On the Edge (Winter Games Book 2)

by Dr. Rebecca Sharp

  “Alright, class. Now that you’ve learned how to stop, today, we are going to attempt turning.”

  I stared down at my board, semi-listening to Emmett, semi-wondering how I was going to strap in. Sitting down was not an option because I would be stuck up here all night.

  “Heel turns and toe turns are your only two options. Just like we did yesterday with stopping, each turn involved you placing your weight on your heels or your toes – meaning the front or back of your board.”

  Ok, flat surface, just stay steady. Carefully, I lifted my foot and placed it in the binding. Bending over to crank down the straps was a joy, but not like sitting down to do this would have been.

  When I made it upright, Emmett was in front of me again. “You good?”

  “Perfect.” I smiled brightly at him – at least those muscles weren’t sore.

  “Just… dammit… wait here.” He huffed, strapping himself in and sliding over to where the two girls from yesterday were.

  I was frozen at the top of the slope. I could see tracks everywhere, marring the white snow, with more being made by the second as skiers and snowboarders moved around me; there were a million paths to take. How could I know I was taking the right one?

  I looked again and Emmett was now with the boys, trying to reason with them to take it easy down the trail. The two girls were slowly carving back and forth, one at a time.

  This was ridiculous. I’ll just go slow.

  Every muscle protested as I hopped to angle my board straight ahead. The ground slid away underneath the board and all I heard was Emmett’s voice in my head.

  For a heel turn, knees bent, weight back on your heels especially on your back leg.

  The words repeated and I willed my body to do what they said, swinging my left foot around to turn the snowboard. Slow and steady, I survived the first turn.

  Facing down the slope, I could see Emmett was back with the girls. One of them had fallen and he was bent down, emphatically explaining something to her.

  I could do this.

  Ok, toe-turn. I moved slowly, this time resting my weight on the toe-edge of the board and moving my right foot back. Another success. Maybe I was on the right path.

  My legs were burning though so I dropped to my knees. I looked over my shoulder. Emmett was off his board and holding the hands of the younger girl as she attempted to make a toe-turn.

  I grunted, not bothering to hide the pained sound as I stood back up. Taking my time, I completed another set of turns without too much trouble, the fear of falling dulling the way my muscles throbbed from overexertion. Emmett was looking at me now. He wasn’t wearing his goggles or helmet because he wasn’t attached to his board; his gear sat in a pile a few feet further up the slope from him as he continued to help the girl who was struggling. He realized that I was moving down the run on my own and he wasn’t happy.

  What was I supposed to do? Sit up at the top like a damsel-in-distress?

  Sorry, King Emmett. You’re not my knight? Well, I’m not your damsel – not today, at least.

  Kneel or stand? That was my dilemma. I decided on remaining upright; the pain of standing was less than the pain of getting back up from the ground. If I calculated correctly, two more sets of turns would bring me to the bottom and then I probably should call it for the day and try to recover.

  Ok, half-way there. Just finish it, Ally.

  I inhaled and angled my board, letting myself gain a little more speed before swinging shakily through a heel turn to a stop. Maybe, if I just keep moving it will hurt less. I didn’t bother to look for Emmett; I just needed to get to the bottom of the mountain.

  I started again, gaining more speed. A little too much speed. Crap. My legs were shaking, the muscles so tired. Double crap. Just let me make this turn. Please.

  Flexing onto my toes, I swung the board around, the turn much sharper than my others – sharper than I anticipated. But, I held it together as my board evened out. I was still moving pretty fast, but at least I survived the turn. I put more pressure down, looking up to see the ice chunk in my path too late. I sailed right over it, my balance thrown off – thrown forward.

  I should have just dropped to my knees, but just like yesterday – when Emmett caught me – my body overcompensated for the forward motion, jerking back with too much force. My heel edge caught and, since I was facing up the slope, I crashed backward, my lower back hitting first a split second before my helmet ricocheted off the unforgiving ground.

