by Piper Rayne
She smiles. “Great. Doesn’t say much. Whatever you said must have appeased him. Thank you.” She slides up and kisses my lips, her bare breasts pushed against my hard chest.
I say nothing because who knows what will happen after the Winter Classics and because the truth is that I miss my friendship with Brandon.
“The Gasoline party should be interesting…with all of our family there.”
Our sponsor has decided to throw a party for their athletes and families the weekend before the competition begins. Which means my parents and the Salters will all be under one roof. Add on the fact that Mia and I are together, and whether or not Gasoline arranged for fireworks at the party, I know there will be some.
“It’ll be fine. They only want us to be happy and we are.”
I lean forward and kiss her forehead. My sweet, naive girl.
I roll on top of her, my lips casting soft kisses along her neck and collarbone. “Do you have enough energy?”
She pulls my head down by the back of my neck. “For you...always.”
Our lips crash together and my hand is already stretching out for a condom on the side table.
So far, I’ve found that an intense orgasm does wonders to push away reality.
Chapter Twenty-Two
“You can do this,” I whisper in Mia’s ear at the top of the pipe.
She nods, not making direct eye contact with me.
Her board slides to the starting position and I watch from the top, other snowboarders starting to wake-up and test out the course we’ll be on next week. A line is starting to form, which means we have limited time. Which sucks.
She dips down, her motions fluid as always. Coming up the one side she grabs huge air.
“Man, is that Mia Salter?” the girl behind me asks. Based on her coat and her accent, I’m fairly sure she’s from Italy.
“It is.” My tone that of a proud boyfriend.
“She looks great.”
Mia’s onto her last trick and this is where she needs to land what her and her coach have been working on. Without any hesitation, her board leaves the edge of the pipe with more air than I’ve seen her get on the final trick.
“Shit,” the Italian girl’s defeated voice says behind me.
“Way to go, baby,” I say mostly to myself as I prepare to get to the edge to congratulate her.
She raises her hands from the bottom of the pipe, her head turned in my direction. All I want to do is race down there and pick her up and tell her how amazing she is.
I slide down to the starting spot, placing my earbuds in. Like it has every time this week, Brandon’s voice rings out in my head. ‘You remember the accident.’ Brandon’s limp body falling down to the middle of the halfpipe flashes in my head.
I shake the trepidation off, my eyes on Mia at the bottom. In seconds, she’ll be in my arms.
I slide down, straightening my board to drop in, mixing it up so that any competitors hovering around won’t know the combos I’ll be doing come competition. I twist, my hand reaching to grab my board and the feeling that something’s off hits me too late. Too late to land properly and I fly forward, and slide down to the middle of the halfpipe.
My music is blaring in my ears, and I roll over, staring up at the blue sky. Fuck.
“Grady!” Mia falls to her knees at my side a minute later, her hands moving over my body, her eyes scrutinizing every inch.
“I’m fine.” I unstrap my board and take the walk of shame to the end.
Mia plucks the earbuds out of my ears. “I told you, you’re training too hard.”
“That’s not it.”
“You’re going to get hurt.”
The crack in her voice has me turning to give her all my attention. “Hey.” I take off my glove, my hand cradling her cheek. “Don’t worry about me. I’m good.”
I tamp down the asshole within whose pride has me wanting to lash out, so I can ease her mind. She’s been through too much for me to worry her.
Her hand lands on mine and I catch a few other people coming by, including a medic.
“Are you sure you’re okay?” she asks.
“Promise.”
“Grady,” a medic comes by. “Second fall in two days, come get checked out.”
“Second?” Mia asks, her eyes widening. “You didn’t say anything about another fall.”
“Because it’s nothing.” I follow the medic over to the station, Mia’s boots crunching in the snow behind us.
I’m not sure what she expects from me. She’s a snowboarder, she knows the risks.
We head to the first aid station, sitting down as they shine a flashlight into my eyes. Ask me to look up, down, sideways. Mia stands quietly behind them, her arms crossed, unsaid words heavy on her tongue. I will change nothing about my training, this is me and if I want to be the best, I have to be out there as much as possible. Only near perfection wins gold.
“You’re good, but be careful out there.” The medic slaps me on the back.
Mia and I walk out of the building together, but it suddenly feels like we’re miles apart. To make matters worse, Matt Peterson drops in right as we pass the end of the pipe.
“Let’s go get coffee,” Mia suggests.
“No, I want to see him.”
Matt isn’t doing anything different than I do down the pipe, but he’s got style that I lack lately. I pressure Mia so much to find her love of the sport because it will shine through in her performance, but somehow, I’ve lost my own. Matt reaches the bottom and like every time I’ve seen him lately, he tries the new trick he’s named after himself. It’s a wobbly landing, but his board hits midway down and he manages to stick the landing.
“Fuck,” I mumble.
“He’s got nothing on you.” Mia tries to make me feel better. “Come on, let’s get some coffee.”
“I thought you preferred tea?”
She smiles.
“Come on, you need to rest a little.”
My eyes stay focused on Matt and a few of his friends congratulating him at the bottom of the pipe. Our eyes meet and neither one of us looks away. There’s no challenge present in either of our gazes, but we both know we’re each other’s biggest competition.
