by Vivian Lux
"Oh," Marie said breathlessly. "This is very nice."
I pushed off to the side so as not to ruin their pictures, and kicked off my skis. Then walked closer to the edge.
Below me, two figures were moving along the lower trail. My heart didn't know whether to sink or rise upon spotting Harper's bright green jacket.
Gray and Harper picked their way carefully along the trail, pausing every so often to point at the frozen-over falls. They didn't seem to be doing anything more than talking, a fact that made me inordinately glad. But when Gray reached behind him to help Harper over a slippery patch, holding her hand for far longer than was necessary, I couldn't suppress the low growl in my throat. I had the sudden urge to reach down and pack a snowball and chuck it at him from way up here.
Gray was still holding her hand as they emerged breathlessly at the top. He was my best friend. He'd been in love with her forever. He deserved to be happy with her, to have something good happen in his otherwise shitty life.
I shoved my hands in my pockets. That's it, I told myself. I'm done. I'm not going to try this anymore. I've made up my mind. Gray and Harper should be happy together, and I shouldn't stand in the fucking way. I'm not going to stand in the fucking way.
But when she got close enough to see me, and her green eyes lit up like emerald fire, I realized there was no way I was ready to let her go.
Chapter Twelve
Grayson
I knew it. I absolutely knew that Cal was bringing his tour up here. It'd been in the back of my head the whole time.
But after a truly spectacular hike with Harper, I could barely suppress the irritation I felt when I saw him waiting for us at the top of the falls.
This was the third or fourth time in the past twenty-four hours that Cal had cock-blocked me, and I was starting to feel like it was deliberate.
"Oh wow!" I cried, feigning delight. "Callum! It's so good to see you!"
Cal shifted in his boots as I came charging towards him. There's nothing that gets under Cal's skin more quickly than when you invade his personal space, so of course I went right in for the back slapping hug, fawning all over him like we'd been separated for months rather than hours.
"All right, what the hell are you doing?" Cal grumbled.
"I'm saying hello to my friend!"
"You're being a douche."
I grinned. "Just because you don't know how to handle social interaction..."
"I'm working," Cal sighed.
"And I don't have a job!" I said throwing up my hands. "So I don't have to answer to anybody." I gestured at his outfit. "What's your excuse?"
"Don't be a dick."
"Since you taught me almost everything I know about social interaction, if I'm a dick, it's your fault."
Cal grinned like I'd screwed up big time. "I said, I have a big dick. Not be a big dick."
"Really Cal?" I said, looking over to make sure Harper was watching us. "Cause usually guys who are secure in their manhood don't have to declare that."
Cal look flustered and I went in for the kill. "But then again, you must be pretty secure in your manhood to wear boots like that."
Cal shifted and then stepped back from me looking down at his lumpy moon boots. "I'm working!" he hissed.
"Skiing, right? Isn't that just the manliest of pursuits?"
I grinned for Harper's benefit, but she was staring open-mouthed.
It was just then that I realized that Cal's tour had come skiing up to us. The woman, an icy blonde dressed head to toe in pink, was staring at us slack-jawed. Her husband, a man with a face as pink as her jacket just looked like he wanted to kill me.
I straightened up. "Merry Christmas!” I boomed. "Welcome to Reckless Falls! Don't forget to try one of our fantastic local restaurants for the real down-home experience!"
Cal gave me the glare of death, and then pulled his cap down over his ears. The pink woman's mouth was pulled into a pretty impressive snit. She was about to say something, but her words were drowned out by the sound of Harper's hand smacking me in the shoulder. "What the hell are you doing?" she hissed. "You screwed things up for Cal!"
I looked over to where he was skiing away with his tourists. But I heard some raised voices, and the pink woman was gesturing wildly with her arms, her ski poles dangling ridiculously off her wrists. In any other instance, I would be doubled over laughing, but I suddenly felt pretty shitty about embarrassing Cal while he was trying to work. "What the hell were you doing?" Harper asked, green eyes widening.
I shrugged. Even if I could explain it, there is no way I could explain it to her. When it came to her, there just didn't seem to be a way for me to get my head on straight.
After a few moments of me not answering, Harper threw up her hands. "Let's just go home," she sighed.
Chapter Thirteen
Harper
I lay back on my parents’ guest bed and pulled the pillow over my eyes and just laid there, inhaling and exhaling for a second.
On the first inhale, all I could smell was the scent of winter forest and my own exertion.
But on the second inhale...there it was. Gray's smell. I wasn't sure what it was...it couldn't be cologne, or deodorant because he always smelled like it. It was unchanging. That warm, earthy undertone with just a hit of spice. It was faint, but it clung to my clothes, just from having been with him today.
I closed my eyes, the better to concentrate on it, inhaling great lungfuls before it dissipated. But when I closed my eyes, I saw Cal's face there, behind my eyelids, his light eyebrows raised in greeting, his blue eyes crinkling just at the corners. It had been hours, but I could still feel the heavy weight of his arm as it slung over my shoulder, resting there easily, but possessively. I'd loved how he'd so calmly laid claim to me, and I couldn't help but notice the way Gray had reacted.
