by A. K. Evans
“You aren’t claiming shit but a big air win this week. She’s off limits,” Zane said, seething.
Emme was beginning to look a bit uncomfortable.
Wes chimed in, “Alright, guys. Let’s focus on what we’ve got to get done today. Thank you for breakfast, Em.”
She nodded to him and then reached out to hand me a bag.
I shook my head saying, “I can’t. I’m going to throw up.”
“What?” she asked. “Why?”
“Nerves,” I answered.
Everyone stared at me.
“What?” I asked.
“Nerves over what?” Emme asked.
“The Fire line product launch. I could be responsible for destroying the entire Elements Series if people don’t like it.”
Luke turned and said, “We’ve been riding a long time, Charley. Seen lots of cool shit on boards. Never have any of us seen anything like what you put together. And that is a really good thing. Already said the work you did was kickass.”
“You do know you are going to have three of the best riders in the world using boards with your work on them. People will love that shit. You’ve got nothing to worry about, babe,” Stone said.
I stayed silent.
Finally, Wes spoke up and said, “Told you, Charley. Not a chance it won’t go over well. Trust all of us and believe you’ve got incredible talent.”
I thought about it for a beat before saying, “Ok, I’ll try to relax.”
“Good. Also want you to take breakfast with you,” Wes said. “Everybody ready to go?”
Everyone nodded. The guys gathered up their bags and split Emme’s camera equipment bags among themselves. With that, we all headed out, loaded up the cars, and made our way to the mountain.
Several hours later and the place was packed. Thousands of people had arrived. The Blackman Boards ‘Keep Riding’ lounge had a steady flow of visitors throughout the morning. We expected that would increase as the day went on. The best part of the day to this point, at least to me, was hearing about the reviews we were receiving on the Elements Series Fire line. A pre-order had been launched on the Blackman Boards’ website and Wes got word that the orders had already started flowing in. This was all very great news and helped with taking the edge off.
My nerves hadn’t completely settled because I was now getting ready to watch Zane and Stone go into the qualifying rounds of the men’s superpipe event. Along with experiencing excitement jitters for them, even though it was likely they didn’t need me to be, I was also rooting for my girl. Emme was about to take photos for one of the biggest events in extreme sports. She was already a very successful photographer, but I knew this opportunity could easily catapult her career to the next level. I couldn’t be more excited for her because she deserved this.
Wes and I stood there as we saw Zane at the top of the pipe with Stone. They’d just given each other that manly hug that guys do slapping each other’s back. Zane turned to look down the pipe, strapped his second foot in to the board, took a deep breath, and went for it. I glanced over to where Emme was, her camera up at her eyes, completely focused on her target. Zane dropped in, went up one wall of the pipe, did his trick, landed, and continued up the wall on the opposite side of the pipe. Emme stayed focused on him the entire time. He completed his tricks and landed each of them. When he landed his last trick, the crowd erupted. Wes and I were right there with the rest of the crowd cheering for him.
I looked to Emme. She had pulled the camera from her face, but her focus was still on Zane. She was grinning huge. Gosh, I really hoped she would allow herself to let go of the past so she could find her happy with him.
Not long after the cheering died down, Zane’s score was posted up. He was currently in the lead, which made the crowd burst into applause again. Moments later, our attention was directed to the top of the pipe again. We watched four more riders make their runs. One rider wiped out when trying to land his final trick. The other three made clean, respectable runs, but they were nothing like Zane’s. He seemed to soar so much higher than the others out of the pipe. Finally, it was Stone’s turn so I stripped off one of my gloves.
“Can you hold this for me a minute?” I asked Wes.
“Sure. What are you doing?” Wes asked.
I pulled out my phone and held it up to him.
“I want to get Stone’s run on video so I can send it to Monroe. She and Nikki asked for updates from the trip so I’m sending her what I think will be a very crucial update,” I said which a mischievous grin on my face.
He chuckled at me then looked up above the pipe.
I switched my camera on the phone to the video setting and hit the button to record as soon as I saw Stone turn himself on the board and start heading toward the pipe. He flawlessly went up each side of the pipe and did his tricks effortlessly. I didn’t know enough yet about riding to know the names of any of the tricks he did or if they were done right from a technical standpoint, but it looked amazing to me. I’d have given both him and Zane perfect scores. I sent the video off to Monroe.
Much like they did for Zane, the crowd roared for Stone. Evidently, Zane and Stone were the favorites in the men’s superpipe competition. Stone’s score was only two hundredths less than Zane’s. We watched the rest of the riders in the lineup, and while some were very good, our guys stayed in the top two qualifying spots following all the qualifying rounds. I felt my phone vibrate in my pocket notifying me of an incoming text. I pulled out my phone and read Monroe’s text.
Damn, he’s beautiful…and I can barely see his face.
I tapped out a reply.
I thought you might like that. Wish you were here, mama.
She instantly responded.
Me, too. You know, I was totally serious earlier. I can dance anywhere. If I had a really good reason, I’d definitely make the move.
My heart squeezed. Monroe wanted love. I wanted my girl to have that.
You’ll get your reason. I promise.
