Up in the Air

by Rebecca Sharp

  Oh my God.

  “I would like to present you with the gold medal for today’s Slopestyle competition. Not because I love you – even though I do.” I was full on crying right now I could barely see the damn thing he was holding. “Not because today you fell for me – even though you did.” With that everyone laughed, including me even though it was more like a watery gurgle. “But because you are good enough – you are talented enough – and you fucking deserve it.”

  I couldn’t speak, tears clogged my throat, as he lifted the medal up and placed it over my head. My shoulders shook so hard I was surprised that the thing wasn’t bouncing against my chest.

  Everyone was cheering, but all I knew was that Wyatt pulled me against him, my arms winding around his neck as he kissed me.

  I’d never been so happy.

  Wyatt

  I loved making her cry like this – the kind of cry that was from an overload of happiness. I held her as she shook against me – whether it was from the tears or the happy laughter, I wasn’t sure. After a minute or two, everyone else went back to their conversations, which was when my girl finally raised her head from my chest; I had a feeling she’d been trying to avoid the attention.

  “Don’t,” I said in anticipation of her telling me that I didn’t have to do what I’d just done. I wanted nothing more than to take her upstairs and show her exactly how amazing I thought she was, but it was probably time for us to mingle with the rest of the crowd.

  “I don’t know how to thank you,” she said softly.

  I quickly touched my lips to hers, “You don’t have to, but I’m willing to let you try any way that you want a little later.” I grinned at her, enjoying how her eyes immediately clouded with desire. “Now go see your friends.”

  She nodded, her hands rising to the heavy gold medal around her neck, finally looking down at it.

  “I think that’s a little too big for your neck, Lil!” Emmett yelled from across the island where he was standing with Chance and Nick – all three of them looking at Channing like a sister. I watched her roll her eyes at him and begin to move their way.

  “Well, it’s a good thing you didn’t win it then, Emmett, because I don’t think the strap is long enough to fit over your big head,” Ally chimed in with her sweet sassiness.

  A collective “Ooo” resounded from around the room and Channing glanced back to me; I think she now saw what I did. Only before, Emmett would have shot back at her. Tonight, he just smiled and laughed as though he was completely unaffected. I was surprised. Ally looked even more so. But the most important response came from Chance, who’d been gone the past several months, who’d missed everything else that we’d seen between Emmett and Ally, and so, who now looked on as if there was nothing more to see.

  I wondered how long that was going to last.

  Not long – if I were a betting man.

  “I’m so proud of you, Wyatt,” my dad said as he hugged me, bringing my attention back to my parents and Zack who’d come over to talk about the school.

  Everyone hung out in the kitchen for some time, chatting, laughing, enjoying the company. Aside from Ally and Emmett who purposely avoided each other, Channing and my worlds meshed into one.

  Eventually, the group dwindled. First, Zack left to take my parents back to the condo. With Zack leaving, Ally had decided to go home and stay with Tammy for the night. The move was partially to get away from Emmett, but also so that Channing and I could have the house to ourselves.

  The only wild card was Chance. I caught him looking over at me a few times as Channing was talking to them, but it was only once my parents were gone that he approached me. Emmett and Nick’s eyes followed him over, prepared to back him up for the protective-brother speech that I knew I was about to get.

  “Olsen.” He stuck out his hand and I grabbed it firmly.

  “Ryder.” I nodded. “Funny to think how this is how we would meet; I figured it would have been on the slopes.”

  “Yeah, well, life likes to throw fucking curve balls, doesn’t it?” His smile was tight.

  “You could say that.”

  “I won’t lie to you, Olsen.” And here it was. “I can’t say I’m too fucking pleased about the whole idea of you and my sister, but thank you.”

  What? Thank you? “Ahh…for what?”

  “For being there for her, taking care of her… everything.” He downed the rest of the beer from the bottle in his hand. “I wouldn’t be happy seeing anyone with her, but if it had to be someone, I guess she could have done worse.”

  I laughed briefly – that was as close to a compliment and acceptance as I was going to get. “I may be the competition, but look on the bright side – at least I’m not a skier.”

  Now that had him laughing; when in doubt, rely on the mutual, comedic distaste for our winter sport counterparts.

  “Funny.” He nodded to me, his expression darkening again. “But, I’m not your competition; I’m nobody’s fucking competition anymore.”

  I heard in his voice the same worthlessness that I’d felt thinking about retirement, fueled by the thought of what purpose I could possibly serve if I wasn’t competing.

  “Well, I’m going to need instructors in a few months,” I offered casually. I wanted to ask Channing about it first, but the moment was here and knowing where he was coming from, I had to say something.

  “Yeah…” He glanced down and then up and out the window; clearly, this would have to be a topic for another time. Then came the words that I’d been expecting. “Anyway. Just wanted to say that if you hurt her, Olsen, I know seven different spots on this mountain where the snow never melts.”

  “I’d die for her.” I held his gaze – his eyes just like Channing’s, except his were haunted.

