His Last Race Read online

  His attention flies around the lodge, completely missing me as I move to stand behind him. Around me comments like, “Have they caught anyone?” and “What rooms?” make it easier to determine what’s happened. I tap Remi on the middle of his back grabbing his attention. He releases a concerned breath when he sees me.

  “Thank God you’re here.” He slides his finger across his phone and slips it back into his pocket. “Where is my sister?”

  “On the couch.” I look over, aware Reagan was there just a moment ago, but the couch is empty. I spot her on the edge of the group talking to Knox, another snowboarder and Remi’s best friend. “What’s going on?”

  His eyes fall to the Styrofoam containers I’d been carrying to the trash. “Is there bacon in there?”

  Not anymore. “No, fruit. We snacked,” I lie. It’s for his own good. “Focus, Remi. What’s happening?” I ask again.

  The last time I saw so many snow boarders in this big of a tizzy a boarder fell on the hill and broke a leg. They might all be competitors, but they come together when someone is in need.

  “McKenna called and said some of the rooms for the US team were broken into over in the competitors’ village. She wants us all to all head over there and take stock of items and then gather for a team meeting.

  McKenna is one of the team’s new public relations workers. It’s her first Golds so it sounds legitimate that she would be the scapegoat who has to make a phone call letting all the athletes know some of their things might have been stolen. The new ones always get the shitty jobs their first year. It’s a test to see who could make it next time. Not many do.

  Remi grabs on to my shoulders, holding me tightly as his arms shake. “What if they took Diane?” he questions in true panic. “I know I’ve been practicing on the sponsor’s board, but it was always going to be Diane and me on the final runs.”

  “Hey, it’s okay.”

  His eyes widen as his hands tighten my shoulders. “It’s not okay. This could cost me the gold.”

  “Remi, it’s okay. Diane is in my room.”

  The pressure on my shoulders releases. “She is?”

  I know it’s not a funny situation, but I still laugh at his relieved expression. “Yes, remember you left her there last night?” I leave out his comment of needing her close by so he could sleep better. His attachment is unhealthy as it is. I don’t want to play along and pretend like it’s normal.

  “Can we go see her?” he asks while he’s already pulling me toward the bank of elevators.

  Remi spends the entire ride in the elevator tapping his foot nervously as we make the slow climb past each floor. Before the elevator dings at the fifth floor, he has a hold on my hand and is waiting for the doors to open. His long legs pull me to the front of my door where he frantically searches his pockets.

  “Crap, I don’t have my key. You have your key?”

  I calmly step up to the door and dig the room key from my back pocket. One of us has to remember to stay calm in these situations. The green light on the keypad flashes and Remi pushes open the door practically pushing me out of the way.

  In the open closet — where Remi said she’d be the safest since I never hang up any clothes — Diane sits propped up against the back wall. It’s not the best way to store a snowboard, but somehow it works for him. Remi closes the distance between them and in a scene that would steal the show from any slow-motion Hallmark film, he races to her side. With the sweep of his big hands, he picks up Diane and snuggles the black and neon blue snowboard to his chest.

  I walk into the room and sit on the bed, but from the corner of my eye I swear I see him kiss her deck as he mumbles sweet nothings to the snowboard. A few promises that she’ll always be safe definitely audible.

  “Are you making out with the snowboard?” Reagan asks, walking into the room. Her eyes never leave Remi and the display of affection he’s showing Diane. “I wouldn’t cheat so obviously in front of Marley. It’s disrespectful.”

  I shrug and roll my eyes because Reagan doesn’t get it. But, on some level I do. There are stories all over the Internet of athletes getting attached to some piece of equipment or a random pair of socks. And the fact Remi didn’t shave off his beard means he’s being particularly superstitious this time around.

  “Do you feel better now that you’ve seen Diane?” I ask standing up from the bed.

  He nods and with reluctance puts her back in her place in the closet. “Yes, but I still need to head over to the village and see if my room was one broken into.”

