Something About You

by J. Nathan

  “Will I need to get another cast after that?”

  “To speak frankly,” he began, “It all depends on you. If you stay off the mountain, chances for a faster recovery time are greater.”

  Stay off the mountain? I had the Games in just over a month. How the hell was I going to stay off the mountain? I needed to practice. I needed to stay fresh.

  “Your silence is not reassuring,” my doctor said.

  “He will,” Cora assured him like she’d become my mouthpiece.

  He looked back at me. “He better.”

  Yeah. We’d see about that.

  “I’ll be back to discharge you in a few hours,” he said.

  “Thanks, Doc.”

  He nodded before turning and walking out of the room.

  The room had suddenly become void of air. A panic attack teetered at the ready. I couldn’t miss the Games. I needed to get on the mountain.

  “Babe, you okay?”

  “I am not fucking okay,” I said, my voice raised in aggravation.

  Her eyes widened. “Okay. Tell me how to fix it.”

  “Leave.”

  Her head hitched back. “What?”

  “I need to be alone.”

  “Oh, babe. Let me be here for you.”

  “That’s the thing. I don’t want you to be here for me. I want Shay, but you won’t fucking agree not to press charges. And, I am trying like hell to get you to do that.”

  She gasped. “What?”

  “You heard me. You and I are not together. We will never be back together. All I need from you is your assurance that you’re not going to press charges and destroy Shay’s life.”

  She jumped to her feet. “You have got to be kidding me.”

  “Nope. Not kidding.”

  She pursed her lips together as her chest heaved. “I hate you.”

  “I assure you, the feeling is mutual.”

  She ground her teeth together, the wheels in her head clearly spinning. I just hoped to God she wasn’t headed for Shay. “Fuck you, Kason. You’re not even a good snowboarder.”

  I scoffed. “Now I know you’re lying.”

  She spun around and stormed out of my room.

  Once she was gone, it was as if all the air had returned to the room. I reached for my cell phone, placing it in my lap so I could scroll through my contacts. Even with the cast on my arm, I could still use my fingers. I found who I was looking for and made the call on speaker.

  “Hey, Kason. How are you feeling? Cora said you’ve got pins in your wrist.”

  “Yeah, but I’ll be fine to compete in the Games.”

  “Oh, that’s fantastic. I’m banking on my brand being front and center while you do.”

  “Of course. Listen, I really need to talk to you about something serious.”

  “I’m all ears,” he said.

  “This might seem like it’s coming out of left field, and I did try to talk to Cora about this before reaching out to you, but she’s not hearing me.”

  “What’s wrong?”

  “The girl who broke Cora’s nose. Shay Miller. We’re friends. Actually, we’re more than friends. It’s why Cora and Shay don’t get along. That’s why I needed to step in and do something about this. I need you to not press charges against Shay.”

  “She broke my daughter’s nose,” he said, his voice deep, and not as happy to be speaking to me as he’d initially been.

  “I understand that. But Shay and I are close. And Cora doesn’t like that, so she’s been taking it out on Shay. Shay finally had enough.”

  There was silence on his end.

  “She didn’t mean to hurt Cora. I assure you. That’s not Shay. She’s going to be a biochemist one day. She’s the smartest person I know and having this potential charge hanging over her head is killing her.”

  “What do you mean Cora took it out on her?” he asked.

  “She did some bad stuff to her. When, in all honesty, her anger should have been directed at me and not Shay.”

  “If I don’t press charges, what’s in it for me?” he asked like the shrewd businessman he was.

  “What do you want?”

  “I want to retain full exclusive sponsorship over you for the next five years.”

  “Done.” As much as I hated the idea since Kincaid was a much better deal, I didn’t have to think twice about it. I would’ve done anything to save Shay. I only wish I reached out to him sooner. It would have saved us both a lot of unnecessary aggravation and time apart.

  “I wasn’t finished,” he said. “Contingent upon if you win the gold at the Games.”

