by Adele Huxley
“I trust you,” she said softly.
“Good. First part is the steepest then it levels out like the bunny slope. You ready?”
She squeezed her eyes shut and nodded. “Yes.”
“You’ll have to open your eyes first,” I joked. Laughing at the glare she shot me, I pushed off.
Even though the pain was excruciating, I pointed my tips together and took wide, serpentine turns. I kept an eye on Liz over my shoulder. Her mouth was moving, and even though I was too far away to hear, I was sure she was cursing up a storm. Her eyes glued to the tracks I was leaving, she roughly followed the same path down. Just as I’d hoped, her concentration broke through any fear she had about pointing downhill.
“You’re doing great,” I yelled. When she glanced up at my voice, I knew she was in for a tumble. As she lifted her head and lost concentration, her left tip crossed over her right, catching on a patch of snow.
“Shit!” she yelled as she fell, flinging her arms out to brace herself. A ski popped free from her boot as she collided with the ground. Luckily, she hadn’t been going too fast. I collected the loose ski and quickly climbed the hill, my leg and ass muscles screaming in protest. She sat up as I approached.
“Sorry, instructor’s curse. I shouldn’t have said anything. Are you alright?” I asked tentatively, holding a hand out. She squinted at me before taking it.
“How many ski instructors does it take to put in a lightbulb?”
I laughed and shook my head. “I don’t know, how many?” She grabbed my hand and I pulled her up. Standing downslope, we were now eye-level.
“Eleven. One to put it in and ten to analyze the turning.”
A broad smile spread across my face as I dropped her ski down. She braced herself on my shoulder as she stepped back into the bindings, the ski clicking back into place. “That’s a good one, actually. Hadn’t heard it in a while. You good to go?” She nodded curtly. I pointed downhill as I spoke. “You see how it levels out there? Watch me go down, watch how my body leans and then follow my tracks.”
I stepped back and continued the painful wedge down the rest of the first hill, acutely aware of her eyes on my body. I allowed myself to pick up a little speed towards the flat and shifted my weight, coming to a skate stop in a spray of snow. Waving my hands above my head, I signaled for her to follow.
Tentatively, carefully, she traced my tracks, gaining confidence with every turn. The fall had obviously shaken away a lot of her fear. I grew tense as I noticed she was picking up speed, not quite out of control, but flirting with it. As she rounded the last curve, I was fully nervous.
“Wedge, wedge!” She headed straight for me. I spread my legs wide, bracing to catch her. Liz veered off at the last second, kicking her heels out in a textbook skate stop, coming to a halt just before the tips of my skis. She showered my lower half with granular snow, grinning at my surprise.
“Isn’t that how you did it?” she said with practiced innocence.
I nodded appreciatively, side stepping closer. “Maybe you are a natural.”
“I told you I was. I knew—” she stumbled as she tried to step closer, falling into me. I moved in time, barely catching her under the arms.
It happened so quickly, but later I’d run it over and over in my mind. Liz steadied herself, hands on my shoulders, eyes gazing at my mouth. She bit her lower lip for a second before kissing me, her mouth hot and intense against mine. The kiss lasted only a moment but I savored it. She pulled away, scanning my face for a reaction.
Still in my arms, she looked up into my eyes. “We’re having a party tomorrow night. You should come,” she whispered.
“I—yeah, sure. Love to,” I stammered.
“Good,” she replied. Her eyes darted to my mouth as if she wanted to kiss me again, but she pulled herself upright. “Now, let’s get off this fucking mountain and get a drink. My ass is sore.”
____________
“Say it again,” she giggled, leaning closer. A waft of her perfume floated towards me.
“Après-ski.” I wet my lips and enunciated the word. “Ah-pray. It’s French,” I smiled.
“And what does it mean?” She looked at me sideways as she sipped her brandy.
I gestured to the bar, to all the people sitting around us. “This. It means, ‘after skiing’ and some people wrap their whole lives around it. Every mountain has a little group of people who don’t ski but just chill out in the bars and restaurants.”
“Like groupies,” she laughed, tossing her hair back. “For someone who just got into town, you know a lot about this place.”
