The Hazards of Mistletoe (Hazards #4)(12)
Author: Alyssa Rose Ivy

“Yeah, he’s definitely taking it out on me, but I’m not going to pretend he actually likes me.”

She touched my sleeve to get me to slow down. “I’m serious.”

“I’m heading up to the room.” As great as hitting the slopes sounded, I wasn’t willing to risk running into Glen again so soon.

“I’ll join you. I’ll text Dalton and have him grab our boards.”

“Whatever you want.” I walked the rest of way up to the building. Laney didn’t try to talk to me again the whole way up. The condo was empty at least.

I noticed a message light blinking on the phone. I picked it up and listened. My bags had been delivered to the front desk. I called down, and they said they’d bring them up. “Well, at least my bags were found.”

“Awesome. Although I wouldn’t have minded sharing.” Laney smiled from her spot next to me.

“You really don’t have to sit around with me. Go enjoy the mountain.”

“I’d rather just relax. It’s cold.”

I shrugged. “Suit yourself, but it’s going to be really boring.”

“What’s going to be boring?” Dalton pushed his way into the condo lugging all three boards.

“Thanks.” I grabbed my board. “You didn’t have to grab mine.”

“No I didn’t.” He gestured to his chest. “Considering you thought it was appropriate to douse me with water.”

“You deserved it.” I grabbed my stuff and moved into my room. Hopefully Laney would get the hint not to follow.

Chapter Six

Glen

All thoughts of staying away disappeared the moment I saw her. She looked older, her face seemed a little bit thinner and her hair was longer, but otherwise it was still the same Savy. What wasn’t the same was the guy who had his arm around her like she somehow belonged with him. She didn’t.

It was bad enough when she blew me off the first time I saw her, but to blow me off again? I’d thought leaving Savy alone was best for her, but maybe it wasn’t. She didn’t look happy, and I refused to believe all of it came from being upset at seeing me. There was a sadness in her eyes that went much deeper than an awkward meeting, and I was going to find out what exactly had happened. I was going to make that sadness disappear. It was Christmas time. Savy lived for the holidays. I’d bring that joy back to her. I just wasn’t sure how.

Once she disappeared from sight I jogged back down to the gondola. I didn’t need to add being fired to the list of activities for the day. I’d offered to take Savy to lunch, but my break wasn’t for another half hour.

Winston gave me a shit-eating grin as soon as I saw him. Luckily I’d been able to avoid him after the first run in. “What were you saying? The girl’s just a friend?”

“Shut up. I’m too busy to deal with this.”

“Sure, sure.”

“Do you think she was with that guy?” I hated to even bring the discussion up with Winston, but I wanted his take. He clearly felt invested in it.

“I couldn’t tell. You’ve never seen him before?”

“Nope, but I haven’t seen or spoken to her in a year so it’s hard to know.”

“Whether she’s with him or not, you have to make your move.”

“I’m not making any move. I just want my friend back.”

“That’s bullshit. You don’t want to be that girl’s friend.”

A woman glared at us. I guess we were talking loudly. I lowered my voice. “Just drop it for now.”

“You’re the one who brought the guy up.”

“I can’t let this go.”

“I’ll handle it,” Winston said with surprising resolve. I wasn’t sure why he even cared. “It’s going to work.”

“You’ll handle it? No thank you.”

“Trust me, I know how to work these things.”

“Sure.” I wasn’t leaving anything up to him.

“Trust me on this.”

I noticed our boss walking over. “Fine. Drop it for now.”

Winston caught the direction of my gaze. “Fine. We’ll talk tonight.” We got back to loading the gondolas, and I tried to keep thoughts of Savy at bay. It was impossible. She was the only thing on my mind.

***

“What did you do to her?” Winston tossed a beer over to where I sat on the couch.

“What makes you think I did something?”

“I saw the panic on her face when she saw you. Besides, I was giving you the benefit of the doubt and assuming you don’t just repel woman on sight.”

“Very funny.” I popped off the top and gulped down some of the cold liquid. I’d cut back on a lot of things since getting cut off from my parents, but I still hadn’t settled for cheap bear. I needed my IPAs.

“Just tell me. What did you do? Mess around behind her back? Sleep with her sister or something?”

“We weren’t together. It’s more complicated.”

“Complicated?” He sat down on the ancient chair across from me. “I doubt it. Women are pretty simple to understand once you spend enough time with them.”

I laughed dryly. “Yeah, I bet you understand them.”

“Are you going to tell me or are you just going to mope around for the rest of the week?”

“I wouldn’t have sex with her.” There I’d said it.

“Uh… what?” Whatever he was expecting, that wasn’t it.

“You heard me.”

“Is there a reason you didn’t have sex with the girl… based on the amount of time you spend jerking off to her picture I assume you find her attractive?”

“Shut up. And of course there was a reason.”

“And….?” He gestured with his hand.

“She deserved better. I’d just found out about school, and I knew I couldn’t give her what she needed. We’d been friends for years, and I couldn’t just use her like that. She deserved more.”

“And when did you tell her this?”

“Why does it matter?”

“I’m hoping you rejected the girl before you took her home with you.”

“She was naked.”

“What?” he spit out his beer. “Are you fucking serious?”

“Yeah.” I set down my beer on the table. “I couldn’t. I wanted her so bad, but it wasn’t worth it.”

“Let me get this straight. You got the girl naked and told her you couldn’t have sex with her because she deserved better?”