  “Done,” I said even though I knew I couldn’t make promises like that. But if it meant Shay wouldn’t be hurt, I’d say and do whatever I needed to do.

  “Well, then. Looks like we have ourselves a deal.”

  “Thank you so much,” I said. “This means a lot to me.”

  “Don’t thank me yet. Get that gold.” With that he hung up, leaving me wondering what the hell I was going to do if I didn’t get the gold medal.

  CHAPTER 41

  Shay

  I climbed the stairs in Kason’s house, hurrying toward his room. He’d texted, asking me to come by so he could tell me some good news. I wondered if his cast would be coming off sooner than he thought. I stopped in his doorway.

  Kason lay on top of his bed in a black T-shirt and basketball shorts scrolling on his phone. “I was wondering if you’d take the hospital gown home,” I said as I stepped inside. “It seemed like you enjoyed flashing the nurses your butt.”

  He looked to me and smiled. “You don’t think I got tired of them all coming in just to see it every time I went to the bathroom?”

  I rolled my eyes. “I’m sure you loved it.”

  He laughed before patting the side of his bed and scooting over to make room for me. I sat down and twisted my body to face him. He reached behind my head and eased my lips closer to his. “I missed you.”

  “I saw you at the hospital yesterday.”

  He closed the distance between us and kissed me, his minty tongue pushing its way inside my mouth in a welcome exchange. I expected him to release me, but he deepened the kiss as if starved for me. I knew it was his way of showing me he was so damn happy to have me back in his life. The feeling was mutual.

  I pulled away first, needing to catch my breath. “Well, hello to you too.”

  He chuckled.

  “How’s it feel?” I asked.

  “You’re going to have to specify which it you’re talking about right now. Because both are throbbing.”

  I pushed playfully at his chest. “Ewww.”

  “You love it.”

  “Which it are you referring to?” I asked.

  He laughed.

  I shrugged. “I guess you’re rubbing off on me.”

  “Oh, I assure you I’m not. But I will if you let me.”

  “Ewww. Seriously?”

  “No idea what you’re talking about,” he said with twitching lips as he reached for my hand and linked our fingers. “I’m glad you’re here.”

  “What’d you need to tell me?”

  Excitement filled his eyes. “I’m done with Cora. I told her it was never happening with us.”

  “What?” Part of me was relieved while the other feared for her retaliation. We’d agreed he’d keep up the pretense that he wanted to be with her until she dropped the charges. “How do you know this won’t send her over the edge?”

  “I spoke to her dad.”

  “Her dad?”

  He nodded. “We have an agreement that they won’t be pressing charges.”

  My shoulders fell slack. It was as if a giant boulder had lifted from my chest and I could finally breathe again. Was I really free?

  “Believe it, Shay,” he urged. “Everything’s gonna be okay.”

  Tears pooled in my eyes. Tears. I didn’t cry, but the news just obliterated all the fear bottled up inside me—all the anxiety and uncertainty that had plagued me
since it happened.

  He squeezed my hand. “Oh, baby. Don’t cry.”

  I shook my head, wiping at my eyes to be sure no tears escaped. “I just didn’t know.”

  “Know what?”

  “That you cared this much about me.”

  He cocked his head. “Shay.” A smile pulled at his lips. “You do things for the people you care about. And, I can’t think of anyone else in this world besides my family who I care about more.”

  I turned on his bed and climbed onto his lap, straddling his hips as I cupped his cheeks. I gazed into his pretty eyes and saw so much more than I did the first time we met. I thought I’d known him then. I thought he fit into a certain category. But it turns out, I was just as wrong about him as he was about me.

  I pressed my lips to his. They were so soft and inviting. I controlled this kiss. Our tongues danced in a beautiful rhythm. I turned my head and deepened the kiss so I could feel it all the way down to the tips of my toes. His erection pressed against me through his basketball shorts and I shifted my hips as I kissed him. Feeling bold.

