Page 16 of The Lodge

He holds up my phone; I’d almost forgotten I’d given it to him already.

“You’ve got a text,” he says. “From Chloe?”

“Of course I do.”

I can only imagine what she’s written. Hopefully it isn’t too mortifying—or worse, confidential. Too late, it occurs to me thatanythingcould pop up in an email or text notification. What if Sebastian texts me and Tyler sees it?

We’d better get this over with, and quickly.

“Ready when you are!” I call out.

“Let’s do this!” he replies, my phone’s camera poised and ready.

I start down the hill, keeping my skis pointed inward so I don’t go too fast too soon. Even at this slow pace, the wind stings my cheeks.

“Hi, Chloe,” I hear Tyler say from behind me. “I’d like to state for the record that Alix did indeed show up for her ski lesson today—and that I offered her another slot for tomorrow. Here’s proof!”

I laugh, tempted to let him have it for getting Chloe’s hopes up that I might have another lesson so soon—she’ll hold me to it forsure—but my slight dip in focus throws my balance off a bit, enough that I flail unattractively for a few seconds before regaining my composure. Two more bobbles (and two more recoveries) later, I make it to the bottom of the hill, proud to still be upright. Tyler skis around to face me, his movements smooth and easy.

“As you can see,” he goes on, still recording, “she definitely needs to come back tomorrow.”

He grins at me, then lowers the phone.

“I’m going to kill you,” I say.

“Sounds like a plan,” he says, still grinning as he hands my phone over. “Can you do four o’clock tomorrow? For my murder, to be clear.”

I can’t help but laugh. “Fine,” I agree. “But only if I get enough work done.”

This guy is something else, and his smile is next-level perfection.

“I’ll put it on my schedule,” he says. “Four o’clock murder with Alixifshe gets enough work done.”

I’m going to have an incredibly productive day tomorrow, noifabout it. This lesson has been the most fun I’ve had in ages.

Of course, I will definitely not be admitting that to Tyler—or Chloe, for that matter.

He gestures to the magic carpet. “We’ve got time for a few more runs, if you want?”

I grin. “Let’s go.”

File:sebgreen_king of the world.mp3

Date Recorded:February 7, 2025

SG:

The first time I ever flew on a plane was for my meeting with Jason out in LA.

Which isn’t to say I’d never traveled before—my mom drove me halfway across the country for an audition one time, all the way up to New York from Nowheresville, Missouri. We used to spend days in the car traveling to auditions that wouldn’t even last an entire afternoon, and we spent so many nights in the most run-down motels you’ve ever seen in your life.

The label flew me out to meet with Jason and the others that first day, and they kept flying me out until they officially relocated us to a small house near the studio. I turned eighteen while we were recording demos, before I was ever in the band, so I didn’t technicallyneedmy mom there after that. They let her keep the house anyway.

I didn’t pay for a single flight for years after that. Anywhere I needed to go, the label flew us by private jet. Tours, press,weekend getaways—pretty sure I spent more time in the sky one year than I did on land.

When the band broke up, I started chartering jets on my own. I got antsy if I stayed in one place for too long and had spent so much of my life chasing sunsets around the world that it felt wrong to suddenly see them from the same place every day. Yeah, I know it’s controversial—high carbon footprint and all that, I’ve seen the lists I’m on. I tried to quit one time, I really did. Bought a house and managed to stay there for six months straight.

But then I bought another house. And a few more. And some others.

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