Wicked Winters: A Collection of Winter Tales

by Lucy Smoke

  “It’s going really great. Last time I checked in, there were over three hundred people here,” I told him excitedly. “Did you get my selfie?”

  He laughed at me. “Yeah I did, you looked cute.”

  I blushed at his compliment. “Thanks. I thought it would be funny.” I looked around us. “So, what’s my surprise?”

  Justin shocked me a little when he raised his hands to his mouth and called out, “Hey, Tom” to one of the guys working at the hot chocolate stall next to the candied apples.

  Tom popped his head up in acknowledgement and Justin pointed at me, which caused Tom to send a thumbs up back. I stood there in wide-eyed amazement at the fact that guys didn’t even need words to have a full conversation.

  Before I knew it, Tom was striding towards us with two hot chocolates; steam floated out of the lids.

  “Here you go,” he said as he handed both cups to Justin.

  “Thanks, man, should be about two minutes,” Justin replied as he handed me my cup. I wrapped my hands around it, letting the warmth seep through my gloves. I hadn’t realized how cold my fingers had gotten until I held the cup.

  “Two minutes?” I inquired.

  Justin looked down at me with a slight smile on his lips. “Until the second part of your surprise.”

  “Ohh,” I replied as I sipped my delicious goodness.

  Tom and Justin kept talking, not about anything in particular as I looked at everything around me. I was just turning back to listen to their conversation when Justin wrapped his arm around my waist. I froze for half a second and hoped he didn’t notice my reaction. The whole night must have gone to my head because instead of feeling nervous or awkward, I just felt good and safe and protected. I leaned into his body, snuggled in for body heat, and just enjoyed the moment.

  Not long later, I heard the distinct sound of horse shoes as they plodded along the road.

  “Part two,” Justin whispered in my ear as he walked me up to the curb.

  I turned to look back up at him. “We’re going for a carriage ride?” I asked a little dumbly, my heart in my throat. Tonight had been too much. Snowmen and love hearts, miniature trees and love hearts, and now a horse and carriage ride. If this was one guy doing all of these things, I think I would have been expecting a proposal at the end of the ride!

  “Yep, got it all organized. Tom is going to watch the line for us while we take a spin with Jimmy. And I already told the people in line that I had a friend coming by and they said it was fine for us to jump ahead, which was really nice of them. I thought I would have to bribe them,” he answered conspiratorially to me.

  Moon and Star pulled up in front of us, with the previous couple alighting from the carriage; the guy held open the door for the girl to climb out. It looked like they were on their first date, blushing every time their hands touched. Kind of like me with Justin.

  “Ladies first.” Justin gestured up the carriage stairs as he stood there holding open the door.

  As I approached him, he held his hand out to me. I placed my hand in his, allowing him to help me in. My heart was all aflutter at his gallantry.

  Once we were both seated, Justin pulled up a big plush blanket and wrapped it around both of our knees and then threw his arm around my shoulders and pulled me in for a cuddle. We both just sat there for a moment sipping on our hot chocolates, like this wasn’t the cutest thing ever.

  Jimmy broke the spell when he turned around. “Well don’t you two look mighty cozy back there. Now don’t you worry, I’ll take good care of you. Don’t mind me just have a nice time and enjoy the ride.” He turned back around and clucked to his horses to start up again.

  The carriage started rolling as I glanced up at Justin and gave him a wide-eyed look of amazement. I felt his chest rumbling under my shoulder as he tried to hold in his laughter.

  “How long do the rides usually last?” I asked him as I fiddled with my now empty cup.

  “About five minutes. Too much longer and the people don’t want to wait,” he replied; his breath moved the hair near my ear giving me goosebumps. I shivered at the sensation, which caused him to pull me in tighter and tug the blanket up. I let him fuss as I sat there enjoying our moment, trying to burn it into my memory.

  “Want to take a photo?” I whispered up to him.

  “Sure. But you have to send it to me,” he stated.

