Starlet - Book 2 - Mate Games

24. The Easy Part

Collin gets all my winter stuff on me, then takes me to the adult store. He helps me pick a tube. I'm so excited I keep jumping up and down. He gets lots of dirty looks, but nobody says anything. He sends his stuff to our room. Then he goes to fill the rest of the vouchers.

Zeke comes up to me. "Who was that?"

"Collin."

"Is he in the games?"

"No."

He nods. "You ready?"

"Yes." I jump again.

"I'll come with you. Where do we go?"

"No idea. That's why I'm standing here. I was going to follow people."

He laughs and hands skis to a brain. "Put them in my room please."

"Yes, sir."

"I didn't get those."

The brain answers, "Collin sent them to your room."

"Let's try the tubes first." He winks and leads me out the door. I can tell he wants to say something else, but he doesn't.

Marcus makes my scarf go over my face and fixes my goggles. "You're good." He ties the hood and I run for it.

Zeke laughs and chases me. There's a tube area not that far from the door. It's got different areas to slide around the tube on. We play there for a while.

"You want to try the mountain now?"

"Up there?"

"Yes."

"On this?"

"Yes."

"Is that safe?"

"Yea, they're made for it."

"It's a long walk."

"You ride the bench seat."

"Can I ride it down if it's too scary?"

"Sure. Let's go up and check it out."

The seat is very confusing to get on. It doesn't stop moving. It hits me and I fall into it. He laughs and grabs me, so I don't fly out.

I get myself fixed. "That was something."

"They don't stop moving when you get off either."

"I don't know how that's going to work."

"We'll figure it out. Look how pretty the ride is."

I glance around and it is amazing. The snow and mountains are perfect. I see someone skiing down the mountain on occasion.

"Watch over there. That ramp."

Someone goes flying off it and does some flips. I point and wiggle. "I WANT TO..."

He grabs onto my coat. His eyes are so big. "Do not fall off this thing please."

"Sorry. I got excited."

"It happens. But that's still a big drop. I don't want you to get hurt."

"I'll be careful."

"Thank you. What were you saying?"

"I want to do that."

"I don't think you can do that with a tube. You'd have to get skis or a board, and it takes years of practice. He's an expert skier. He's going to jump again."

I watch him do a whole flip in the air. "That is so neat to watch."

"Yea it is. We're going to get off up here."

I cover my eyes.

He laughs. "No. That's not going to help. I'll pull you with me this time. But when the seat gets close to the ground, you run off."

"I can do it."

He lifts a bar up and grabs my arm.

"Ok, we're going to swing around this..."

I jump to the ground. I land running, and he pulls me away from the seat. The seat almost hits me and I tackle him.

He lands flat on his back in the snow and I land on him. Nik, Elek, and Dipak are watching us and laughing their asses off.

"I made it." I dust the snow off.

Elek pulls Zeke out of the snow. "That's going to take some work."

Zeke nods and brushes off the snow. "It could have been worse. Next time, jump off after you spin around the bar. It dips down, so the seat doesn't have as much of a chance to hit you."

"Good advise."

"Let's look around and see if you want to go down."

"Oh god. Here comes another 1."

Nadine is in a seat with Tye. He pointing out stuff, and she's standing on the seat, squatted down. They get to where we were and she jumps. But the seat flies back. Tye falls out and she face plants the snow. Tye crawls out the way of the seats dragging her. The boys are losing it.

Elek pulls Tye up and can't say anything. He's laughing too hard.

Nadine stands up and smacks Tye with her tube. "YOU'RE SUPPOSED TO HELP, ASSHOLE. I BET HE HELPED HER. HE'S NICE."

"WOMAN, THIS IS THE EASY PART. THIS IS NOT SUPPOSED TO BE THE ENTERTAINING PART."

"NOW YOU'RE SAYING I CAN'T EVEN DO THE EASY PART?"

"IT'S JUST A SEAT."

"I'LL SHOW YOU. SOMEONE GIVE ME SKI'S."

"Try the tube first, sweetheart. Tye's an i***t. Those are different to get out of. Johen's over there. Tell him to go down with you."

She storms off and Tye rubs his eyes. "How hard is it to get out of the damn seat?"

I shove him, and he falls back into a snow pile. "THEY DON'T STOP MOVING."

Nadine comes running back and starts beating him with her tube. "WHAT DID YOU SAY ABOUT ME NOW?"

I lift my tube to hit him and Zeke grabs it. "You'll pop it."

"Girls, watch. Watch Marcus get off the lift."

Marcus gets off with no problem and comes over. "What?"

"They were learning how to get off the lift."

"Yea, it's tricky. A lot of people get hit with the seat the first time. Or get scared and ride it around again."

"At least we were brave and got out."

"That's true. No, thanks to him. How did you do?"

"I tackled Zeke."

The boys lose it again.

Elek nods. "That's going on the highlight reel for the next games. Hurry and go now, though. Nobody is over there."

Nik smirks. "Also, beating the hell out of Tye with snow tubes is making the reel too."

Marcus laughs and ushers us to move.

Zeke and I walk over to the start spot. I stare down the mountain. "It's really far."

"You want to try?"

I shake my head.

"Then we have to get back on the seat."

Tears fill my eyes. I don't want to do that either.

