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“Dude, did you hear me?”

I looked up to see Alex staring straight at me. I glanced behind me to see if he was talking to someone else, considering I wasn’t used to being called “dude”.

“Nope,” I said, trying to recover. “I haven’t even been up in years.”

It was the truth. Since college, I’d been way too busy in the winter. Not to mention ski passes were way too expensive for the few times I might actually go.

“That’s okay,” Kenzie interrupted, swinging down the stairs on Luke’s arm. “We’re going shopping today!”

“Shopping?”

I wondered how we were going to find shops in the isolated area.

“Oh yeah,” Alex said. “Jimmy can take you wherever, just call him on the satellite phone.”

He looked around.

“Wait, where is it?”

John came around the corner holding it up.

“Just talked to Dad. He said there’s an avalanche watch, so just stay off of peak three.”

“No one ever goes over there anyway,” Alex said reassuringly. “That’s just where the staff lodge is, but Jimmy won’t be up here at night and we have the phone right here.”

“Deal,” John agreed. “Nobody head over there and we’re good.”

We all nodded, even though I had no idea where peak three or the staff lodge were located.

Dean came down the stairs and grabbed a board off the wall, then promptly followed Alex and John out the door. There was an awkward moment as Kelly, Amanda, and Kenzie all kissed their boyfriends, and I just sat at the table eating my cereal, pretending this was normal.

Luckily, the blonde girl from last night was nowhere in sight, and didn’t come to see Dean off. I took misguided satisfaction in that.

Kelly and Amanda decided to go shop with us rather than brave the cold, for which I was grateful. It didn’t feel forced or awkward, just a bunch of girlfriends on a shopping trip in the mountains, even if I only knew Kenzie to begin with.

We stopped to get coffee, or in Kenzie’s case, hot chocolate, before heading back to the lodge.

“Can someone else figure out how to use this thing?” Kenzie asked, waving the satellite phone around. “I’m freezing, and I want Jimmy to find us sooner rather than later.”

Jimmy, who was apparently John and Alex’s chauffeur for the weekend, had dropped us off and instructed us to call him when we needed him to come back and get us. It was all very convenient, really.

Amanda grabbed the phone and punched in a few numbers.

“So,” Kelly said, sipping her drink. “Lauren, what do you think of Dean?”

Kenzie punched her in the arm.

“Kelly!” she hissed through her teeth as she gave her a look.

I nearly choked on my espresso.

“What?” Kelly exclaimed. “We all have eyes, and God knows I love Alex, but that boy is something else.”

This was starting to sound like some kind of Housewives of Aspen reality show.

“He’s kind of weird,” I said honestly. “He was really adamant that I come on the trip. I mean,
really
adamant. And then he goes off with that other girl and he hasn’t said one word to me the entire time.”

Amanda put the phone down and scoffed.

“Oh sweetie, you don’t have to worry about Stacia. I don’t even know why he lets her hang around.”

She waved her coffee at me dismissively.

Kenzie had said earlier that she wasn’t sure that he even liked her. If he clearly didn’t want her with him, why did he let her make it seem like they were together?

The enigma that was Dean Powell just continued to get more and more confusing.

As I took another sip of my coffee, I had a feeling in the pit of my stomach that it was just going to get worse.

Jimmy picked us up from the shopping center and drove us back to The Overlook, as I had so lovingly deemed it. I honestly expected to find a frozen Jack Nicholson at any time now.

The boys weren’t back yet, but it was getting dark. I saw Stacia slink up to the third floor, but she didn’t say anything to us, and we didn’t acknowledge her.

Part of me felt bad, but I didn’t really like the way she clung onto Dean like some kind of parasite, so I tried to brush it off.

“Hot tub time!” Kenzie shouted enthusiastically after we had all finished with dinner. She let me borrow her extra suit, which turned out to be a skimpy white bikini that I would never have picked out for myself.

“You look hot,” she said as I turned in the mirror. “Stop worrying. No one’s going to see you in the water. But maybe you should, you know, lounge around, just until Dean gets here.”

She winked, and I shot her a look.

“Kenz,” I asked, “if he’s already with Stacia, and he has such a weird past, like you all keep alluding to, why do you want me to get with him so badly?”

She sighed and took my hands.

“He’s hot. And you’re under a lot of stress. Just let go. It’ll be fun!”

I rolled my eyes, knowing that I would under no circumstances, let that happen. I was pretty sure he wouldn’t either, so it was a non-issue. It was best to just let Kenzie think she had everything under control.

We had all settled into the hot tub, which was actually really relaxing, when the front door opened and the boys completely changed the atmosphere. Instead of a zen-like spa, it became a dumping zone for clothes. They must have planned ahead, because every single one of them started peeling off their outerwear on sight. Alex and John even cannonballed in, which caused all of us to scream from the splashes.

