Page 89 of Double Dare

“I’m heading out to the shop for my first wild New Year’s without you. I had to rely on Katie to get my drunk ass home. She’s coming with her husband.” Katie is our neighbor back home, and she’s always helped dad with the more ‘female’ parts of being a single dad. Her husband and my dad are close, but Katie has always been a big part of my life.

“She’s too good for us,” I laugh.

“That’s the truth. You talk to Corbin and Rayne about your residency forms yet?”

“No, but I will after this storm clears. Things have been crazy around here. But I talked to Jed and Kade about it.” Shit. Didn’t think that one through, but it’s the whole reason I’m calling him.

“Kade? He gets a say now?”

I like to think I’m a strong woman, but when the opportunity arises to spill everything to my dad and tell him the truth, I back out. Now isn’t the time. He’s about to head out to a shop party with his friends, and he doesn’t need to be thinking about two Ds in my V. I’ll tell him tomorrow.

“He was just there when we were talking about it,” I say instead, feeling like I’m betraying Kade somehow.

“Uh-huh,” he says like he already knows all my secrets. He’s asked a million times what goes on between me and Kade, and at Christmas, I told him things were changing, but that’s about it. “When you’re ready then. I’ll be here.”

“I know. I love you. Have a great time tonight. Behave.”

“Not a chance. You have fun and make sure to sully the family name a bit,” he laughs, and then we say goodbye.

I’m really not ashamed to tell my dad. If there’s anyone in this world who has my back no matter what, it’s my dad. That includes my confession about being in a relationship with two brothers. He won’t understand it, but he trusts me, and he’ll do everything in his power to make sure I’m happy and supported. He is the definition of a good dad, and if there was a way to show him how much he means to me, I’d do it in a heartbeat.

By the time I finish my hot chocolate, Rydan walks up the path with a girl. “Hey, Lake,” he says. “This is Maddyn.” She’s somewhere in her twenties, pretty, and I recognize her from somewhere.

“Hey.” I stand. “You work at the ski shop, right?” I shake her hand, recognizing her from the extreme sports store uptown.

“Yeah, nice to meet you. Like your new bindings?” she asks.

Good memory. I almost bought a whole new board last month, but I ended up just getting a new set of bindings, and they’ve been great. “Loving them. Can’t wait for this storm to die down to get out there.” I look up at the mountains again, barely visible through the snow. I sit down and Maddyn sits beside me instead of standing beside Rydan. I like that.

“Backcountry is going to be amazing after all this snow,” she agrees. She gets it.

“Drinks?” Rydan asks, shooting me a wink as a thanks for being cool with his new…girlfriend? Rydan isn’t typically the hookup type, but I don’t know if he’s dating this girl or not.

“Please,” we both say.

“Is Gar coming?” he asks before he goes inside.

“Yeah. why?”

“No reason.” He grins to himself, disappearing through the door to fetch us drinks like the good party host he is.

I watch the snow drift down and get swept aside by the wind until Maddyn clears her throat. “Have you been backcountry much this season?” I ask. “We went just before this storm, and it was decent conditions. Glad we’re getting this fresh powder, though.”

“A few times. I just got back from a trip to Hains with a few friends. It was amazing.” She looks at the pack of cigarettes on the table, so I nod at her to have one.

“I’ve always wanted to go there and to Skagway. Did you fly in?”

She lights a smoke and coughs. “Not used to these since high school,” she laughs. “We flew in by plane. It was an awesome trip. You should definitely do it.”

I look at the mountains again, feeling some sort of peace from them. “Everything about how it feels up there is what I live for.”

Maddyn nods, completely understanding that. “I was afraid to meet you,” she admits.

“Why?”

“Because you showed up in Alaska with a snowboard and a dirt bike, and everyone was talking about you. Then you tie down a Dare, and just…I dunno. I was intimidated, I guess. Every guy in town knows who you are, and half the chicks are jealous because they wanted a shot at Jed, and I made some shitty assumptions.”

She thought I was full of myself. That’s what she’s not saying, and to be honest, that kind of hurts. I light my own cigarette to buy myself time. I’m used to being judged. Half the guys in the sports I like think I’m only there for male attention, because god fucking forbid a female like snowboarding and dirt biking. Grow up. I’m allowed to like the same things as other people and not be seeking attention for it. The stigma is stupid, and I kind of hate that she applied it to me without knowing me. To judge is human nature, I guess. At least she admitted it.

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