Chapter 8
Jacob
“Iam not taking shots at nine in the morning. You’re out of your mind,” I said, and Darren grumbled in agreement. We hadn’t even been in Minneapolis for an hour before Blake was pushing for birthday shots.
“Buzzkills.” Blake looked longingly behind him at the bar when I tugged at the sleeve of his jacket.
I laughed. “We can take shots at the bottom of the slope, okay? I want to get out there.”
It wasn’t like we couldn’t ski in Chicago. There was plenty of snow for winter activities at home, but we liked the change of scenery. I tossed the bag holding my skis over my shoulder, turning slightly to make sure Blake was still behind us. It was a fifty-fifty shot that he would beeline it to the bar for a quick drink before we got to the parking lot if we didn’t keep an eye on him.
He was still there, but my gaze was quickly drawn to the woman at the check-in counter. Her auburn waves were tied in a ponytail that hung down her back. When she turned, I was pulled to her piercing green eyes. What was she doing here?
I stopped walking, staring at her until she turned, and her stare met mine. Erin’s eyes widened, and she quickly looked away. She spun back towards the counter, and her hair whipped over her shoulder. The man standing at the counter next to her furrowed his brow and scanned the room. Was she here with someone?
I scowled, quickly wiping the expression away when Darren elbowed me. “Hey, isn’t that Liz’s sister?” He nodded towards the counter as if to point her out—like I could’ve possibly missed her. I wouldn’t have, even in a crowd.
“Keep walking,” I said, attempting to ignore the question. I set my eyes on the sunny view outside the glass doors, even knowing it would be a lot colder than it looked. I checked the zipper on the front of my coat though I knew it was already zipped.
Blake laughed. “That’s a yes.” He reached behind me and high-fived Darren.
“Do you think she followed you?” Darren added. I grumbled.
Shaking my head, I pushed through the door and into the parking lot. The wind bit my exposed skin, and I shivered. “She didn’t follow me.” I knew that for certain.
“She was with a man. Why would she have followed him?” Blake said, and I thought again about the expression the man had when he scanned the room. I wanted to know who he was, even though I had no business needing to know.
Darren looked thoughtful, unlocking the door to the SUV he had rented for the weekend. It beeped, and we opened the trunk, shoving our skis in the back. “That’s a good point.” He paused, looking at me. “So why’d she fuck you then?”
He nudged me in the side with his elbow and laughed while I groaned. “Just drop it, would you?”
“Oh, I hit a soft spot, huh?” he pushed, and Blake chuckled, climbing into the front seat.
They continued their brainstorming on the drive, listing all of the reasons that Erin could be in Minneapolis. I didn’t care why she was here. I cared more about the way her eyes widened when she saw me and the way I could feel her heart rate speeding up from across the foyer. She wasn’t expecting to see me either.
I was distracted when we took the ski lift to the top of the slope. Blake and Darren pointed out features of the resort they were excited to check out, including a group of women that rode on the seats behind us. They giggled, waving when Blake winked, and I worked to not roll my eyes.
When we got off the lift, the girls behind us caught up. “Excuse me,” one shouted, and I debated heading down the first slope to avoid it. Instead, I painted a smile on my face and turned around.
“Ladies,” Darren said, casually resting his arm on my shoulder.
Blake stepped forward. “What are you girls out here for?”
“I’m getting married! It’s my bachelorette party!” one of the girls wearing a veil attached to her wool hat said, and her friends cheered. “What about you?”
“It’s this man’s birthday,” Blake said, patting Darren on the chest. “The big four-oh.”
“Oh, older guys,” the bride’s friend said. She stepped forward, putting her hand on my shoulder. “I like older guys.” She winked.
I chuckled. “He’s older. I’m only thirty-three.”
She giggled. “Still older than me. Are you guys staying at the resort?”
I shook my head. “We’re at a hotel in the city. We’re only out here today.”
“You ladies should join us,” Darren said. “You know, for my birthday.”
When I looked over at him, he had each of his arms around a different girl. Next to him, Blake had his arm around the bride, listening to her talk about how much he reminded her of her fiancé. “We’d love to,” the brunette that was clinging to me told him. “Hope you guys are up for a bit of a challenge.”
The girl skied away from me towards one of the more difficult slopes, followed by her friends. Darren and Blake looked at each other, exchanging looks like they had already scored. I knew they were going to follow before they had even turned to do so, and I reluctantly joined them.
The girls squealed when we went down the slope, and I drowned it out, focusing on the slight squeak of the snow beneath my skis and the rush of the wind over my ears. The cold wind was brutal, but it brought me out of my distracted haze. I became focused on the speed and direction of my skis, and the adrenaline that rushed through me was freeing.
“You better catch up, slowpoke,” Blake shouted when he flew past me. Snow from under his skis hit me when he kept going, and I laughed. I tucked my head down and crouched, catching more speed. I pulled myself through the snow with my poles, tucking them up under my arms when I was going fast enough to pass my friends.
At the bottom of the hill, I turned to the side to stop myself, throwing snow in the direction of the bachelorette party that had joined us. They all shrieked, lifting their arms to cover their faces like the snow would damage their makeup. I chuckled. “Sorry, ladies.”
The same girl that had grabbed onto me at the top of the hill skated towards me, hooking her arm through mine. “That was impressive,” she said. “Want to go again?”
Darren and Blake looked excited, ready to head back to the top. I shook my head. “I think we’re going to grab shots first. Maybe we’ll catch up with you later.” Blake looked torn between his disappointment that we were walking away from the girls and excitement that we were finally getting the shots he had been pushing all morning.
They didn’t argue it though, and we left the bachelorette party, heading towards the bar. We took off our skis and caps, shaking ourselves free of the snow that covered our coats. “Three shots of whiskey,” I said to the bartender when we slid onto the barstools. “First round is on me.”
“Is that because you dragged us away from a perfectly good opportunity for a wild night?” Blake asked, half pouting.
Darren laughed. “Yeah, what was that about? Not like you to turn down a hot girl. Especially not one as eager as that brunette.”
“I’m just not really interested in a rebound.” I shrugged, taking the full glasses and sliding them to my friends. “I thought we were here to get drunk and go skiing.”
My friends nodded their semi-reluctant agreement. “Cheers to being here to get drunk and go skiing! Oh, and to Darren’s birthday,” Blake said, tapping his glass to ours and throwing the shot back. “And definitely not at all to the girls we could’ve totally gotten lucky with.”
“She was the bride, Blake. You weren’t getting lucky,” I reminded him, waving to the bartender for another round. It might make him forget about the bachelorette party, and maybe it would help me forget about the green eyes that stared me down this morning. “But cheers to you thinking you were!”
He grumbled. “You’re an asshole.”