by S. K. Lessly
Even though I had read all of this mumbo jumbo on line, I didn’t understand any of it until I watched my favorite show Chicago Fire. Damn that Severide was a hottie, wasn’t he?
Sorry, getting off topic.
I watched Samson weigh Sebastian's idea in his head. He looked as if he was opened to the idea of the trip maybe just not the location. He asked, confirming my suspicion, “Taking a trip with all of us sounds like a great idea, but does it have to be the mountains?” He then admitted, “I don’t ski.”
“We don’t have to go skiing,” Sebastian advised. “We can go tobogganing, snowmobiling, snowboarding, and stuff like that.
“Tobago-what?” Samson asked frowning, which caused Paul and Tyler to snicker. Melissa elbowed her husband and rolled her eyes. “What, babe?” He looked at his wife in question. “What the hell is tobago-shit?”
I laughed at that and received a cold look from my husband. I met his cold look with one of my own and held his stare for a few heartbeats before he continued, rolling his eyes at me.
“Trust me. There is a lot to do up there. And it’s beautiful this time of the year. The house is huge and would accommodate all of us quite nicely. I saw the pictures on my company's website. It’s a five-bedroom house with a bathroom in every room, a huge game room, kitchen, and living space. It’s right by the lake so we can camp out with a nice bonfire if we wanted or just hang out in the house. Come on, you guys. What do you say?”
“I think it’ll be fun,” Melissa offered, giving her husband a knowing look as if daring him to disagree.
“I do too,” Sabrina added then looked at her husband. “Come on, Paul, it’ll be fun.”
“I don’t deny that, sweetheart. But when?”
Everyone was quiet for a while, trying to come up with a date and one popped in my head.
“What about Super Bowl weekend? We were planning on getting together anyway that weekend, why not take the party up to the Poconos.”
Everyone was quiet for a while then Sebastian said to me with a bit of condescension in his voice, “Lauren, I was trying to do something that didn’t involve football.” He rolled his eyes.
I slouched in the couch defeated, but Paul saved me. “Actually, Sebastian, that’s not a bad idea. I already took off the Monday after the Super Bowl and I have Sunday off already. I think I could swing having Friday and Saturday off as well. What about you, Tank?”
Samson nodded his head. “Yeah, that sounds like a winner. I’m already off those days for vacation. I got Frankie watching Squad. Melissa and I had planned to visit my parents, but that fell through. So, I mean, I don’t mind going to the mountains that weekend if everyone wants to go. Lauren, what do you have in mind?”
“I’m not that much of a planner,” I announced, feeling myself getting a bit excited. “But I’m thinking that we can get there Friday, settle in then become tourists on Saturday. Sunday is the game. We can spend time around the house that morning or explore the area before the game and then we can head back on Monday. We can pitch in for food and drinks and take turns cooking or we can go out to eat. Sebastian can plan the events and we can potentially have a great weekend.”
Tonya nodded her head, smiling. “That sounds like a wonderful idea, Lauren. I’ve never gone skiing before, but I’ve always wanted to go. Tyler, can you get off?”
“I should be able to.” He kissed his wife’s temple before he addressed us. “We’re talking like a few weeks from now, so I think the pharmacy business could survive without me.”
Tyler was a pharmaceutical salesman with his own hours. For the past few months, he’d been working like crazy. Tonya had told me they were working towards getting all their debt paid off. They wanted to buy the house they were currently renting. Because of his hectic work schedule, they hadn’t spent a lot of time together as of late. I had a feeling Tonya was looking at this trip as the mini vacation they needed.
With everyone on board with the trip to the Poconos, the night seemed to get lively again. Paul went to get his laptop so Sebastian could bring up the property’s website. We looked at the pictures and began to see our plans coming to fruition. The house Sebastian had described, was huge.