  Reagan’s eyes suddenly light up, “I’ll go too.”

  “Really?” I ask surprised.

  Her excitement over following her bother to the athlete dorms is not lost on me. More evidence she’s harboring a big ass crush on Knox.

  “Yeah. We need to be there for support in case his room was one broken into,” she says, looking innocent. But it doesn’t work on me.

  I raise an eyebrow at her and mouth the name, “Knox?” in question, but she doesn’t answer.

  I’ve long suspected Remi’s little sister has a crush on the other snowboarder, but she’s never copped up to it. I’m sure her easy suggestion we follow Remi into the athletes’ village has nothing to do with the fact his roommate is Knox.

  Yeah right. None at all.

  CHAPTER FOUR

  “Babe, translate this for me.” Remi’s finger stops under word on his menu I can’t even pretend to pronounce.

  I type the word into my phone on the Babel Fish app. “Fish.”

  He looks back to the menu in puzzlement. “All those letters for the word fish?”

  “Well, this was the only word that was able to be translated.”

  Trying the local cuisine wherever we are can always be an adventure. And sometimes a little scary. We’re promptly in scary.

  Reagan snaps the cloth napkins folded in her lap. “Live a little, Remi.”

  He scowls at his sister. “Days before my event is not the time to live a little, Reagan. It could cost me everything.”

  I reach between us and squeeze his knee under the table while shooting her a shut up look. It’s the right I’ve earned after so many years of dating her brother. He would never admit it out loud but the nervous part of the journey has begun. Diana was fine, but Remi’s and Knox’s room wasn’t.

  Five rooms from different snowboarders were trashed, but Remi’s and Knox’s took the brunt. Their mirror smashed, clothes in all their drawers thrown on the floor, and both laptops smashed, pieces scattered about. But there were also items taken, a few hundred dollars Knox had hidden away in a sock drawer, Remi’s iPod, and both of their official team USA snowboarding jackets. Thankfully, the team always carries extras, but the point was definitely made. Someone does not like the snowboarding team. At least not Knox and Remi. Considering they’re both high favorites to win their events and as co-captains it makes a little sense they’d get the extra anger.

  “Hey, man, don’t worry about it. They’ll find the people and then we’ll get justice,” Knox says from his side of the table.

  Tonight was listed on the agenda as a large dinner with the entire team, but as everyone sat around trying to figure out which other team had it out for the Americans, most of them didn’t feel up to venturing to the city for dinner. It left the four of us to eat dinner in a small intimate occasion. Remi, Reagan, Knox, and me. It’s sure to be interesting.

  Reagan has done a horrible job of making sure no one sees her staring at the tall dark-haired snowboarder her brother calls his best friend. She always does. She tries too hard to not notice him. She’s maintained at least a two-foot distance from him at all times, even if that meant awkward placement changes as we waited for our table.

  I have no idea how Remi doesn’t see the tension between his sister and Knox.

  “Let’s change the subject,” Reagan says smiling a little too brightly. “When are you and Marley going to get married?”

  I spit out half the water I’d b
een swallowing and choke back the rest. “That is a horrible subject change.”

  “Someone has to talk about it eventually. And seeing as you two never do, I’ll pick up the slack.”

  “Reagan…” Remi says her name as a not so thinly veiled threat.

  “What, Remi? Marley wants to have kids eventually and she’s already thirty.”

  “There’s lots of time to have kids,” I say while continuing to stare down Reagan so she’ll shut up. I don’t disagree the conversation needs to happen, but not days before his last Gold Medal event. Reagan has never been one with good timing.

  “What’s that I hear?” Her ear raises to the ceiling while her head tilts down. “Oh, it’s Marley’s biological clock. Tick tick tick.”

  I widen my eyes and silently scream at her to shut up, but she keeps going.

  “I’m just trying to help you, brother. If you don’t lock that down soon someone else will. Isaac was all up on your girl today.”

