back in his chair and crosses his arms casually. “Yeah, I could do that. You know how guys talk, I’m sure if there’s something going on, I’ll be able to find out.”
Trevor nods. “I was thinking more along the lines of a girl. The impression given to me is it’s a male teacher involved.”
This meeting doesn’t feel so spontaneous anymore. Oliver and I are by far the youngest members of the faculty. There are a few in their early to late thirties, but no one you would really suspect of luring a young girl into their classroom.
Mason points his finger at Oliver. “This is your chance to set a good example.” He nods to me as well. “You too. I’m sure between the two of you, you can prevent this nonsense from continuing further.”
We nod both in unison. I decide to make it a permanent rule that Elliot is never allowed to wear a skirt to school again.
After the tense evening, I go straight to the guest house when we get back. What I don’t expect is to see Elliot sprawled on my bed. I shrug off my coat and raise an eyebrow to her.
“Do you really think you should be here right now?”
Her eyes are mischievous as she leans back on her elbows. The outline of her black bra showing brazenly through her tight white sweater. “That depends on what you want to do with me?”
I bite my lip as I make my way over to her, positioning myself between her legs. I kiss her slowly. “All the things I want to do to you will get me in trouble.”
She sucks my bottom lip with her teeth, and I instantly harden. “I promise I’ll be good.”
I release a chuckle as I roll myself to lay next to her. “I don’t doubt that, baby. Tonight is probably not the best night for a sleepover though.”
Ignoring my words, she crawls on top of me and leans down to kiss my neck. “Who said anything about sleeping?”
The larger part of my brain lets her continue for a moment because it feels good, but the smaller, more rational part, pushes her back by her shoulders. “I’m serious. We can’t tonight. I think your dad knows.”
She leans back on her heels and brushes her hair out of her face with a huff. “How?”
“I have no fucking clue. But there was something about the way he was looking at me.”
Elliot rolls her eyes. “He looks at everyone like that. He likes to intimidate people.”
I shake my head. “No, he’s smarter than you think. We haven’t exactly been careful.” I motion to the main house. “Any random night he could’ve been glancing out a window and saw you sneaking over here.”
She shrugs. “So, we’re friends.”
I let out a humorless laugh. “That’s cute, but nobody would believe that.”
Elliot smiles and begins to crawl her way back up to my mouth again. “Fine. I’ll sleep in my bed tonight,” she says against my lips. Her mouth moves to my ear. “But first I want to leave you with something to think about while I’m gone.”
Even though this girl may very well get me thrown in prison at some point, I couldn’t think of a better way to go down.
38
Hurdles
My grip tightens on my phone when I come across Elliot’s new Instagram post. It’s a picture of her and Judah. He has his arms around her, and she’s kissing his cheek—six hundred and twenty-seven likes. Really?
That many people felt the need to click like on this bullshit? I toss my phone to my bed and let out a groan. I get the need to put on airs for everyone, but it doesn’t make it any easier when I have to look at it.
Elliot comes walking into my room carrying coffee. “Good morning.” She gives me a quick kiss and hands me the cup. Her eyebrows pull in when she takes in my face. “What’s your problem?”
“Nothing,” I mutter before taking a sip and setting it down on the side table. “Thank you,” I say over my shoulder as I continue to get dressed for work.
Her fingers graze my stomach as she comes up behind me and places a kiss to my shoulder. “It doesn’t sound like nothing.”
The unease in her voice makes me feel like a dick. I agreed to this. My eyes squeeze shut, and I attempt to reign in my anger. “Should I double-tap on your picture too, or would that be weird?”
She bites my shoulder in response to my sarcasm, and I laugh. Turning around, I pull her against me. “I’m sorry, it just pisses me off.”
“It’s not real.” Her hands travel behind me and she grips me tight. “This is real.”
The sincerity in her words melts away at my irritation, and I begin to relax. I kiss her softly. “I know, baby. I can’t wait for the day you and I can actually do things like that.”
“Do what?”
I laugh. “Declare our love for each other on social media, hold hands in public—do basically anything in public.”
She frowns and leans her head on my chest. “It won’t be much longer, I promise.”
My hand rubs up and down her back reassuringly. “I hope so.”
Since Judah has been busy trying to get his grades up he hasn’t made the trip home as much. Officially Elliot and Judah have been back on for three weeks and this weekend is the first time he’s been here since the play.
Thankfully, Elliot has a track meet and I can at least be there for that. The after party is another story. Although she promised to keep their public displays of affection minimal, it still sucks. Having to see her with him for so long, you would think I would be used to it. The truth is, you never get used to seeing the girl that you love with another man, especially when he loves her too.
My knee bounces nervously as I sit behind Oliver on the bleachers. He’s actually pacing back and forth blowing his whistle and screaming profanities at the girls below. Evidently this is a big meet. They are competing against North Ridge and have been rivals since the dawn of time. At the last meet, they only narrowly edged them out and that was in part due to Elliot’s ability to run faster than basically anyone.
Oliver turns back to me and shakes his head. “Where is she?”
I glance down at my phone again. “She said two minutes.”
The scowl on his face deepens. “You know, it’s really fucking cute and all that you two have yet another elaborate charade going on, but I have a meet to fucking win.”
I laugh. “Relax, man. She’ll be here and she will perform like the champion that she is.”
He grits his teeth. “She better. Or I’m punching you and Judah.”
It’s pretty amusing when he gets all pissed off. I’m about to attempt to diffuse the situation further when I see Elliot round the corner of the field house hand in hand with Judah. That’s cute he’s walking her to the field. Motherfucker.
Oliver chuckles as he spots them too. “Second thought, I take that back.” He turns to me with a wide grin. “You’re about to suffer plenty I’m sure.”
