She stared at me for another few seconds without a reply, and then she smiled. “Yeah, I’ve done that before,” she said. “Except last time I did it, I broke my damn leg!”
“Oh, that sucks. When was that?” I asked, relieved that the conversation had taken a turn away from the awkward. At first I’d thought she’d somehow seen the chemistry between me and Cade as we lay entwined in the snow, but she seemed to have dropped the subject pretty quickly, so I was sure she didn’t actually suspect anything.
Unless Cade told her about the hotel incident…
With horror, I realized that for all I knew, Cade could’ve told all—or at least some— of his friends what had happened between us before we realized our parents were engaged. I excused myself from Nicki and headed over to the ski lift, nervous energy coiling in my stomach. Blake was flirting with Talia now, so I quickly jabbed Cade in the side to get his attention.
“Hey. Want another go?” he asked, motioning towards the top of the slope.
“Maybe,” I replied. “But I was just wondering something…you didn’t tell anyone about us, right?”
“Us?”
“The hotel,” I hissed, so that Blake and Talia didn’t overhear.
“Of course not,” Cade replied. “Don’t worry, no one knows. Why?”
My shoulders slumped with relief. “No reason. It just occurred to me all of a sudden,” I said. “Hey, let’s get on the lift and do another run.”
While I was sure none of Cade’s friends would really judge us all that much if they knew what had happened between us that night, I was worried about my mother finding out, and Fairview Ridge wasn’t exactly a massive city. It wasn’t tiny either, but there was surely still some sort of rumor mill, and any one of Cade’s friends could be overheard talking about it if they weren’t careful. But luckily, none of them knew anyway, so there was no need for concern.
By the end of the day, my legs and arms were heavy with exhaustion from playing around on the slopes, and I decided to wind down by taking a nice, relaxing hot bath in my cabin. I could hear Nicki, Amy and Talia in the main room next to me, chatting away, and Amy knocked a while later.
“Hey, Charlotte, don’t forget, we’re heading over to Blake’s cabin for a party at seven,” she said.
Oops, I’d almost forgotten.
“Okay, I’ll be out soon!” I called out. “Sorry, did you need the bathroom to get ready?”
“No, I was just wondering what you wanted to drink. Talia and I are about to head to the store and pick some stuff up.”
“Um, anything is fine, thanks,” I replied, stepping out of the bath and wrapping a towel around myself. I opened the door and smiled at Amy. “I won’t be drinking much anyway,” I added.
“Cool. I’ll just pick up some more bottles of red wine for us to share, then,” she said.
“Great. There’s some cash in my purse over there,” I replied, pointing to my bedside table. “Take that to help pay for it.”
“Cool. Thanks!”
With that, she and Talia headed out of the cabin, and Nicki smiled sweetly at me as I rummaged through my suitcase, looking for something to wear. “Why aren’t you going to drink much?” she said. “You were the same last night; hardly had a drop. We’re meant to be partying this weekend!”
“I just can’t handle much alcohol without getting sick,” I said. “I probably have a slower metabolism than most people, or something like that.”
“Mm…maybe. So that’s the only reason why?”
My smile faltered, and I found myself wondering once again if she actually knew about what had happened between me and Cade that night at the hotel, vomit-fest included. Why else would she be questioning me so much about why I wasn’t drinking?
Before I could reply, she shook her head. “Sorry! I totally sound like I’m interrogating you,” she said, waving a hand. “I was just worried you felt a bit left out because you’re new to the group, that’s all.”
Crap, of course. I kept forgetting that Cade’s friends were actually nice people, because I was so naturally suspicious of everyone after all the crap I’d gone through when I was younger. I really needed to move on from it and realize that not everyone was out to trash me or hurt me.
“I’m fine,” I said, smiling warmly back at Nicki. “Don’t worry, everyone’s been great, and I’ve had heaps of fun so far. Just not a big drinker, that’s all.”
“Glad to hear it. Anyway, what are you gonna wear to the party?”
“God knows…you might have to help me pick something.”