The outside reminded me of a rustic-looking two-story log cabin. The logs looked authentic and aged, but when you looked at the pictures of the inside, it was modern as modern could be. There were two fireplaces—one in the family area and the other in the TV slash game room area. There were tons of seating throughout the living spaces and a huge open floor plan with the game room, family room, and kitchen all in the center of the house.
Sebastian told us the bedrooms were upstairs and they were pretty large along with private bathrooms connected to each if the rooms. The ladies looked at each other in relief. We all knew it wouldn’t be fun if we had to share bathrooms. That would be a disaster for sure.
I watched Sebastian talk about this place as if he was selling it to a prospective buyer. His eyes were bright and his face flushed, but it wasn’t because of the alcohol. He was excited and it showed. He talked about the different activities we could do, restaurants around the area, and retail shops. He talked about the guys possibly going ice fishing, if the weather would permit, and he mention spa treatments for the women.
I sat back and witnessed Sebastian’s infectious excitement spread to everyone in the room. The man was always good at entertaining and pleasing people. It was his job after all, and he excelled at it. I just wished he had the same level of excitement in our bedroom as he did now. If that were the case, I would be looking forward to getting fucked to sleep tonight. Sadly, that wouldn’t be my reality tonight.
You know…
I sat up as a thought popped in my head. Perhaps, I should be looking at this trip in a different light. Instead of frowning at the idea of spending a weekend in the cold mountains, I could use this trip to my advantage. The romantic setting up there would be off the charts. I could work my magic and seduce my husband into finally sleeping with me, breaking the dry spell. Either that or there were plenty of places to bury a dead body. Either scenario would work out for me.
Wish me luck because I’m definitely going need it.
7
Lauren
The first weekend in February came quickly. Sebastian and I drove to the cabin a night earlier than planned at his insistence. We went grocery shopping on our way to the cabin and picked up all of the supplies we would need for our stay.
I was all for coming up here before everyone else. I wanted some alone time with Sebastian without him using work as an excuse to blow me off. The last few weeks had been a very busy time for him. He’d been working crazy hours and traveling more than usual. I was going out of my mind. I was missing the hell out of him. I felt like he and I needed this time alone. Granted, we did have plans to hit Miami after this for our anniversary and I was looking forward to the trip. But why put off tomorrow what you could do today? That was my thought process. I wanted us to bond on a deeper more granular level now instead of later. I wanted us to take this time to talk about starting a family and him cutting down his hours so we could do more as a couple.
Oh, who was I kidding?
The main reason why I wanted him to myself tonight was so I could jump his bones. It'd been too damn long and I was so horny that I thought I was going to pass out any second. It had been four months, six days, seventeen hours and fifty-three minutes since we’d had sex. Yup, that’s right. That had to be a record for someone my age with no kids, right? I was beginning to feel insecure and this wasn’t something I was used to feeling.
Do you see how we really need to talk?
It’d been hard to do that at home because of Sebastian’s work. But now it was only him and me tonight without distractions. We could cook dinner together or he could cook and I could drink wine and watch him. Then we could cozy up to the fireplace in the sitting room and... You know. Talk. We needed this time.
So, with my mind set and plans ironed out in my head,
I sowed the seed of seduction. We had just finished putting the groceries and supplies we’d bought away in the kitchen and pantry. I pulled out one of the many bottles of wine we had bought from the city and opened it.
Sebastian gave me a questioning look and I smirked at him.
“I was thinking. Why don’t we stay in tonight? We can have a quiet dinner, just the two of us and…” I paused in that moment, the words getting caught in my throat. Believe me it wasn’t due to nerves or fear. I paused because I heard a car pull up outside of our cabin. I gave Sebastian I questioning look and he just looked back at me. Next, I heard a car door thud close then another one. No, he didn't?
“Did you hear that? Did someone just pull up? I thought everyone was coming tomorrow?”
