Page 40 of The Mountain
Because even if I wanted to follow winter, the reality is, I can’t afford to. I barely have money for food and rent. Buying flights to another country, paying for a training course… I might as well try to reach the moon.
Chapter 14
Antoine
“You don’t have a lesson this afternoon?”
I lift my head in surprise at Liam’s voice, then let out a sigh, smiling in relief. “No,” I tell him, standing to pull on my down coat before carefully hanging my instructor’s uniform in my locker. “I managed to backline.”
The ski school manager hadn’t batted an eyelid when I told her I didn’t want to take a class this afternoon, and there’d been a bunch of lower-ranking instructors eager to take my class—a group of intermediate students old enough not to shit their pants. One of the many perks of having one of the better-recognized ski instructor’s certifications, I suppose.
“Why?” Liam’s brow dips, and I feel my cheeks heat.
“I had some things I wanted to do,” I say by way of deflection, clicking my locker shut and averting my gaze as I turn to face him. “What happened to your lesson?”
He narrows his eyes at me, stepping closer, right into my space. One step has my back hitting the row of lockers, a small gasp of surprise grunting out of me. Liam smirks, gray eyes lazily traveling up and down the length of my body.
“What are you up to?” he murmurs, and although our bodies aren’t touching, and he’s doing nothing but looking at me, I feel my knees go weak, heat rushing down my spine.
My eyes dart to either side of us, but I know there’s no one else in this row of lockers—possibly in the entire locker room, going by the silent hum of the fluorescent lights overhead.
“I… uh… I was going to walk to the pharmacy…” I whisper, my gaze inadvertently fixing on his mouth. On that smirking smile. On those lips that felt so incredible wrapped around my cock. “To pick up a few things…”
Namely, condoms.
“I’ll come with you,” he says, his gray eyes boring into my own. “We can walk home together afterward.”
Home. Not ‘to the flat,’ but home.
“Okay.” A mixture of panic and excitement tangles in my chest at the thought of him coming with me on this errand. And of us walking home together after. “That sounds good.”
The closest pharmacyis a ten-minute walk away, in a new development hidden from the picturesque, historic part of town. A neon sign towers above a snow-covered parking lot, an unnecessary beacon on the cube-shaped monstrosity. Adrugstore they call it here, when in reality, it seems to sell everything from cosmetics to food to electronics.
Everything except condoms, apparently.
I stalk up and down the endless aisles, squinting against the glare of fluorescent lights, Liam’s footsteps whispering at my heels.
“What are you looking for again?” he asks, stopping to pick up a box of tampons off the shelf, turning it in his hand with mild curiosity, then putting it back. “Did Lily ask you to pick something up?”
I let out a frustrated sigh, panic rising at the pink that seems to stretch on endlessly. Back home, condoms are usually next to the feminine hygiene products. Sometimes on the same aisle as baby things, like nappies and wet wipes. I’d always thought it rather sensible, if not ironic, to have all cycles of reproductive life represented in one place.
Clearly, it’s just another thing that doesn’t translate here. Another slightly uncomfortable reminder that I’m in a foreign country. Like my inability to purchase wine. Or the way people smile and say hi to complete strangers.
The middle-aged woman walking toward us isn’t smiling though, stopping to give me and Liam a suspicious look before hurriedly grabbing a box of something and scurrying away.
I frown and try to ignore that prickling sense of discomfort that always comes with being looked at in that way. It could have nothing to do with my race. It could just be because we’re two men looking at tampons. It could be because Liam and I are standing shoulder to shoulder—not exactly holding hands, butmaybe not standing as far apart from each other as she would like.
“Condoms,” I choke out, refusing to meet Liam’s gaze. “I’m looking for condoms.”
Liam gives a dark chuckle and I dart a glance in his direction just in time to see a satisfied smile curve his lips.
“Thought so,” he murmurs, sounding much too pleased with himself. He rests his hand on the base of my spine, the simple touch burning even through my thick down coat. “Come on, you won’t find them here. They keep them around the corner, locked up in a cabinet.”
At first, I think he’s joking. After all, this is a resort town. An island of luxury in the heart of the mountains, separated from the nearest city by an hour of windy, ice-coated roads. When we came in, there was a Hummer unlocked and running, the keys in the center console, its owner nowhere in sight.
“Oh. You were serious.”
I stare at the small glass cabinet, securely locked, ten different types of condoms staring back at me.Ribbed. Flavored. Latex and nonlatex. Glow in the dark. My hands sweat and I pull them from my coat pockets, wiping the palms on my thighs.
