Sold at the Ski Resort Read online

  “What are you doing over break? Anything exciting?” I ask. I unzip my suitcase, and quickly add my dresses and lingerie into the empty belly. Particularly my pink baby doll negligée. “Because I just got off the phone with my dad, and he’s being generous as usual.”

  Mariah doesn’t respond to either piece of information, but I don’t care. I’m making my way to dresser drawers and grabbing more clothes. Fuzzy pants, sweaters, bras and panties. All cute, all in preparation for some attention, if I’m lucky to get it. My hands full of clothing, I make it back around to my suitcase.

  “He bought me a ticket to Aspen! To the ski resort there,” I add, hoping this will get her attention. Get her out of her head, which I know for sure is where she got stuck. Sometimes Mariah can be too smart for her own good. She needs to let go and live a little.

  “Great,” says Mariah, sounding genuinely happy for me. “Have fun.”

  Neatly and swiftly, I fold my underwear and bras and put them on top of my lingerie and dresses. “I’m not going alone, silly.”

  I giggle, thinking about what it would actually be like for us to vacation together. How cute I could make her look on the slopes. That’s if I could make her wear something like some of the clothes I’m currently folding and putting into my travel bag. I love Mariah, but a tshirt and jeans is usually as stylish as she gets, and I want to make her look stunning. “You’re going with me.”

  “Oh, no,” she says. “I couldn’t… I mean, I have studying to do for next semester.”

  I let her ramble. Like with my dad, I’ve heard this all before from her. It’s an old excuse. I’m tired of it. I want to say so, but I channel that energy into gathering warm socks. The last bits of clothing, before I head into the bathroom to grab my makeup and other toiletries.

  “I have to get ahead in this book for my humanities course before classes start again,” Mariah is saying. I sigh. Roll my eyes, feeling annoyed and sad.

  “Please,” I say, feeling like pieces of my heart are about to be pissed on the carpet. “ My dad can’t use the ticket he bought.” I march back to my bed, putting my makeup bag in the open space I’ve left. “Says he has to work. I can’t go alone. And we’ll have so much fun together!”

  A pause. In it, I feel my loneliness rear its ugly head. My frustration at not having a dependable man in my life. I spend a few precious seconds there, before forcing myself to smile. Put on a happy front for her saying, “So please say you’ll come with me.”

  “Listen” — oh, God I hate this! She’s going to say no. She sounds just like my dad when she takes that tone with me! — “I wish I could go with you to Aspen, Jane, but I can’t.”

  “Oh, okay.” I’m trying to hide my disappointment but I’m failing miserably.

  I can’t keep the sadness from my voice. I’m miserable, and I want Mariah to know it. I know I’m being selfish. But I want somebody to give a fuck after the night I’ve had.

  “I already promised my mom I’d be home for Christmas,” Mariah mumbles. It’s low enough I think Mariah’s hoping I don’t hear her, but I do. I can’t put on a big fake happiness show for one more minute.

  “You always do everything for everyone else, Mariah, but what about you?”

  All Mariah has is a sigh for me, so I go ahead and talk over it. Suddenly, my fingers clench around the phone. Ball up into a little fist, as I jam the top of the suitcase down on top of my clothing.

  “Are you ever going to care about your needs?” I know I’m using words to manipulate her and it isn’t fair, but I’m so desperate to have her come with me. I zip up the suitcase, even when it tries to get stuck on me.

  Mariah doesn’t answer.

  “Well, if you’re not going to care about you, I will.” To calm down, I take a deep breath, and haul the heavy suitcase off my bed and to the space near my door.

  “Come with me.” Somehow, now that I’m all packed, I’m not as sad. “Come skiing. Get some fresh air. Make memories with your bestie.” I press my mouth on the phone. Sexily. Needfully, knowing Mariah can’t refuse me when I’m cute. I have that effect on people, regardless of if they’re a guy or a girl. “Come on, Mariah. It’ll be fun.” I pause, putting every stray bit of sweetness I can muster into the next word. “Please?”

  Silence follows, but it’s a good kind of silence. Mariah’s fidgeting in it. Fluttering excitedly around in it, and I leave her there.

