The Winter Games Box Set Read online

  “LIL!” NICK’S ARM CAME AROUND my shoulder as I turned, looking for who called my name. “You look totally fucking fine.” Letting me go, his eyes did a quick, platonic, once-over as I set the glass down on the bar. “Emmett! She is totally fine you fucking dick!”

  Emmett was approaching us, previously distracted by some blonde by the doorway. My ice-blue stare wasn’t completely thawed after everything that he’d said and it looked like the anger hadn’t completely disappeared from the black pits of his. We were both stubborn; it was now a waiting game to see which one of us caved first and forgave the other.

  “You should have known better than to believe me.” His voice calm and unconcerned. He took a seat next to Nick at the bar. Breakers was pretty dead, even for a Tuesday.

  “Yeah, well, maybe if it hadn’t been a head injury, I would have called your bluff. I didn’t think you would lie about her head being bandaged up.” Rolling my eyes, I turned to laugh to myself and pulled out two glasses to pour them some beer. “I meant to stop by yesterday, Lil, but I was finishing up a project late last night.”

  “Yeah? A project? Is that what you are calling them these days?” Emmett laughed, clarifying our friend’s half-assed attempt to conceal that he’d either been too high or otherwise occupied to leave his house.

  “Fuck you.” Nick washed down his grumble with the IPA that I’d served them both.

  “Was he lying when he said that Olsen was helping you learn the triple?”

  I flicked my eyes to Emmett who just stared blankly at me, suggesting that I was the one who’d gotten into this and I better own up to it.

  “Uh… yeah, he is.”

  “Shouldn’t he be worrying about practicing for the X Games?” Yes, he should.

  I shrugged, pulling out more glasses from the dishwasher and inspecting them for any water spots. “Well, it’s only in the morning before my lessons.”

  Although, how he found the energy to do anything afterwards was beyond me. This morning played out similarly to yesterday—except for the interlude in the glades. Today, we’d stuck to the park the entire time—in full view of all the other competition riders who were growing more numerous by the day. I nailed every jump and he’d told me we’d be spending time on the triple by the end of the week; I should have been ecstatic. Instead, all I could think about was how I wanted to spend time with him…alone.

  “Still… the Open isn’t for another couple of months; you have plenty of time to learn. The Games are in like two weeks…” I bit my tongue; why wasn’t he dropping this? “Although, I guess he’ll be leaving after the Games so you wouldn’t have him to help you then…”

  The glass shattered on the tile floor, slipping easily out of my hands that were paralyzed by Nick’s words.

  “Shit.” I swore, grabbing a towel and bending down to clean up the broken mess that looked a whole lot like my heart. I hadn’t even thought about after. Wyatt wasn’t from here—he wasn’t even from the US—what did I think was going to happen?

  “You all good there, Channing?” Emmett’s use of my full name suggested he knew exactly why the accident had occurred. Which is why I ground out, “Fine” and kept my eyes on my task.

  Meanwhile, Nick continued on, superficially oblivious to deadlines and heartbreak. “He does win everything, I probably wouldn’t be concerned about it either.” I stood, dumping the shards of glass from the towel into the trashcan. “Do you think he would have time to teach me some things again? Maybe just like an hour or so. He knows his shit—and I would know it, too, if I hadn’t been so stoned.”

  Wyatt would be happy to know that. Sort of.

  “I… ahh… I don’t know. I’m sure if you ask he would.” I saw Emmett smirk out of the corner of my eye. Sometimes, I could see why Ally got so aggravated by him. I really could.

  “Maybe I will.” Nick smiled but his focus had already moved to the blondes that Emmett had been talking to when they walked in.

  Emmett jumped into the conversation then, nodding up to the TV screen that was currently showing the weather, “You think this storm is going to be as big as they think?” Nick and I both turned to look at the weather map showing projected snowfall.

  There was an impending snowstorm coming the end of this week or beginning of next; a blizzard was brewing and the talking heads were still debating when we would get hit and how hard. We mountain kids, on the other hand, wondered if it was going to deliver on the incredible powder that they were suggesting.