  The blackness that consumed me was similar to when I’d been toppled by waves in the ocean before. The feeling of not being able to breathe was familiar to me - in this case because the wind had been knocked out of my lungs and not my body being incased by water.

  I’d have to say this was worse. Being surrounded by air and unable to breathe.

  Having what I wanted right in front of me and being unable to take it.

  Air. Emmett. Blackness.

  Emmett

  God no.

  I yelled to someone – I didn’t even know who – to go get ski patrol as I dropped everything and ran up the slope to where she lay completely still.

  I saw the whole thing go down – the way she turned too fast, the second she lost her balance and overcompensated, and especially the moment she fell backward. If she’d been riding a board that I’d made, she never would have caught that edge.

  The sound of her helmet smacking against the snow and ice was all I could hear. She fell back so hard that after her head hit the ground her legs and the snowboard came up and over her head, effectively making her do a reverse summersault, finally landing on her stomach.

  I told her to fucking wait for me.

  What was it with Ryder women not knowing how to listen?

  What was it with them and their damn head injuries?

  “Ally!” I slid to a stop on my knees, flipping her over towards me. Throwing my gloves off, I unbuckled her helmet; my hands were shaking so fucking bad. She didn’t answer me and my heart froze; I moved her goggles up and didn’t see blue staring back at me; the damn thing in my chest shattered.

  Carefully, I slid both things off of her head, glancing down the trail.

  Where the fuck was ski patrol?

  She groaned. Thank you, God.

  “Ally,” I rasped, my hands cupping her face. “What the fuck were you thinking?”

  I’d never been so scared in my whole damn life and fuck if that realization didn’t make me irritable.

  This was why I could never be her fucking prince. She could have died and all I could think about was taking her over my knee for scaring the living fuck out of me.

  “That… was not… fun.” Her beautiful face scrunched as she briefly opened her eyes to look up at me.

  “No, I bet it wasn’t, sunshine,” I ground out.

  “W-why are there two of you?”

  Shit. “Because that’s how much fucking trouble you are in for not listening to me.” There was a hint of a smile before her eyes closed again and her head tilted towards my chest. “No, Ally. I need you to talk to me.” If she had a severe head injury or internal bleeding, I didn’t want her falling asleep.

  “No,” she murmured softly, barely there. “You’re mad at me. Don’t want to talk when you’re mad…”

  Jesus. I brushed my thumb back and forth over her cheek.

  “No, Ally. I’m not mad at you, alright?” Her eyes opened again.

  “Don’t believe you.”

  “Christ.” I wasn’t mad. I was hurting. “I’m angry because you hurt yourself. I’m angry because you scared the shit out of me, sunshine.” I heard the snowmobile zooming up the slope – fucking finally. She was watching me still, so I didn’t stop; I needed her to be ok. “I’m angry because I wasn’t there to stop it.” I saw the sled pull up on the other side of her, but I couldn’t stop myself from adding, “And I’m angry because I now know that losing you would fucking kill me.”

  She still looked at me as though she was in a
fog and I wondered if she would even remember this later.

  “She’s conscious. Fell back and smacked her head and then flipped.”

  The two men knelt down next to her and instinctively my arms tightened. Mine.

  “Has she been responsive the whole time?”

  “No. When I got to her, she was out, but then came to. Not sure if anything is broken. I just took off her helmet and goggles incase…” No need to finish that thought. “I kept her awake.”

  “Good. Anything broken?”

  “I don’t think so.” At least nothing obvious.

  “Alright, let’s get her down to the medic.” They stood, unhooking the stretcher from the back of the snowmobile. “Ok, if you could help Tom lift her, we can slide this underneath.”

  “Emmett…”

  “Now’s not the time for your sass, sunshine,” I tried to tease her – for both her benefit and mine. “Let’s make sure you’re ok and then you can bite my head off.”

