Page 43 of Chasing The Alpha's Son
I watch her go; when she passes Jasper, he turns on his skis and pushes off behind her.
They all leave me lying in the cold, biting snow.
What a bunch of jerkfaces.
I beg the Moon Gods to let the mountain open up and swallow me whole.
HOT TUB TIME MACHINE
“Need a hand?” I look up and Mia is standing over me with her hand extended, her snow goggles pushed back over a sleek red braid.
“That would be great.”
She pulls me back onto my skis.
“The shuttle is about ready to take us back,” she says as we begin to ski-walk our way across the mountain. “Unless you want to stay out here longer?”
I laugh. “No, no I think I’m done.”
Mia’s pale cheeks are flushed rosy in the chill, but she seems completely at ease out here—calm in a way she wasn’t back at the packhouse.
“First time on skis?” she asks.
“How could you tell?”
“You know you were on the most advanced trail, right?” She glances in my direction with a friendly smile. Anyone else might have been teasing, but she sounds sort of impressed. “For a first-timer I think you did pretty good.”
“Because I didn’t die?”
“Basically.”
We trudge—well, I trudge and Mia glides—through the scattered pines until I can make out the ski shed across the way. We’re almost back, and I can almost take these sticks off my feet.
“Have you been skiing for long?” I ask, instantly realizing what a dumb question that is for someone who was raised on this mountain range.
“My whole life,” she says. “Actually, out on the slopes is my favorite place to be. There’s nothing like the feeling of freedom you get when you’re whizzing down a mountain at a hundred miles an hour. I dunno, it’s cliché but being out here I can sort of forget about being the alpha’s daughter and just…be. That must sound dumb.”
She shakes her head and sighs a little.
“It’s not dumb,” I say, realizing there’s more to Mia than I first thought. Maybe she’s just as trapped in this system as Jasper; maybe she isn’t a stuck-up princess trying to steal my boyfriend. Maybe I should give her more credit.
She looks at me sideways from under her precisely manicured brow. “Sounds like you can relate maybe.”
Me? Relate to being stuck in a tricky situation and looking for anything to distract myself? Not possible.
“Huh, maybe.”
Mia huffs, clenches her teeth, and starts digging her poles into the powder.
“You okay?” I ask.
She exhales through her lips, letting them flutter a little, and rolls her eyes like she’s thinking. “It’s nothing.”
I don’t expect her to tell me. We’ve only just met. But if I’m right and the reason she’s acting all huffy is because of pressure from her dad, then maybe I’m in the clear. Maybe she’s not even interested in getting with Jasper, and I have nothing to worry about.
“Sorry if I, you know, interrupted your”—I wave my hand around at the mountain—“free time.”
Mia smiles then glides smoothly toward the shed once more.