  Something inside me ignited. All the happiness I felt fused with my desire for Kason. I pulled out of the kiss, leaving his chest heaving beneath me as I sat back. His eyes were hooded and filled with so much want. That was all the push I needed. I tugged my T-shirt over my head, exposing my red bra.

  His eyes rounded and were trained on my chest before flashing up to my eyes. “Shay, we—”

  I shook my head, cutting off whatever he planned to say to ruin the moment. “I want this. And, I want it with you.”

  “God, Shay. I want it with you too.”

  My belly dipped as if I’d plummeted on a rollercoaster.

  “But you’re gonna need to help me a little with my clothes,” he said.

  I laughed. Of course, this was going to be awkward. He had a cast on one arm, and I’d never done this before. I climbed off his lap so I knelt beside him. He sat up and pulled his T-shirt over his head, tossing it to the floor.

  I’d seen him shirtless before but never like this. Never with me in a bra on the verge of giving up my virginity to him. I lifted my hands and pressed them gently to his chest, mesmerized by his smooth skin and the hard muscles beneath.

  He looked down, watching as my fingertips drifted lightly over the chiseled surface of his chest and abs. “Can you feel my heart racing?” he asked.

  I nodded, loving that I wasn’t the only one affected by our proximity and what we were about to do.

  He reached up and cupped my cheek with his good hand. I leaned into it. “Lay down, Shay.”

  “Right now?”

  He nodded.

  I lay back so my head hit his pillow. He reached for the button on my jeans, removing them and tossing them to the floor as he stood.

  His eyes swept over me as I lay there sprawled out on his bed in a red bra and a matching thong. “You look like my very own present.” He wasted no time, tugging down his shorts so he was fully naked.

  My eyes swept over his perfect body, fascinated by the carved V in his hips and his erection standing tall against his stomach. I’d never seen a naked guy in person, and Kason was one to admire. He wore a smug grin as he walked to his nightstand. My eyes followed his movements as he reached into the drawer and grabbed a condom. He tossed it on the pillow beside my head before crawling on top of me from the foot of his bed, slowly kissing his way up my body. I trembled when he reached my thong, pulling it off while his lips continued kissing their way up my stomach and over my bra. “A little help,” he said when he realized he might not be able to remove it with his cast all big and clunky.

  I sat up and unclasped my bra, keeping it on as I lay back down.

  His brows shot up as if he understood what I wanted. He reached down and tugged each strap down my shoulder, before pulling the bra off completely.

  I sucked in a breath, trying to keep my nerves from faltering as I lay there completely exposed for the first time in my life.

  “You’re beautiful, Shay.”

  My eyes cast down.

  “And, you’re all fucking mine.”

  I laughed as he leaned down and sucked one of my sensitive nipples between his lips. I gasped, unprepared for the sting. But he swiped his tongue across it, tempering it with the swirl of his tongue.

  My head dropped back against the pillow as he moved between both breasts, swirling his tongue around each nipple until I was squirming beneath him. My hips sought reprieve from the ache between my thighs, but the weight of his body kept me still.

  He inched his way up until we were face to face and his erection pressed into my thigh. He dropped his lips to mine and kissed me like it was the last time, savoring every swipe of my tongue. When we were both breathless, he pulled away. He grabbed the condom packet and used his teeth to tear it open. I watched as he rolled it up the length of him. When I could sense him looking at me, my eyes jumped to his. I swallowed hard. We were doing this. We were really doing this.

  Kason kept his eyes focused on mine as he covered me with his body. Being skin to skin with him was a feeling like no other. His warmth permeated through me and I just needed him closer.

  “You ready for this?”

  I nodded.

  He planted a chaste kiss to my lips. “I never thought you’d trust me. Especially with something like this.”

  I bucked my hips, loving what he was saying, but needing him to show me. “I’m ready.”

  “Oh, I know you are.” He leaned down and kissed me.

