Spring Roll (Seasons In Colorado: Spring #5)

Chapter 1

CHAPTER ONE

Michel

I was three when our parents brought us to Storyville, Colorado.

I have four siblings, three sisters and one brother.

We were all born in Riquewihr (reek-VEER), France.

It’s about five and a half hours west of Paris.

It was our parents’ dream to open a resort hotel and this is where they chose to do it.

I asked them once why they didn’t do it in France.

They said they wanted a change, and when they talked to their parents about it, this was what they came up with.

My siblings and I now run the resort for our parents.

They still live here with us, but they now get to spend a lot more time back in France with our grandparents.

Since they’re getting older, we all want to spend as much time with them as we can.

When it comes to the resort, we all have our roles to play.

My oldest sister, Amélie, is the CEO, Noelle is our CFO, and Henri takes care of the hot springs and the staff.

Me? I’m the head of security and operations.

We have another sister, Emmanuelle. She lives in Wintervale, Montana, with her husband, Lukas, and their son, Lukas Jr. Lukas’ family owns the general store in Wintervale.

We miss her a lot, but we visit each other as much as we can and video chat weekly.

A few months ago, my sister Noelle met Hunter.

Hunter was part of an MC that was trying to take out the Cimaruta MC—they’re based in Lake Renegade, Illinois, and they’re like family to us.

The plan was to use Noelle to get to them.

But when Hunter met my sister, he realized he couldn’t do it.

He also learned that his club president had been lying to him for years.

So he worked with us and the Cimaruta to take out his old club.

Watching Noelle and Emmanuelle find their loves has made me start to think about what it would be like to find mine. I’ve dated a little, even had a couple of girlfriends that I thought might have been the one. But unfortunately they weren’t. Hopefully one day I’ll find her.

Genevieve

I grew up in Beblenheim (beb-len-aim), France.

My family owns a vineyard where we make a few of our own specialty wines.

I loved it there, but for as long as I can remember, I’ve wanted to travel and find new adventures.

My parents, Matthieu and Adèle, have shown me what it’s like to truly be in love.

My papa was married before, but his first wife cheated on him with his childhood best friend.

When I heard that story, I felt so sad for him.

But he told me I shouldn’t be sad because if that hadn’t happened, he never would’ve met my maman.

I have three older siblings, Céline, Hugo and Marcel, we’re all really close.

Céline is married to Friedrich, who’s a lawyer, and they have identical twin girls, Odette and Manon.

They live in Paris, so once a month, they come home and spend a weekend with us.

My siblings and I all work with our parents at the winery.

One day, the most handsome man I’ve ever seen walked into the store.

I couldn’t take my eyes off of him. When he came up to pay for his items, he introduced himself.

Julian was on vacation for two weeks with some friends.

And we ended up spending most of that time together.

Even after he left, we spoke every day. Morning and night, texted when we couldn’t talk or video chat.

Six months after he left, I was on a plane to Storyville, Colorado.

I’d applied to the university there to get my Master’s degree in Cybersecurity.

The plan was for me to live with Julian and his brother.

They were both deputies in Larimar county, but they lived in Storyville.

They had an apartment close to the university, which was perfect for me.

My parents weren’t happy about my decision to move there, especially because I was going to be living with Julian and his brother, Randall.

But because they’ve always been supportive of us and our choices in life, they voiced their worries, then made sure I knew that I could come home at any time.

I’ve been living here for seven months now, and I love it.

Winter was colder than I was used to, but spring time in Storyville is nice, we even got to go skiing and snowboarding last weekend.

Things with Julian and I are going great and I even get along with Randall.

He was the one I was actually worried about, because I knew that Julian and I would be fine.

Being in school has helped me make some friends here.

Two of them have become my besties. I met Hadley and Jacoby my first day of class.

I’m still waiting for the day that they realize they both feel the same way about each other.

You can see it in their eyes every time we’re all together.

I’ve told them I can see it, and they deny it every time. They’re driving me crazy.

Julian texted me earlier and said he got called into work early, so I’m looking forward to having a little alone time since my last class was canceled today.

And Randall doesn’t get home till five. The walk from the bus stop to our home is only about five minutes.

It’s a little chilly today, but I still love it.

I asked Julian why he and Randall live in Storyville when they both work in another town.

He said that they both love Storyville, they would come here with their parents all the time.

I can see why they love it. Everyone here is really nice and inviting.

As I walk up to the house, I see Julian’s car.

Maybe he came home for lunch? Once he goes to work, he doesn’t usually come home for lunch or dinner, depending on what shift he has.

His station is too far for that. I walk inside and head to our bedroom to put my stuff down.

What I see when I open the door is something that I’ll never forget.

The one person I thought would never hurt me was fucking another woman on our bed.

When I see her face, I realize it’s one of the women that works at his station, Amber.

Her eyes get enormous when she sees me standing in the doorway.

I want to leave, but I just can’t seem to get my feet to move.

“Julian,” Amber says as she’s trying to get him to stop.

“Baby, I’m almost there,” he moans.

“Stop!” she yells at him and finally pushes him off her.

He lands on the floor and stands up, looking at her.

“What the fuck?” He frowns.

Amber points to me standing in the doorway.

“Holy fuck. Baby…this isn’t what it looks like.”

I finally find my voice.

“Are you fucking kidding me? Not what it looks like? So you weren’t just fucking another woman in our bed? Next I guess you’re going to tell me that it was an accident? You tripped, your clothes fell off and your dick broke your fall into her?”

The silence in the room is deafening. Amber is trying to find her clothes.

“I’m really sorry. He told me you broke up,” Amber stutters.

“Yeah. Because you didn’t see all my stuff around the room, right? Fuck both of you.”

I grab my suitcases and start flinging my stuff into them.

I know I won’t be able to pack everything I own, but I’m grabbing as much as I can.

Amber runs out after she finds all her clothes.

She tries to apologize again and I just glare at her.

After she leaves, Julian is left there, naked and staring at me.

“Talk to me, Gen, I’m sorry, I was an idiot.”

“Fuck you,” I say as I zip up both my suitcases and head to the front door. I don’t know where I’m going to go. But I know I won’t stay here.

“Where are you going? You have nowhere to stay.”

I ignore him and walk out the door. I see Amber sitting in her car.

It’s across the street from the house. I look at my phone and decide to go to the hotel, Rousseau Paradis.

I’ve been there for dinners and the rooftop nightclub.

I just hope they have a room available. I wish I could just get on a plane and go back home.

But I have two more months of classes. Well, technically I have another year.

I feel numb as I walk to the bus stop. I ask the driver if this bus goes near the hotel and he said yes.

He can stop right in front of it. I thank him and take a seat.

My phone keeps blowing up from Julian texting and calling.

I had to silence it, I won’t give in to him.

Cheating is the one thing I’ll never forgive.

I still can’t believe what I saw today. My day started off just fine, and now I don’t know how I’ll get through the rest of it.

Or where I’ll go. I can’t afford an apartment here and I want to finish school.

Maybe I can get into one of the dorm rooms. I see the hotel coming into view.

The bus driver helps me get my suitcases off the bus.

I thank him and he tells me good luck. I must look like I need it.

I head into the lobby, praying there’s a room open for me.

“Hi! Do you have a reservation?” the concierge asks as she smiles at me.

“No. I was hoping you might have a room available.”

I look down at my hands because I’m doing everything I can to keep from bursting out in tears. The adrenaline I had when I found Julian is starting to disappear.

“Of course, we can find you a room. Give her the penthouse suite,” I hear a voice say.

“Wait, I can’t afford that,” I blurt out.