  Of course, not without continuing to list benefits of a mountain vacation; fresh air, exercise cute guys and more opportunities to show off your curves, but finally I get an answer. One I’m not expecting.

  “Yes.” She breathes, excitedly.

  “What?” I’ve started undressing so I can get in the bath.

  “I’ll go.” The wide smile I can hear in her voice makes me smile, too “I’ll come with you to the resort!”

  When she says that, I lose my mind. I kick off my dress, panties and bra, and let myself celebrate. “Whoo-hoo!” I squeal, dancing into the bathroom. “That’s my girl!”

  I turn on the water for the bath and drop in one too many bath bombs. Hibiscus and strawberry, my favorite.

  “What time will you pick me up?”

  “Be ready to leave by 7 AM, girlie,” I say. “That’s when I’ll be outside waiting for you.” I swish my free hand through the hot, foaming water. “And don’t worry. We’ll stop for coffee on the way.” With that, and a bit of celebrating from Mariah, I hang up and get ready to enjoy the second and last bit of pleasure for the night.

  My bath.

  Chapter 6

  Alex

  There’s nothing that goes better with a soak in the hot tub than a Jameson on the rocks. Which is exactly what I’m having, even though I just finished up my beer at the bar.

  Jordan’s nursing a white Russian. Slowly, thank God. Amazingly, he was able to sober up in the time it took us to finish checking into our suite and change into swim trunks and get down here.

  But it doesn’t look like Jordan will stay sobered up for very long. He’s always been a lightweight.

  With all the bathing beauties coming in and out of showers, saunas and steam rooms, and in various states of “undress” he looks happier that a pig in shit. He’s going to keep drinking along with every beautiful figure he “devours.”

  I turn away from him briefly, nudging my brother. “Pretty beautiful view, hey, bro?” My excitement softens immediately. One look, and it’s clear Paul’s out of it. By his posture, it looks like he’s feeling confident and content, but he doesn’t seem to be really looking at anybody. Not appreciating all the semi-naked eye candy, which was the point of him being here.

  For a moment, I contemplate getting his attention. Then I remember how futile that is. How he’s probably just going to end up being pissed off again, so I just let him continue with whatever mental masturbation he’s doing. Whatever it is, it must go great with draft beer.

  “So, this is where all the goddesses go, eh, Alex?” Jordan’s tracking a particularly busty woman. She’s wearing a leopard-inspired swimsuit, and believe it or not, she actually has some leopard ears on a headband to go with it. “And the ones with freaky tastes, too.” He whispers, making a growling sound like a wildcat and a matching hand gesture. “I’d like to tame her kitty. I bet that hair’s wild down there.”

  I stretch, trying not to picture what he’s just put in my head. Leopard-Girl with a bush so thick you end up eating half of it.

  “If you like digging for treasure that much, then be my guest,” I say, and run my tongue over the roof of my mouth, feeling phantom curls of hair already stuck on me. “Not for me. She’s gotta be clean-shaven.” I roll my shoulders and sink down toward a jet of water. It’s almost too weak to massage anything but if I had any one of these women in here — like that beanstalk over there with bluish-black hair and a frilly polka dot bikini — pressed up against the jet, it’d be enough to get her off.

  Beneath the frothy surface, I’d slid my huge dick into her swollen f
olds, and I’d pinch her nipples between my fingers. They’d be extra sensitive because of the hairpins I would’ve clamped on them the night before.

  “She wouldn’t be a woman then though,” Jordan surmises, bringing me back out of my pseudo-fantasy. The clinking and the cracking of a bottle cap seal follows. He’s finished his white Russian and has traded it out for a beer. One from the six-pack I insisted Paul bring for a bit more fun.

  I take a hefty swig of my whiskey, pulling the amber liquid through my teeth. “Look,” I say, suddenly very serious about smooth, shiny pussies, “if I wanted a beard” — I gesture below my chin,— “I’d date a man, and while I like to use a swing set from time to time, I don’t swing that way.”

  Jordan shrugs. “And if I wanted to date a little girl, I’d be in jail,” he says, keeping most of that under his breath.