  I pulled out my phone and held it up to our faces. Justin tilted his head down so he touched mine; both of us smiled into the camera as I snapped a few pics. I tucked my phone back into my pocket and snuggled back into him.

  “Ready for part three of your surprise?” he asked.

  I sat up and turned to face him. “Part three? Justin, this has already been enough. You didn’t have to do anything else.”

  “I know H, but on my way in, I saw something that caught my eye and I wanted to get it for you,” he replied.

  My heart both sank and soared at the same time. Please don’t be a red wicker heart. Please be a red wicker heart.

  Justin reached into his pocket and pulled out the third part of my surprise. A red wicker heart.

  Holy smokes.

  “Justin…” I started, as I reached to take it. Somehow, I just knew that this was more important to him than just giving me a gift. It was like he showed me a piece of himself, making himself vulnerable to me.

  “H, don’t. Just take the gift, we can talk about it tomorrow okay?” he asked, as he closed my aqua covered fingers around the heart sitting in my palm.

  “Okay,” I sighed. I turned back around and leaned into him again, his arm back around my shoulder.

  I could see the end point of our ride approaching and realized I wasn’t ready for this to end, I didn’t want tonight to be over. I started to turn to Justin when I felt his hand reach to cup my chin, turning my face to his. His mouth descended onto mine; my eyes fluttered shut. He kissed me like he knew me, like we had been kissing for years. Firm, strong, taking instead of waiting for me to give. I melted into his arms, practically laying across his lap as we pulled up to the curb.

  We were interrupted by hollers and cat calls from the people still waiting in line. I pulled away from him only to hide my face in embarrassment in his chest. He patted my back comfortingly. “Come on H, need to make room for the next lucky couple.”

  I nodded as I peeled myself off of him and put the blanket down on the bench, being sure to pick up our empty cups. I went to step down the ladder, instead I found myself floating through the air as Justin picked me up by my waist and put me down on the ground.

  My breath had literally disappeared at the sensation.

  Justin stood there, holding onto my waist, looking down at me. His fingers burned an impression into my skin. “I’ll see you tomorrow, okay? Don’t forget to send me those pictures.”

  I nodded back at him, still a little speechless.

  “Good,” He leaned down and kissed my forehead and gave my waist a squeeze. “You need to leave now H; otherwise, I’m really going to embarrass you in front of all of these people.”

  I squeaked out a “bye” before I quickly high tailed it out of there.

  I skipped the candied apple stand and went straight to the marquee manned by the security guards who were minding all the things from the ticket stall. Saying a quick hello, I ducked into the booth and found my bag. Quickly pulling out a notebook, I tore off three little bits of paper, scavenged for a pen, and wrote each of the guys’ names on one slip each. I pulled Christian’s heart out of my messenger bag and fed Christian’s name into its center. Then out of my jacket pocket I pulled Vinnie’s heart and slipped his piece of paper inside that heart. Then I picked up Justin’s heart from the table and pushed his name into the center. I had no idea why, but I didn’t want to get their hearts mixed up. It mattered that I kept them right, kept them from being jumbled together.

  I quickly put them back into my bag, unsure as to whether or not I wanted to tell Steph about the hearts. I wasn’t sure I
was ready to believe each of the leads had given me one.

  Right now, I didn’t have time to ponder the situation. I needed to send Elizabeth more photos and start the shutdown process. Pulling out the festival folder, I flicked to the instructions Elizabeth had written for me and started messaging each of the stalls to tell them how much longer to stay open.

  I’d figure it out tomorrow. Or maybe the next day. I wasn’t sure yet.

  27

  Hayden

  Saturday 9th December – 16 days until Christmas

  Once I’d finally made it back to my dorm room last night, with the aid of the trusty on campus security shuttle, I’d lain in bed replaying every moment of the night over and over again. The little things, the big things, the selfie's with the guys, and then stared at the hearts that were sitting on my desk at the foot of my bed, staring at me accusingly.

