Page 10 of Snowbody

She whined. “No, please, I want to!”

“Maddy. We can’t. Not when we’re drunk.”

She sighed heavily, rolling over and putting her head on my shoulder. I expected her to start whining, but she was silent.

In fact… she was snoring.

Good. I didn’t need to stress over this.

* * * * *

Maddy woke with a groan.

I was already up but hadn’t moved yet. I didn’t want to disturb her, not when I knew she would be hung over.

She lifted her head, blinking down at me. “Jacob?”

“Hey, Maddy.” I shifted out from under her. “Let me get you some water and aspirin.”

“Yeah, okay.”

I left the room and came back with a glass of cold water and some aspirin. She sat up and took the pills, washing them down.

She looked at me, then away, lowering her head. “Don’t… tell anyone.”

“Don’t tell anyone what?”

She looked at me, and for a second, I thought she might cry.

“Whoa, whoa. Hey. It’s okay, Maddy. Nothing happened.”

“Really?”

“Really. We just went to sleep. Both still fully dressed.” I gestured to myself, still in my clothes from last night. “And nobody needs to know we both crashed in my bed. If anyone asks, I slept on the couch.”

“Okay.” She nodded. “Thank you.”

I laughed. “Don’t worry. I know the rules. I, uh. I shouldn’t have even kissed you.”

Maddy blinked. “What do you mean?”

“Your dad doesn’t want me messing with you or your sister. Which, I mean, Melody? No issues there.”

I didn’t finish my thought out loud. Maddy was going to be hard to resist.

She looked at me for a moment, expression neutral, and nodded. “Well… we should get back to the resort.”

“Yeah. Let’s head out. We’ll pick up breakfast on the way.”

We were soon headed up the mountain. They’d already plowed once, but the half-hour drive was now going to take us an hour. I didn’t start lessons until eleven, so I wasn’t too worried about time, but it was still irritating.

Especially because Maddy wouldn’t talk to me.

I hated the silence, the tension. She kept her head down, picking at a sausage biscuit and giving me half-hearted responses when I tried to talk to her.

I was sure I’d hurt her, but what was I supposed to do? Her dad would kill me if he found out.

Or rather, he’d ruin me.

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