“How about we go back to my place?” Mia whispers in my ear, her breath tickling the skin on my neck.
I turn toward her, dipping her and kissing her. When I have her thinking of anything else but my training, I stand her back up.
“Coffee and then back to training.” I swing my arm over her shoulders, grabbing our boards under my other arm and walking toward the little hut they have set up.
“Grady,” she sighs.
I don’t respond and she doesn’t say anything more. She should know by now, training always comes first. How else do I make sure I’m not second best?
Chapter Twenty-Three
Mia walks out of the bathroom of the suite I rented for the night. She’s in a short, red dress. Much shorter than I’d prefer, but if there’s one thing I know about Mia, I never have to be jealous. If guys are looking at her it’s because her beauty can’t be hidden and I would never want to dull her shine. As long as she comes home with me every night, then we’re fine.
“You’re beautiful,” I say, putting on my other shoe.
The neckline of her dress is conservative at least with the bare minimum cleavage showing.
“And you’re handsome,” she says, grabbing her shoes from her suitcase and bending down to put them on.
Standing up, I straighten my slacks and come up behind her, my hands grip her hips and my dick presses against her ass.
“Keep that up and we’ll never make it down there,” she says with a giggle.
She stands and I wrap my arms around her waist pulling her back to my chest. Sliding her hair to one side of her neck, my face nuzzles into the crook. “Promise me we’ll come up early.”
“I promise. Otherwise, I’m sure you’d have me in the coatroom.”
I smack her
ass. “You know me well.”
Grabbing my jacket from the hanger in the closet, I shrug it on and store my phone in the pocket.
“Ready?” I ask, holding out my arm in true gentleman fashion.
Taking her purse off the suitcase, she links her arm through mine. “Yep.”
We travel down the elevator, each of us in our own head. After all, our families are about to be reunited and unlike the song says, I don’t think it’s going to feel so good.
The elevator dings open and when the doors part, the lobby comes into view. I escort her to the ballroom where Gasoline is hosting the event to congratulate their Winter Classic athletes.
“Someone needs to take away his Gasoline I think,” Mia says, hearing Dax’s voice over the DJ’s microphone in the hallway.
“Just take the microphone away.”
She laughs and we step into the large room.
“Look who’s arrived. Grady Kale and Mia Salter.” Dax points to us from the platform setup at the side of the room like he’s an announcer at a red carpet event.
You know when you’re the new kid at school and you walk into the classroom and everyone’s eyes shift to you, judging and appraising. That’s what’s happening here. I get why they’d look at Mia, she’s a knockout, but it’s clear that people are wondering what exactly is going on with us.
“Grady.” My mom beelines it over to us from the bar area, a champagne in her hand.
“Mom.” I step away from Mia but grip her hand to keep her near as I give my mom a kiss on the cheek.
I don’t hold her attention for very long, her gaze now cast to Mia.
“Mia, you look beautiful,” she says, and the two awkwardly hug, not really sure what direction the other one is going.
“Thank you, Mrs. Kale.”
My mom tilts her head. “You know to call me Sue.”
Mia smiles. “How are you, Sue?”
My mom takes Mia’s hands in hers and squeezes. “I’m good and you? I keep hearing your name on the news right along with Grady’s. Looks like you both might go home with gold.”
“Mom,” I sigh. She knows I hate it when they act like it’s a given.
She waves me off. “I’m your mom, I love you no matter what, but you’re going to win gold.” She looks at Mia. “He’s so superstitious.”
Mia grants her a soft smile. Who would think they used to be close? Mia was the daughter my mother never had. Mia, my mom, and Mia’s mom used to go out for shopping trips and spa days. Boy, have things changed and I can’t keep the shame that it’s because of me, far from my mind…at least not tonight of all nights when the results of my actions are going to be front and center.
“I guess my parents and Brandon aren’t here yet.” She scours the room with her gaze, but I don’t see them either.
“Can I steal Grady away for a second?” my mom asks.
Mia squeezes my hand but releases it. “Of course.”
I lean in close, kissing her cheek. “I’ll be two minutes.”
Mia’s eyes glance to my mom. “Take your time. I see Demi.”
Mia’s only a few steps away when I overhear her run into my dad. “Oh, Mr. Kale, nice to see you.”
“Mia? Is that you?” He pulls her into a hug, holding his scotch on the rocks in his hand. “You’ve grown into a lovely young woman.”
I stop and my mom and I watch the interaction between my dad and Mia.
He whispers something in her ear and her cheeks blush as her eyes seek me out. My dad has always been so welcoming to her. Back in the days when Brandon and I refused to play with her, he’d play her dumb princess games, wearing a tiara and jewelry just like she wanted. They even had tea parties. I never gave it much thought, but I guess to him, Mia was the daughter he never had, too.
“He’s always been fond of her.” My mom links her arm through mine.
“Yeah.”
“So, you two are...dating?” she asks, tucking a strand of her short bob behind her ear.
“We are.”
“And how are Bob and Jan with it?”