She grinned, and we set about picking our outfits for the night. By the time Amy and Talia had returned from the store, we were all dressed up, and Nicki had even done my hair in a stacked ponytail, which made it look luxuriant and thicker than usual. We waited for Talia to find her favorite lip gloss, and then we headed out into the night, trudging towards Blake’s cabin.
Everyone else was already there by the time we arrived, and it looked like the boys had invited a whole bunch of other people as well.
“Who’s all this?” I asked as we stepped inside.
Nicki shrugged. “I dunno,” she said. We quickly spotted Cade, and she waved at him. “Cade, come here!”
He grinned and headed over to us, a beer in his hand. “Nice of you to join us.”
“Who are all these people?”
“Blake and Ben invited all the people from the main resort down the hill,” he said. “There weren’t that many, but enough to fill up the cabin and have a real party.”
“Awesome. Let’s do some shots,” Nicki said, strutting confidently over to a booze table which had been set up on the far right side of the lounge room.
Talia and Amy followed her, and I lingered behind to talk to Cade.
“Drink?” he asked, holding his beer up.
“Not yet.”
“Ah, I forgot, you can’t handle too much booze,” he said with a wink. “Anyway, let’s mingle.”
Blake had started a fire in the big stone fireplace at the front of the room, and we hung out near that for a while, soaking up the warmth as the party went on around us. I got caught up in a conversation about college with some of the girls from the downhill resort, and Cade headed over to the other side of the room to talk to some guys. Before I knew it, an hour had sped by.
The party was in full swing now, and I waved across the room at Nicki and Blake as they stood by the booze table. Blake smiled brightly back at me, but Nicki’s face remained blank, and she turned away. Assuming she hadn’t seen me, I shrugged and returned to my conversation with the new girls I’d met, and Cade caught up with me a few minutes later.
“There you are,” he said. “You haven’t moved from this spot all night.”
“It’s so warm and toasty,” I said, before motioning towards the girls I was talking to. “By the way, this is Kate, Meera and Hayley. They go to RMU as well."
They smiled and said hi, and Cade introduced himself before leaning over and murmuring in my ear. “See? You never had anything to worry about. People do want to be friends with you. Everyone loves you.”
“Some more than others,” a familiar feminine voice said from directly behind us.
We turned to see Nicki staring at us. “Um…what’s up?” I asked.
Her eyes looked a little glassy, and I could tell she was very drunk. “What’s up?” she repeated. “Cade’s cock, apparently….for you. His stepsister.”
The girls I’d been talking to exchanged glances, and Cade glared. “What the fuck are you talking about, Nicki?”
“I knew I saw something weird going on between you two this morning,” she said, slurring some of her words. “And just before, I was talking to Blake, and he remarked on what a strange coincidence it is that Charlotte looks just like some girl you apparently banged at the Fairview Hotel last month. But I’m not stupid. That’s no coincidence. You two totally fucked.”
“Nicki, I didn’t…”
“Shut up, Cade,” she
said, jabbing him in the chest. “You’re so gross. I can’t believe I ever wanted a guy who’d pick some chubby little relative over me.”
My stomach plummeted, and I reflexively sucked my stomach in and crossed my arms, suddenly feeling less than confident in the fitted sweater I’d chosen to wear. The rest of Nicki’s words slowly registered in my head, and I realized that she liked Cade, and not in a ‘just friends’ kind of way. She wanted him. No wonder she’d been so nice to me…she probably thought that if she sucked up to me—Cade’s soon-to-be stepsister—and helped me settle in, it would make her look more appealing to him.
Aside from the horrible things she’d said, the part that really stung was that I’d genuinely wanted to be friends with her. I’d come on this trip for that exact purpose—so I could make new friends—and it was all blowing up on me.
“Walk away, Nicki,” Cade snarled. “You’re drunk, and you’re acting like a total bitch. You have no right to talk shit about Charlotte like that.”
“Hear that, everyone?” she called out, attracting the attention of nearly everyone at the party. “What a surprise. He’s defending her…his sister, who he fucked.”