  “Good.” He turned back to his sister and friends who were now all watching us intently. “Channing, I’m going to stay with Nick.”

  “Oh, for the night?”

  “For indefinitely,” was his hard response. “Let’s go.”

  The three of them strolled from the kitchen like their crew being reunited meant that hell was about to freeze over. They all shook my hand as they brushed by me and I felt bad for whoever was at their destination; those three were wild and looking for trouble.

  Chapter 33

  Channing

  “You ok?” Wyatt walked towards me slowly, concern written on his face.

  I’d been in a slight shock when Chance said that he wasn’t going to be staying here – in his own home – for the ‘indefinite future.’ This was a new Chance and I didn’t know much, if anything, about him right now; I hoped that our friends would find a way through to him even if I couldn’t.

  “Yeah.” I sighed as he wrapped his arm around me.

  “He’ll come around.” He kissed the top of my head gently.

  “What did he say to you?”

  He laughed. “The usual – that he knows several spots on the mountain where he could bury my body and they would never find it if I hurt you.”

  I laughed and shook my head – now that sounded like my brother and it gave me hope that he was still in there somewhere.

  “In the meantime, I won’t complain that we have the house to ourselves right now because all I’ve thought about for the past hour is taking you upstairs and taking off all these layers.”

  I moaned, wrapping my arms around him and giving into the need to stare dreamily into his eyes. “So, what are you waiting for?”

  The growl was my answer – the growl that told my body I was going to like what was coming. I squealed, finding myself hoisted up over his shoulder as he carried me, giggling, around the island and upstairs to my room.

  Barely inside the threshold and I was right-side up again with his mouth on mine. Hard and hungry, just like I liked it. My hands dug for the edges of his shirt, tearing it up and over his head; I managed to undo his belt buckle before he pulled back.

  “Your turn.”

  I carefully lifted the
medal from my neck, still holding it in my hand as he pulled my Under Armour shirt off, revealing my red-lace bralette underneath. He reached for the clasp, deciding against it for the moment in favor of removing my pants.

  “Tell me they are fucking matching again,” he rasped. I bit my lip hard, knowing the answer – and what his reaction was going to be. Desire seeped from me as I heard the string of provocative expletives leave his mouth seeing the matching red thong.

  “You should… probably… get used to this,” I said breathlessly, my voice catching as his finger reached out to trace around my nipple through the fabric, slipping down onto the front of my panties. My fists clenched as he nudged the lace to the side and dipped his finger inside of me.

  “I’ll never get used to this,” was his hoarse response; drunk on desire, a second finger thrust inside of me and my legs shook. “I do, however, plan on frothing you in each and every one of these torture devices.” His eyes twinkled with heady humor.

  I grinned, the heavy metal weight in my hand sparking an idea. “Sounds like a really good plan,” I began, my free hand pulling his out of me so that I could take a step back, “but not tonight.”

  His eyebrows raised as my free hand reached around and unhooked my bra. I let it fall to the ground, watching his mouth part, hungry for my naked breasts.

  “I don’t think,” I hooked my thumbs on the edge of the thong, “that I properly congratulated you on today…” I teased the fabric down over my legs, standing back up completely naked in front of him.

  He was losing control – and I loved every second of it. His eyes were impossibly dark as he began to undo the waist of his pants, his erection forcing the material wide at just the slightest amount of give. “And how are you going to do that, gorgeous?” He pushed his pants down, my own mouth going dry at the sight of his excessively evident arousal.

  I smiled brilliantly, lifting my hands again, feeling the familiar fabric come to rest on the back of my neck. The medal slid down to rest just between my breasts and my body broke out in goosebumps – but not from its coldness.

  “By letting you take the gold.”

  Need rolled through me in wave after relentless wave as Wyatt consumed my body – his mouth on my mouth, his hands on my breasts… his hands and mouth on my core.

  My body flew so many times before he finally pushed inside of me, enjoying every clench of my sex around him. And when he was fully seated, he grabbed the gold medal and pulled it up and off of my neck, tossing it onto the floor.

  Because it meant nothing to either of us anymore – we had everything we needed.

  My orgasm sucked me in and then burst through my body just like my love for him had – with an intensity that I could no sooner describe than I could contain. And he followed me into the fury.

  Much later, after much more frothing, I lay with my head against his chest, our heartrates still not quite back down to normal. My mind ran back through the events of the day. I wouldn’t have changed a thing.

  “Do you think anyone realized that I wasn’t Chance?” I wondered aloud.

  “I think your secret is safe, gorgeous.” He chuckled, tipping my chin up and kissing me lightly. “So, does this mean I can tell everyone that you fell for me?” he teased against my lips.

  “You’re so cocky sometimes.” I laughed, tilting my head back. “I’ll agree to it, but only if you answer me one thing.”

  “Anything.” His thumb brushed against the skin of my neck, stroking warmth throughout my body.

  “When did you fall in love with me?” The question was breathless, waiting for his answer to fill up my lungs with life.

