“What the fuck, Reagan?”
I guess he noticed. Knox’s eyes meet mine, his wide in fear, but a small smirk grows on his face like he’s almost happy about this. I tighten my lips into a straight line and narrow my eyes before twisting my head to look at Remi. He stands in the middle of the doorway his hands covering his eyes.
With a single finger, he points at where he thinks we are but is a few feet too far to the right. “Put on your pants! And find a fucking shirt, Reagan!”
The door slams shut and I drop my head back on the pillow. With Remi gone and the door closed, I laugh. Looks like we’re busted now.
“And don’t think we’re not going to talk about this!” Remi yells from the hallway, but there is absolutely no sound barrier and it feels like he’s standing beside the bed.
Oh shit.
CHAPTER EIGHT
“He’s my best friend.” Remi taps a single knuckle on the back of the cab’s leather seat.
I hang my head like a small child caught doing something bad. “I know.”
“Why didn’t you tell me? I’m your brother. You can trust me.”
“I know.” Snow-covered trees slide by the side window as the cab Remi and I are in heads back to the hotel.
Marley opted to stay behind and not witness Remi’s freak out. She said we had to handle it on our own. Some friend.
“I want you to go straight to your room and stay there the rest of the day. At least until I figure this out.”
What? “You’re sending me to my room? I’m not a child, Remi.”
“Then stop acting like one!”
I have no idea how Marley puts up with this man. The cab climbs the steep hill to the hotel while I sit in the seat next to Remi and plot my revenge. The vehicles comes to a halt and Remi pulls out his wallet to use an athlete voucher to pay the fare. It’s the number one reason I agreed to share a cab with him in the first place. I slam the car door, making sure he knows it is for emphasis, and with heavy steps stomp up to the hotel.
Like a child.
But that is beside the point.
I make it all the way to the elevator bank completely ignoring Remi. For once, luck is on my side and the door is already open. So I run inside and press the button for my floor. He walks into the lobby front door and puts his hands up in the air like I’m supposed to hold this elevator for him. But he apparently forgot he told me to go to my room like he’s my father. If I needed my father to yell at me he’s a few doors down from my own room. I could go find him myself. There’s no way in hell I’m holding one open for Remi.
My smirk is one hundred percent a little sister smile, with one side of my lips tipped up, one eyebrow cocked, and a shoulder to my ear in a “who, me?” shrug.
“Oops,” I yell out the sliver of a door opening right before it closes.
Even though Remi isn’t on the floor when the elevator comes to a stop, I still stomp the entire way to my hotel room. I let myself in mumbling harsh swearwords under my breath. I’ll never know what makes that man so bossy. Or why our family listens to him.
That’s the problem. We all reinforce his delusion of being able to boss us around by letting him boss us around. It needs to stop.
I’m part of the problem. I’ll admit it.
I drape myself over the still perfectly made bed — I wonder what the housekeeping staff thought of that — and stare at the ceiling. Overall it’s a clean hotel, except for the long black streak next to the light that mars the pristine whiteness of the ceiling in general. Maybe the light became too hot and some small bug had to crawl for a few inches to a certain death leaving black scorch marks behind.
Hey, it’s better than all the other ideas that come to mind.
At least it’s not a chunk of hair. I can’t tell you the number of hotel rooms I’ve stayed in for one of Remi’s events where there is a hair in the bathtub. I list all the rooms that have had questionable substances or splotches on a wall until Remi knocks on the door.
I half sit up, my feet hitting the floor not nearly as loud as I’d like.
He knocks again.
“What, Remi!” I stomp my way all the way to the door. Hopefully the people below me aren’t late sleepers. “I’m in my room. Just like you told…”
Except it’s not Remi on the other side of the door when I open it, but my ex-boyfriend Jake.
“Jake?” What the heck is he doing in here?
He takes a step inside my room. “Reagan, I had to come talk to you.”
“You could have picked up a phone not flown across an ocean.” I take a few steps back in the room, giving him space to enter, and then close the door behind him.
Jake, who has never been one for the cold, unzips a ridiculously large winter coat and pulls off a long ear flap hat. His messy hair is going every which direction underneath it. “It couldn’t do this over the phone.”
“Why not?” It’s a stressful day, but not so stressful I forget he cheated…again.
He turns his back to me, staring out the window at the snow-covered mountains visible through the glass. “Because I want you back.”
“No —”
He spins around quickly. “Let me finish.”
“Fine, but you have like two minutes until Remi gets here.” I cross my arms over my chest. Remi’s never been a member of the Jake fan club, but I didn’t think much of it before since he hasn’t liked any of my boyfriends. However, finding him in my room this morning after everything else that happened won’t be a good idea.
His face falls. “Does he know?”
“That you cheated on me? Yeah, he’s aware.”
“It doesn’t matter, Reagan. I’ll handle your brother. I’ll make it up to him and you.”
Jake doesn’t like my brother either. It’s kind of sweet him thinking he can make the situation better with Remi. But also dumb because cheating on Remi’s little sister three times pretty much means he’ll never make it better. He lost that privilege after the first time.