  Quickly and efficiently we got her on the board. I was tempted to force one of them to stay behind so I could ride down, but I knew that was going too far. So I jogged down the rest of the slope behind them, not giving two shits that I’d left my board and gear in the middle of the trail.

  “Emmett!” My head jerked as Tammy ran up to me.

  “She’s fine.” I didn’t know that; why would I say that?

  Because I needed her to be.

  “What happened?”

  “She fell backward and hit her head. I told her to fucking wait for me… She’ll be fine. They are just going to check her out.” Tammy nodded silently. “I’ll take her home. Can you just grab my shit from the bunny slope? I left all of it somewhere in the middle – I don’t even know…” God, I sounded like a blubbering mess.

  “Of course. I’ll come over to first aid as soon as I’m done.”

  She’d checked out. Minor concussion but no serious damage. Not yet, at least; she would need to be re-evaluated once I was done with her.

  Tammy had shown up about halfway through their examination and we both stood like worried fucking parents waiting for the doctor to check everything out. Even as soon as they brought her in, she was looking much better. She’d been white as snow out on the trail, but once she was inside the first-aid quarters, her color had returned and she was much more alert.

  Ruth called while we were waiting. I sent it to voicemail. Not now. I’d almost lost one person, I couldn’t deal with losing another.

  “I’ll call Chance,” Tammy had offered and I didn’t fight her for the opportunity.

  “I’ll call Cup of Joe and tell them she’s not coming in later or tomorrow,” I said.

  She returned a few minutes later. “Is he coming?” I didn’t want him here – and not just because I was looking at his sister in a way that I shouldn’t, but because I needed to be the one to take her home and make sure that she was okay; if he were here, I would have to relinquish that to him.

  “No. He and Nick went into Denver for the weekend. I’m assuming… well, it doesn’t matter. He said he won’t be back until later tomorrow night but to have her call him as soon as she’s released.”

  A half an hour later – with most of that time spent as Ally reassured Tammy that she was fine – we were in the car on the way to her house. I had her call Chance, leaving me to brood silently as I picked up some take-out from this BBQ joint that I loved; the food was phenomenal even when I wasn’t high. There were so many things I wanted to say to her – so many things that encompassed a wide range of emotions.

  I got back in the car, handing her the take-out bag. “How do you feel?” Keep it simple.

  “Sore. Very sore.” Her throat was dry. I was making her a fucking cup of tea as soon as we got there. “This smells amazing.”

  “How’s your head?”

  “Surprisingly, not too bad. The doctor gave me a bunch of Motrin to take and that helped a lot.” She stared at her hands clasped in her lap as she spoke. “Even with the helmet, I have a feeling I’m going to have a giant bump on my head tomorrow.”

  “Yeah, you’re lucky that’s all you’re going to have.” I threw my truck in park in her drive.

  I followed her into the house. She wanted to move fast, but she was so sore that she couldn’t.

  “Where are you going?” I watched her attempt the stairs.

  “I’m grabbing a bathing suit and getting in the Jacuzzi. My muscles need it.”

  “Ally,” I growled, standing at the bottom of the steps. “I don’t think that’s a good idea. I think you just need to lie down and relax.”

  My phone began buzzing in my pocket. Christ, not now.

  “My head is fine, Emmett! The doctor said so. My muscles, though, are killing me.”

  My phone kept buzzing. “Just… Just wait.” I swore under my breath and pulled my cell out, answering the call; I didn’t need to look to know who it was.

  “What?” I opened the front door and stepped outside.

  “I’m sorry, Emmett. I know you don’t want to know – don’t want to hear this. But I just spoke to the doctors. Miriam has taken a turn for the worse. I know I originally told you a year, but it’s spread to her lymph nodes; they are saying two months now, maybe three tops.”

  My body vibrated with anger as Ruth spoke too fast for me to stop her.

  “Her memory is going faster. I know I promised that I wouldn’t, but I’m begging you. Please come and see her.”

  Silence. Never-ending silence.