  I slipped my arms around to his back, digging my fingertips into his skin as he shifted his hips, pressing his erection between my thighs. I closed my eyes as the contact sent zingers coursing through me. He did it again. Holy wow. Having never done this before, I wasn’t sure if he was trying to push inside me yet, or just making sure I was ready. But, given the throbbing in my clit, I was totally ready. He did it a third time, but this time he wasn’t testing me. This time he stretched me wide, pushing inside an inch at a time. I hissed through the stinging because I knew it would disappear. People wouldn’t enjoy this so much if it didn’t disappear.

  “You good?” he asked.

  My eyes opened and I nodded. Being eye to eye with Kason when he was inside me was as intimate as it got. And I knew with much certainty that I’d remember this moment for the rest of my life.

  With our eyes locked, he pushed the rest of the way inside me. I gasped, the feeling foreign but manageable. He pulled out some and then thrust back in. He broke our eye contact to press his mouth to mine, kissing me as he continued to thrust into me setting a steady rhythm. He eventually tore his lips from mine and dropped them to my neck, sucking that sensitive spot where my shoulder met my neck as he moved inside of me. He reached down between us, grazing my clit with his thumb—definitely not an easy feat when the arm he was using for balance had a cast on it. My head pushed further back into the pillow, the familiar sensation starting to build as he continued to use his thumb.

  “You feel amazing,” he said as he assaulted my neck with open-mouthed kisses that sent my eyes rolling back into my head.

  “Keep going,” I breathed.

  “Not going anywhere, baby.”

  His thumb circled my clit, around and around, until everything began to build. My body was a tightened coil ready to give way.

  I knew I was near. “Kason?”

  “Shay?”

  “I’m ready.”

  He pinched my clit and the coil between my thighs released, the sensations shooting out to every part of me. My body quaked, a warm buzzing spreading over my sensitive skin as I rode out the orgasm.

  Kason used both arms for balance and continued to thrust, burying his face in my neck and grunting with each thrust. “Oh. My. Fucking. God,” he groaned as he slowed his thrust, stopping inside me. His body fell slack and I bore the weight of him, feeling very much sated and exhausted, but so incredibly happy.

  After we settled our breathing into a calm rhythm
, Kason lifted his head and looked at me. “Thank you for trusting me.”

  “Thank you for playing your music so loud.”

  He chuckled.

  “If you hadn’t been such a jerk, we never would’ve done that.”

  “So, forget my personality, stellar skills on a board, and good looks, you only want me for sex?”

  I smiled. “Maybe.”

  “Well, at least you want me.” The vulnerability in his words punched the wind right out of my lungs. “Because I’d be kinda lost without you.”

  Those words knocked me off my axis and it finally hit me. As much as I questioned what Kason saw in nerdy ole me, he was the one who questioned what I saw in him. He was the one scared to lose me. He needed me to make his world complete. And, I kinda liked knowing he did.

  CHAPTER 42

  Kason

  “Oh my God, Kason. How could you promise him something like that?” Giselle asked as I sat behind the counter of her boutique.

  “I didn’t know what else to do,” I admitted as she hung clothes on the racks after closing time.

  “Yeah, but Kase, that’s gonna put a lot of pressure on you when you don’t even know if you’ll be able to compete.”

  “I’m competing. That’s not even an option.” I glanced down at the cast on my wrist that had now been signed by all my boys and Shay. She teased me saying she should probably write some physics formulas on there so I could pass the final exam, but in the end, she just signed her name with a heart. “I still have one good hand and that’s all I need.”

  I could see the uncertainty in Giselle’s eyes.

  “Pins or no pins, I’ll be in Aspen,” I assured her. “And I’ll win the mother-fucking gold.”

  She sighed. “I don’t doubt you can win it. I’m just saying you don’t need that unnecessary stress on top of the pressure of getting back out there after an injury.”

  “When have you known me to back down from a challenge?”

  She shrugged. “Who knows? You’re a stubborn ass.”

  I laughed.

  “Are you gonna tell Shay?”

  “God, no.”

  “She deserves to know what you did for her,” she said, pegging me with her eyes.