“I don’t think it works that way, Jake.”
“Reagan, we can work this out. I will do whatever you want.”
I sit on the bed, the sheets ruffled from where I lay down in despair a few minutes earlier. Jake paces a few steps and then stops and turns to give me his attention. His blond hair is still messed up, distracting me. Underneath his ridiculous coat, he has on an oversized white sweater, the CHAPS logo to one side. We spent eighteen months together. In that time there were periods when I thought he was the one. The guy I could marry and start a family with. Jake never treated me badly…well except for the cheating. That’s pretty shitty.
I deserve better. I deserve somebody who makes my heart jump every time he enters the room, whether we’re dating for two days or twenty years.
“We both deserve someone better, Jake.”
His face falls, his chest depressing like I’ve stolen the air from his lungs. “There is no one better for me than you, Reagan.”
I shake my head. “But obviously there is. If I was the girl for you, you wouldn’t be constantly looking for somebody else.” Why is that simple concept so hard for men to understand? “Cheating on someone isn’t a sign of a healthy relationship.”
“I’m not stupid, Reagan. Well… I am stupid for cheating on you,” he quickly backpedals. “It’s just that you were never around. Living so far away is not good for us. Plus, you’re always off doing something with your brother. Helping your brother do this. Helping your brother do that. And wherever your brother is, Knox is there too.”
My breath stalls.
“Yeah, I see the way you look at him. The way you talk about him. How could I not be jealous?”
Okay, how did him cheating on me suddenly become my fault? “Today you have a bunch of excuses for why you cheated?”
“Tell me nothing has ever gone on between you and Knox.”
I sigh and that’s probably all the he needs to hear. “It hadn’t before.”
“So we break up for two
days and you jumped in the bed with him?”
“Stop turning this around on me!” I stand from the bed in agitation.
We stare at each other. My eyes narrowed in anger, but Jake tilts his head like he’s known all along. It does nothing but piss me off more.
“You’re right, I’m sorry. I don’t know what to do to win you back.”
“Jake, there’s nothing you can do.” I take hold of his hands and squeeze them in mine. “We aren’t meant for each other. Go out and find a great girl for you.”
Man look at me sounding adult and non-spiteful. The fresh mountain air must be as good for me as the television commercials preach.
He twists, taking me with him and we sit on the bed our knees touching.
He sighs, running his hand through his hair. “I think I always knew, and that’s why I’d get jealous. The cheating isn’t because I didn’t love you Reagan. I know you won’t believe me,” he finishes while I start to respond. “But it’s because I love you so much.”
I audibly huff. This is a first. He loved me so much he had to cheat on me.
“You were with your brother all the time. Surrounded by snowboarders. Cheating was my way of getting back at you. It’s stupid, I know,” he chokes over the last few words.
It is stupid. One of the worst justifications I’ve ever heard, but it is obvious Jake is hurting. Lashing out at him now won’t do either of us any good. I’m certainly mad at him and I will be for a while. I’ll probably curse his name for a few years, but right now being bitchy to him won’t make me feel any better. I have bigger issues to deal with.
“But you’re right. I’m sorry I hurt you.”
I wrap my arms loosely around Jake’s shoulders. “Sorry too.”
He squeezes me tightly, my head falling on the top of his shoulders. Jake pulls back when a loud jarring blare bursts through the room.
“What is that?” I cover my ears to drown out the sound.
Jake does the same. “A fire alarm?”
Jake grabs his coat from the desk chair where he threw it and I open the door to the hallway. Outside other doors open and a stream of confused people hesitantly walk to the exit door, each asking the other what’s going on. The noise doesn’t sound like any alarm noise we have in the US. It’s too much of a beep, but anything that buzzes this loud can’t mean good things.
Jake leans his head out the door and sees the ten or so people picking up their steps to make it to the fire exit. “Come on. We have to get out of here.”
CHAPTER NINE
It feels like we move incredibly fast, but when Jake and I step into the hallway, we’re met with a line of people waiting to get out of the building. They all moved much quicker than we did.
“What’s going on?” a middle-aged woman in a sweat suit — matching pink top and bottoms — asks, walking next to Jake.
“I have no idea. I think that’s the fire alarm.”
“The fire alarm. You mean there’s a fire?”
Sometimes I understand why Americans get a bad rap.
“More than likely.” Jake nods his head at her like she is the dumbest person to walk the planet.
He’s never been great at sugar coating. He’s more of a tell it like it is kind of guy. At one point in time, I found that one of his more attractive qualities.
“Either way alarms are never good. So follow everyone else down the staircase.” I try to cover up his abrupt answer.
Jake opens the door letting the woman and me go first. The stairwell is full of people all pushing their way down to the first floor. Jake squeezes in next to me putting his hand on my shoulder. I almost reach up and knock it away, but I stop myself in time.
I guess I’m more upset than I thought.
The alarm continues to buzz and I want to rocket down the steps faster because, while I can’t smell smoke, my body reacts with panic to the alarming noise. We reach the first floor and come to a grinding halt. The small exit door is bottlenecked full of people trying to push their way out. The air warms and I panic because of the crush of people in the small staircase. If the building is on fire, we’re all going to die from the speed these people are moving.