There were a few gasps around the room, and I saw Amy and Talia’s eyes widen before the two of them began talking to each other in hushed whispers. It reminded me of my old high school hallway back in the day, where I’d always seen girls whispering to each other and giving me dirty looks whenever I so much as checked my locker.
“Fuck off,” Cade said. “We didn’t, not that it’s any of your business, and she’s not my sister anyway.”
Nicki rolled her eyes, then leaned in close to me. “We didn’t really want you here, you know. You’re pathetic,” she said. “No wonder you have no friends, and no wonder everyone in your old city hated you.”
Her words seemed to slice into me like razors, and I couldn’t stop the tears from springing to my eyes. Soon they were threatening to spill out over my cheeks, and I turned and ran, pushing my way through the crowd of people at the party.
When I reached the door, I yanked it open and then dashed outside, barely even feeling the biting chill in the air. My face was red-hot with shame from what Nicki had said, and also blazing with anger at myself for once again taking it all without standing up for myself. I’d so desperately wanted to, but looking around the room and seeing the shock on everyone’s faces had made my mouth dry up in an instant. I’d been mentally dragged all the way back to my shitty high school days, and I’d totally frozen.
But I wasn’t frozen now. I was running, running as fast as I could, away from the humiliation and pain.
A moment later, I could hear Cade’s voice in the wind behind me, calling out, but I didn’t stop. I wouldn’t let him see me cry; wouldn’t let him feel more pity for me. I knew there was nothing wrong with me, nothing at all. Nicki was horrible and stupid for thinking I was worth less than her or her friends, and it spoke volumes about her that she’d pretended to befriend me just so she could try to amp up her relationship with Cade.
Even though I knew all that, it was still too hard to stop crying. I needed to be alone right now.
“Charlotte!”
Cade was still calling, but I didn’t stop, and if I had it my way, I’d never stop.
Chapter Twelve
Cade
“Charlotte!”
No answer.
Shit. I was racing blindly into the darkness, searching for Charlotte, and I couldn’t see her anywhere. She’d run off after my so-called friend Nicki had practically shamed her out of the cabin, and I had no idea where to even begin looking. There was no way she would’ve gone back to the cabin she’d been sleeping in—it was Nicki’s cabin too, so there wasn’t a chance she’d want to risk seeing her again.
The moon slipped out from behind a cloud, making it a lot easier for me to see, and up ahead of me, I could make out a silhouette of something vaguely Charlotte-shaped.
Thank fuck, I’d found her.
“Charlotte!” I called again. A burst of adrenaline made me run even faster, and although I almost slipped on a small snowdrift, I managed to catch up with her.
“Christ, you can run fast,” I said, panting as I tried to grab her left shoulder.
She stopped and shrugged me off. “Please just leave me alone,” she said, her voice choked with tears.
She turned to run again, and I shouted after her. “Hey! What happened to that girl who told me she wasn’t a victim anymore, huh?”
Charlotte stopped in her tracks, then trudged back over to me. “Sorry,” she mumbled. “You’re right. I’m being stupid.”
“Nah, you’re just reacting. It’s fine.”
“I didn’t mean to take it out on you or make you feel responsible for me,” she said. “I just really don’t want to go back in there right now. I’ll be fine; you can go back inside.”
“What, and let you get frostbite out here? Hell no!”
“I’m not going to get frostbite. I was going to go to the other resort further downhill and ask for a room there.”
“Without any of your stuff?”
She mumbled out an answer that I couldn’t even hear, and she rubbed her hands together, her teeth chattering with cold. I pulled off my coat and wrapped it around her. “Come on…just come back to the party.”
She didn’t answer, and I reached down and wiped a tear from her face. “Don’t worry about a thing that bitch said, you hear?”
“Kinda hard not to. She said it in front of everyone.”
“Yeah, and she completely humiliated herself,” I said, remembering what everyone had been muttering as I’d dashed past them all when I headed out to pursue Charlotte. “They’re all on your side.”