  He smiled – that devastatingly brilliant smile that still managed to stop my heart – and said, “Somewhere between the snow and stars.”

  Emmett

  I sucked in a huge breath of the frigid night air; I needed it to freeze me from the inside out because I was burning. I was burning with rage and burning with desire.

  Wyatt Olsen was staying in town. Congratu-fucking-lations, Lil. What that meant to me was that his douchebag of a brother would most likely be staying too. And if he was staying, he’d be staying with Ally.

  Just because she wasn’t mine didn’t mean that anyone-fucking-else was allowed to touch her. Especially a goddamn skier.

  Especially him with all his compliments and touching and caring consideration. Fuck him.

  We were like fire and ice, she and I, and the burn I was feeling right now told me that the fire was winning. The past few months had been torture. Without Chance here, I’d felt responsible for the two of them – his two sisters. I was already responsible for one human and yet he’d saddled me with two more. Thankfully, Lil knew how to take care of herself. Ally, on the other hand, was a goddamn daisy and a disaster all rolled into one; she was warmth and sunshine, kindness and caring – everything I wasn’t and everything I didn’t deserve to have. She was also young. Christ, I was almost ten years older than she was; I told myself that a million times – that it didn’t matter that she was twenty, that she was legal; she was Chance’s kid sister.

  And I hated her for it.

  I hated her for rubbing it in my face – her youthful, carefree nature; the way life hadn’t fucked her like it had fucked me. I hated her for rubbing that douchebag in my face. I hated her for tempting me with the thought that she could be mine for the taking. Little Miss Sunshine and her perfect life; I so badly wanted to shatter it and keep all the brightly broken pieces for myself.

  I was pissed that Pride left, but it wasn’t my call; I was more pissed that it had put me in closer proximity with the one person I couldn’t have – the one person I shouldn’t have – and the one person who certainly didn’t want me.

  I needed Chance back because I didn’t know how much longer I could take the torture. I needed the SnowmassHoles back because I needed the mindless distraction of riding – both mountains and women – to let me forget about my piece of shit life that hid inside a sparkly cage for just a few hours.

  Mostly, I needed Chance back because without him, I’d allowed myself to forget the most important piece of this puzzle: that Ally was his sister. It didn’t matter who I was; it mattered who she was. Even SnowmassHoles have a code – and that code included not fucking your best friend’s sister.

  “Thank fuck you’re back.” I growled as we approached Frost’s truck. I couldn’t tell him how much, but I could tell him that.

  He better be staying because I wasn’t sure that there was anything left standing between me and showing that little girl just how far down I could drag her – and just how delicious it could be.

  Nick

  Quiet, unassuming, distracted, and generally considered the nicest out of the three of us. I was the worst kind of asshole; I was the kind that masqueraded as decency. I hid it so well that sometimes I could even fool myself into thinking that I wasn’t who I was.

  I was the wolf in sheep’s clothing.

  I was the one with a smile on my face and the knife hidden behind my back.

  Not for them, of course. But for anyone else who tried to get too close. I had goals and I had rules. There was no compromising.

  They thought I was a stoner and easily distracted. The truth was I just didn’t give a shit about anything except one tiny, living, breathing thing that was being held hostage from me. But no one knew that because I was better at hiding things than the rest of them.

  I saw things that they assumed I missed. I saw the dick who’d harassed Channing that night at the bar; I saw and I watched to see what would happen. At some point, I would have nudged King and let him play the hero, but Wyatt had shown up first. I also saw the way King looked at Ally – the way he was dying to fuck her. I thought it was fucking hysterical.

  And Pride? I saw that he didn’t want to be here almost as much as we wanted him back. I saw the martyr he was making of himself, but who was I to judge? I needed the SnowmassHoles back so that I could go back to hiding in the background, letti
ng Pride and King take the spotlight so I could focus on getting back the one thing that belonged to me – the one thing that was a part of me; I needed to be back in the darkness that was my home, where I could let out every ugly thing that allowed me to keep my pleasant persona intact.

  I wasn’t pissed that Chance had left. I wasn’t pissed that he was back. I wasn’t pissed about Wyatt or Channing. And I wasn’t pissed when Chance turned to me as we approached my truck and held his hand out expectantly, waiting for me to give him the keys. I didn’t care that Emmett immediately made for the passenger seat, leaving me to the back. I didn’t care about any of it. I had an incredibly long fuse – so long, most assumed it was never-ending. There was an end, an end with a very big bomb was just itching to be ignited.

  All I cared about was that we were going somewhere where the darkness could relieve that itch for the time being.

  Chance

  “This lying low has been bullshit,” King muttered, walking around the car to the passenger seat. There was no question when I held my hand out for the keys to drive, leaving Nick to drop his keys in my hand and open the back door.

  I didn’t want to be back. I never wanted to come back, but for my sister I would do anything. Including returning to the place that held nothing but painful reminders of everything that I had lost.