  “I hope; I hope we get a powder day. They’ve been few and far between this year.” Their voices faded into the background, droning on about the potential snow dump and what they were going to do. A few nods and murmurs escaped me so there would be no concern that I’d gone catatonic, but I was hardly paying any attention. The benign topics were good to pull Nick’s eerily penetrating questions off of Wyatt and the Games and whatever else he might think to ask about me and the famous boarder; they were not so good at keeping my thoughts away from the one thing I hadn’t considered: Wyatt leaving.

  I’d thought of everything but that. I’d finally decided to go after what I wanted—what was between us—and I felt like I’d been blissfully floating up in the air and now, when I was about to land, the ground had been ripped out from underneath me.

  “What do you think, Lil?” Nick’s persistent voice focused me. From their expressions, it wasn’t the first time this question had been posed to me. And for the life of me, I couldn’t remember what he was referring to.

  “Sorry… brain damage…” Was my mumbled excuse.

  “Next week. I’m done with my semester and I said we should go out and celebrate.” I blinked twice. “You can even invite your sister and Olsen and whomever.” Emmett’s hand tightened perceptively around his glass at the mention of Ally and an Olsen.

  “Oh, yeah. Sure. Sounds good.” My chin bobbed mindlessly. Part of me wanted to invite him. The other part whispered, ‘No point of inviting him, of letting him further into your life if he’s only going to leave it.’

  “Speak of the devil.” Emmett downed the rest of his beer letting my confused stare follow his over to where Wyatt had just walked into the bar. My heart jumped painfully. When was the last time he’d come to visit me at Breakers?

  I turned away from them and grabbed a glass, filling it with water to hide my consternation.

  “Olsen!” Nick exclaimed ruefully. “How did you know we were talking about you!”

  Great.

  “All good things, I hope.” I faced them, squeezing my thighs together. I was like freaking Pavlov’s dog—as soon as I heard his voice, my body salivated for him. When I met his gaze, he winked at me and it was all I could do to set the glass in front of him and not dissolve into a pool of jelly.

  I looked down at my watch—it was almost time for me to go. They’d put me on light duty all this week after my fall, which meant that I was done around eleven, leaving the other bartender to close. Wyatt had come by last night and walked me to my car—I shouldn’t have been surprised to see him tonight.

  “I’m done for the night, guys.” Emmett appeared to be ready to go since the moment Wyatt had arrived. Nick’s expression barely flickered—he was called Frost for a reason and not only because it was his last name.

  “Hey, Olsen. I was just talking to Lil here,” Wyatt’s eyes jumped to me at the nickname and I could hear the question in his mind - ‘Lil’ sounded nothing like Channing, so where did it come from? “and I was wondering - I know you’re busy with practice and –” He stopped to glance at me with a knowing smirk. Great. Frost had known the whole time. “—everything, but I was wondering if you might have time to help me with a few things in the park.”

  “Yeah, man. Sure.”

  “We could meet you on Makaha tomorrow if you want,” I offered, suddenly fearful of spending more time alone with Wyatt, getting too attached, and having him break my heart when he leaves. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Wyatt’s eyebrow rise, surprised t
hat I’d sacrifice some of our time together, but he smoothly went along with it.

  “Yeah, man. I’d be happy to, but tomorrow isn’t going to be good.” He cleared his throat, glancing over at me. “I wanted to talk to you about our practice for tomorrow and Thursday because I have some meetings that came up in the mornings, so I’m not going to be able to make it to the mountain until after you start work.”

  Oh. What meetings? Where?

  Instead, I replied nonchalantly, twisting the towel I was holding in my hands, “Oh, that’s fine. I’ll just ride with you guys tomorrow--”

  “That’s what we’re here for—SnowmassHoles—back-ups for when your hook-ups fail you.” Emmett interjected acerbically. Before I could go off on him, he stood and strolled back over to the door where the blonde and her friends were lingering again.

  “Sorry,” I murmured.

