Chapter 27 Thayer
THAYER
“It looks rad,” Jesse said as he held out his phone for me to see. He’d edited footage from Big Bear so it only played highlights of my runs.
“Thanks for putting it together,” I said from my spot on a crate behind the counter at his shop.
“I would’ve had more footage if you hadn’t bailed,” he said as the video ended.
“Yeah,” I said, not offering more information than I needed to.
“I talked to Kason,” he admitted.
“Oh yeah?”
“He said he kicked your ass.”
I shook my head. “He’s such an idiot.”
“You’re banging his sister. I would’ve done worse if it were my sister.”
“You don’t have a sister.”
“You know what I mean.”
I rolled my eyes. “I’m not an asshole.”
“And?”
“And, it would be different if I were. You know I’m not gonna fuck her over. Giselle’s important to me,” I explained, feeling like a girl for even having this conversation with him in the first place.
“Yeah, but it’s bro code number one,” he said.
“And I broke it. Oh well.”
The bell over the door chimed, and Kason walked into the store.
“Speak of the devil,” Jesse said.
“What’s up, bro?” Kason said before he noticed me sitting behind the counter. He instantly looked to Jesse. “I’m just here to pick up my board.”
“It’s in the back. Let me go grab it,” Jesse said, quickly disappearing into the back room.
Kason dug his hands into his pockets and twisted away from me, like there was something more interesting happening on the opposite side of the store.
“You’re seriously ignoring me?” I asked.
He didn’t respond and kept his back to me.
“That’s bullshit.”
He twisted around and leveled me with his glare. “Don’t get me started on what’s bullshit.”
“Like I told Jesse. I’m not an asshole. But do you know who is? Fucking Gino.” I stood up and rounded the counter. “I’m gonna treat her right, and I think down deep you know that.”
He didn’t respond as I moved toward the door.
“See you in Steamboat,” I called as I walked out of the store without another glance.
Giselle
I drove through town, eager to meet Thayer after his class at the mountain. I hadn’t been this giddy over a guy since high school, and I loved the feeling. The excitement. The novelty of it all.
My phone rang, and I answered on my car speaker. “Hello?”
“Hey,” Gino said, his deep voice echoing in my car.
A shiver rushed up my spine. “Hey,” I said, hoping like hell that Thayer’s dad hadn’t reached out to him yet. I needed warning if he had.
“I miss hearing your voice,” Gino admitted.
“Well, you’re hearing it right now,” I said, awkward and uncomfortable.
“What are you up to?” he asked.
“Just driving,” I said, leaving out who I was driving to see. “How about you?”
“Not much. Just working.”
Instantly, I was transported back to his office. Carlo. The secretary who didn’t know me. “Sounds boring.”
He chuckled. “Spoken by the boutique queen of Colorado.”
A pit formed in my stomach. I wasn’t a boutique queen. I was nothing right now. And I didn’t know when I would be again.
“I want you to reopen the boutique,” he said. “I think you need to get back in there so you can remember how amazing you were.”
Anger flared inside of me. “Don’t you get it, Gino? That night ruined everything.”
Silence on his end made me wonder if he felt sad or guilty.
“I’m sorry. It’s just still raw,” I said, justifying my chippy attitude.
“I’ll be in Colorado next month,” he informed me.
“What? I mean, why?”
“I need to sign off on your condo. My name’s on the lease. Yours is on the boutique.”
“Oh,” I said, realizing that gave me less than a month to get my things out of there—a difficult feat since I was too scared to even go there.
“Did you decide to stay?” he asked, sensing the trepidation in my voice.
“Stay? I haven’t been back there since that night.”
“Why?” he asked.
“The guy knows where I live, Gino. Remember? He threatened me and everyone I care about. I guess you’re lucky you live in Florida, or you might be in danger, too.”
There was absolute silence on his end.
“Tell me what you’re thinking,” I urged, desperately needing to know.
“When I’m there,” he finally said, “I want to see you. Ending things over the phone didn’t give me the closure I need.”
The hair on the back of my neck stood on end, as if I was suddenly scared of him. Was I? Did I doubt his innocence in all of this after all?
“Giselle?” he prompted when I hadn’t responded.
“Yeah?”
“Can I see you?” he asked.
“Why don’t you text me when you’re in town.”
“Sure,” he said.
“Okay,” I said, but I was far from it.
Thayer
I left my snowboard outside on a rack and climbed the steps into the ski lodge.
I scanned the other snowboarders and skiers, thawing out and refueling.
That’s when my eyes landed on the gorgeous brunette in the light blue sweater staring at me from her seat by the window overlooking the mountain.
I willed her to stand and greet me, but that wouldn’t be G.
The slight smirk on her face told me she’d much rather watch me come to her—either that, or she was envisioning me naked.
“Hey,” I said as I approached.
“Hey,” she said.
I eyed the empty seat beside her. “This taken?”
“Well, I was waiting on this gnarly snowboarder who’s getting ready to crush it in Steamboat,” she said, looking over my shoulder as if she couldn’t find him. “But I guess you’ll do.”
“Gnarly, huh?” I laughed as I sat down.
“The gnarliest,” she said. “You know, I didn’t need you to stop here to check in with me. I’m not a high-maintenance girlfriend.”
Girlfriend. If she even knew how fucking amazing that sounded to me, she would have thought I was a whipped pussy.
Because I completely was. I snaked my hand into the back of her hair and pulled her toward me.
Our lips were a mere whisper apart when I said, “I just wanted to see you.” I pressed my lips gently to hers, pulling back way too soon.
“Can’t wait to see what you’re working on,” she said.
“Yeah, me too.”
Her forehead creased. “Don’t you have new tricks planned for Steamboat?”
“Sure. But I don’t plan to try them now. I need to make sure I can do parts of the tricks before I go all out and do the whole run.”
“You’re so different than Kason,” she said.
“You’re just figuring that out now?”
She didn’t laugh, and I couldn’t miss the distant look that clouded her eyes as she looked away from me and stared out at the busy mountain.
“What’s going on, G?”
“Huh?” she asked, as if she hadn’t just disappeared before my eyes and gone somewhere else.
“Have you talked to Kason?” I asked, assuming that’s what had her suddenly distracted.
She shook her head. “I’m mad at him for trying to hurt you.”
“Again, he didn’t hurt me.”
“Well, he hurt me by trying to hurt you.”
That wasn’t it. I could see it in her eyes. “Tell me what’s up.”
She exhaled a long breath. “Gino called me.”
I wasn’t expecting that. “What’d he want?” I asked, trying to sound calmer than I felt.
“He’s coming here next month.”
“Why?”
“He needs to sign the papers to end my lease,” she explained.
“He can’t do that from Florida?” I asked.
She shrugged. “He also wants to see me.”
“What for?” I asked, weary of his motives. We still had no idea if he knew Carlo was the one who robbed Giselle. Or, if he was fucking in on it.
“He said we didn’t really get closure over the phone.”
“He’s got some nerve. Well, I’m going with you,” I said, not caring that I sounded possessive.
“Of all people, you can’t be there,” she said.
“Why not?”
“Because he’ll see right through me. I don’t want him to know how quickly I moved on.”
“This was far from quick,” I said.
She cocked her head to the side, and I couldn’t tell if it was sadness or regret in her eyes. “Regardless. I need to do this.”
“I don’t trust him. And neither should you.”
“We have history. And I have no proof he knew what Carlo did. For all we know, he’s as much a victim as I am.”
I rolled my eyes. I never trusted the guy, and there was no way I’d let him anywhere near her alone.