  My head falls back to stare at the ceiling as Knox slams his fist down on the table, causing the ice in our drinks to clank. “Reagan, that’s enough.”

  She finally shuts up and the table goes quiet.

  Too quiet.

  Turning my head to the side, I spot Remi staring at me. “Isaac was hitting on you?”

  That’s what he took form the conversation?

  “No,” I try and brush it off. “Isaac was definitely not hitting on me. He was his normal dumbass self.”

  “Don’t talk to him. And if he talks to you again, let me know.” He turns his attention to his sister. “And Marley knows. We’re going to get married after I win another gold. I have a chance to break the record and after I do that we’ll settle down and have as many kids as she wants.”

  It’s the first time I’ve heard him use the word kids and me together. My heart soars at the mention even if it was brought on by his sister. Maybe I worried about nothing.

  “And if you don’t win the gold?” she asks never knowing when to stop.

  Remi shakes his head dismissively. “That’s not a factor because I am.”

  I get it. Athletes are supposed to be all “I’m the best. I’m going to win gold.” You can’t mess with their mindset and even suggest there’s a slim possibility of something going wrong and them not bringing home the gold. Even if most athletes at these games won’t.

  But let’s talk truth. What will happen if Remi doesn’t win a gold medal? My whole life balances on the edge of a cliff. A gold win means he rescues me in time to pull me up from falling over the side. Anything less and I’m a pancake when I hit the bottom.

  Or maybe he’ll move on to something else. One more X Games or world champion. There will always be “one more thing” before we get to start the next step of our relationship. My life is becoming a My Cousin Vinny remake except rather than winning a case on his own, Remi needs another hunk of medal to wrap around his neck.

  At the same time Remi is in considerable pain from his knee injury. Some days are better than others, but he’s horrible at hiding the bottles of Motrin or ice packs he uses after every competition. There are also smaller tells. Taking longer breaks between practice sessions, practicing for less hours every day, a knee-based strength training program in his gym workout. The signs are there. A piece of me wonders — and hopes — he’s coming to terms with the fact he can’t continue forever.

  CHAPTER FIVE

  I balance on my knees on the squishy mattress in my hotel room and then climb over Remi so I’m straddling him. There hasn’t been any new news on the robbery situation from this morning, and from the perpetual frown on Remi’s face, it’s bothering him.

  I squeeze my knees against his chest and lay my palms flat on his chest lowering my face close to his. It’s finally enough to get him to smile when his eyes meet mine. How can he resist a naked chick sitting on him?

  “I love you. You know that, right?” he says.

  He squishes my face between his hands making my words a little slurred. “Of course I do. And I love you,” I say leaning back and off of his chest. “Don’t let your sister get to you. She does it on purpose.”

  My words of reassurance don’t seem to…reassure him. “I know we waited for all that other life stuff and it’s been my decision, but it will be worth it in the end.”

  “I know.”

  “Just one more gold, Marley. Let me win one more gold.”

  I try so hard, I really do, but my face scrunches up in irritation with his pleading. Will I really only come first once his beloved first place is no longer an option?

  “And then I’ll put a baby in you,” he says nodding his head up and down like it’s the most wildly romantic statement ever heard.

  Although, it does its job. I can’t help but smile and shake my head at his ridiculousness. “Remi…,” The words trail off as I roll my eyes.

  “What? It’s true and we are going to make beautiful babies.”

  “Really?”

  “Babe, of course.” He matches my tone. “Look at you. We have to hope your beautiful genes cover my hideous ones.”

  My smile grows and I slap him on his bare chest. Little Remi babies would be the cutest things in the world. I’ve seen his baby pictures.

  His big strong hands rest on my hips. “Now babe, it’s late and I need to be up early for my last practice, so come sit on my face.”

  “What?”

  “You heard me.” He winks. “You wouldn’t want me to strain a muscle, would you?”

