“I know and she’s so far gone, too.” I lean back up and rub his strong shoulders. His hands are caressing up my thighs, stopping to let his thumbs graze over my lower stomach. I’m not sure what his obsession with my stomach is, but anytime we make love he will touch it repeatedly.
“They both need serious help.” I draw my name across his chest with the stroke of my finger while he lifts his hand to my hair, moving it out of my face.
“She went back this morning, and I knew they were gonna hook up and act like nothing happened. I’m right, huh?” He lifts his chin and I hang my head.
“Yep.” Trey was right, they have a physical relationship, something they both need. Kings needs it to feel close and Lana needs it to keep him distant from her, emotionally, now that is some true fuckery.
“Well, best we can do is be there for them while they figure their shit out, right?”
“Right,” I agree.
Lifting off the bed, Trey keeps me in his arms. “We need to get ready, it’s snowboarding time!”
“Yes!” I holler excitedly.
“Dork.”
I am his dork and he freaking loves me.
“BABE! I SWEAR IF you don’t stop doing that, I’m gonna come over there and smack that ass.” I laugh and swerve the board I’m snapped into and hit him with ice. I caught on fast with snowboarding. Skiing, not so much. But I love the adrenaline-induced rush that comes with snowboarding. Gliding across the cloud of snow and being in complete control. You have to know your body and the way it moves in order to control the ride. I wasn’t sure of my body back then, now I feel powerful, like a prowess. Trey made me a woman, a confident woman. The way our bodies move together in sync has taught me so much already in the past few short days.
My thoughts run away with me, drawing me back in when I hear Trey’s voice echoing in my ears.
“Babe!” I turn my head to the direction of his voice and he looks mad at me, I’m talking furious and boiling mad. My once there smile is now replaced with a coy smirk; I like the cat and mouse game.
“And that’s how you know, she done gone fucked up!” Kingston chimes in, with his signature Kingstonisms. Trey unsnaps himself from his board and makes his way over to me. He’s mad, though I’m
not sure entirely why. I know I was being playful, maybe dangerously so, considering I could have lost control, biffed it, and hit a tree. But I wasn’t doing it with that intent.
“Shut up, don’t get involved,” Lana says, silencing Kings.
“Trey Adams, what are you doing?” Charles is stationed near the rest of our group, watching this entire debacle play out.
“My girl wants to play with fire, she’s going to get burned.” Heat immediately floods to my core when I realize he isn’t really mad, he’s turned on by my teasing, he likes the cat and mouse game, too. I’m still convinced this is the honeymoon stage, we can’t always be this drawn to each other, strapped down by passion. I mean we made love in the shower and teased each other with foreplay while we got ready. Unfortunately, we didn’t get to finish, because Evan called to get some information about our new shipment. Maybe I should have ignored the call and instead finished him off, but he jumped from the bed and got ready in a heated rush, not saying too much until we got to the snowboarding lodge. Once there he finally started to talk and have a good time. He really doesn’t like Evan, and I hate that. Evan is nice, he just wants to help me, shouldn’t my boyfriend be happy for me, instead of jealous?
Anyway, if he wants to be playful then I’m going to keep up with my antics. I wait until he is almost an arm’s length from me, his eyes on me like a predator. Just before he gets to me, I jump and twist my board. It takes off down the hill, and I look back to see everyone cheering and Trey running for his board.
Crap! He’s going to chase me, well, snowboard after me.
Whatever, I know he’s going to catch me, I’m good, but Trey used to snowboard every year. I’ve only been out a grand total of three times today. I swerve around the couple in front of me, trying to stay close to the outer area lined with trees. I’m almost to the bottom of the hill, thinking I may just get away from him in time, when I can no longer hear his voice over the whip of the air and the whooshing sound the snow makes when going fast. Taking a quick glance back to see what our distance is, a sharp pain hits me hard against the back of my head. My body comes to a complete stop, and I’m pushed by blunt force flat on my face, landing forward in the cold snow. I’m not a huge profanity user, but fuck me, that hurt.
“Shayla!” Trey’s voice is muffled by the snow that my head is pretty much covered in, sheer panic echoing around me. Slowly, I start hearing every other word. This can’t be good. I try my best to flip over and bring my eyes into focus but the excruciating pain coming from the back of my head weakens me, making everything fade to black.
Trey
I WATCH IT HAPPEN, everything in slow motion, jolts of panic electrifying my body. Seeing her wipe out and then black out is a double-edged sword.
We’re on our way to the ER now, Shayla coming in and out of consciousness, watching her lying there helpless and hurt is eating me alive. Not having any control over what happens to her is gutting me to the core. The EMTs have her attached to a breathing mask, the crowded ambulance of busybodies poking and prodding at her spikes my anxiety. Why the fuck don’t they tell me what’s going on?
I about ended the life of the paramedic who told me I couldn’t ride with her. To fucking hell I won’t. Watching her hit that branch did something in my chest—made my protective instincts rise from the dark hollows of my chest, ready to walk through fire, dodge all bullets coming toward her, stopping any danger that threatens to harm her.
We rush through the hospital doors, my hand gripping her limp one, squeezing it as hard as I can. When the gurney pushes through the two-way doors, it’s all like a scene from a movie.
One of the nurses with short, brown hair, her face expressing concern, places her hand on my chest. “Sir, we’re going to take it from here, I’m sure she is fine, but you need to stay here.” Her tone is so unaffected it enrages me.
“Fine?” I say with a sharp edge to my growl. The nurse gulps, looking taken aback by the roughness in my tone.
“She could have a fucking paper cut, and I wouldn’t react any less than what I am now.”