I let out a sharp exhale and raised my hand to my shoulder, running my fingers along the line that I swore was still burned into my skin from Cal's touch. But when I inhaled again, Gray's scent filled my lungs, somehow even stronger than before, like he was laying silent claim to me and a moan of frustration escaped my lips when I realized once more that both of them laying claim to me was exactly what I wanted.
Rolling over to the side, I squeezed my thighs together against the sudden ache between them. I wanted both of them touching me, the way they had both touched me last night, my body sandwiched between them, but I wanted so much more than last night.
My eyes flew open. How much more? How far was I thinking of taking this, really? A crush on two guys at once was one thing, but actually wanting them both at the same time?
But the second I allowed myself to think that thought, the downward rush washed over me, settling into a heavy ache at the base of my spine. I could hear the blood pumping through my veins now, a mad rush of desire that drowned out everything except the sound of my quickened breathing as my hand slipped between my legs.
Both of them at the same time, what would that feel like? Hands all over my body, touching, squeezing, kneading. Two sets of lips kissing trails down my body, two mouths on my breasts, two of...everything. Would they be soft and gentle, taking slow deliberate care? Or would they tear my clothes off in a frenzy of desire? I knew what I wanted, as I let my finger slide inside of me. I wanted what I'd seen up at the top of the Falls. The two of them, unhinged, but instead of fighting over me, they were fucking me...
Sharing me...
The sudden wrench of my orgasm sent me gasping, my whole body arching upwards off the mattress like I'd been lifted by a string. My head thrashed from side to side and I buried my face into the pillow and screamed, and in my head I saw them, both of them, and I gripped the comforter in frustration.
Fuck.
Fucking...fuck.
I was wrong. I was greedy, I was selfish but more than anything I was a fucking idiot. I lay there on my side, gasping until my breathing slowed, and then gasping for a different reason as I felt my chest squeezing tighter.
&nb
sp; How could I want this?
What the hell was wrong with me?
And worse, how could I want this from them? They were best friends. They were my friends.
It wasn't right.
It was so very, very wrong.
This should have been one of the best days my life. Spending the day enjoying the fun of my town with the people I grew up with. The Polar Bear Plunge, the hike up the Falls, those were the kinds of things I'd treasure when I left here.
But all day long had been suffused with this weirdness between Callum and Grayson.
Was it because of me?
I didn't want to believe it.
There had to be some other reason for the tension. They were friends, too close to nearly come to blows over a girl, especially not a girl like me. I was their friend's little sister, but they'd almost come to blows up there at the top of the falls, and Gray had completely humiliated Cal in front of his tour. What the hell was going on with the two of them?
It couldn't be me.
There had to be some other reason.
There was a soft knock on my door. I scrambled to sit upright, fixing my clothes while I tried to rearrange my face into less guilty-looking lines. I cleared my throat. "Come in."
"I brought you a towel, cause I didn't know if you knew where we kept them now," my mother said, coming into the room.
I sat up and grinned at her, hoping I looked innocent. "Are you implying I need to take a shower?" I teased.
My mother took a deep breath. "You went hiking today. I'm just saying you might want to...freshen up before dinner."
I rolled my eyes. "Point taken, Ma," I said, standing up and taking the towel from her. "I read you loud and clear." I needed a shower, all right. A cold one.
"You always were smart girl," my mother said, with a smile. She turned to leave.
"Hey Mom?" I called.
She stopped and turned around. "What's going on?" she asked.
I sat down in the bed. "That's exactly the question I wanted to ask you."
She laughed lightly. "Well you're going to have to be a little more specific than that, Harper," she said.
I sighed. "With Callum and Grayson. Got any idea what's going on with them?" There has to be something, I pleaded in my head. Something other than them fighting over me.
My mother shook her head slowly. "Going on? You mean something bad?"
I shrugged. "I don't know, there's just some sort of, I don't know, weirdness there."
My mother leaned against the wall. "No, I can't think of anything," she said shaking her head. "But I mean, they are living together. Grayson's been staying at Callum's house ever since he lost his job. So maybe there's some tension there." She started to smile. "Maybe Grayson's a little bit too messy for Callum's liking?"
Of course. I let out a breath I didn't know I was holding and chuckled. "I can see that," I said. I thought once again about what a good friend Cal was being, inviting Grayson into his house like that. There weren't too many friends that would do that for each other. "You know how Grayson is, one step up above feral."
"Well, I guess it's tough to learn basic housekeeping skills when your father is Pierce Abbott," my mother said hastily.
I nodded. "Yeah, I guess you can excuse it... A little bit." I thought for a second. "What with his father being..."
"An alcoholic piece of shit?" my mother supplied.
I looked up sharply to hear her swear. "Well, yeah, exactly that. I just didn't expect you to put it that way."
My mother crossed her arms. "There's no other way to put it. When I think of that little boy, shivering in that jacket, the way he didn't even notice that his son wasn't properly dressed for the winter, and it was so cold that January."