I glanced over to see where Dean was. His clothes were on the floor in a pile near Alex and John’s, but he was in the kitchen grabbing a soda from the fridge. As he turned around, our eyes met, and I couldn’t help but feel like the hot tub was getting to me. He didn’t look away, but set the can down on the counter and sauntered over to the hot tub.

“Stop being a party pooper, Powell,” Alex teased, splashing water up on him. He climbed in directly across from me, and I could barely handle it.

What I didn’t understand was how some boy who acted like he hated me all the time could leave me feeling as if I was ready to pass out. Yet again.

“So, how was it?” Kenzie asked, now sitting on Luke’s lap.

“Wicked dude,” Alex replied, leaning his head back against the side of the pool. “So wicked.”

Yep, the hot tub was way too hot.

“Anyone want to go for an actual swim?” I said daringly, looking straight at Dean. I wasn’t sure what had possessed me, but I needed to get out of here.

“Me!” Amanda said immediately, before Kelly smacked her arm, and looked back and forth between me and Dean.

“I mean,” she cleared her throat. “Maybe in a little bit.”

Dean stayed where he was and didn’t say anything.

I rolled my eyes.

As I climbed out of the pool, I became hyper-aware of the fact that my bikini was, in fact, white, and there were four boys staring straight at me. I quickly jumped into the pool on the other side, feeling the cool shock of the pool after sitting in the hot tub.

I smoothed my hair back out of my eyes, and finally felt like I could breathe again.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Stacia standing on the pool deck. Dean’s eyes met mine again, and I could have sworn that just based on that look, he hated me. Then he shoved his way out of the hot tub and walked over to Stacia, not bothering to grab a towel as he dripped water everywhere.

That made
me
mad. Why did he want me to come in the first place? He was officially the strangest person I’d ever met in my entire life. If he weren’t so attractive, someone would have committed him by now.

Kenzie shot me an apologetic look.

I swam around for a few minutes relaxing in the cool water, and decided it would be best if I just went to sleep. The quicker this trip was over, the quicker I would get back to town and be on my way again. This would be nothing but a strange memory. I would miss Kenzie, but we’d just have to make more of an effort to see each other.

I made my way out of the pool and quickly wrapped one of the spa-like fluffy white towels around my body to stop from shaking from the cold. It must be freezing outside.

“I’ll see you guys tomorrow,” I managed through my chattering teeth.

They all protested and tried to make me stay, but I couldn’t. Everything reminded me of the life I used to live before everything. Before my dad died, and before the person I loved the most betrayed me. That year, a piece of my heart broke, and I hadn’t been the same since.

As I walked through the house, I remembered something Alex had said, and looked around for the steam room. That would be a good way to warm up before I went to bed.

I found a door that led to a room that looked like a locker room of sorts, and switched my soaking wet towel for a new, dry one. I wrung my hair out, and immediately felt better.

I tried a few doors and found only closets, or doors to other bedrooms. I had no idea this place even had that many rooms, because I’d only really seen mine and the kitchen.

The last door that I hadn’t tried yet was heavier than the rest, so I assumed it was the right one. I gave it a shove, and immediately felt moisture and heat hit my face. Voila.

Except that the second I saw the inside of the room, my stomach dropped to the floor, and my blood ran like ice through my veins. My breath stopped, and I hated everything I saw.

I was back to four years ago, when I found the boy who told me he couldn’t live without me with another girl.

I should have run, but I couldn’t. Even with the door open just a crack, and the steam pouring out of the vents, he saw me.

She was kissing his neck, her back turned to me, but his eyes bore into mine. My mouth dropped, and I knew I would never be able to forget the sight. I felt like it was far too intimate for me to be walking in on.

I just stood there, frozen to the spot, reeling that this had happened to me again.
Again?
Why would I think this was the same as Daniel? I was in an actual, committed relationship with Daniel. Dean was barely my stepsister’s friend’s brother.

She didn’t see me, she just continued her assault on his shiny, wet, golden skin.

Oh my god. I felt like I was going to be sick.

I shut the door, dropped my towel, and ran as fast as I could through the labyrinth back to the kitchen. I slipped and almost fell sideways when I hit the slate floors, but I didn’t care.

I couldn’t believe I was reacting this way. I had just walked in on a couple, no big deal. It was awkward, but I shouldn’t feel like this. Why did I feel like I had some kind of claim on him?

I sprinted up the stairs fueled by emotions I didn’t know I had, and slammed all of my clothes into my bag.

Before I could think about anything else, I knew I had to leave. I had to find a phone, and get out of here. I couldn’t stand to say there one second longer.

I didn’t even bother to take my suit off, but put sweatpants and a jacket on over top of it.

I flew down the stairs to the kitchen only to find the satellite phone was dead. Great. That left the phone in the staff quarters, but I wasn’t sure where that was.

“Alex,” I shouted, running out to the deck. “Where’s the other phone?”