"Don't cry." He hugs me. "We'll get down, even if we have to walk. You're ok."

"What's wrong?" That guy that was doing the jumps comes up to us.

"She's scared."

"Why are you scared?"

"It's so far. It'll be fast."

"You see how the snow is smooth. Then beside it, all the way down, is choppy snow?"

"Yes."

"If you get going too fast, roll off the tube. Stay lying down. You'll come to a complete stop. Then go over to the choppy snow and you can walk in it."

"Really?"

"Yea. Here I'll crash so you can see." He hands me a ski. "I'm not going to go very far. I don't want to climb a mountain. But you'll be able to see."

"Ok."

He takes off then lays down. I watch him stop then move over to the choppy snow and come back.

"The more your body touches the snow, the faster you'll slow down. And only walk in the choppy part. You'll get run over by skiers if you don't."

"Thank you."

"My pleasure. Are you going to try now?"

"Yea, I'll try."

"Good girl." He winks at me.

I smile and nod.

I put my tube down and sneak up on it. Then I sit and don't go anywhere.

"Everything is so complicated today." Tye walks over.

"PUSH SLOW."

"I am not pushing you slowly down the mountain." The boys laugh and he pushes me a little. I take off and it's so fun.

About halfway down, Zeke goes around me. He's lying down on his tube. I do that and go faster.

The bottom is bouncy snow. I hit it and fly 5 feet into the air. I crack up laughing and roll to a stop.

Zeke laughs and helps me up. "Are you alright?"

"When I said, I wanted to see a human-sized snowball. I meant someone other than myself."

"You should have been more specific. But at least you got to see one."

I laugh so hard, then drag him back to the lift.

A million trips down later...

"MARCUS."

"YEA."

"She's out."

"s**t. I'll meet you at the bottom and stop the lift. You'll have to get her out fast though."

"That's fine."

I snuggle more. I'm so warm.

I stretch and feel a hand rub my back. I'm sleeping on Zeke. It must be his room. It's not mine. We're on the couch.

"You are so snuggly. I love that."

I pop my head up and giggle. "Good morning."

"Not quite. But that was a good nap. We need to get some lunch."

I stand up and stretch. "Why? Where?" My coat and pants and boots are gone. "Where is?"

He chuckles. "You fell asleep on the lift. I brought you back here and called for your servants. I didn't know where to put you. They came and took your boots and stuff. Then they left you on the couch. I guess they thought that was good enough. So, I took a nap with you." He shrugs his shoulders. "I would have put you in bed but didn't know how you would react to waking up in my bed."

"Probably the same way." I stretch again. "Confused and hungry."

"Let's get some lunch. What's good here?"

"THE CHEF. GET THE CHEF."

"Yes ma'am."

"Is that the person that cooks in the room?"

"YES. IT'S SO GOOD. YOU SHOULD TRY THE ROME CHEF."

"Let's just try the Switzerland chef since we're here."

"Ok." I scratch my head. "They took my shoes."

"You don't need snow boots inside anyway. Let's..." Someone knocks on the door.

We sit at the table and the chef cooks in the kitchen.

"So, were you and Collin together before you found out about the mate games?"

"How did you know?"

"The way you look at each other."

"Before. We've been together a while now. He wants me to have a real soulmate too. And he has his out there somewhere. We're teenagers."

"Why didn't you breakup for this?"

"Honestly, I didn't think anyone would show up. And at the current rate they're leaving, they'll be gone soon. If I broke up with him, I wouldn't have anyone. At least this way, I can see what it's like to be loved for a couple of years. Feel something real with him. It's not a lot or for a long time, but maybe it's enough for 1 life."

"You believe you'll be alone forever."

"I had lunch with someone at the mating ball. He said, the men who stay until the end are willing to fight for me. But I'm not worth fighting for. I don't have anything."

"You are worth so much. Any man would be lucky to have you."

"My mate. The real one. Would only ever tell me I was weak and worthless. His favorite words for me. If he couldn't see me as anything other than worthless, nobody else will either."

"I promise, you're not weak or worthless. You're brave and strong. Kind and loving. Playful and cuddly. You are worth so much."

I shrug my shoulders and the food gets put in front of us.

He pours me a glass of wine. "That's why the gods stepped in. You had a soulmate..."

I nod. "They removed him from me. But he died too. The way they worded the mate games thing, it sounded like he died defending me. But really, he was the person attacking. He was killed. My family was killed."

"I'm sorry you lost so much."

"Me too."

"Eat, sweetheart. We'll talk about something else. What are you going to do after lunch?"

I shrug my shoulders.

"Have you seen the pool area yet?"

"No."

"Luke stopped me while I was carrying you around earlier. He said there are 8 huge slides and 2 rivers."

I jump up.

"Eat first."

"I like slides."

"But if you want to go back to the mountain, you'll have to do it before dinner. You can't be out there in the dark. You can swim after dinner though. And I guess there's a big snow fort battle play area too."

I stare at him and shake.

He chuckles. "I would look at the play area first. Then dinner. After dinner, you can swim. Tomorrow morning hit the mountain again."

"OK." I try to run.

He grabs my waist. "Eat first."

We finish lunch and I go to find my winter clothes. He takes off for the massage area.