I shrugged, letting the alcohol warm my throat and chest. “I kind of grew up around ski resorts.” It was technically true.
We were sitting on a plush sofa at the far end of the room. I’d slung my arm over the back casually which Liz had slowly but surely slid beneath. She was now close enough our knees touched. “So, you started skiing when you were little?”
I pressed my knee against her a bit, craving even more contact. “Yeah. Pretty much been skiing my whole life. My dad taught me and my brother before we were five.” I thought about the photo in the album of dad skiing behind me, holding me with the straps.
“And that’s why you came here? So you could ski?”
“Mmmhmm,” It was true…just not completely true. I still wasn’t entirely sure why I’d come to Tellure Hollow. “What about you?” I asked, my fingers grazing her shoulder from above. “What made you want to come here?”
She shrugged, the foot on her crossed leg started to waggle. “Kayla. Well, Kayla and my mom. She loved to ski but since we lived in North Carolina, we never got to go.” She’d managed to inch so close she had to look up into my eyes. “How do you think I did today?”
With a little liquid courage to bolster me, I took a deep breath. I slid my hand up to the side of her jaw, her hair wrapping around my fingers. I didn’t answer her question, my thought tumbling out in its place. “You’re incredible.” Our lips hovered a fraction apart, noses grazing the skin of our cheeks, the sexual tension almost too much to take.
Liz nibbled her bottom lip before plunging forward, her mouth hot against mine. It was like an explosion went off inside me at the contact. She slid into the crook of my arm, pressing her warm body against mine. The world vanished, my past disappeared. All that mattered was her. Her lips, her scent, her everything. It made every other kiss I’d ever had pale in comparison. I was taken aback by the heat in her eyes when we pulled apart. For a moment, I thought she might tackle me right there. Instead, she took a deep breath and slid back a bit.
“I think I should probably go before I get myself into trouble,” she smiled demurely. “You are coming to the party tomorrow night, right?”
“Try to stop me,” I smiled.
I love days that end differently than you expected them to. Never in a million years would I have thought I’d be spending the afternoon with Bryan Marsh, certainly not after the way we’d left things. With all the fresh air, the brandy we had in the lodge after the lesson ended, the kiss…I was buzzing. I was in a blissful, happy place as Kayla pulled the Jeep into the driveway. The cabin glowed in the gloomy night, warm and inviting. A light snow fell, dusting the steps so our shoes left prints as we ascended.
Kayla and I planned what we were going to make for dinner as we kicked off our boots. I immediately spotted Noah in the kitchen, his back turned towards us. Kayla frowned at me.
“Great, maybe we should just skip it. Can’t you two just make up? For me?” I hadn’t seen Noah much since the altercation, but the strain between us was close to unbearable. I knew it was making everyone in the house uncomfortable, and after making up with Bryan, I figured I could swallow my pride and apologize for the sake of peace.
I nodded as I headed for the kitchen. “No, it’s alright,” I said waving her away. “Noah? Can I talk to you in private for a sec?”
He turned, a bottle of open wine in his hand, a single empty glass sat on
the counter. His expression was tight, sizing me up. The bruise on the side of his face had faded to a sickly brown. “Sure.” How he managed to fill so much sarcasm into one word was beyond me, but I stamped down my annoyance. He returned the bottle to the counter with a sigh and headed towards me.
It’s amazing how personality accounts for so much of a person’s attractiveness. If he’d been kind, his brown eyes might have seemed warm. If he’d smiled more, his face wouldn’t have appeared as harsh and angular. I pushed the thought from my mind, leading him into the hallway.
I forced myself to look him the eye. “We didn’t really get started on the best foot, did we?”
Noah gritted his teeth, obviously biting back some snarky comment. “Not exactly.”
“I was kind of hoping, if you want, we could start over.” If it meant keeping the peace, I was willing to play the coy little girl for him. Guys like Noah enjoyed feeling superior to women. “I know if you give me another chance, we’ll be friends. Kayla and I are practically sisters and I know you love her.” I gave him my best smile, tilting my chin down and gazing up through my eyelashes.
