Page 96 of Sweet Ruin

Whatever it was, the look on my face made Wes take a deep breath in, and as he exhaled, he turned back to Noah. “You’re right,” he said. “Thanks, Noah.”

It must have nearly killed him to show Noah gratitude. We were all briefly stunned into silence, but eventually Noah nodded.

“You’re welcome,” he said, bending down to retrieve his discarded snowboard. “I guess I’ll see you guys around.” He gave me a lingering look before he stepped away. “Stay safe out there, Crash.”

I watched him leave, my heart still racing from the collision and the argument between Noah and Wes. So much for today being a good day. It was barely 10 A.M. and it had already turned into a total disaster.

It was only once Noah was gone that Wes turned back to me. “Are you okay, Isobel?”

“I’m fine,” I replied. “Thanks for asking.”

“I’m sorry,” he said, shaking his head. “I shouldn’t have reacted like that.”

I sighed and relaxed my shoulders, allowing some of my frustration to roll off them. I knew I couldn’t stay mad at him. “It’s okay.”

“No, I shouldn’t have let him get to me. I should have checked on you. Hell, I should have been the one to stop you from crashing.”

“Seriously, Wes, I’m fine. Nothing bad happened. But I think that’s enough skiing for me today.”

“Are you sure?” He sounded disappointed, but I felt like it was more with himself than me.

“Yeah, I’m sure. I’m getting a little hungry too, and Anna mentioned something about a buffet…”

“Oh, yeah, this place has the best buffet,” Anna confirmed with a grin. “I’m starved too, so I’ll come with you.”

I could have kissed her.

“You boys should head up the mountain and do some real skiing,” Anna added.

Sawyer quickly agreed. “It does look good up there, Wes.”

Wes hadn’t taken his eyes off me though. “I’m happy to stay with you…”

“No, it’s okay. You don’t want to be stuck down here all day. Go and enjoy yourself. It’ll be fun to hang with Anna.”

He seemed reluctant to leave me, but he eventually agreed. “Okay, but call me if you change your mind,” he said. “I’ll come find you.”

“I will.” I reached up and gave him a kiss on the cheek. “Thanks for trying to teach me today. I’m sorry I’m a lost cause.”

“You’re not,” he said. “Maybe teaching someone to ski just isn’t as easy as I thought.”

“Well, skiing certainly isn’t as easy as I thought.”

He shot me a smile. “Okay, see you back at the chalet.”

“See you there.”

Wes and Sawyer put their skis back on and skated over to the chairlift while Anna and I left our gear on one of the nearby racks and went to explore the village. She happily pointed out hot guys as we walked, but I wasn’t really listening to what she was saying. My mind was still focused on the showdown between Wes and Noah I’d just had to break up.

I was completely shaken from my disastrous attempt at skiing, and yet it wasn’t even the most stressful part of my day. Somehow, the conflict between Noah and Wes had been worse than any fall or crash. I couldn’t believe how Wes had reacted, and although I’d acted like everything was okay afterward, that was far from how I felt.

No matter what I did or said, Wes’s anxiety about Noah seemed to be constantly bubbling beneath the surface, and he was getting closer and closer to his boiling point.

CHAPTERTWENTY-EIGHT

After a few hours spent shopping and wandering the village with Anna, my sad attempts at skiing felt like a distant memory. She was an expert in the art of distraction and spent most of our outing pointing out cute guys. She was hardly subtle, and she really seemed to be leaning into her hot guy buffet analogy.

"Check out that slice of pizza,” she gushed at one point. “Uh, is it just me, or does that cut of sirloin look delicious?” she added, as another guy walked past.

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