The Winter Games

by Sharp, Dr. Rebecca

  Didn’t I know it.

  That’s why I was the way that I was. I had plans—goals—for my life. I worked hard in school because I wanted to become a physical therapist. And I wanted to go to college in Texas to do it. I wasn’t naturally a good student. It took me time and tons of focus to learn things—especially anything to do with science. Which is why I couldn’t afford any distractions. Especially from one of the SnowmassHoles. Especially from Chance.

  “I told you… I can’t.” I shivered against the tree he had me up against, one hand cupping my face, the other holding my waist to his.

  “I know you want me, Jessa.” The backs of his fingers skated up my ribs and grazed over my nipple. “Just as much as I want you.” He didn’t have to push; I’d felt the hard ridge of his erection from the second that we’d gotten into this predicament.

  He was relentless. Tempting me. Teasing me. Staring at me like he could melt the clothes right off of my body. Most days, I believed he actually could.

  “It… doesn’t matter. I can’t… be distracted.” I told him all of this flat-out the first day of school this year when he’d asked me out and made me late to the very first class of senior year because he wouldn’t leave without an answer. And ‘asked’ was being generous. I told him the truth—and the truth was I wasn’t trying to play hard-to-get. I didn’t want him wasting his time. Unfortunately, they called him ‘Pride’ for a reason—he knew what he wanted and what he deserved—and right now, that was me. And after my whole embarrassingly long refusal, he’d smiled. Now, I knew why.

  “It’s more distracting to keep turning me down.” Somewhere along the way he’d found the super-sensitive spot right beneath my ear and he always licked it—driving me crazy.

  And I let him because I liked crazy a little too much for my own good.

  I savored it for one guilty second before I planted my hands on his hard chest—the kind of hard that had my fingertips itching to press into his skin to see just how far I could make him budge—and pushed myself away.

  “No, it’s only distracting because you refuse to be turned down.” He stepped towards me and in an equal and opposite fashion, I stepped back.

  “Exactly, so maybe you should move onto plan B.” That smirk of his really screwed with my mind—and my panties. And then he was too close to me again.

  “Fine!” I put my hand up. Think, Jessa. Think before—“I’ll be your girl on one condition.”

  The electricity in the air sparked like never before. He’d never been so close to getting what he wanted.

  “Name it.” His bright blue eyes danced with the prospect of possessing me.

  Not so fast there, Pride. If he wanted me, that was going to have to be his price.

  “I’ll be your girl.” I closed the distance between us, putting my mouth in the danger-zone inches from his, “if you challenge Emmett tonight at the Winter Games and lose.”

  The air between us cracked like thunder.

  The Winter Games were his domain. His and the other SnowmassHoles—Emmett ‘King’ Jameson and Nick ‘Frost’ Frost. Every week during the winter season, they broke into the Aspen Snowmass ski resort after the resort officially closed—at midnight—and held a little competition of their own. Each week bets were placed. Money, drugs, or girls were won. And no one stopped them.

  Chance, when he competed, always won. Another sliver of the pie that contributed to his nickname. Pride. He was the best and he knew it. He would beat anyone—soundly—who thought differently. I knew and I’d seen it for myself. I’d been to the Games a few times this season. I did allow myself some distractions—just not the kind that would consume me like Chance would.

  Which is why this was what I demanded—the one thing I knew he wouldn’t be able to give. His pride.

  Present

  JESSA

  I GOT THE JOB!!!

  I barely hit send before my phone started buzzing in the cup holder of my Ford F-150. Trucks were a universal commodity between Texas and Colorado. Thankfully, I didn’t have to trade in anything when I moved.

  “Congratulations, Jess!” Ally squealed on the other end of the line. “Where are we celebrating tonight?”

  “We don’t have to—“

  “Don’t even think about it, Jess! We are celebrating. Even if it is just at Tammy’s.”

  Probably not the best idea. I was already imposing enough on our OCD best friend. “Alright. Should we just do Louie’s?” I suggested. “I start tomorrow so we can’t go crazy.”

