Chapter 17
seventeen
Z ach was still dead to the world when I wrestled my body free from his grip. That man could sleep through the mountain erupting. I debated peeking into Cole’s room on my exit, but his leaving last night made things pretty damn clear. I know Zach’s feelings on our hook ups, but something about Cole just hit higher on the emotional scale.
This is my second time scampering from Zach’s cabin after a night of salacious fun. I sighed in relief, passing through the front door without bumping into his parents.
I halt to a stop the second the door closes behind me. It’s fucking freezing, and my suit jacket I lifted from Zach isn’t doing enough to keep the arctic morning air out.
“Shit,” I hiss, looking down at my open-toed six-inch stilettos.
I wrap his jacket tighter against my body, folding in on myself to conserve body heat while also trying to figure out how I should make the ten-minute walk home. If I try it, I’m likely to be a damn popsicle by the time I arrive. My parents will have to thaw me over the fireplace like a pair of winter gloves worn to play in the snow.
“Stupid, stupid, stupid,” I mutter, digging into my pocket for my phone. Maybe Dad’s awake and can come save me.
“Sneaking out again?”
My neck jolts with pain as I whip my head in the direction of Cole’s voice. He’s bundled up, carrying a long brush and ice scraper in his gloved hand.
I shiver, my teeth chattering against my answer. “It’s Christmas morning.”
“Did you give my cousin a kiss goodbye, at least?” He stomps his snow-covered boots against the edge of the steps.
“Maybe I left him with something even better.” I taunt, our back and forth, bringing a smile to my numbing face.
He closes the space between us, pulling me into his warm chest with the lapels of my coat. “I’m pretty sure you’re too sore for anything this morning.”
His filthy words bring my attention to the ache between my thighs. He’s not wrong, but that doesn’t mean I want him to know that. “Do you always have to be such an asshole?”
“Don’t pretend that you don’t like my asshole ways, little liar. Now, get your fine ass in my car before you freeze to death,” he finishes with a nip to my ear, and a smack on said ass as I make to carefully step down the still icy steps of the cabin.
He disappears into the cabin, but I don’t wait to hop in the warming car. The heat immediately thaws away at the chill, encompassing my entire body.
“Did you have somewhere to go this morning?” I ask when he settles behind the steering wheel.
“I heard you wake up. Didn’t think you’d be making it home in what you came back in last night.”
“Hmm.” I wait a beat before blurting out,“You give me whiplash, you know. First, you fuck me like… well, like that. Then, you don’t even stick around. Now, you sound like you care if I make it home without frostbite. Either you hate me, or you don’t. Make up your mind,” I say with a huff and slump in my seat.
What would have been a ten-minute walk back to my cabin is just as slow with the amount of fresh powder on the roads between our houses. Cole handles it with an air of someone who’s driven in these conditions his entire life.
“I don’t know you enough to hate you,” he finally answers. “And let’s be honest, you don’t really know me either. If you did, you’d know I don’t share, Dakota.” He turns and stares me down, just long enough for the eye contact to become uncomfortable and slightly terrifying while he’s driving.
“Why this whole week, then? I’m not the only girl up here. You could have found someone else to hook up with,” I throw out.
I certainly didn’t plan on hooking up with both at the beginning of this week, but shit happens. The memory of being between them, rammed full of their cocks, has me shifting in my seat. That pesky ache between my thighs not helping the situation.
“What can I say? You caught my eye that first day on the mountain, and then you were just fucking everywhere.”
“Tell me about it,” I whisper under my breath.
“So, I told myself it was a vacation thing. Then, I tasted that delicious cunt of yours and knew once wouldn’t be enough. If that meant my cousin had to be involved, well then, fuck it because I was going to have you one way or another, Dakota.”
Well, then. What am I supposed to say to that? We hooked up. It’s time to say goodbye and move on. Out of all the years we’ve been coming up here for Christmas, he’s never been around, or I never noticed. Maybe next year will be just the same.
The car pulls to a stop in front of my family’s cabin. The chimney puffs a white cloud of smoke into the air, and the front steps are cleared of the new snow. My family’s awake and no doubt waiting to start our Christmas morning traditions.
I just had to open my big fat mouth and say something. Now, the air between us sits stilted and awkward. I need to go. I slip out of Zach’s jacket and leave it on the seat behind me.
“Thanks for the ride,” I spit out and reach for the car handle.
A firm hand grips around the back of my neck and hauls me back to the vehicle's center. Our eyes lock and his burns with the anger I’d grown used to seeing until last night.
“Thanks for the ride.” He grinds out between clenched teeth.
His teeth capture my bottom lip before he sucks it into his mouth, pulling me in against him. He steals the whimper from the back of my throat and my core throbs, reminding me how this man can play me. I’m breathless and wet when he lets me free.
“Give me your phone, little liar.”
In a daze, I reach for the device in my pocket and hand it to him unlocked.
“I heard you’re thinking about Seattle after graduation. If you wind up there, reach out.”
I take the phone back, looking down at the new contact title: Asshole, and let out a surprised laugh. Of course, he did. I reach for the door handle and get it open this time, but I turn back to this enigma of a man.
“Hey, Cole. Merry Christmas.”
“Merry Christmas, little liar.”