Page 3 of Away Game

The backseat got quiet at my question.

“It doesn’t matter. I’ve got it under control,” Oz said quietly, making me think he didn’t know what he was doing.

“You better. I don’t want to have to kick your ass because you invited that fucker and a bunch of stupid girls.”

Oz rolled his eyes as another car pulled up filled with said girls. “You won’t care when you’re fucking a different girl every night. You won’t even have to leave the house.”

If he only knew.

“Maybe I like to hunt my prey.”

“Oh my god, he’s such an ass,” Lo said from the back seat. I didn’t think she meant for me to hear, but either way, I didn’t care. I was an asshole.

“That’s Fin,” Danica said in her sweet voice. “But trust me, he can be… nice, once you get to know him and if he likes you.”

I turned to look at her over the seat. “I’m nice to you because you’re like a little sister to me, but you,” I trained my gaze on her little friend, “I don’t know you, so do your best to stay out of my way, and I won’t fuck with you.”

She nodded meekly. Lo wasn’t a bad girl, but I also knew she could be trouble, and she didn’t even know it. I’d seen the way Oz looked at her when he thought no one was looking. I’d become a master of hiding, and I knew what to look for.

Putting my SUV in reverse, I gave Dean a nod and then didn’t look back.

“This week is going to be epic. I can’t wait to hit the slopes and the ladies,” Oz waggled his eyebrows like an idiot.

We both knew that wasn’t going to happen unless he was trying to fool himself with the fact that he didn’t want to fuck his sister’s best friend.

Two and a half hours and two pit stops later, we pulled up to the gated driveway of my parents’ house. After putting in my mother’s birthdate as the code, the gate slowly slid open, and I drove us up to the house. Thick trees surrounded three sides of the cabin with the lake as the backdrop, making it look like the prime place to be featured in a horror movie.

“This is where we’re staying?” Lo whispered.

“It’s pretty sweet, huh?” Oz smiled at her, but it quickly dimmed.

Oz was the most laid-back guy I knew. I wondered all the time why he put up with my ass, but I didn’t question him. It didn’t take me long to figure out why his smile dropped. Walking on the other side of the road was Weston Jackson. What the hell was he doing here? I knew his family didn’t have the kind of money it took for him to have a house here.

“What the fuck is he doing here? Did he come to ruin our vacation?” I growled out as I watched him until he disappeared.

“He’s actually very nice,” Lo said quietly with a tinge of fear in her voice.

“How do you know? Have you fucked him?”

“West? No.” She busted out laughing. Was she laughing at me? My eyes narrowed on her, and Lo instantly stopped. “West is gay. Although if he wasn’t, I definitely wouldn’t mind him being my boyfriend. He’s so sweet and hot.” She fanned herself as she looked around at her audience and then halted. “Well, he is. My family goes to the diner for breakfast every Sunday morning before church. We sit in his section since it has the best view, and like I said, he’s sweet. And I’m shutting up now.” She clamped her mouth shut and looked around the car as if it was the most interesting thing she’d ever seen.

“Yeah, maybe we should find our rooms and let Fin have some alone time.” Danica rolled her lips as if to keep from laughing.

“You two can go home now if you’d like. I don’t need your shit. I came to get away from—”

“They were just kidding, Fin. Damn, you need to chill out. You either need to hit the slopes or go get laid to work out some of this pent-up aggression.”

There was no way in hell I was going to calm down. Not until I knew why West was here and how soon I could get him off my mountain.

“Let’s get inside before everyone else,” I snapped. Again, why had I let Oz convince me to let others come?

Everyone was silent as we grabbed our luggage and left our gear in the back since the closest place to ski was half an hour from us. Oz, being the nice guy he was, helped the girls with their stuff, and they toted it along behind them as they went to pick out their bedrooms. I went in the opposite direction and headed to the master suite. I keyed in the code for the room, thankful no one would be able to come inside unless they were with me, and set my bag in the closet before I stood in front of the floor to ceiling windows that looked out onto the lake. There was only an inch or so of snow on the ground, but I knew there’d be more in a couple of days. A storm was moving in, which would provide some awesome skiing while we were here.

I loved coming up here to experience winter. It crossed my mind that this might be the last time I’m here for a long while. This year was even better since my parents were out of the country, and I didn’t have to hear about what a disappointment I was to them. If I had to hear one more time about how it was my fault we lost the championship, I was going to kill them in their sleep. It was bad enough I had the entire school and team looking at me like I’d lost all their hopes and dreams, but my parents’ as well. Since we lost, I’d done everything in my power to keep as much distance between us as possible.

A knock on my door had me turning around before Oz stepped inside. I knew I was going to regret giving him the code. “Everyone is settled. The girls are going to head to the store to get groceries and wanted to know if you wanted anything.” I started to open my mouth when he answered my unspoken question. “The alcohol is already taken care of. We could have a rager every night and still have some to spare.”

I walked over and flopped down on the bed. My arms and legs spread out like I was getting ready to make snow angels. “As long as they aren’t planning salads for every meal, I don’t care.”

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