  “Oh no, that’s fine. I told Emmett I would help him with some designs for the prize snowboard for the Spring at Snowmass competition next month.” The Spring was the closing snowboarding competition at Snowmass for the season. Usually the resort closed a week or so afterward. It wasn’t a national competition, mostly local riders who came to show off their stuff.

  Ally’s boyfriend was none other than Emmett ‘King’ Jameson—one of Chance’s best friends and a third of their SnowmassHole crew. But that wasn’t the only way she was tied to them. Ally was also Chance’s younger sister by six years. We hadn’t been close when he and I dated. She was too young to know much if anything about my relationship with her brother or how it ended until a few months ago when she moved back to Colorado from Florida and, out of respect, I gave her the truth that even her brother didn’t know.

  “Alright. I guess that’s fine then. Do you want to tell Tammy? I’m almost home so I can tell her when she gets back after her lessons this afternoon.”

  Tammy taught skiing at the resort, usually in the afternoon after working the morning at Open Hearts daycare.

  “Ok, well if you’re going to see her it will be better coming from you.” I could hear her grin. “Less of a chance for her to turn you down since you just landed your first job! So proud of you!”

  “Thanks! I’ll see you later. Let’s do eight?”

  “Sounds good.”

  Ally hung up as I pulled into Tammy’s apartment complex. Shit. Full-time job meant even less time to search for a new place to live. And I needed to move out. As much as Tam loved me, she was going through a lot right now and the stress of having my mess wasn’t helping the situation.

  You know when something really, really good happens in your life, but you’re afraid to share it with someone because they are going through something so absolutely devastating? That was me.

  Even though I was probably wrong, being excited for my future around Tammy felt like I was forcing happiness on her when all she wanted to do was crumble. But she never would.

  She was the mom. She would always be strong and steady. She would always be ecstatic for any of us because she loved us even if she was dying on the inside.

  “How was the daycare today?” I hadn’t been there today because of my interview at the center. I guess this meant that I wasn’t going to be there at all anymore…

  “Good. Really good.” Tammy smiled as we sat at our bar table in the corner of Big Louie’s waiting for Ally to get here.

  Big Louie’s was the Aspen hangout for locals. Sometimes crossing over into a dive bar when tourist season peaked, it wasn’t too busy tonight. We always went for this table in the corner because it was hard to see the giant flat-screen TVs from here which meant that no one wanted it. Instead, they’d all rather crowd around the giant circular bar in the center of the room that was lined with TVs for all the avid sports fans.

  “Lila is so adorable.” Tammy chuckled, drawing my attention back to her. “I told you how she still refuses to say my name?”

  Lila was one of the regulars at Open Hearts Daycare and Preschool—a celebrity’s daughter, or so we suspected, since we never saw or met her parents—only the nanny.

  “Does she need speech therapy?”

  Tammy shook her head. “Oh, no. She can say my name, but she insists on calling me ‘Mammy’ instead of Tammy. It’s precious.” My stomach squeezed. It was absolutely precious—for a normal person. But I knew it couldn’t be easy for my fri
end who most likely would never have children to hear one of her favorite little students basically calling her mom.

  “How old is she? I’m sure it’s just a phase.”

  “She’s only 5.”

  Our conversation was cut short as Ally skipped over to our table and threw her arms around me. “Congratulations!!!”

  “Thank you, thank you!” I squeezed her back. This was one of the reasons that I knew I was meant to come back here—these two girls.

  It was only when I stood back that I saw she hadn’t come alone. Emmett had brought her—which wasn’t a surprise in the slightest since the man could barely stand to let her out of his sight. What was a surprise was that Nick and Chance had come, too.

  Seeing my gaze, she grimaced and offered a small, “Sorry.” Just keep smiling, Jessa. “When I told Emmett I was meeting you here, he said that the guys were going out for drinks tonight anyway. I guess my brother wanted to talk to them.” She shrugged. I knew she avoided mentioning Chance around me especially after she’d learned what had happened between the two of us.

  “It’s fine, Al. Should we get drinks?”