My fist clenches when he grabs her face and kisses her passionately, eliciting some whoops from the crowd. I really want to break his jaw right now, but I can’t exactly blame him for taking advantage of the situation. I’m not convinced his motives are pure even though Elliot assures me they are.
Oliver waves his arms in air to get her attention. “Elle, get your ass on the field already!” he yells to her. He points to Judah and then motions behind him. “You, get your ass on the bleachers. You can grope each other later.”
Elliot gives him a glare, and Oliver puts his whistle in his mouth in warning. With one final peck, Judah reluctantly leaves her side, and she jogs toward the rest of the team. As he’s ascending the bleachers, he gives me a nod. I give one back in return as he keeps on toward a group of guys at the top.
Oliver shakes his head in disbelief as he looks back and forth between us. “My mind is fucking blown. You two are completely ridiculous.”
“Me and Elliot?”
He laughs. “No, you and Judah. Elliot is a genius. I’ve taught her well.” The look of pride is evident on his face as he pats me on the shoulder before stalking down to his team.
I lean forward and rest my elbows on my knees, contemplating what he said. He’s pretty much right. If you asked me eight months ago if I would ever let a girl manipulate me into breaking every rule I’ve ever had, I would say you were crazy. Now, it almost feels normal.
Her eyes meet mine as the announcements begin, and I smile. I can’t help it. It’s almost an intrinsic reaction when she looks at me no matter what the situation is. Three more months and this will all be over.
The crowd goes crazy when her event is called, and she saunters to the starting line. That’s one of the sexiest things about her, the confidence she portrays without even trying. Perhaps a major misconception about girls like Elliot is that they’re insecure. With her, that’s not the case, at least not in the way you would expect. The way she acts is a product of the life she’s led, not of the heart inside her.
When the shot sounds, I take a breath as she surges from the starting line. This is an event she typically doesn’t do, but after Ollie made her run hurdles for being late to practice, she managed to master it.
She’s still edging everyone out as they round the last corner and the crowd rises to their feet. An audible gasp escalates through the air when she unexpectedly trips and stumbles to the track. My hand flies up to grip my chest when she doesn’t bounce right back up. After only a split second hesitation I leap over the railing and down to the field. I sprint toward her, beating Oliver for probably the first time in my life.
Her face is twisted in pain when I drop to her side. “Something’s wrong,” she gasps, clutching her knee. “I can’t…move it.”
I immediately scoop her into my arms and carry her off the track toward the bench. Several paramedics are standing by off to the side and come rushing over as I approach.
“She needs help,” I spit at them.
They scramble to a stretcher, and her eyes widen. “No,” she says, gripping my shirt. “I can’t leave now. Let me walk it off.”
I lean down to her ear. “Baby, you can’t even walk right now. You have to go.”
Oliver comes rushing to us and stands on the other side. “Give her here,” he says quickly, reaching toward her. Elliot slowly lifts her arm and wraps it around his neck as I gently hand her to him.
“Meet us at the hospital,” he says over his shoulder as he carries her off toward the ambulance.
Nodding, I run both my hands through my hair and take a deep breath. I reacted so quickly without even thinking. Before I can fully process what is happening, Judah comes up beside me and grips my shoulder. I narrow my eyes at him. “Not now.”
“Dude, he says calmly. “Take me with you, dumbass. You’re not making this look too good right now.”
He shoots me a look, and I grit my teeth. The douchebag’s right, I need to play along if I have any hope of salvaging the damage I’ve probably already done.
Oliver noisily chomps on his gum beside me as we wait not-so-patiently in the waiting room. I glare over at him. “Could you chew that like a normal human person, or would that be too much to ask right now?”
“Geez, sorry,” he says with a laugh. “I’m fucking hungry. This is taking a really long time.”
I roll my eyes and continue to focus them toward the door where they took Elliot. Judah leans nonchalantly against the wall beside us, scrolling through his phone. “Y
ou’re still ahead,” he says to Oliver without looking up.
Oliver holds his hands together in an exaggerated prayer. “Thank fuck someone is looking out for me today. I hated leaving my team in the hands of my sorry excuse for an assistant coach.” He nudges me with his shoulder. “It was for good reason though.”
A bitter laugh passes my lips. I find it incredibly hard to believe that anyone could think of anything other than Elliot right now. This is her passion. What if something is seriously wrong and she can never run again? The thought alone makes me nauseous.
After what feels like an eternity, the door finally opens, and a woman in scrubs motions us back. “She’s ready for visitors now,” she says with a smile.
I practically jump up from my chair and follow her back the hallway. When we reach the end, she pulls back a curtain and Elliot’s smile nearly takes my breath away. I lean down and kiss her once, taking her hand in mine. “Are you okay?”
She pats the brace on her knee gently. “I’m going to be fine. Nothing’s torn, it’s just a mild sprain.”
I release a quick breath and press my forehead to hers. “Oh, thank God. I was so worried.”
Her hand cups the side of my face. “Thank you for saving me,” she says softly, stroking her fingers down my cheek.
Oliver clears his throat loudly behind us, interrupting the moment we’re having.
“Um, my parents are on their way back. Unless you want to unleash that load on them, I suggest you take a step back.”
I kiss her once more as Judah moves to her other side, and I take my place next to Oliver. My eyes burn into his hand as he moves it over hers. “I’m glad you’re okay, babe.”
Elliot laughs, and it makes me viciously jealous. “Thank you, Judah.”
Mason steps up behind us and clasps his hand on my shoulder as he speaks. “Your mother is taking care of the rest of the paperwork. It shouldn’t be too much longer until we can go.”