He smiled knowingly. “Yeah, they are, but Amy and David wanted to come up early. They didn’t have to work today, so I told them to come tonight instead of tomorrow.” He then shrugged and crushed my dreams. “It wasn’t like we had plans or anything. I told them to come on up. Now, we aren't alone up here in the middle of nowhere. Isn’t that great?”
He gave me a huge smile before he disappeared from view. A minute later, I heard the voices of Amy and David and the excited ramblings of Sebastian.
Meanwhile, I was on the verge of having a sexually-frustrated breakdown. I wanted to throw up at the sound of their happiness. I couldn’t begin to describe the disappointment that had started to suffocate me. How could he do this to me? Why didn’t he tell me? God, it felt like he was avoiding me on purpose; like he didn’t want to be alone with me and made sure we wouldn’t be.
Don’t you agree? Do you see it?
I tried to put on a fake smile and pretend to be happy to see Amy and David when they finally came inside the cabin, but I knew I wasn’t pulling it off. Their smiles looked genuine, but their eyes held a knowing look. It was as if they knew exactly what they were interrupting.
This was bullshit.
Sebastian started talking animatedly about his plans this weekend as he started cooking dinner. Amy and David got comfortable at the kitchen island, helping themselves to my bottle of wine as they soaked in Sebastian’s attention.
I had long since lost my appetite and gave a lame excuse about having a migraine and needing to lie down. Sebastian had the nerve to look annoyed at me. He knew I was giving an excuse to leave because I didn’t get migraines. You know what? I didn’t care. I couldn’t sit there another second in misery while my tormentors laughed it up all night. Seriously, if I heard Amy giggle one more time or David say how romantic it was up here, I would lose my shit. I met Sebastian’s annoyed look with one of my own, rolled my eyes, and went upstairs to my bedroom, making sure to slam the door just because.
Do you think I was overreacting? Should I have stayed downstairs, sucked it up, and played the dutiful wife and host?
Personally, I didn’t think I had reacted enough. I was never the type to hide my emotions, especially when I was pissed off or someone was treating me unfairly. Typically, I’d show my ass and Sebastian knew this about me. My quiet demeanor tonight was unprecedented and I didn’t know if I could hold out much longer. Something had to give. He and I would either have it out in private or we would have it out with an audience. It made me no never mind which happened. But Sebastian would. For his sake, I hoped he would get a clue soon that this ticking time bomb was about to explode in his face if he didn’t do something quick.
The next day, all four of us drove around this small town nestled to the south of the mountain. We located a shopping center that had lots of little shops we could explore once everyone got here. We were supposed to have waited for everyone else to get here before we went sightseeing and shopping. Sebastian, ever the host and pleaser, wanted to show off the little town we were visiting and all the cool things to do here to Amy and David.
The rest of the group was scheduled to arrive around two o’clock today. The plan today was to do a little cross-country skiing and take advantage of the area’s hot springs spa. For dinner, Sebastian had booked a reservation at a resort about thirty minutes away.
As we drove around, taking in the rustic feel of the small town, its architecture and the snowy peaks in the distance, no one mentioned my behavior last night. When Sebastian finally came to bed, he wordlessly crawled in next to me and wrapped his arm around my waist. I felt him kiss my shoulder before he nestled close to me. That was it from him. No apologies for not telling me about our early birds or the sly way he’d avoided spending quiet time with me. He didn’t even grind on my bare-naked ass. The asshole… I had gone to bed naked, hoping he’d jump on me. No such luck. He just fell asleep as if nothing was out of the norm.
I was regretting this trip already.
Around one-thirty that afternoon, cars started pulling up to the cabin and the first to arrive was Tonya and Tyler. Tonya and I were bonding faster than the other girls and me. I believed it was because Tonya knew how to handle my crazy, which was a plus in my book.
When their car pulled up and the engine died, I didn’t let her get out of the car fast enough before I grabbed her arm and led her away from Tyler. I walked her upstairs to the bedrooms and pulled her into mine. Once she cleared the doorway, I shut the door and locked it.