  Like he needs to tell me twice. No one in their right mind would turn down such a proposition. Remi rips the pillow out from under his head and tosses it on the bed beside us.

  “Hold on to the head board.”

  My fingers wrap around the curved edge of the top of the headboard as my legs settle on either side of Remi’s face, flat on his back on the bed. My legs are tight in anticipation, and I work hard to keep them relaxed. I expect him to start slow — he’s a guy who likes to tease for a while — but Remi digs in.

  His tongue parts my lips as he shoves his face between my thighs.

  “Oh my God,” I gasp each word as my grip on the headboard tightens.

  He laughs and his nose rubs against my clit causing my legs to shake. Remi grabs my legs taking over the burden of holding me up. He feasts on me, his tongue darting in and out and making circles around my opening.

  My legs wobble as I lean more of my weight against the headboard, my breathing heavy as my insides tighten. He stops long enough to suck the perfect place between my legs.

  “Oh… God… Remi.” My vocabulary decreases with each second he continues.

  My random words excite him more. Remi rubs his face deeper into my exposed lady bits. “That’s right, baby, come on my face.” His fingers pull on my legs until I’m literally sitting on him.

  I throw my head back, rocking my body. One hand reaches down and I run my fingers through his blond hair, pulling his head even closer. My legs shake and as the first wave of release take over my movements I squeeze him harder between my knees.

  My body vibrates and I shout a plethora of words I don’t understand to the wood of the headboard. Remi’s tongue slows until I gain enough power over my limbs to sit up. I try moving off his body but his hold on my legs tightens.

  “Not yet. I haven’t gotten all of it.” He slowly continues to lick not letting me go.

  Another minute passes and I work to get my breathing under control. Remi’s last lick is slow and leisurely before he releases my legs and I attempt to roll off him again.

  “Not yet,” he says. Using both hands, he pulls down his teal blue athletic shorts, his thick long dick springing free. A small drop of pre-cum sits on the tip waiting for release. “Sit on him.”

  I raise an eyebrow as I slide lower on his body, but it doesn’t faze him.

  With half a smile he says, “Can’t strain a muscle. Remember?”

  I stop right before his dick touches my opening. Remi raises his hips b
ut I move forward as well. “Do you think you can handle all my weight on you?”

  He scoffs. “Babe, you weigh less than my snow gear.”

  “What if I did this instead?” I flip a leg over his head and the quickest way possible to get his hard cock in my mouth as fast as I can. Not covering my teeth, I apply just enough pressure and then slide them up his shaft. When I reached the head I stop with my teeth right under the lid. I suck and Remi’s groans fill the room. It’s just the way he likes it.

  “Holy fuck. I don’t care what you do, but I’m about to come in your mouth.”

  I actually had planned to ride him, but I’m in this position now and the thought of getting him off this way is exciting. I lower my mouth on him again and start the quick up and down movements.

  Remi’s legs tighten beside me, his left one jerking every few seconds. “Harder,” he demands and then fists the comforter.

  I use that as permission and make another pull, scoring him with my teeth. It does the trick and before I reach the top of his head, Remi’s cock jerks in my mouth. He comes, squirting to the back of my throat. I swallow as much as possible while continuing to suck him in out and out of my mouth, but a small bit runs down the side.

  His tight fist releases the bunch of comforter and his body relaxes on the mattress. I use the opportunity to take my tongue and lick all over his dick cleaning up each last drop of his escaped cum.

  “Fuck, you’ve got to stop. Just let me die here.” Remi pulls on my shoulder until I lay my body next to his, my face tucked under one shoulder.

  “Your mouth will seriously kill me one day.”

  CHAPTER SIX

  The dark leather couch Reagan and I sit on squeaks as she readjusts herself for the one hundred and fiftieth time in the last hour. As the start of the Golds draws ever near, the lodge bristles with activity. There’s a steady flow of fans, family members, and athletes all over the place. The noise level has never gone lower than the level of an overstuffed city bus.