  “Yes! I can have Emmett get them,” she suggested like it was a peace offering.

  “No, I’ll get them,” Tammy volunteered. We both knew she was getting them for us and not for herself. And she didn’t wait for our answer before heading to the bar.

  “So are you excited? I’m so happy you got your dream job, Jess!”

  I was, too, as I launched into some of the details that I’d already shared with Tammy about the facility, Dr. Lev, and my overall excitement to start my career. Finally, some purpose was making its way back into my life.

  I’d had several reasons for moving back to Aspen—the mountains, my old friends, my dreams of where I wanted to work. Another big reason was the sculpted specter of my past standing at the bar. I should make things right. I should find a way for him to accept my apology. Instead, I was paralyzed. I’d never thought of myself as a coward before, but seeing Chance Ryder again only brought one thing to my mind.

  Run.

  As fast as I could.

  Away from the man with the oceans in his eyes begging me to drown in their depths. And the way he looked at me now, I knew there was nothing he would love more than to watch me sink and suffocate in him—and everything that I’d given up.

  “Me too! One part of my life in order while another part falls into shambles,” I joked.

  “What are you talking about?” she turned and wondered with a frown.

  “My apartment.”

  “Oh.” She sighed heavily—guess she thought I meant something more serious. “How much longer do you think they will be?”

  “I have no idea and my landlord has even stopped returning my calls. I need to start looking for something else. As much as I love living with Tam, I know it’s making her more stressed,” I admitted guiltily.

  Ally fidgeted with worry before asking, “How is she? With the tests and everything?”

  I shrugged. “She’s doing ok. They have her fasting for some of them which makes it hard. Honestly, I think the hardest part is that she feels like she always has to put on a strong face for me—or anyone, really. So, when she gets home at night, she can’t relax because I’m there; and I’m not even talking about how I’m not the neatest person… She just wants everyone to think that she’s ok.” I glanced over at our subject. “The longer I’m there, the more she has to put on that mask. I wish she would talk to me or you or someone, but I can’t force her; I can see how even when I ask it stresses her out.”

  “I can’t believe that they don’t know anything yet. It’s been weeks,” Ally said painfully. She had the biggest heart and she wore it front and center, stitched to her sleeve.

  “Yeah, I guess her endometriosis is complicating things. She mentioned something about maybe having to go into Denver for testing in a week or two. I think they are giving her body a little break from it all.”

  “Oh, Tammy.” Ally’s face showed the heartbreak that we both felt.

  “Anyway…” I saw Tammy grabbing our drinks from the bar. “I need to find a new place which is going to be hard not only because I now have a full-time job, but also, it’s the middle of the season, so I know mostly everything is either going to be rented or so expensive that I won’t be able to afford it. I’m going to go look this weekend though. Gotta start somewhere…”

  I also needed my own space. For my candles and my La Croix. A space that was clean and could have a comfortable amount of disorder in it, reminding me how life isn’t—and doesn’t need to be—perfect.

  And how some things are just beyond our control.

  “Oh, man. I can’t believe that. How can they kick you out and give you no reasonable idea of when everything is going to be fixed?”

  “Here you go, girls! Dark ‘n’ Stormies.” Tammy set the two mugs on the table; I knew she wasn’t going to get anything for herself. “So, you’re starting tomorrow?”

  “Yeah. Are you sure that’s ok? If you need me at the daycare, I’m sure that I can work something out. My boss seems super nice.”

  I looked to the bar as I took a sip of my drink because I felt his eyes on me—like waves lapping at my feet, begging to pull me under. I was right; I would know that feeling anywhere—the one that curled through every inch of my body, the one that eight years ago would’ve had us outside in the back of his car, windows foggy with my screams.

  I shifted in my seat. The lined black leggings that I’d thrown on were somehow now uncomfortable.

  This would be the point where I would admit that the proud asshole at the bar with the jawline that was as chiseled as ice could make my panties melt even with the hatred in his stare; except that I wasn’t wearing any underwear—a habit that I’d formed almost nine years ago because of that damn stare. In some cases, I was a fast learner and I’d learned that being with Chance and wearing underwear were two things that did not go well together, so I nixed the underwear. It made the following year and a half much simpler.

