Page 45 of One Winter Knight
Saoirse replied, but I could only understand about half of what she said because of her thick accent. It sounded like,Have fun, don’t die,which was always good advice.
“This is going to be incredible,” agreed Dusty, who somehow could comprehend her. He was going to race with us.
It was really early. The time zone thing had me all fucked up. I’d found Dusty half-asleep on the couch watching TV.
Saoirse had already been up, making coffee, and getting ready to hit the slopes. So, we’d left Carlos and Fiona at the villa and gone up the mountain. After spending some time on the slopes, me onmy snowboard, Saoirse on skis, and Dusty on fuckingsnow skates, Bailey met us and we were ready to go.
I connected my phone to the camera, using the booster Bailey brought me, and went live, using the phone first. “It’s Hale-strom, live from Switzerland, and I’m about to race BroKen down a mountain. Just look at this trail!”
Saoirse was all covered up and didn’t really want to be part of the livestream, but still wanted to race us. I could respect that.
“Hey, Lovely Fuckers! I’m joining Hale-i-o-burrito today for a little winter fun.” Dusty, who had taken off his shirt for this, flashed the peace sign, leaning into me.
“I’m switching to the head cam. See you on the other side.” I swapped cameras, and put my phone in my pocket.
Dusty had a speaker tied to his waist as his songBig Dick Contestblared.
“Ready?” Bailey asked. She was on a snowboard. “Three… two… one… go!”
We took off down the run, exhilaration shooting through me as we barreled down the mountain. Most of my experience with skiing was in the Northeast with my dad’s family. The chance to ski mountains like this, for free, was amazing.
And racing BroKen down a mountain? Fantastic. Honestly, I needed those snow skates, which were like mini skis.
Keeping low and centered, I gained speed. While I didn’t care about winning, I did want to put on a good show for everyone joining my livestream. It was the thrill of it that I enjoyed–both of the stunts themselves and having an audience.
Someone fucking yodeled behind me. Yodeled!
A moment later Saoirse barreled past us, like she had a dozen cupcakes that she was trying to hide from her siblings.
Shit, she had skills. But whoreallyhad skills was Bailey, who kept pace with us, while holding a phone. Did she get hazard pay?
I slid to a stop as we crossed the finish line right before Dusty.
“Wow! I got third!” Dusty gave me a high five.
“That was really fun,” I agreed.
I got my phone back out and switched the livestream back to my phone. “Well, that concludes our race. Thanks for joining in! Peace and beans.”
As I signed off, Dusty was talking into the camera on Bailey’s phone.
Were Carlos and Fiona up now? I texted them.
Me
Are you awake?
“Dusty, Kace says it’s time to go to sound check,” Bailey told him, the livestream apparently finished.
Saoirse took off her gaiter and goggles, and checked her phone. She nodded and said, “I’m going to go back up, there’s some trails near the stages I’d like to try before they close them off for tonight.”
Or something like that.
“I’m going to hit one of the snow parks. Then I’ll check on the sleepyheads,” I said.
I got an insta-chat message from my sister Mercy. She was eighteen and a crusher for the Manhattan Maimers, which was a skate smash team. She’d been signed while still in high-school and I’d been so fucking proud of her. It was a sport where the baddest bitches you’ve ever met raced around the ice rink to rave music and tried to stop each other with full body contact. It was insane.
Insanely fun to watch.
