“I’d like to see you try, perv,” Kason threatened.
“Perv?” Jesse challenged.
“My sister’s off limits to guys like you,” Kason continued.
“You mean, handsome and athletic?” Jesse asked.
“I mean, I know where your junk’s been. Keep it away from Giselle.”
I instinctively looked to Thayer who was looking directly at me. I wondered if he was thinking the same thing as me. I was off limits—in more ways than one.
11
THAYER
“Dude, you’re supposed to be getting footage of Kason,” I said as I was about to drop in.
Jesse pointed his phone, on the end of a selfie stick, at me. “It’s fine,” he said, glancing to Kason who sat ready to drop in after me. “Right?”
“Yeah,” Kason agreed. “You could grab sick footage of me coming down behind him.”
“Whatever. Just stay out of my way,” I said with a grin before lowering my goggles off my helmet and over my eyes.
“He pulls a few tricks and now we need to stay out of his way?” Kason said.
I laughed as I dropped in. The sweet whoosh of the crisp morning air was music to my ears as I sped down the mountain. I swerved, gaining more speed so I could hit the jump with the necessary force to make four complete rotations to pull off a switch 1440. I could see the ramp in front of me. I took it at top speed, launching into the air and grabbing the nose of my board as I rotated, flipping one…two…three…four times before coming down hard and barreling toward the bottom of the mountain. Snow kicked up as I cut left at the end of the run and relief washed over me because I’d landed the trick. It’d come easier than I expected. I was out of practice and nowhere near as agile as I’d been a year ago. But, I hadn’t forgotten what to do, and I looked like I’d been pulling off tricks last month and not last year.
Snowboarders and skiers at the bottom of the mountain must’ve seen my trick because they whooped and cheered as I came to a stop.
“That was awesome,” Jesse said, still recording me as he stopped beside me.
A spray of snow hit our legs as Kason approached on his board. “That was fucking sick,” he said, wrapping his arms around me liked I’d just won the X Games.
“You’ve seen me do it before,” I said, unhooking one of my boots from my board so I could move.
“Yeah, but it’s been forever,” he said. “I didn’t know if you could still do it.”
“Oh, he can still do it all right, and I got it all on here,” Jesse said, holding up his phone.
“It’s not like I forgot how to snowboard.”
“Dude. You’ve still fucking got it,” Kason assured me.
I scoffed.
“I’m serious. We could medal together,” he said.
I didn’t respond, surprised that he was so sure, and equally surprised that I could pull that off after not being on a ramp in a long fucking time.
“Send that footage to Kincaid,” Kason told Jesse.
“Dude, it was one trick,” I said. “Most guys can do a 1440.”
“Not that smooth,” Kason said, and I wondered if he was right. Was I better than I gave myself credit for?
After another few runs, I readied to drop in for another big air trick. “See you at the bottom,” I called to Jesse and Kason as I lowered my goggles and dropped in. I sped down the mountain, the rush of excitement brewing inside of me. I wanted to attempt a backside 1800. I hit the ramp at perfect speed, grabbing the front of my board with my hand as I flew airborne, rotating one…two…three…four…five times.
I came down hard again, somehow staying upright—thank fuck—before coming to a speeding stop, the snow kicking up from my board. Again, the skiers and snowboarders loitering at the bottom cheered over my trick. I smiled as I lifted my goggles to the front of my helmet and freed my boot from my board.