With the superpipe riding finished for the day we had just under an hour to kill before the big air qualifiers began. Wes and I went back to the lounge to grab some food. Zane and Stone were already there. We walked up to them and Wes did the man hug thing with each of them.
“Sick fuckin’ runs,” he said to Zane and Stone.
“Thanks, man,” Stone said. “Pipe was awesome today. Hope it stays that way over the next couple days.”
I chimed in. “Congratulations. Don’t know much about what you did, but it all looked amazing and way better, in my opinion, than the competition.”
“Thanks, Charley,” Zane said.
“We’re going to grab some food and then head over to watch Luke,” Wes told them.
Zane looked around and said, “I’ll grab something after Luke rides. Going to head over there now.”
He turned and walked out of the lounge. I thought it was a bit odd. Wes and Stone didn’t seem phased. The three of us quickly ate some food while Stone talked about his runs and his plan moving forward into finals.
After we shoveled in some food, we made our way over to show our support for Luke. Big air was set up parallel to the superpipe. We had arrived with about two minutes to spare.
“So, they are going to have a fifteen-minute jam session for qualifying,” Wes said.
“What does that mean?” I asked.
“Basically, there will be five riders and they’ll round robin it for the next fifteen minutes getting in as many runs as they can until the time is up. Of all the runs they make in this qualifying round, they’ll keep their two best scores.”
“Got it,” I said. “And how does Luke stack up against the competition?” I asked.
Wes smiled at me and answered, “The competition is tough. A lot of these guys put it all out there when they ride. That said, Luke’s gotten the gold in this event the past two years and silver for the previous two years.”
“Wow. So, he’s got to defend his title then. Think he’s nervous
?”
Wes shrugged his shoulders and shook his head. “We’ve been riding for so long. Sure, there’s a little added pressure for him since he’s at the top of his game and everyone expects him to kill it, but he’s pretty good at staying focused and not letting himself get too much inside his own head. I have no doubts that he’ll do fine.”
“Well, I’m nervous for him,” I said, turning from Wes to see the first rider dropping in. Wes stood behind me, wrapped his arms around me, and squeezed me.
Luke was second to go. I held my breath as Luke dropped in. He picked up speed down the ramp, hit the jump, then spun and flipped through the air. There were names for the tricks he did, but I had no idea what they were. Luke landed and the crowd shouted their approval at his run.
At the end of the jam session, Luke and the four other riders managed to each get in five runs. Luke had done a phenomenal job and was sitting at the top of the leader board.
Day one of the X Games proved to be a success all the way around. The guys were all riding extremely well, my designs had been well received, Wes was more than happy with the launch of the Elements series, and Emme had landed (and I’m pretty sure completely rocked) her first extreme sports gig. I was feeling absolutely fantastic at how great the day had gone and was looking forward to the next few days.
I turned in Wes’ arms and wrapped mine around his neck. “Wes?” I called to him.
“What’s up, gorgeous?”
“I think I’d like to go back to our rental and celebrate the incredibly wonderful day we’ve had here.”
“Is that right?” he asked, a sexy grin spreading over his face.
I nodded slowly keeping my eyes on his. Then, I lifted up on my toes and pressed a kiss to his lips.
“Lucky fuckin’ bastard.”
I turned my head to the side and saw Stone looking at us. I had forgotten he was there.
I bit my lip.
“Sorry,” I said.
“No, she’s not,” Wes said. “She can’t help that she loves me so much.”
Stone shook his head and laughed. “I’m going to head back to the lounge and get all my shit rounded up.”
“We’re coming right behind you,” Wes said, staying put.
Stone took off at that moment while Wes stood there with his arms wrapped around me. He looked at me a moment before he spoke.
“Feelin’ better than this morning?” Wes asked me.
“Much better,” I answered.
Wes then squeezed me tighter and said, “Proud of you, Charley.”
I smiled back at him. “Thank you, Wes. Thank you for believing in me and for taking a chance on hiring me.”
“No need to thank me. It wasn’t exactly a tough decision to make. Knew from the moment I saw your work the first time that you were meant to do this. I’m just happy that I was able to give you the opportunity for you to see just how good you are.”
I hugged him back tighter and pressed my cheek into his chest.
After a few moments, he said, “Come on. Want to warm you up. You ready to go?”
I nodded.
Wes kept his arm wrapped around my shoulder as we walked side-by-side back to the Blackman Boards lounge. When we arrived back at the lounge we located Emme, Zane, Stone, and Luke. Wes walked over to Luke with me and we congratulated him. Then, Wes took off to see to a few business things with employees who were handling the lounge operations. Once he finished we loaded ourselves into the cars and went back to the house.
While Zane, Stone, Luke, and Wes took off to shower, Emme and I made dinner. Earlier that morning she had done some prep work and had chopped up vegetables and beef for a beef minestrone soup. She got to work on the soup, I took to carving out the bread bowls. Since we had a bit of time to kill while the soup simmered and thickened up Emme went to shower and I went in search of Wes.
I walked into the den and found Wes sitting at the desk with his laptop open.
“Hey, honey,” I said walking over to him.
“Hi, gorgeous.”
