Chapter Fifteen

Parker

Parker sat at the edge of the terrain park, head in his hands. What had he done back there? He was mad at Luke, not Zoey, but who did he yell at? The girl he loved more than anything. Testosterone sucked. So did bad judgement. He had an overabundance of both. Still, knowing she fell for Luke’s trick hurt.

And what about the part where they’d been holding hands? That sight had made him want to break things.

“Hey, P-Mad!” a female voice called.

He looked up. Shawn Beldon waved madly, her boyish face split in a wide grin. She was with a group of guys he normally hung out with. They skated over and he stood to meet them. “Hey, Shawn. Guys.”

The Guys—four of them, two named Tyler, one Max, and one Balthazar, whose dad was a hippie—nodded in unison. That’s why he called them “The Guys.” They were a single unit, and travelled in a pack. He was allowed to join them, Shawn, too, but only as an outside addition.

“Practicing for tomorrow?” Shawn asked.

He looked across the park at all the familiar jibs and rails. A little flying would clear his head. He owed Zoey an apology, but anger still nipped at his veins, and he should work that off first. “Yeah. Let’s do it.”

Parker shook out his shoulders, and went to the starting gate. He tightened the strap on his helmet and closed his eyes a second to catch some Zen, rocking his board back and forth to get a good feel. Finally, when everything went still and quiet inside of him, he tipped his board over the edge and flew.

That’s what it felt like—flying. He took the twenty-foot kicker first, launching himself into a backside 540 to whistles and catcalls from other boarders. He landed clean, and turned for the main course, not giving himself time to think. Moving would erase everything.

The first rail came up, a down-flat-down. Perfect. He jumped a small mogul and landed on the rail, pulling his board into a 50-50 before turning back and making a grab as he flew off the end. He stomped the landing and decided it was time for a show.

A box came up next. Parker sprang onto it, conserving his energy so he could do a 540 off the end. He barely had time to register the look of delight on Shawn’s face before the end came up, then he was spinning and the world was a crazy top for a second. He stuck his landing, cutting an edge in the snow. This was his element. All fine-tuned perfection. A place where he could practice his patience and master a skill not too many had. Something his brother never quite learned to do.

Luke was going to be in for a surprise tomorrow.

The crowd at the bottom grew as Parker zig-zagged around a group and slid over a rail. Feeling cocky, he saluted The Guys when he flew off the end. Cheers erupted from the crowd.

The last advanced obstacle was another kicker—not quite as big as the first one, but still twelve feet. When he went airborne, he bent his legs up to grab his board, before landing and taking a hard cut on his toes to slow his board in a spray of snow.

Five feet away from Zoey.

His glee faded at the sight of her. Oh, man…what was she doing here? And had she been crying?

Shawn ran across the snow and flung her arms around him. “Are you not the baddest badass in all of Snowmass? Ha! That rhymed.” She turned and saw Zoey. “Hi there!”

Zoey gave her a dark look that quickly focused on Parker. “Hello.”

Shawn frowned. She was about the nicest person you’d ever meet. She was also gay. Parker toyed with the idea of letting Zoey think she was a groupie, but Shawn would probably punch him for it later. Her girlfriend was an Olympic hopeful for deadlift, on top of it. Between the two of them, he could end up damaged if he pulled that prank.

He stepped out of her arms. “Zoey this is Shawn.”

“Oh, so this is Zoey?” Shawn replaced the frown with her quick smile. “Nice to meet ya.” She shook Zoey’s hand with the friendliness of a spaniel puppy. “Parker talks about you a lot. Guys! Come meet Zoey!”

Zoey’s death-glare crumbled into outright bewilderment. “Your name is…Shawn?”

“Yep.” She laughed. “Shawna, actually, but that’s hardly a good board name, is it? Why not be Shawn after His Eminence?”

Zoey mouthed “His Eminence” and Parker choked back a laugh. “Shaun White.”

“Uh uh, no taking his name in vain.” Shawn wagged a finger in his face as The Guys trooped over. “Zoey, meet The Guys. Guys, Zoey.”

They said, “Hello,” more-or-less in unison. Breaking with tradition, Balthazar stepped forward and took her hand. He kissed it and murmured, “A pleasure to meet you, finally.”

Zoey broke into a smile and Balthazar’s ears turned red.

“These are my people,” Parker told her, after giving Balthazar a good-natured shove back into the collective. “They’ll compete tomorrow.”

“But they won’t win.” Shawn whacked him on the back. “This guy will.”

“Um, I forgot to tell you. Luke entered,” he admitted to the crowd.

Shawn cackled. “How in the name of His Eminence did you talk him into that?”

“It’s kind of hard to explain.” He darted a look at Zoey. “I appealed to his ego some.”

Zoey was watching the ping-pong of the conversation, her expression softening. She’d probably come here to chew him out for snapping at her—and he deserved it—but this unruly scrum of crazy snowboarders had an impact on her. She’d never seen this part of his life, despite the fact that all these people had obviously heard of her.

“So, uh, you want to watch us practice?” he asked, hopeful.

She gave them a slow nod. “I’ll go you one better. I want you to teach me.”

Shawn smacked her on the back. “You’ve got balls, Blondie. I like that in a girl. C’mon, let me show you around.”

And to his great surprise, Zoey went with her.