Page 35 of Ski You Later
My anxiety spikes as he nods, and I almost fall out of my chair as I turn towards Roman. “No. No, that can’t happen. That’s exactly what I didn’t want to happen.” Turning to everyone at the table, I look them in the eyes as I continue. “You will tell no one, I don’t want anyone knowing about the relationship I have with Jasmine. Alright?”
I get three reluctant nods from the guys and settle back into my chair. “Now, if we can all just pretend that Roman and I have been dating for the past month, everything will be fine,” I say as I try to believe the words myself.
“So, when is this wedding?” Landon asks with a puzzled expression.
“It’s April eighteenth, so in about three months,” Aurora pipes in.
“After that, are you guys just going to have a fake breakup? Won’t that look suspicious?” Landon seems to be suppressing a smile for some reason. But he actually raises a good point, and I realize that I haven’t thought that through.
“She doesn’t need to worry about that. I’ll sort it out.” Roman’s first words in this conversation are definitive as he pushes his chair back and gets up from the table.
His brothers sense his shift in mood, and Landon quickly changes our conversation. Landon starts to ask about our ski season, but not before I catch the glance Xander sends to Roman.
He watches Roman with a keen eye, a devilish smile playing on his lips. Xander raises his eyebrows toward Roman, and I turn to face my fake boyfriend. Roman’s sending Xander a death glare, his face full of malice as he points a threatening finger at his brother.
Roman senses my gaze then, as he drops the look entirely and faces me with a small smile.
Aurora’s talking with Landon in the background, but when I face Xander, all I see is an excited smile taking over his face.
CHAPTER 13
It’s impossible for me to focus on anything when she’s in pain.
I smack my feet against the lodge's worn carpeted floors as the day comes to a blissful end. My four little toes have all frozen together, forming what I callthe mega-toe. They’ve also reached the point where they’re so cold that it burns.
Plopping onto my usual stool, I do whatever is necessary to get these frozen plastic shells off my feet as fast as possible. A few minutes of whining and watery eyes later, my ski boots lay discarded at my side.
After wiggling my toes fails miserably, I attempt to stand to help with the blood flow. This also fails spectacularly, and I find myself clutching the stool for dear life.
Today’s training was more intense than usual, with the first race looming over everyone's heads. Even though I lost the feeling in my feet within that first hour,I kept skiing as many laps of the course as possible. The result of my commitment today left me with ten frozen stubs and socks iced onto my skin.
I take a couple of minutes to let my feet breathe and start to remove the rest of my gear. The blonde strands are plastered to my head with sweat and stick in every direction when I remove my helmet.
This gets a cackle from Charles sitting across from me, and I quickly braid my hair before he can take a photo. After putting everything on the table, I brace myself for the main event.
Wrapping my hands around my feet to try and thaw my socks, I have the sobering realization that I don’t have any feeling in those either. I start breathing warm air into my fingers and watch as the team trickles in from the cold.
Snow sticks to everyone’s jackets as the icy wind whips through the open doors. The entire team showed up for training today and slowly starts filling up our corner of the lodge.
The sound of ski boots hitting the floor fills my ears as we all undress and wait for the coaches to give us a debrief.
Next week is the first race of the season, so Liane will go over the proper conduct expected of a Polar Team athlete.
It’ll just be the usual rules that they’ll make no attempt to enforce.
Wear your team jacket at all times.
Do not leave your rooms after ten at night.
You are representing the University when you wear that jacket, so you all must be on your best behaviour.
I roll my eyes just thinking about all the time this speech will waste as I go back to trying to move my feet.
The spike of pain that shoots up my calf makes me grit my teeth and grip the end of the table for support. Looking across from me, I see Aurora’s going through similar pain as tears streak down her face.
As I’m about to say something to her, a hand lands lightly on my shoulder.
Turning to the side, I find Roman looking down at me, furrowing his brow with concern. It looks as if he just walked inside, since his helmet and jacket are both sporting miniature snow piles.