  I couldn’t resist him; that had always been my problem. And it seemed that the eight years in Texas and away from him hadn’t changed that one bit.

  “It’s really fine.”

  “I can always help out, too, Tam, if they need a few weeks to find someone else. I don’t start school until the end of May.”

  “Wait, school?” Two sets of bulging eyes stared Ally down.

  “Crap.” Ally winced. “I wasn’t going to say anything because I didn’t want to steal your thunder, Jessa…”

  “Seriously? Since when would I care about that? Spill!”

  “Well, I told you how Emmett wanted me to help with the marketing for his boards? And that I applied to the University of Colorado? Well, I got the letter this morning that I was accepted for the fall semester.”

  “WHAT!!” I exclaimed and Tammy said in unison. “That’s amazing, Ally! Congratulations!”

  “Why didn’t you tell us earlier?”

  “Well, Emmett wanted to… celebrate…” If the stammer in her sentence didn’t do the trick, the pink flooding her cheeks told us exactly what kind of ‘celebrating’ they’d done. “And by the time I went to call you guys, you’d already texted me, Jess.”

  “Well, you are crazy for holding out on us, Al, because we are so happy and proud of you!”

  “Thank you.” Her response muffled as we both hugged her. “Anyway, so if you need help Tam. I’m going to be taking some classes over the summer to get a jump on things.”

  “Yeah, I can definitely let you know.”

  I stood. “Ok, one more round on me—this time to celebrate your big news, Al,” I grinned and headed towards the bar, remembering a second too late that this would put me within arm’s reach of the man who was my downfall.

  “Hey Jimmy.” I greeted our regular bartender who Ally had worked with for a few months when she moved here. Jimmy was the. Best. Bartender. He and his boyfriend, who worked in the kit
chen, had met in New York City and then moved out here together—probably when pot became legal, but that was only my speculation.

  “Hey there, J.” He planted two hands on the bar. “What can I getcha?”

  I opened my mouth to ask for two cosmos, but then shut it. “You know what? I don’t know. Can you make me something?”

  His eyes lit up. He loved making custom cocktails for people—some regulars even got their concoctions on the menu.

  “I most certainly can, ma’am. Tell me what you are thinking. And what the celebration is for.”

  I grinned. “I’m starting my new job tomorrow. Just got hired today.”

  “Ahh! Amazing!! Ok, what are you thinking? Dry, sweet?”

  “Oh, she wants something sweet, Jimmy.” Icy shivers crawled up my spine at the unwelcome interjection into our conversation.

  I whipped my head around to be caught fast in ice-blue eyes. “How—“

  Chance’s finger pushed against my lips. I jerked my head away but not before he continued commandeering my drink request.

  “Sweet. With the jasmine-infused rum that you make, blueberry, and pineapple.” I knew Jimmy wouldn’t question him; the way he was looking at me, I wouldn’t question him either—and it was my drink.

  “I know just the thing!” he exclaimed. “Give me a few minutes—this one is fancy.” He winked at me and I tried to smile but all I could think was that he was leaving me with Chance for those few minutes.

  “Why did you do that?” I levelled him with my best disapproving stare.

  “Why didn’t you stop me?” he rasped, my lower parts clenching at the husky vibration.

  Dammit. I huffed loudly; it only made his smirk bigger. “What do you want, Chance?”

  He downed whatever was left in his glass, yelling to Jimmy a second later for another double of Powers.

  “I want—“ I should have been more specific, “—to know if your pussy still tastes as sweet as it did in high school. And if I can still make you come with a flick of my ton—“

  I kept my eyes on Jimmy, squeezing my thighs together to try to stop the desire bleeding out of me. “No, you don’t,” I said firmly, so many parts of me wishing it was a lie. “What do you want right now?” I had to cut him off before I couldn’t control the damage. “Why are you talking to me? You hate me, remember?”