Fake Dating My Ex's Hockey Star Brother (Maya Scott) novel Chapter 225

Chapter 85

JUSTIN’S POV

We’re checked into a cabin two hours after landing in Colorado and Allison is already vibrating. That’s the

only word for it.

Usually she comes off a flight stiff and grumpy, dragging her carry-on like it personally offended her, and wanting nothing more than silence.

Now, she’s practically bouncing off the walls, opening every door, peering into every corner, and making

little sounds of approval at things like the fireplace and the throw blankets. Like a puppy who’s been let off

the leash somewhere new and can’t decide what to sniff first.

I lean against the kitchen counter and watch her with my arms crossed and say nothing about it because

I’m enjoying it too much.

The cabin is nice: two bedrooms off a shared living space, all dark wood and warm lighting. Me and

Allison in one room, Katy and Cooper in the other.

“Echo Mountain is like thirty minutes away, right?” Allison asks.

“Yeah.” Katy drops onto the couch. “Perfect for beginners with sixty acres of skiable terrain.”

“Beginner?” Allison looks up. “Speak for yourself. I’m not here for beginner experience, I’m here for fun.”

I shake my head and grab a water bottle from the counter, crossing the room and pressing it into her hand without a word. She drinks without breaking eye contact with her phone, then hands it back with a small

smile.

“Okay but babe.” She finally looks at me. “When was the last time you went skiing?”

“Better question,” I say. “Have I ever gone skiing.”

Her eyes go wide. “So you don’t know how?”

“It’s playing in the snow.” I shrug. “I’ll grasp it.”

She narrows her eyes at me and I can see a teasing remark assembling itself behind her expression. I turn

away before she can launch it.

Behind me, she dissolves into giggles and I hear her lean toward Katy, her voice dropping to a whisper. Those two are going to be insufferable on that slope.

Cold air cuts into my lungs and it’s like it’s trying to rip me apart from inside out. Yes, this isn’t my first time in sub-zero temperatures and the ski guide made a point of telling us it’s barely five degrees, like that was supposed to be reassuring but there’s something about mountain cold that’s different.

My breath fogs thick in front of my face every time I exhale and I can barely feel my own body despite the

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& Chapter 85

“Let’s go,” I mutter, and push forward.

Bad idea.

+25 Points

The skis take off faster than I expect and panic spikes clean through my chest. I jam both poles into the

snow on instinct, trying to anchor myself, which does absolutely nothing except make me wobble in three

directions at once.

Okay. Okay. I need to calm down.

Pizza. Allison said pizza.

I angle my tips inward the way she showed me, knees knocking slightly as I coax the skis into something

resembling control. It works or kind of. I’m not hurtling anymore. That’s something. That’s a win. I’ll take it.

The cold rushes past my face as I start moving down the slope properly and there’s a half second where it

almost feels natural. Almost. Then a kid, maybe eight years old, possibly seven, carves past me and my

ego quietly folds in on itself.

Then another person passes me.

Then a couple, side by side, not even looking at their feet.

“You good?” Allison calls back.

“Phenomenal,” I say. “Never better.”

She laughs and the sound carries up the mountain and dissolves into all that white. I look up for a second

and realize how stupidly pretty it is up here: the pines weighted heavy with snow, the sky running this

specific shade of blue that doesn’t exist anywhere below the treeline, the air so clean it almost has a taste

to it. And Allison, a little ahead of me, moving easy down the slope. She’s the prettiest thing on the whole

mountain and it’s not even close.

“Bend your knees,” she says, gliding back toward me with an ease that is genuinely irritating. “You’re too

stiff.”

“I’m a hockey player. I know how to stand on things.”

“Skates and skis are not the same thing.”

“They’re both long. They both have edges.”

“One is strapped to your foot on ice you control. The other is strapped to your foot on a mountain that will actively try to send you to your death.” She tilts her head. “Bend your knees, Justin.”

I bend my knees.

She nods, then turns back downhill. “Follow me. Pizza wedge, tips together, backs wide. You’ve got this.”

I do not got this.

But she pushes off and I follow, because that’s apparently what I do now. I follow Allison down mountains

< Chapter 55

I have no business being on, in rental boots I hate with my entire soul, and on skis that are one bad decision away from ending my NHL career before it even properly starts.

The first twenty feet are fine. Terrifying, but fine.

+25 Ports

I keep my weight centered the way Allison said, pizza wedge, tips together, going slow enough that a child passes me again without a second glance. I don’t check on Katy and Cooper but I know wherever they are on this slope, Cooper is not having a good time, I’m certain of that much.

“Allison, I’m not sure I-”

Without warning, a headache hits me like it always does and snatches the rest of the sentence clean out

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