Chapter 6
HAYDEN
“You sure you’re up for this?” Carter asked, for the third time straight. “I mean… this is the summit.”
“Yeah, the summit,” I repeated innocently. “The top. Isn’t that how you ski? You go to the top?”
The morning light glinted off his multi-colored goggles, as he gripped his poles and stared back at me like I was crazy. Carter looked hot in his gear. They all did. That part was almost as cute as them trying to ‘help’ me onto the ski lift, or try to catch me if I fell off at the top.
I chuckled, inwardly. This was going to be extra fun.
“You’ll want to keep your ski tips pointed together at first,” Sawyer called, from off to my right, “and squeeze your thighs tight.”
“Squeeze my thighs,” I smirked. “Got it.”
“It’s called snowplowing. It’ll keep you from going too fast when—”
“I got it, I got it,” I said obnoxiously. “You three go ahead a little,” I said, settling into my rented skis. “Show me what to do. I’ll watch your form.”
I flexed my arms and legs, shaking them out, getting them nice and loose.
It had been a busy morning. I’d slept like a baby across the Yukon’s heated leather seats on the ride to Maine, and woke up in the parking lot of a Walmart Supercenter.
There, I was able to buy clothes for the weekend; nothing fancy, just some clean underwear and a few comfy outfits.
I piled a new winter jacket on top of that, plus some boots, gloves, even a cute pink wool hat — all thanks to the credit card I kept in my phone case, for just such emergencies.
“Hayden, listen,” pleaded Bodie. “Even the green trails up here can look steep. Why don’t we take the gondola down to the halfway point—”
“Please,” I huffed, trying not to let my smile break into a devilish grin. “Just… go?”
The boys exchanged looks as if they’d done something wrong; like take a complete newbie to the top of the second biggest mountain in the northeast. I couldn’t see Carter’s eyes beneath the tint of his goggles. I knew however, that he was squinting back at me like I was crazy.
“Fine.”
They began snowplowing ahead of me, carving lazy, exaggerated S-turns in the freshly-fallen snow. I let them go on for a while, pretending to pay close attention instead of looking over their shoulder at the scenery.
Ah, yes.
The world looked endless from up here, and that’s what I loved most about it. It was like standing on a cliff, at the edge of the world. Overlooking an icy kingdom.
“Are you getting the hang of what we’re—”
I shot forward like a rocket, bending my knees low to pick up as much speed as possible. The last thing I saw was Carter’s mouth drop open. I zoomed past him, snatched one of his ski poles, and whipped it around to smack him on the ass with it.
THWACK!
It was the most satisfying thing I’d done in like… well, forever, actually.
“H—Hayden?”
Well ahead of him now, I dropped the pole in his ski path and made a beeline for Bodie.
He still hadn’t turned around, and was snowplowing with such slow, telegraphed movements I made the split-second decision to ski through his long legs.
I felt my ass scrape the snow as I surged forward and through, then whipped my head around just in time to catch his reaction.
He looked, quite literally, like someone who’d just seen a ghost.
“Ha-haaa!”
Laughing, tears streaming from my eyes, I plunged through the cold, icy air.
Sawyer was just ahead of me now. I skied past him in a flash of red, snatching his hat, howling with glee.
I swung my hips from side to side a few times, leaning so low I could feel freshly-fallen powder spraying across my face.
Then I cut a quick left; and plunged down a double black diamond marked with the name ‘Nitro.’
“HAYDEN!”
Their collective screams were music to my ears.
The boys followed, howling out warnings, trying desperately to keep up with me.
They couldn’t. I could tell they were experienced, and maybe even somewhat skilled.
Bodie in particular seemed to know what he was doing, as he raced ahead of the others and stayed relatively close on my tail.
Still, there was no way in hell they were catching me.
Down and down I plunged, devouring the moguls, shredding the mountain as efficiently as possible to accrue maximum speed.
It was still very early, and we’d been one of the first few groups up.
I passed nearly all of them as I swished from trail to trail, ultimately spilling out into the wide, shallow slope that ended in the gathering area, and the main lodge.
By the time all three of them skied up to me, I’d shaken the snow from my hat and was standing there with my gloves off. My jacket was covered in powder from half the mountain, and my face was plastered with a shit-eating grin.
“What the hell was that?” Sawyer demanded, chest heaving. Melting snow dripped from the tip of his handsome nose.
“What was what?” I asked sweetly.
“I thought you never skied before!?” cried Carter.
“Oh, I didn’t say that,” I shrugged. “You asked me if I skied, and I told you I don’t ski. I haven’t skied since I was sixteen.”
I winked at them, then let out a laugh.
“But I snowboard all the fucking time.”