She sniffed and looked up at me. “What do you mean?”
“I mean exactly what I said. They’re all on your side. You know those girls you introduced me to? They were all glaring at Nicki just as you ran out, and one of them—the dark-haired one—even gave her a real mouthful. I’m guessing quite a few other people have by this stage too, and I wouldn’t be surprised if they’ve all kicked her out.”
Charlotte wiped the corners of her eyes. “Really?”
“Yep.”
It was true. Nicki had been trying to shame me and Charlotte during her rant, but it had backfired on her, and instead she’d well and truly humiliated herself in front of everyone with all the nasty shit she’d said. I still couldn’t believe she’d done it; we’d been friends for two years now, and I’d never had any clue that she could be such an evil, vindictive bitch. I’d also never had any idea that she wanted me, but that was beside the point. I’d never been interested in her in that way, and even if I had been at one point, there was no way I’d ever go near her now that I’d seen her true colors. In fact, I could quite happily live the rest of my life without seeing her again.
“I wasn’t lying earlier, Charlotte. Everyone really likes you. So come back.”
“I…I believe you, Cade. I just feel a bit antisocial now. Even if everyone else made Nicki leave, I still don’t really feel up to partying.”
I sighed. “Guess I can’t blame you. But you need to get out of the cold. Why don’t you come and hang out in my cabin? You can stay the night, and I’ll grab your stuff from the other cabin. You can have my bed.”
“I thought you were sharing your cabin with Ben.”
“I am, but he’s been getting cozy with some chick from the other resort. I talked to him earlier and he said he was gonna stay with her tonight. So I’ll take his bed.”
Charlotte chewed on her lower lip in that cute way she always did when she was considering something. “Okay. That’d be nice,” she said quietly. “Thanks. And sorry for ruining the night.”
“Nicki ruined it, not you.”
We trudged through the snow, heading for the cabin I’d been sleeping in, and just as we reached the wooden steps that led up to the front door, Charlotte spoke up. “Cade…how did Nicki know about what my life was l
ike back in Philly when I was younger?”
“You mean the whole ‘no friends’ comment?”
She nodded, her eyes shiny with tears again. “Yeah.”
I sighed. “I asked for some girly advice from her last week, on how to talk to you and sort out all our crap from the past. So I told her that you thought I’d bullied you, and how you thought that had led to everyone else treating you like crap as well. You mentioned it the first time you ever yelled at me about it, back in the hotel room.”
“I guess I can’t say you never listened, then,” she said with a watery smile.
“You’re not mad at me?”
“Of course not. You told her for the right reasons, not just to be a dick,” she said. “And by the way…thank you.”
“For what?”
“For sticking up for me back there.”
I ruffled her hair. “I told you I’d always stick up for you,” I said. Charlotte finally cracked a smile, and I nodded to my cabin door. “Now go inside, I have an idea.”
“An idea for what?”
I grinned. “It’s a surprise.”
Chapter Thirteen
Charlotte
I stepped into Cade’s cabin and glanced around to see that it was a smaller version of the one I’d been sharing with Amy, Talia and Nicki. A piercing pain seemed to rip through my guts at the thought of Nicki’s name, and I tried to push it aside as best I could. I knew she was just a bitch who’d tried to ruin my night out of sheer jealousy, and Cade had made it pretty clear that no one had—or ever would—take her side on that issue.
I was still mad at myself for running out the way I had. I should’ve stayed behind and defended myself, but I was grateful that Cade had been there to stick up for me when I felt I couldn’t. It made me feel warm inside, knowing that I had people on my side no matter what. Just the mere idea of that already made me feel stronger.
“So what’s the surprise?” I asked. “Let me guess….you’ve got some sort of secret dungeon in here?”
“Not quite,” he said, leaning down and rummaging around the cupboard in the small kitchenette. He pulled out a big pink and white plastic bag and held it up. “Marshmallows.”
Tease - A Stepbrother Sports Romance Page 9