  I wanted to say no – like I had all the other times, but I couldn’t force the damn syllable off of my tongue. I turned around, glancing through the window to see Ally disappearing through the back door. Fuck.

  “I’ll think about it.” Click.

  One fucking fire at a time.

  Chapter 14

  Ally

  I hate the way he can tune my body just as expertly as he does with his snowboards; he carves my need, shapes my desire, and sharpens my pleasure perfectly for him.

  “What the hell are you doing?” Emmett demanded angrily.

  I winced as I heard the door slam, but I felt too good to move.

  The heat from the water seeped into my sorely abused muscles and it was like I could feel each fiber relaxing. I knew he was going to be mad that I didn’t listen to him – again – but my body needed this.

  “Just for a few minutes,” I sighed. “Please…” I begged.

  I hazarded a peek, my asshole in shining armor glaring at me, arms crossed over the sculpted muscles of his chest.

  “If you weren’t already injured…”

  “I know… I just need a few minutes though. Then you can yell at me all you want.”

  He laughed harshly. “If you think yelling is all I want to do to you…”

  I sucked in a breath; yes, in fact, it is possible to get goosebumps while soaking in over one-hundred-degree water.

  “Who was on the phone?” I asked, my eyes closed and my head tipped back.

  The question had been gnawing at me ever since I heard him storm out of the house.

  “Who is Dylan?” he countered as he sat on the ledge of the stone retaining wall, watching me like I was going to pass out and drown at any second.

  I stared at him, debating. Finally, my conclusion was that I wanted Emmett more than I wanted to keep Dylan to myself. If he was going to break his rules, it would only be once he’d taken everything from me – everything I had, everything I wanted, everything I loved. That was the price I was willing to pay to get what I needed – to get him.

  “My ex-boyfriend,” I confessed, watching as my answer made his body immediately tense before I asked again, “Who was on the phone?”

  “My cousin… and step-sister.”

  “I didn’t know you had a sister,” I replied, refusing to let my surprise at it show.

  “Is he why you came here?” he asked intuitively.

  “Yes.” My chin tipped up slightly as he stood. My turn. “Why are you ma
d that she’s calling you?”

  His hands gripped the edge of the Jacuzzi opposite me. His eyes grazed over the murky water that just barely hinted at my red bikini underneath. “Because she wants me to do something that I don’t want to do.” Vague. “Why did you break up?” he volleyed.

  Two could play at that game.

  “It didn’t work out.” I moved through the water towards him, keeping everything below my neck submerged. “What does she want you do to?”

  I was in front of him now, our eyes locked. This war of questions had escalated quickly – just like everything else between us. We pushed deeper through the levels of personal details because it was the only way to take more without giving into desire.

  “She wants me to visit Miriam.” Our breaths mingled with the steam in the cold air. “How long ago did it end?”

  “Almost two years.” My voice had turned breathless; our proximity was torture. I could see his arousal against his jeans. “Who is Miriam?”

  His eyes darkened. This time the pause was pregnant. This time I wasn’t sure he was going to answer, that he was going to pull back in defeat. “My mother.” But I thought… I’d heard the rumors… Addict… Overdose… Foster care…

  “Emmett…” I whispered, rising up slightly, the water now below my breasts; my nipples were already hard; the frigid temperature outside could do nothing to make them worse.

  He eyes never left mine though and I knew what he was going to ask before I heard the rough words rasp over my body. “Did you love him?”

  I watched the way his delicious mouth moved as he spoke. It was so close to mine, I just wanted to taste it.

  In the same way, it seemed he knew what my answer was going to be and instead of subjecting himself to it, his mouth crushed mine.

  Punishing. Possessing. Obliterating.

  The weapons of our words had been exchanged for those of our touch. His hand cupped the back of my head, making sure to avoid the spot where I was bruised, before he pulled me up, angling my head roughly against his.

  His hand cupped my breast, squeezing deliciously hard. The water held in my suit wrung out and ran down my body as I arched against him, losing myself in the onslaught.