“I wouldn’t say love…” His expression hadn’t changed, but I could tell his resolve was weakening.
“Please? I’ve really hated the tension between us. It’d mean a lot to me.” The way he looked at me made me want to shiver, like I was a bug underfoot, but I held fast. I didn’t bat my eyelashes at him but I wasn’t far off. Finally, the mask cracked and he smiled.
“Of course. Nothing would make me happier.” Noah offered his hand which I took demurely. He lifted it to his mouth, twisted my arm around so he could kiss my wrist. Every instinct in my body screamed in disgust. He glanced up at me as his lips touched my skin. I let it happen, a stupid, fake smile plastered to my face. I think I was in such shock, I didn’t know what else to do. “Do you drink wine?” I nodded in response, at a total loss for words. “I’ll pour you a glass.”
As I watched him disappear around the corner, something my dad had always told me popped into my head. He’d always told me that men fell into one of two categories. Some men are bulldogs; hot-blooded, quick to anger, quick to cool. Bulldogs can be fiercely loyal and unless you mistreat them, they’ll never turn on you. According to my dad, the men you had to look out for were the snakes. These cold-blooded creatures would plot, hide their anger, plan their strike. Snakes have no allegiance but to themselves. He’s a snake if I’ve ever met one, I thought, looking at the back of Noah’s head.
Kayla and Noah were talking when I returned to the kitchen. He poured the deep burgundy wine into a glass and handed it to me while he spoke. “So, do you like to party, Liz?”
Kayla chuckled and glanced at me. “Depends what you mean by party.”
“Coke, molly, you know, fucking party.” He took a sip of wine, making a gross smack as he swallowed. “I swear, I wouldn’t have been able to finish my MBA without my roommate’s Ritalin prescription.”
Ever since Rick had gotten busted, even talking about drugs made me feel so uncomfortable. It was a world I’d been thrust into so quickly my head was still spinning. Kayla simply saw it as another business opportunity, a product that had a demand, and she was willing to distribute.
“Lizzy hasn’t touched the stuff in a year and I don’t do coke, but you know me. I love MDMA if the mood’s right.” She flipped her hair over her shoulder with wink.
“We’ll have to make sure our guy has plenty for tomorrow then. We’ll have a big candy dish of it for everyone.”
I shimmied up onto the counter, my heels whacking against the cupboard doors. They seemed happy to trade drug stories while Kayla made dinner, allowing my mind to wander back to Bryan. My heart leapt with excitement as I realized the party was essentially our first date. Unless the lesson could’ve been it? That was supposed to be his apology…but then I went and kissed him. Having drinks in the lodge, was that a date? Shit, how does anyone keep track of this stuff?
Thoughts of Bryan swirled through my mind, keeping me in my happy daze through dinner. I excused myself and retreated to my bedroom when Kayla and Noah started getting a little too touchy-feely. I’m not much for audience participation.
I switched on the shower, waiting until the windows were fully fogged before undressing. I stepped under the hot water as it cascaded from the waterfall fixture, letting it flow over me. I thought of Bryan. It soaked the chill from my bones and soothed my muscles. Muscles I never knew I had ached. At least, if I stuck with the skiing, my legs and ass would be fantastic. As I soaped up, I noticed a bright purple bruise spread across my hip, my punishment for landing on the orange jumpsuit kid. Bryan. I scrubbed the soles of my feet, up my calves, my fingers pausing between my thighs. Bryan’s lips. I thought about his hands caressing my skin.
I closed my eyes and remembered what his hands had felt like on my hips as we went down the slope, the way his fingers had guided me. It was a miracle we hadn’t crashed. Ugh, and then in the lodge. I’d slipped a hand against his stomach as we kissed, his hard abs sticking out even through the sweatshirt. I’d been ready to pull him out to the Jeep and strip him down right then and there. The desire in his eyes…
I groaned out loud, throwing my loofah across the shower. I didn’t understand how he could’ve gotten under my skin so easily. Sure, it’d been a long time since I’d had anyone in my life. Even then, Rick was more my pusher and pimp than boyfriend. I rubbed the muscles in the back of my neck, working my fingers deep.