  “Yeah, whenever works for you,” Nick refocused the conversation, not giving two-shits about Emmett’s rudeness. “I’d be so fuckin’ appreciative. Even what you showed me the other day, man, so helpful. You can ask --” He was about to say Emmett. “Really good stuff.”

  “Glad to hear it. I should be clear Friday morning. Unless you want to meet up one afternoon this week?”

  “No, let’s do Friday,” I said cheerily. Nick was too undetectably perceptive even when he appeared oblivious. I couldn’t trust him not to say anything about Chance when I wasn’t there or realize what I was doing.

  “Works for me.” Nick stood. “Alright, Olsen, Lil, I’ll see you guys later.” And with a mock salute he joined Emmett.

  “Lil?” Wyatt turned to me.

  “Meetings?” I raised an eyebrow in return.

  He chuckled. “Alright, alright. Why don’t you clean up and I’ll walk you to your car?”

  I nodded and quickly finished the few tasks left for me to do, leaving Stevie—the other bartender—to close.

  “It’s my nickname,” I began, “because ‘Chan’ was too lame. So, they shortened my middle name, Lily, to ‘Lil’.” I heard his ‘ahh’ of understanding. “Plus, they are like my brothers, so I think it also worked out to be short for ‘little’ as in ‘little sister.”

  “Channing Lily Ryder.” His hand snaked down my arm and intertwined his fingers with mine. Don’t let go, the thought burning to escape my mouth.

  “That’s me.” My voice was quiet.

  “Perfect.”

  Yes, you are, I wanted to say. Instead, opting to create a safe space between us. “So, what are these meetings for?”

  “Mmm… I don’t want to say—yet.”

  “What the hell!” I smacked his arm. “I told you--”

  “I’ll tell you!” He laughed. “But I just need a few days.” His face became more serious and my mind began to turn down a dark road. “I had an idea about what I want to do after the Games - when I’m done competing, but I needed to talk to a few people back home first. I want to make sure of a few things before I can tell you.”

  Fear gripped me. Back home. In Canada.

  “Hey,” he stopped and pulled me back to him, “you ok?”

  My eyes blinked rapidly, trying to stop my tears from falling. “Yeah, just tired.” I smiled weakly, turning towards my Jeep that was only a few feet away.

  “You sure?” His thumb rubbed along the back of my hand. “Maybe you should take it easy tomorrow morning instead of heading back out on the mountain. You don’t want to do too much too fast.”

  My car lights flashed as the doors unlocked, signaling me to respond to him.

  “Yeah. Maybe.” I pulled my hand from his. “I’ll see how I feel.” My hand was on the doorknob when large, warm hands on my waist spun me to face him. One hand cupped my cheek.

  “You can tell me.” His eyes pierced right through me and I felt the undeniable truth of his words weaving their way into my soul. “Whatever it is, Channing, you can tell me.” His thumb brushed over my lip. “I may not have been in your life for very long right now, but I promise you that I intend to be. I may not know you as well as your family or friends, but I promise you that I intend to work towards remedying that every single day. I may be the last person you think that you can trust right now, but I promise you that I would never do anything to hurt you.”

  Was it possible for a heart to swell so large that it stops? Because I swore that mine had.

  I couldn’t stop the tear that forged a path of heartache down my cheek. “Don’t cry,” he rasped.

  “I can’t help it. N-No one has ever said something so sweet to me before.” I huffed, feeling a few more tears follow suit—since when was I so emotional? “How are you this wonderful?” I couldn’t stop myself from asking with a pained laugh. “Don’t answer that; I-I don’t want to know. All I know is that I’m searching for a shooting star tonight, wishing that I could believe everything that you’ve promised.” I couldn’t help myself from trying to bring down my expectations, afraid of the fall from the height they were quickly dragging me to.

  He chuckled, leaning into me. “Gorgeous, I have more sweet truths for you than the sky has stars and I swear to you, you don’t have to make a wish on mine for them to be true.”

