Page 65 of Ski You Later
“How are you feeling? Do you need some water?” His massive hand gently supports the back of my head, as if he is scared I might fall backward.
“I think I’m alright.” I say the words slowly, as if testing out if they’re true.
I close my eyes for a second, the recent memories coming to me in short bursts. The race. The fall. The humiliation.
It floods back to my me as if a dam has broken, and I pull my head out of Roman’s grasp. The fact that I had the world’s most pathetic crash, and then I ended up hurting myself in the process. I know Roman’ going to yell at me for failing, so I apologize as fast as I can.
“Roman, I’m so sorry.” I put my face in my hands, shame flooding every bone in my body.
“Rhodes.”
“I failed you. I failed our team.” I continue as I hear him say my name again, but this time dragging out the last syllable.
“Plus, I think I dazed myself with that crash,” I sputter.
“Rhodes,” he says quickly as he tries, and fails to interrupt me.
“Which, I’m also so sorry about!” I point to him and talk over his repetition of my name.
As if it’s a reflex, he grasps my wrist and forces me to look at him. I try to pull away from him so I don’t see his disappointment, but he only pulls me closer.
As I’m about to apologize again, Roman’s eyes widen dramatically, and he shushes me in my face. “No!I’m going to talk. You’re going to listen.” He gives me a hard look and doesn’t move until I nod back at him.
“I have no idea what you are rambling about. You crashed; it happens, dust yourself off and get ready for the next race,” he says it like it’s that easy.
Sensing that I’m preparing to cut him off again, he plows on with his speech. “You might have a concussion, and I’m going to get a ski patrol to come look at you. You could’ve passed out from being overwhelmed and in shock, but either way I want it looked at.
“Injuries are not to be messed around with. I’m assuming you didn’t even know about your state and that is the only reason I’m not mad with you.” He says this all in a very serious tone, and I realize I can’t be too hurt if I’m able to follow what he’s saying.
“Now, how are you feeling, and don’t even think about lying to me.” He sends a serious expression my way and I smile at how much he cares.
“I’m feeling fine now. I promise,” I add at the end when he sends me a skeptical look.
“Alright, then I’ll fill you in on what’s gone on since you’ve been asleep, and you tell me what happened at your crash.”
He tells me how he contacted the coaches right away and informed them of an athlete injury. Ski patrols are on standby for whenever I’m up, and I need to be cleared by them if I want to race tomorrow.
He goes on to inform me how he traded places with Aurora for an hour to ski his race run but then came right back to my side.
I can’t help sending him a disbelieving look at that as I grab onto his hand. “You didn’t have to come back. Aurora can watch me if you have team captain duties,” I say as guilt flows through me.
His brow furrows and he move in closer. My bangs fall into my eyes as I inch towards him, and he wastes no time brushing them out of my face.
“I don’t care who it is, Langley. I won’t know peace unless I see that you’re okay with my own two eyes. It’s pretty selfish of me if you think about it.”
I release a slight chuckle at his words, and wince slightly at my cheek. Brushing my hand over it, I don’t feel much pain until I get near my eye.
“From what I gathered; your goggles gave you a small cut, but it just bled like crazy. It could’ve been due to altitude honestly,” he says gently.
His hand grabs mine and he raises them so my fingers can brush over the cut. It seems shallow whichmakes me release a breath, but I can’t stop the insecurity from taking over me.
“Does it look bad?” I ask him with uncertainty lacing my voice.
“Langley,” he drawls. “You are so beautiful. Now you just have an awesome battle scar. Guys dig that you know.”
I flush but decide to not to shy away from his flirting. “Oh, yeah? Well, I have my eyes on a specific man at the minute, so I hope he likes it.” I pretend to look around the room as I say this, knowing it will make him mad.
When I feel a light grip on my chin, I smile as he brings my face to meet his. “If that man isn’t me, we’re going to be having words miss.”