  My plan had totally backfired.

  None of them had asked me back to their place.

  Instead, they had all given me hearts.

  What was I going to do now? Steph hadn’t had any luck tracking down another Puck. I had no options left except to point blank ask one of them about the Puck Games. Maybe I could dress it up as a "Look, I’m nervous about being with you since I heard a rumor about some sort of sex rating system with the hockey team. Is it true?" That actually didn't sound half bad. Maybe I could do that.

  Where was Steph when I needed her? The girl had been MIA after the shutdown last night. All I’d gotten was a text that said, “Sugar, don’t enter the Puck Games, will explain later xx.” I’d seen Steph at the shutdown with James, who had helped with a lot of the heavy lifting. Definitely owed him a raise - too bad working on The Press was voluntary unless you were the Chief, then you got a free meal card for your tenure. Yay.

  Now, it was the next morning and I was on my way to Justin for our usual Saturday study session, and there was still no explanation from Steph. And Justin wanted to talk. About last night. And the kiss. And Us.

  I think I’m going to be sick.

  The guilt was sitting heavy on my heart. I’d lied to him by omission. And the reason I’d lied to him was turning out to be a failure. Sure, we’d met under innocent circumstances, but once I’d known who he was and what he was involved in, I’d played him. Hoping to use him to get what I needed to write my article.

  And now, I had to tell him that I knew about the Puck Games, that I wanted more information before I could make a decision about anything. Even after how amazing last night had been.

  As I walked, my bag slapped into my right jean covered leg. I raised one hand to rub my face. I really liked Justin. If I hadn't known about the Puck Games, I would have jumped in feet first. With Christian too. Vinnie, I would have been a bit guarded with, but again, after last night I would have been open to finding out where it would go.

  I thought I’d known where it was going, but now I was so confused. I’d crossed the line and started getting emotionally attached to my sources, struggling to line them up with the cold-hearted assholes who would participate in the Puck Games. And I knew that once I published this article and blew their chances of making it to the NHL, any hope of them still wanting to be with me would go up in smoke. I would be dead to them.

  My damn heart of ice was all melted; a big wet puddle soaked into the carpet of my journalistic house.

  I just needed to remember why I was doing this. I nodded to myself. Remember why. Remember Steph crying in The Press. Think about all the innocent girls who’d thought they had met a guy that was boyfriend material, who had then turned out to be a real asshole, opening the girl up to sexual harassment by the entire hockey team. About all the women who had ever been wronged by an athlete because he was an athlete and thought he could get away with it.

  That was why I was writing this story.

  If the guys couldn’t see past that and didn’t want anything to do with me after the article was published, then they weren’t the kind of guys I wanted to be with anyway. Even if it did look like they were all turning over new leaves for me.

  Stay true to the course Hayden.

  I entered the study hall, passing the students who were all cramming for finals in the open area, and walked over to Justin's table. Looked like I was early, since the table was vacant. I placed my bag on the table as I stood at its edge reaching into my pocket to check my phone to see if he’d messaged me.

  Steph: Hay, I have a real lead on the Puck Games. Meet me at The Press after lunch.

  Relief flooded through me as I read Steph’s text. A real lead. I wasn’t going to have to ask one of my guys. Wait, when had they become my guys?

  Big arms suddenly surrounded me from behind in a bear hug. Justin leaned down so that his cheek was pressed to mine. My tense body relaxed as I placed my phone face down on the table and reached up to hold onto his arms as if I were doing a chin up.

  "Justin," I whispered. His hard body surrounded me on all sides, pressing my thighs slightly into the edge of the table. I felt surrounded, restricted, but safe and protected, like he would cradle my body with his, guarding it from anything that would do harm.

  My tummy flipped at how amazing that felt. And then churned with guilt.

  "I had a good time last night." His voice rumbled through me. I felt his words through my back, his chest pressed to me so tightly.