“I’m not really sure. Brandon isn’t happy, but he’s agreed to let it go until after the competition.”
She scoffs. “Why is it an issue? You did nothing wrong, sweetheart. You had no choice but to continue your career.”
My mom, always my biggest cheerleader and the one person who seems blind to my faults.
“I shouldn’t have stayed away as long as I did. He was my best friend.”
She shrugs. “I don’t condone everything you do, but you can’t control what happened when Brandon got hurt. I thought we were friends, but they turned their backs on us, too, by refusing our help.”
The insult in her voice rings out as clear as it did months after the crash. Personally, I think she’s just hurt. Jan and her, were practically like sisters.
My dad says goodbye to Mia and she leaves me with one last smile to last me until I can escape this situation and get back to her.
“Son.” My dad’s large body pulls me into him and he almost lifts me off the ground. “How are you?”
“I’m good.”
He leans into me. “I just talked to Mia. She’s as beautiful as ever. You two make a good couple.”
“You sure the Salters will let this happen?” my mom asks.
“They have no control over it,” I say.
“I’m with Grady. If the two love each other...”
“Whoa Dad, slow down. We just started seeing each other.”
He rolls his eyes playfully and smirks over to me like ‘get real, man.’
My mom’s hands go up in the air defensively. “I’m just saying, they will not like Grady dating Mia.”
“I’ll talk to Bob, we can’t let this feud stop something magical from happening.”
Between both my parents, I think my dad might be the true romantic.
Just as I’m about to tell them to just let me handle it, Dax’s voice rings out on the microphone again.
“SALTY!” he screams and all heads turn to find Brandon and his parents in the doorway. “Ladies and gentlemen, the infamous snowboarder, Brandon Salter.”
Brandon smiles, pushing up his black-rimmed glasses. Mia breaks across the room to hug her parents. Both of their eyes scan the room until they land on us—their enemies—the Kales. This might be harder than I suspected.
* * *
Midway through dinner, Mia and I have done a great job of keeping our parents from having to say anything more than pass the salt. Yes, our wonderful sponsor was thoughtful enough to sit us all together at the same table.
“So, Bob, did you see the new box store going up right at the city line?” my dad asks Mia’s dad.
Mia’s knee knocks mine, but I’m not sure how she thinks I can actually stop them from conversing.
“I did, I heard some folks are going to protest it.”
My dad cuts his chicken. “I wish them luck. It would put a lot of people out of business.”
Bob nods, forking his salad. “That’s the truth. Did you hear that the Hendersons went out of business?”
“Really?” My mom looks up from her plate. “That’s upsetting. It was always the three of us.”
Hendersons being the third most popular B & B in Cedarwood. The fact they went out of business isn’t great news for either family sitting here, but it was common knowledge that the Hendersons were never great on the paperwork side of running a business.
“Yeah, they’re moving down to Florida now,” Jan speaks up, her lips in a frown. “I guess they have college friends there.”
“Well, I suppose that’s a silver lining,” my mom chimes in. “Brandon, how are you doing?”
He looks up from his plate. “I’m good. Going to start teaching snowboarding at Klein’s starting next season.”
Both my parents look up, surprise and happiness etched in every line of their faces. “That’s wonderful,” my mom says.
Jan and Bob look at their son with proud smiles.
“They reached out to him and although he won’t be teaching any tricks, they think he’s insight will be helpful.” She gives him a look of warning. “He just loves snowboarding.”
Mia glances at me and I want to tell him how awesome it is, that I’m proud of him, but I’m afraid to come off condescending or like I’m talking down to him, so I sit back and take a sip of my water.
“That’s wonderful, Brando! You’re so great with kids.” Mia smiles at her brother.
“Salty!” Dax screams from across the room with a group of snowboarders. He waves him over.
“Excuse me.” Brandon wipes his mouth and stands up, leaving his napkin on his chair.
Everyone’s gaze follows Brandon until he’s nestled into the group of guys giving fist bumps out.
“He’s really thriving,” my mom says and I close my eyes. “I mean after the accident...what we all feared.”
Neither Bob or Jan look up.
“He’s great,” Jan quips, moving her green beans around her plate.
“I know, that’s what I meant...” my mom trails off and Mia’s knee hits mine again.
I shrug not really knowing what she expects me to do. Put a partition in front of them?
“Listen, Sue, we’re able to live in a small town together, we can surely have dinner together. Let’s just stay away from the topic of the accident,” Bob chimes in, and Mia gives me a pleading look.
“Can we please stop this?” I say, and Mia’s shoulders deflate. “Can we just move on?”
Jan drops her fork, wiping her tense mouth and placing her napkin on the table. “Move on, so you can screw another one of my children over?”
“Jan!” my mom says.
“Sue, I’m sorry, but I can’t be on board with this relationship.”
“My son is a great person and if he loves Mia...”
“Mom,” Mia begs.
Jan looks to her daughter with loving eyes and then to me and all the warmth drains from her expression. “I’m sorry, baby, but what you see in the boy who ruined your brother’s career and almost his life, I’ll never know.”
“Now, Jan, he didn’t ruin it.” My dad places his fork down.