  I growl, hating that he always dares to go there, just because I don’t want a face full of bush, or extra fiber in my diet. “Oh, that’s rich.” I gesture towards him. “This from the guy who shaves his body hair more than any girl I’ve ever dated. Legs, underarms or otherwise.” He has absolutely no hair anywhere on him. Not on his chest, underarms, and probably not under his board shorts either.

  “Hey. What can I say? The housewives I serve like a soft body pillow to go with their herb,” he says.

  I roll my eyes at him and his growing business practices. Some are handled legally behind a dispensary counter. Others in the back doors and bedroom windows of a secretive, private elite.

  “Whatever. As long as you make the money, I got nothing to say.” Especially when you contributed the equivalent of the golden goose egg to our little “fund,” I think, savoring the last few drops of my chilled drink. I close my eyes, enjoying the malted, slightly-perfumed notes in this whiskey.

  But my ability to savor anything — the rest of my drink, or my relaxing time in the hot tub — comes to and end with a splash and a curse from Paul.

  “What the fuck is she doing here?” he says, finishing off his beer like he’s sharpening a knife. “You really enjoy killing everything I’m starting to enjoy, don’t you?” Before I can get a grasp on what’s going on, my brother storms out of the hot tub saying, “I’m done here. Classy, this place with classy clientele.”

  Paul wraps a towel around himself and makes a beeline for the door before I can see more than a blur of women. Grabbing clumsily to the side of the hot tub, I jump out after him.

  “Paul, where are you going, bro?” He doesn’t answer of course. “What happened, man?”

  But it’s Jordan, not him, who answers me. He springs out of the hot tub, turning his eyes in the direction of the apocalypse. I follow his gaze. It’s Darla, and she’s practically sucking the face off some poor bastard looking like California’s poster boy.

  Fuck me. I haul in a breath. Of course she would fucking show up. Jordan hangs onto me like a drunk chick in swim trunks. She’s like a nun at a strip club. She has to ruin everyone’s fun. Jordan wobbles, sloppily trying to keep his balance. “Oh shit,” he whispers, as I drag him with me out the doors of the spa/swimming area and follow Paul’s retreating form. “Fucking hell, that’s Darla.” Jordan laughs a little, but again he’s the only one laughing. “It’s Darla, Alex! She’s here with us, dude.”

  “I’m not blind.” I keep walking, hoping to cut Paul off before he shuts the door.

  Luckily, we’re there just as he swipes his way into the room.

  “Great. Just fucking great,” he says, throwing himself on an overstuffed leather couch. The biggest piece of furniture in the room. “Just what I needed.”

  Tell me about it, I think, watching him sink deeper into the cushy leather. This is the last thing I need — we need — after everything we did to get him here. To set all this up.

  “Nice fucking surprise! On Christmas and my birthday, too!”

  After shutting the door I quickly move to sit down next to him. If I want him in good enough spirits to enjoy everything else I have in store for him, I’ve got to do some damage control

  “Forget about her, bro.” I try to keep my tone light. Supportive, even when he growls. “I’m serious, bro,” I continue, “so she’s here. So what?” I lay a hand on his moist back, ignoring the chills I’m feeling on mine. “The point of being here is to move on. To forget about her. What better way to show her she means nothing to you than to ignore all of that…” I struggle with the correct words to use.

  After struggling for a few awkward moments, I decide to be blunt about it. “She’s way too skinny.” I communicate this by holding up my pointer finger. When he doesn’t seem to get the message, I decide on more bluntness. “You can do better than that cheating bitch..”

  “For sure!” Jordan chimes in, awkwardly hovering between sitting down, and checking out some of the other gadgets in the room. He pauses, the words awkward and sloppy in his mouth. “Is it just me, or does your ex look skinnier than she did when she was with you?” He burps, but I wouldn’t be surprised if there was more than that in his mouth. “I’m surprised the guy she’s with can get off to all that bone showing.” He snickers. “But then again, a boner’s a boner, right?” Weakly, he pantomimes like he’s the boyfriend fucking Paul’s ex, laughing until he’s out of breath.

  My brother and I ignore him. “She is skinnier, and it makes me sick to see it,” Paul finally says. But it’s more to himself.