“We have some time before the food is ready. I was going to head up to take a shower and try to get some feeling back in my limbs again.”
“Ok. Have a few things I need to finish here, but I’ll be up in a minute.”
I took off to the bedroom, stripped out of my clothes, and hopped into the shower. I stood there for a while letting the hot water run over my body. I eventually started warming up so I finished up in the shower, toweled off, and immediately dried my hair. When I walked out of the bathroom I found Wes in the bed, shirtless, with the sheet pulled up just far enough to cover his lower half. A shiver ran through my body at the beautiful sight and knowing what was waiting for me beneath that sheet.
I bit my lip.
“I was going to put something from the goody bag on for you,” I admitted.
“Going to end up on the floor in about five seconds anyway. Surprise me with it later. Come here,” he demanded.
I dropped my towel, walked over to Wes’ side of the bed, and was grasped around the waist by him. He pulled me over his body, put me on my back, and then climbed on top of me framing my face with his hands.
“You should know, baby, that I looked at the pre-orders for the Fire line. I’ve done pre-orders before and while they’ve been good, you knocked this out of the park. Our pre-orders were more than double what they’ve ever been in a single day. And, just sayin’, the day’s not over yet.”
I looked up at him in shock. “Really?” I asked.
A sexy grin spread over his face. “You think I’d make this shit up?” he asked.
I bit my lip trying to suppress my smile. Wes’ eyes dropped to my mouth then back to my eyes. “So fuckin’ proud of you.”
My eyes filled with tears and I barely croaked out, “Wes.”
“Give me your mouth, gorgeous.”
I lifted my head and gave Wes my mouth. He took. I continued to give. I wanted to give him everything I had. He had given me so much and I needed him to get that back from me. As I moaned, Wes pulled his mouth from mine.
“Love this mouth,” he said running a thumb along my bottom lip. “These lips.”
I decided to tease him a bit so I parted my lips and just barely ran my tongue along the tip of his thumb. Wes groaned.
“Make love to me, Wes.”
And with that, Wes made love to me.
After, we joined the rest of the group for dinner. When dinner was finished, the guys decided to make it a quiet evening so that they could rest and be fully prepared for tomorrow.
I decided to surprise Wes with something from the goody bag. He decided he liked surprises.
Chapter 35
Charley
“And once again, I’d like to extend congratulations to Blackman Boards’ riders Zane Cunningham, Xander Stone, and Lucas Townsend on the clean sweep at the X Games this week!”
The crowd roared and the front man of the live band at the pub started his set.
We were currently at the Blackman Boards ‘Keep Riding’ party. The X Games had come to an end and our boys brought it home. Zane had taken first in the men’s halfpipe, Stone took second place, and Luke won the men’s big air competition. The lead singer had just congratulated them publicly and everyone was enjoying the celebration.
I, too, was having a great time. I was feeling such relief at how well the past few days had gone. Wes kept tabs on the Elements Series pre-orders for the Fire line and he was absolutely blown away by how well they did. Of course, Zane and Stone taking wins in the competition only helped drive up the pre-order sales. I was relieved everything had been well received and despite how much I was enjoying Aspen there was a small part of me that was excited to get back to Rising Sun so I could start working on the Air line designs.
“Know I gave you shit about it before we left Wyoming, but I’ve got to admit that I am definitely very okay with all of the suitcases and bags you brought with you,” Wes said. He was standing behind me, his front to my back,
and had his head bent so his lips were at my ear.
I arched into him and leaned my head back to rest on his shoulder. I turned my lips to his ear and said, “Is this your way of apologizing Mr. Blackman?”
He growled. I felt the length of him harden at my ass.
“Not sure I should be apologizing. This dress is fucking killing me, Charley.”
I smiled inwardly. I knew what this dress would do to him when I decided on it. It was a royal blue dress that made my eyes pop. It was sleeveless, with a scoop neckline. The dress fit like a glove and had a hem that sat mid-thigh, making my legs look a lot longer and leaner. The best part of it was the back, though. The entire back was open and the material sat just at the curve of my ass. I certainly didn’t have the booty that Emme had, but I had enough to make an impression.
“I thought you might like it,” I said. Then, I added, “If you like the dress that came out of one of the suitcases, wait until you see what I have under it. That came from the goody bag.”
“Fuck, gorgeous. I do have to stay here a little bit tonight considering Blackman Boards is hosting this party. You think you could take it easy on me for the rest of the night?”
I turned and pressed my front to his while wrapping my arms around his neck.
“And what fun would that be?” I asked, smirking at him.
I felt someone gently press a hand into my back as Wes’ eyes looked over my shoulder. I turned to find Emme standing there.
“Hey, Em. What’s up?”
She looked between Wes and me, leaned into me, and then quietly said, “I just wanted to let you know that I’m going to call a cab and head back to the house.”
I turned completely from Wes, though he kept his arm wrapped around my shoulders.
“What’s wrong? Are you ok?” I asked.
Her eyes glanced toward the bar and restroom before she said, “Yeah, I’m fine. It’s been a long couple of days and I’m just feeling pretty tired.”
Ok, something was wrong. I looked back to Wes.
“I’m going to take her back,” I said.