  "Me too." I smiled; the whole night had been the most romantic thing to ever happen to me. I knew I would hold the memory forever in my heart. I just hoped that the fall out didn't taint it.

  "Why do you smell like strawberries?" he asked; his breath tickled the hairs around my ear.

  An unexpected laugh escaped me. "New shampoo."

  "I approve," he replied, which only caused me to laugh again.

  "Oh well, if you approve, I'll buy a lifetime supply," I said as I dropped my arms and turned to face him, looping them around his neck.

  He took a minor step back to give me room but didn't let go. He just dropped his arms to wrap around my waist as my butt leaned against the table.

  "Maybe not a lifetime’s worth, variety is important. Maybe just a year’s," he said with a mischievous smile.

  I pretended to have a notepad and pen in my hand, dabbing the invisible pen on my tongue. "Note to self, buy strawberry shampoo for one year." I wrote with a flourish.

  He chuckled at me before surprising me with a kiss. I suspected it was supposed to be a quick peck on the lips, but my body had a mind of its own. The next thing I knew, I was sitting on the table with him between my legs, fingers locked together behind his neck, a heavy make out session happening right then and there.

  Someone coughed, whether at us or just in general I wasn't sure, but we broke apart at the noise, both of us breathing hard. My breasts were heavy with need, my bra suddenly feeling way too small. I could feel his arousal through his pants as it pressed up against my pelvis.

  "I really do still need to study. There’s still a few more cards to add and we need to start on yours." He sighed as he dropped his forehead to rest on mine. I was ashamed to say that I might have rubbed my body against his a little in an effort to wordlessly make him continue.

  “Enough of that H,” Justin stated firmly as he gripped my hips, stopping me from moving.

  I sucked in a breath at the pulse of pleasure that flowed through me at being handled like that. He pressed a kiss to my forehead, holding me until I relaxed a little.

  Biting my lip, I dropped my arms and released him. He stepped back, running his hands along the waist of his pants, trying to ease his discomfort. I smothered a tiny laugh at the sight, which made him scowl at me with mock seriousness, eyes still too full of need.

  I slipped off the table and went to sit in my normal seat across the table. Only Justin had different plans.

  For the next hour we sat side by side, my legs draped over his as I reclined backwards in my chair, holding up his flashcards. Justin had let me slide on making my own since I showed him my tab method, which wa
s a series of color coded tiny sticky notes that I put in all my text books to mark relevant information. Next semester, I would use his cards. It was too late to change my method for this semester.

  When we got through all of his cards for the third time, with him stumbling over only a few, I put them down and started to gather my things. Justin's hand squeezed my knee, making me catch my breath and drop my pencil.

  "I was thinking we could grab lunch and have that talk?" he asked; his voice lacked the confidence he’d had while answering the flashcards, making my heart twinge for him.

  "I'm really sorry, but my best friend messaged me before our session asking me to meet with her about a project we are working on together," I said as I turned back to him. I gripped his hand so that he knew I wasn't just brushing him off. I did want to go and have that talk. And I didn't at the same time. What was I going to say? Yes, I would love to date you, but just so you know I am working on an article that is going to blow the lid on your little sex ring? Oh, and I want to date your best friends as well. Did I forget to mention that I know them too?

  "Rain check?" I offered, hoping my interest was evident.

  His eyes scanned my face, searching for something. He nodded hesitantly. "Yeah okay."

  I pulled my legs from his lap, and not wanting to leave him wondering, I leaned forward and placed a kiss on his lips. I let it deepen enough that we were both being pulled in.

  "I really do want to chat, it's just that I have to go. We’ll find another time, I swear," I reiterated, wanting him to understand.

  "Yeah, I get it H. We aren't going anywhere, we have time. Go help your friend." A smile touched his lips.

  I flashed him a grateful smile and picked up my bag from the table as I stood. I gave him a wave as I walked around the end of the book shelves that kept our table hidden from the general room.