“Did anyone see fire?”
“Is there another way out?”
Questions are flung from each and every direction. No one asks anyone in particular, and no one has any answers.
“Hold up, people. We’ll make it out.” Someone higher up the staircase yells. His unnaturally tall and toned body means he’s more than likely an athlete.
Jake and I make it to the door and he pushes me through, following right after. I almost fall to the ground outside. The weather’s cold and windy but we’re safe. I suck in a breath of fresh air and move over to our left as far as we can to the parking lot so more people get to safety.
“Reagan, you’re okay.” Knox runs up from the parking lot out of breath. “I’ve been looking everywhere for you. Where’s your brother?”
“I don’t know. I left him in the lobby.” There’s no sign of Remi or Marley in the crowd.
Knox’s eyes follow mine searching the crowd. “I was in the lobby when they made us evacuate. He wasn’t there.”
Jake does his best to remove his arm from my shoulders calmly and as casually as possible, but it catches Knox’s attention. His eyes drive down to Jake’s arm, his face becoming a snarl.
“Knox.” This is not the time or place and I hope my warning will stop him from doing something crazy.
“No, it’s all right. We’re okay here. She’s in good hands.” Jake places a kiss at the top my head and pats my arm in a horribly awkward way before he turns and takes a step away.
“Wait,” I say following him with my eyes. “Where will you go?”
He laughs. “Don’t you know? It’s the Winter Games. My plane leaves tomorrow. I guess I’ll check out a few places until then.”
“Thanks, Jake.” I smile.
“What the fuck was that about?” Knox asks, watching Jake wearily as he walks to the parking lot.
I shake my head. “Just saying goodbye.”
Knox tenses and for a few seconds I worry he’ll go after Jake and cause a big scene. I’m pretty proud of Jake and hell, me too. We broke up almost amicably. There could’ve been a huge argument and drama, but there wasn’t. And yet I still feel like I’ve had my closure.
Maybe this means I’m becoming an adult? I am twenty-six. I guess I had to happen sooner or later.
“There’s Remi.” Knox points to the crowd of people exiting the stairwell door.
I stand on my tippy toes to see better. “Where’s Marley? And my mom and dad?”
Remi stands tall over everyone in the crowd, but the rest of my family is hard to make out.
“He’s got them.” Knox puts a hand in the air using the other to cup around his mouth. He yells Remi’s name but is unable to get his attention.
He does it again, louder this time, and Remi’s head jerks up to spot him. They start in our direction, and the crowd breaks around them, making it easier to see Marley tucked under Remi’s arm with my mom and dad directly behind the couple.
“See, everyone’s safe.” Knox looks down and smiles. He quickly kisses the top of my forehead. “So this is us then?”
“Yup.”
“Tomorrow at my race you’ll be there as my girlfriend?”
“Yup.” I smile and my cheeks turn pink from the cold air around us. Totally not because the thought of supporting Knox tomorrow as his girlfriend makes me a little giddy inside.
“And every race there after?”
“Yup.” My smile grows. I guess I’m not done in the snowboarding circuit after all.
Knox grabs my hand, staring at me with such an intensity I’m forced to maintain eye contact rather than turn away. “You’re the first girl I’ve ever loved and the last one I ever plan to fall for. There’s no point in me competing if you aren’t there.”
“I’ve always been there to cheer for you, Knox.”
It looks oddly like a fire truck you’d see in America, just a little shorter with some yellow on the side. Kind of like a big food truck here to put out a fire rather than serve us tacos. A team of men jump from the truck before it fully stops moving. One of them slides open a door on the side of the truck, revealing a collection of hoses and gear. Definitely no tacos.
The last few people slowly trickle out of the door and stand with the large crowd that gathers on the lawn next to the building.
Riley, Marley, and my parents make their way to us.
“Is everyone okay?” Remi asks looking me up and down.
“Yeah,”
An American — it’s easy to tell from his gold-medal event jacket with the big emblem on the left pocket walks past us heading to the edge of the crowd.
“Can I have everyone’s attention, please?” he yells, but the murmuring of the conversations going on around us barely lowers. “Attention!”
His second yell gathers more people. Others see them pausing to turn in his direction, and so the rest the group follows.
“The fire department is here assessing the situation, but it appears as if this was a false alarm. A senseless act of stupidity set against the American hotel. The fire department needs to clear the building and complete safety checks, but then we will be allowed back inside. Please stay here until further details are available.”
“How long will it take?” someone yells from behind us.
“Hopefully not long. I’m sorry. That’s all the information I have right now.” The man who was so excited to give us this announcement quickly walks back into the crowd. People converge on him, asking questions.
I shiver, not having had time to grab my coat when Jake ushered me out of the room.
“Let’s go back to the dorms. You need to warm up,” Knox says.
“We’re going with you.” Remi nods his head like he’s not giving anyone any room to argue. “We can stop for food on the way there.”
HIS LAST FALL Page 5