To my credit, it wasn’t all sexual. When Bryan told me about his dad, it took everything I had not to climb into his lap and hug him. The pain was so plain on his face it was like seeing my own reflection. While it never gets easy, I’ve had a few more years to practice my ‘I’m okay’ face.
I switched off the shower and toweled down, squeezing the water from my hair. Not even a month had passed, and I was already falling for some guy I barely knew.
____________
Every muscle in my body screamed when I rolled over the next morning. I got dressed, grabbed my yoga mat, and padded out in bare feet to the living room. It was only 8 a.m. but I knew everyone was already at work. Shifting the overstuffed foot stool and coffee table out of the way, I unrolled my mat with a crisp snap.
Rocking my head side to side, rolling my shoulders, flexing my feet, I slowly limbered up. I loved doing yoga first thing in the morning, the groggier I was, the better. My mind remained calm, unfocused. I was free to move through the motions and gently wake up both mentally and physically. The serene world outside was a perfect view to look out on as I woke.
I stood at the end of my mat, toes spread. I took a deep breath, raising my hands to the sky. I bent at the waist, looked up, and folded in half. I jumped into plank position, surprised at how much my arms hurt from skiing. I guess I used my poles more than I thought. My back didn’t feel ready for cobra pose, so I rocked back into downward facing dog. My mother blessed me with flexibility, so yoga was another thing that came naturally. Planting my heels on the ground, I pushed through my hands, arching my tail bone to the sky. After a few deep breaths, I released, jumping my feet back to my hands and standing.
It helps me, especially in the morning, to keep my eyes mostly closed through the sun salutations. As the energy in my body grows and I start to wake up, I’ll begin to open them fully. This is why, on my third sun salutation just as I was easing into a deep down dog, I didn’t see Noah walk up behind me. I had no warning. Out of nowhere, two firm hands grabbed my hips and a hard cock poked at my asshole through my thin yoga pants.
I screamed and jumped away, nearly falling over myself as I spun to see what was happening. Noah stood there with his pants pulled down to his thighs, hard, veined cock pointing straight out. He actually looked shocked that I’d reacted in such a way but made no move to cover himself.
“What the fuck are you doing?” I screeched.
“I thought you said we were friends again,” he replied with a frown. He looked at me
with dead, emotionless eyes.
It took me a minute to process that sentence. I probably looked like a fish gasping for water as I stared at him. “Friends don’t surprise each other with butt sex in the middle of a yoga session! At least, not any friends of mine.”
He reached down and grabbed himself, his fist encompassing the entire length of his cock. He actually gave himself a few strokes while saying, “I don’t really mind where it goes as long as it’s tight and wet.” His eyes traveled the length of my body and for a moment, I felt afraid. We were alone and he obviously didn’t like being told he couldn’t have something.
I looked away, my expression filled with disgust. “Can you just get out?”
Noah frowned again, his hand dropping to cup his balls. I crawled backwards until I hit a chair and pushed myself up to my feet. Why was he just standing there like that? Was he that oblivious to my revulsion?
“I thought you said you wanted to be friends,” he repeated slowly. His chin tilted slightly towards his chest, giving him a menacing look. “From everything I’ve heard about you, I figured you’d like it.”
“Jesus, what? What have you heard about me?” I threw my hands up in the air, the back of my throat stinging with bile. “Fuck this.” I was on the opposite side of the living room, so thankfully I was able to leave without going past him. My legs were so shaky. I ran to my bedroom, hoping I had enough of a lead that if he decided to follow, I could lock the door in time. The slammed door echoed through the open house. I clicked the lock shut and backed away from the door until my legs hit the bed.
I sat there for a few minutes trying to figure out what had just happened. I mean yeah, I’ve been grabbed before. Every girl who worked in one of Rick’s strip clubs had horror stories of guys reaching up their skirts, but this was my house. This was different. I expected it when I was working, but this was my home, my safe zone. Noah’s empty face hung in my mind’s eye. Cold, distant, like he wasn’t aware of how bizarre his behavior was. And what had he heard about me? From who, Kayla?