  His lips came for mine and I gave them willingly. The kiss was soft and tender, a mirror to his words. His tongue showed me their truth, coaxing from me not only trust in him, but trust in my feelings for him. By the time he pulled back, I knew that if he felt for me a fraction of what my thudding heart felt for him, there was no way he was leaving when the Games were over.

  “You should get going,” he breathed against my lips.

  “But I want more kisses.” Not ashamed.

  He laughed slightly, dropping one more quick kiss on me. “If you stay, you’re going to get a whole lot more than kisses.” His response punctuated with a roll of his hips against mine—lightly, but enough for me to feel how hard he was.

  “You say that like it’s a bad thing.” My hand on his chest began to drift lower before his fingers around my wrist stopped it.

  He pulled my palm up to his face, kissing the center, stepping forward to push me up against the side of my car, his entire body molding to mine. “Channing, make no mistake, I want every inch of you to be mine—and it will be. But not when you’re tired, not when you’re recovering, and definitely not when how I feel about you is an uncertainty in your mind.” He held my gaze prisoner. “You want to give me your body, and fuck, do I want it, gorgeous, but that’s not all I want. And I’m not the kind of man who settles for second-best.” And then the sexy, confident, snowboarder had the nerve to wink at me while I was melting into a puddle at his feet and say, “I’m Wyatt Olsen, sweetheart; you know I always win it all.”

  “And what if you lose this time?”

  “I won’t let that happen.” He kissed me hard and then pushed himself away with a groan. “I’ll see you Friday, Channing.”

  My legs were shaking, making my stick shifting awkward and jerky as I drove home. Every word he’d said echoed in the silence of the ride but not loud enough to drown out the fear that was rapidly rising again: what if he left?

  What if I gave him my body and it wasn’t enough?

  What if I gave him my heart and he took it with him when he left?

  FRIDAY MORNING LESSONS HAD BEEN pushed back to Saturday—and I’d had to find out through Ally. I was almost tempted to not show up, but my traitorous heart wasn’t having any of it.

  ‘Zack wanted me to tell you that Wyatt can’t make it this morning, but he’ll be there tomorrow.’

  A million questions burned angrily through my mind, only fueling the embers of doubt that had been flickering persistently over the past few days. After she’d told me, I clicked on my phone to see a text from an unknown number.

  WYATT

  Morning, gorgeous. I hate to do this, but I have to cancel our lessons this morning. Have to be on a phone call with some big-wigs back home. Time difference makes their lunchtime our morning. I’m going to make it up to you big
time. Several times, in fact. <3

  My anger had retreated knowing that he hadn’t used our siblings as messengers. I chewed on my lip, still wondering who those ‘big-wigs’ were and why they wanted to talk to him. Did it have to do with the news that he couldn’t tell me?

  The suspense was killing me. That, and the desire. ‘Several times.’ Goosebumps ran up my spine.

  I pulled out my phone again, checking for any more messages from him. Nick and I were waiting where we usually met up, only this time was the first time I had gotten there before him.

  “He’ll be here, Lil, calm down.” Easy for him to say. Nick was plopped down in the snow doing something that I probably disapproved of on his phone.

  “Yeah, well that’s what he said about yesterday and then cancelled.” I glared down at him and retorted. Of course, as soon as I looked back up, I saw my sexy, secretive snowboarder walking towards us. Damn man was always making me eat my words.

  “Sorry I’m late.” His smile begged me to forgive him; I’d learned a while ago that I couldn’t resist his smile.

  “No problem, Olsen. We just got here. Right, Lil?” Nick replied coolly, his eyes flicking between the two of us.

  “Yeah, just fifteen minutes ago.” I shrugged. I knew my annoyance and frustration wouldn’t last long against Wyatt and his always-right words, so I took what I could get.

  “Alright, well let’s get going.”

  We strapped in and headed for the lift. Nick plied Wyatt with questions the entire ride up—none of which inquired as to what had made him bail on us yesterday. I wasn’t able to get a word in by the time we slid off the lift, heading for Makaha.