“What happened? Did you two talk last night?” she asked me as I did a face plant onto the bed and growled. She knew what I had planned to do last night. She’d even helped me pick out my lingerie for the night.
I shook my head as my answer to her question, my face still buried.
I heard Tonya chuckle before I felt the bed dip with her weight. “What happened?”
I lifted my head and looked up at her. “Amy and David happened.”
She looked at me confused. I turned on my back and told her everything that had happened yesterday. When I was done with the tale, I was sitting Indian style in front of her.
“He just disregarded me like it was nothing, Tonya. ‘Oh, no. Lauren and I won’t be doing anything, come on up.’” I said the last part in my Sebastian voice then grabbed my pillow and screamed into it.
Tonya rubbed my leg, trying to calm my crazy. “I’m sorry, Lauren.”
I looked up at her, my face filled with so many emotions. I couldn’t keep track. “I swear it’s like he’s doing this on purpose. Like he doesn’t want to be with me or worse, he’s cheating on me and is trying to stay loyal to the other woman.”
“Now, you’re talking nonsense. Sebastian isn’t the type to cheat,” she told me.
I scoffed and leaned against the headboard. “You know what they say. It’s always the quiet ones.”
“Look, before you go crazy and accuse him of cheating on you or sabotaging last night, make it a point to talk to him. Don’t let him weasel out of it. Confront him and tell him how you feel.”
I shook my head as she talked. “I don’t know, girl. I mean I want to, but every time I get ready to talk to him, something comes up. I tell you one thing. I feel like going up to him, ripping my clothes off in front of him, and tell him if you don’t take this now, I’ll find someone else who will.’”
Tonya laughed. “Try and keep it together, girlie or you’ll be in for a long weekend. Besides, aren’t you two supposed to be going to Miami on Monday?” I nodded, smiling as hope started to replace the dread I was feeling. “Okay, so, if you two don’t get to talk now, you’ll get the chance to do so and jump his bones when you get to Miami.”
Tonya was right. I needed to get a grip. Sebastian and I had our anniversary to celebrate in a few days. So what he’d sabotaged our night last night? He wouldn't be able to hide from me once we got to the sexy beaches of Miami. I couldn’t wait. That man was in trouble. I was pent up with a lot of sexual tension and ready to explode.
Once everyone arrived at the cabin and settled into their respective rooms, we each packed a backpack with a change of clothes and such then headed down to the main resort building for snowboarding and a cross-country tour of the area.
Sno
wboarding was a blast, especially when it turned into an all-out snowball fight, much to Sebastian’s dismay. It was fun for me. I was able to take out my aggression a little bit, especially when I hit him on the side of the head with a well-rounded snowball. He gave me a strange look when it happened. I just looked at him sheepishly.
“You do know we're on the same team, right?” he asked and I just smiled at him.
Sebastian let us play around for a few minutes longer before we made our way to the scheduled tour of Blue Mountain he’d booked for us. The tour guide was very informative. He told us all about the history of the mountain, which, I had to say, was very interesting to hear. That was sarcasm if you didn’t know. So, here’s what we learned in a nutshell.
The Blue Mountain resort had been opened by a man named Ray Tuthill in the 1970’s. The resort had a total of thirty-nine slopes and offered a decent variety of trails no matter your level of ability as a skier or snowboarder. That sounded good for people like me who really had no business on skis.
Although the area received an average of thirty-three inches of natural snowfall per year, the resort staff still supplemented the mountains snow supply. They used high efficiency snow guns to annually add to the snow making capacity in order to ensure the tourists got the opportunity to ski and enjoy the resort.
In 2009, Blue Mountain purchased a Big Air Bag, which was similar to fall cushions used by professional stunt men, which sounded cool as hell. They were used by the resort as safety measures for big jumps on skis and snowboards. It also happened to be the second Air Bag used in the United States.