  “Hey,” Jordan says, when he realizes no one but him finds any of this funny. “I was just trying to make light of it, man. Just trying to get your mind off it.”

  “Whatever.” My brother folds his hands. Walls himself up. “She can do what she wants. I’m here to do what I want.” He goes silent for a moment, and in that moment, I’m not sure what he’s thinking. About his ex, or about something else. “I need a girl with meat on her. Some substance, you know? Not fat, but so I’m grabbing something more than skin and bones.”

  “I know what you mean,” I say, giving him a playful shove. He’s had enough Darla for a lifetime. “Don’t worry. We’ll find the perfect one for you.”

  “Yeah, man.” Jordan finally takes a seat on the other side of Paul, but only after turning on the TV and the gaming system he picked out this room specifically for. “All you have to do is hang out by the restaurant or buffet or whatever and see which snow bunny enjoys a few good bites of steak, and you’ll have your lady.”

  He’s got two controllers. One for himself and one for my brother. “No big deal.”

  I watch Jordan as he deftly gets himself past the startup menus, and into a game. If gaming consoles could be women, he wouldn’t be single. “Sorry, Alex. You’ll have to wait for your turn to play me. Heartbroken bachelors first.”

  “I think I’ll live,” I say, getting up and exploring the mini fridge. I find what I want: a can of orange cream soda. “Whatever’ll keep me from hearing any more of your half-baked romance advice.”

  We share a laugh, before my brother and Jordan become too competitive for any intelligent conversation. Which is fine by me. It gives me time to fantasize. And to run through the plan in my head one more time before tomorrow night.

  Chapter 7

  Jane

  December 24

  After an hour or two in the car, there’s one thing I always like to do the minute I get to the ski lodge. I make a beeline their in-house gift shop/clothing boutique, for some new gear and clothing. Whether I need it or not.

  But, luckily, this isn’t just about me this time. It’s about Mariah too, which gives me a reason to spend twice as much, before offering any kind of apology to my dad.

  I chuckle, watching Mariah wander helplessly through the tables and racks of clothing. She’s definitely out of her element here and it shows. If there aren’t any books around, she doesn’t know where to look or where put her hands. But she tries hard. And that’s what I love about her.

  “So,” she says, fingering a fuzzy green sweater, “how was your date last night with Kyle?” I stiffen
, remembering that I had promised to tell her all about it. I also bragged to her about what Kyle and I would do. How good it was all going to be, and none of that happened.

  I’m also not as much of an expert as I led her to believe. By my sides, my hands begin to sweat, even though they should still be cold from being outside. I can’t let her know I’m not the experienced one. Especially not when I know she’s looking to me for advice and guidance on those kinds of things.

  Mariah turns to me expectantly. Probably to see why I haven’t answered her. I’m usually a lot more forthcoming and vocal.

  “Was it good?” she asks quietly, walking toward me. There’s a twinkle in her eyes as she nears. “Was Kyle a stud or what? Did he tie you up and spank you raw?”

  I don’t meet her eyes and busy myself with the rack of clothes nearest to me.

  This one has thinner, more form-fitting sweaters in a lot of beautiful colors. Pink and blue, some silver/gray, and black. I finger through the individual pieces, searching for Mariah’s size. Mostly so I don’t have to look right at her right away.

  “Well, Kyle was…” I pluck out a size small in baby blue and hand it to her. I try not to meet her gaze, but I can’t help it. She has such big doe eyes, I can’t avoid them. “He definitely wasn’t a stud,” I say, deciding that’s a safe thing to be honest about. “No experience or common sense to speak of.” I return my eyes to the sweater rack and pick out a pink and black in the same size.

  As I hand them to her, she gives me a pitiful look and says, “Oh, no! That sucks!”

  She hugs her sweaters to her chest and follows me as I move to another rack. This one actually has ski gear on it. Particularly ones for women, which are designed with a little bit more fur and flair than those for men. The kind of winter coats we’ll need on the slopes.

  “Yeah, well, I’m glad I found out now rather than six months down the road,” I say, plucking out a white ski jacket with black faux fur lining the hood, sleeves and interior. It’s big enough to fit over Mariah’s body even in a sweater. I hand it to her. “At least now I won’t waste my time.”