I nodded at the familiar story. Grayson has shown up at our door one afternoon after school with a gigantic tear in his only winter jacket. My mother had immediately pulled out the needle and thread and then convinced him to take home a few of Everett's. And ever since then, Grayson had been the most loyal friend anyone in our family could ask for.
Callum too.
"Those boys, they're both diamonds in the rough," my mother said fondly.
I nodded as well, trying not to let on how much I agreed. "I guess I'll take that shower now, so as not to ruin your dinner," I teased my mother.
"Good," my mother said, sniffing and then wrinkling her nose and waving her hand in front of her face.
I laughed and grabbed the towel again as she headed out the door. I pulled my phone from my pocket, and threw it onto the bed and started to pull my sweatshirt over my head.
Just then, my text alert went off. I leaned forward curiously, then sighed to see a chirpy little text from Cecily asking how the trip was going.
"It's going well," I shot back quickly, then resumed pulling my shirt over my head. I'm just masturbating to the idea of getting fucked by my brother's two best friends simultaneously. You know, normal Christmas-y stuff.
When I'd emerged, it was to see that she did responded with an almost frightening quickness. "I'm looking forward to you coming back," she wrote.
I wrinkled my brow and shook my head slightly, then picked my phone back up. "I'm looking forward to that too," I wrote back, choosing not to ask what exactly it was she was looking forward to.
But as I set my phone back down again, I thought once more about Cal and Gray. Maybe I wasn't lying when I said I was looking forward to coming back to work, and Cecily and my killer schedule, and the upcoming negotiations with the Children's Television Network.
I needed to leave. Sooner, rather than later.
Before I did anything I regretted.
Chapter Fourteen
Callum
It was like living with a sullen teenager.
For nearly a week now, Gray had been avoiding me. And even though I knew I should be the bigger man and confront him, I avoided him right back. For the first time since I started my touring company two years ago, I actively went out and pounded the slushy pavement for business, snagging startled looking Christmas-tourists and practically bullying them into letting me show them the sights. For three days after the debacle at the Falls, I was out in the elements, freezing my fucking face off on my snowmobile or gimping along on snowshoes, just to avoid the asshole living in my house.
Did I think about kicking him out? Yes. Morbidly. Almost obsessively. As I paced the main drag of town, I played the conversation over and over in my head, and how fucking satisfying was it to imagine getting right in his face and letting him have it.
But what was it...really? Yeah, he'd embarrassed me a bit in front of my tour, but I was actually more pissed with Marie-the-pink-lady, who'd demanded a full refund once we got back to the vehicle, citing her emotional devastation over her husband's manhood being openly mocked. I noted grimly that her husband had nothing to say about the situation, but ended up just saying fuck it. Rather then try to explain that my best friend was kind of an asshole, I just gave in and let her have the tour for free. It wasn't like I'd done a good job at it anyway.
No, it wasn't that he'd shot his mouth off that had me so furious. That was just Gray being Gray, his usual unfiltered bravado that was alternately amusing and irritating. No, it was something else.
He owed me an apology, there was no getting around that, but for what I couldn't really articulate. I was just pissed at him for...existing, at this point and we probably could use a really good dust-up to clear the air, but he seemed content to stay in his room, with the door shut, only emerging when he heard me open the door to my bedroom. I actually timed it yesterday, shutting the door without going inside. He'd emerged, then stood stock still in his doorway to see me standing there staring at him, and at that moment I thought we were finally going to have it out. But instead he turned and headed right back in again.
But tonight, there was no getting around it. Ma McCabe was in hyper-hostess mode, throwing yet another one of her famous parties that I swore were the only thing that kept this
town from dying of boredom in the winter months. Even though the woman was celebrating her anniversary tomorrow, that wasn't enough, and she'd still insisted on having her yearly New Year's Eve celebration, and that meant Gray and I were both coming, no getting around it.
So now we were both getting ready to go to the same party, and that necessitated a lot of jockeying for bathroom space and checking the laundry to make sure that pants had no wrinkles in them. We danced around each other, all twitchy like a couple of scalded cats, until I finally couldn't take it anymore and went to the kitchen to grab a beer.
Only to see the fucking milk carton sitting out on the counter.
"Motherfucker, are you serious?" I exploded, slamming open the fridge door. The whole refrigerator rocked dangerously to the side, sending the glass condiment jars jingling.
Gray appeared in the doorway, wary, his fists clenched, but didn't say a word, which only pissed me off further. "You serious with this shit? Look, watch me, it's not hard. You close the fucking milk carton and then look, look, are you watching? This is the complicated part. You put it back in the motherfucking refrigerator!"
The corner of Gray's mouth twitched up in a snarl for just a moment before it relaxed into a cocky grin I immediately wanted to punch off of his face. "You really are an old woman, you know that?"
"You really are an asshole, you know that?" I shot back.
Gray stared at me like he was shocked by this, and we both kind of stood there for a second.
"What the hell's going on?" I sighed.
Gray shrugged and looked away. "What, you want to talk about your feelings or something? You really are an old woman."
