Winning my Best Friend's Girl - Piper Rayne Page 0,38
is that there’s a growing excitement in my belly at the prospect of being with Kingston for an entire weekend. God help me. Will this pull toward him ever go away?
Fifteen
Kingston
“Fuck,” I murmur. Stella is the other person who took a spot. And no one told me. Here I thought we were playing a game on Lou, but someone fucking played me too. Tank and Stump were on shift last night, so they said they’d meet us up here later tonight. It’s just us for the time being.
I talked to Allie and Samantha two nights ago to get everything squared away and no one said shit to me about Stella being here. Allie might act like she doesn’t know anything about Stella and me, but she does. The sly looks she’s been giving me every time I drop off a patient and the fact that she and Stella are close makes me think she knows more than the fact we went to high school together.
I load my beer into the fridge and grab two cold ones Lou brought up. He’s already in the hot tub on the deck, steam rising into the cold air. The deck speakers, which are hooked up to the stereo in the house are blaring music. His head rests back and his eyes are closed.
“Look at you, lazy ass,” I say.
His eyes spring open and I toss him a can of beer. He’s so surprised to see me he doesn’t catch it and it sinks to the depths of the hot tub. I crack my beer open while he fumbles around in the bubbles, looking for his.
“What the hell?”
I open my arms. “I’m the guy. Sorry, but Tank said he’d push me out of the helicopter if I told you.” I sit on the ledge of the deck, the snow-covered forest surrounding the house at my back.
“I thought you said no way?” He pulls the beer out of the hot water and cracks it open.
“Changed my mind. Tank promised me he’d do all the crazy shit I want out on the mountains. How could I pass that up?”
He glances into the house, but the windows are tinted to keep out the sun during the summer. I’m not an idiot—he’s checking to see if Stella is here. Might as well get this out of the way.
“Yeah, Stella’s here.”
He bites his lip and doesn’t directly look at me. I can’t blame him for not telling me Stella took a spot. I haven’t pried about what is or isn’t going on with those two. And I wasn’t supposed to be up here anyway.
“She is?”
“Yep.” I pop the P and take a pull from my beer. “She and Allie just got here. Tank and Stump are coming later tonight, and I’m not sure when Samantha’s coming.”
As though lightning struck him in the hot tub, his face transforms into a wide smile and he walks to the side closest to me, putting out his hand. “It’s awesome that you took the last spot. We’re going to have a killer time.”
He’s bullshitting. I’ve ruined his plan to be with Stella without my interference and only someone who knows what it’s like to lose those opportunities with her understands how pissed he must be.
Regardless, I smack his hand and fist-bump him. “Yeah, I can’t wait to get out there tomorrow.” My gaze strays to the mountains over my shoulder. Samantha said she arranged the helicopter and guide. My adrenaline was picking up the entire ride up here.
“Well, I’ll be on the regular slopes.”
“Pussy,” I cough.
He rolls his eyes. “You act like I’m on the bunny hill doing the V formation. I’m shredding it on a double black diamond. Let’s remember who the loser riding down on skis is.”
“Loser? Try OG of the skiing world.” He thinks because he snowboards, he’s better than me.
“Try snowboarding and get back to me.”
“Try heading down a mountain with a parachute on your back. Oh, that’s right, you’re too much of a pussy.” I point at him and snap my fingers.
The sliding door opens and Allie steps out, a beer in her hand, gawking at the view. “Holy shit.” She hooks her arm through Stella’s, dragging her to the edge of the deck. “See, aren’t you glad I convinced you to come up?”
“Hey now, you weren’t the only one,” Lou pipes up from the hot tub.
Allie turns around, resting her back on the railing while Stella’s gaze remains on the view and my gaze remains stuck on Stella.