The Slam (7 page)

Chapter Seven

ENDER

From past experience, I knew that our route into the wilderness would take us through small creek crossings, fallen obstacles, deep powder, and nine thousand feet of elevation loss before the trail deposited us into the black diamond slopes.

Two hours into our hike, we crossed a rock ridge and a glacier that was making its summer retreat. We stopped for a moment to admire the view, taking in the endless expanse of pristine wilderness.

Flicking my gaze to Adelaide, I said, “You holding up okay?”

“Yeah,” she said easily.

Getting on my knees, I retrieved my skins from my backpack and strapped them on to my snowboard.

Adelaide followed my lead.

“You ready to skin the mountain?” I asked, without looking up.

“I’m ready!” she enthused, strapping her skins on to her skis.

“Let’s do this!” I said.

We worked our way up to the base of the mountain which was surprisingly well filled-in, given the below average snow year. The snow was hard and slick, so it was kind of like skinning a hockey rink on an incline. And even though the sun was beating down on us, a headwind blowing down the mountain kept us cool.

My original plan had been to snowboard from around nine thousand feet, but once we got there it looked like the powder higher up on a connecting snow finger would be epic, so we continued on. Adelaide didn’t seem to have any trouble keeping up.

When we reached a suitable spot to descend the slopes, we peeled off our skins and took off downhill. I went first, making turns through the nicely spaced old growth.

The first run was good, but I rode a bit cautiously, wanting to make sure the conditions were safe, which they proved to be.

Confident what to expect after our first lap, we skinned back up for another lap.

Adelaide whooped and hollered as we zipped down, whizzing past trees on a slope that had been groomed by Mother Nature.

She surprised me. She was incredibly adept at handling varied terrain, be it steeps, trees, and moguls, or a combination of all three. She made quick adjustments to her speed, turn radius, and balance as she skied over hard pack, ice, crud, and un-groomed snow.

The mountain was all ours and together we spent the day shredding the slopes.

After riding several more laps, I looked up at the sky and gauged the weather.

It didn’t seem to be holding. A large cloud had started to form very quickly.

We watched as it hung around, looking dark and ominous. Lightning was on my mind as it was humid, but not too warm given the slight breeze.

While I understood that being in the backcountry meant riding in any condition thrown at me, I also knew to turn around if the weather turned to shit.

Adelaide’s voice cut into my thoughts. “Should we head back?”

“Yeah,” I said. “But I don’t think we’ll make it back in time. There’s a cabin that forks off the trail. If we start now we can probably get there in twenty minutes.”

Decision made, we rode down the slopes and regrouped near the bottom of the canyon.

By now the sun was setting, and its last fading rays lit up Mt. Hood in a brilliant red tint.

“It’s beautiful,” she breathed. After a quiet moment, she said, “Can you take a picture of me?”

“Sure.” I slid down the steep slope, carving into the snow so I could capture her with the stunning backdrop. Then I pulled my cell phone out of my pocket and got ready to snap her picture.

My lips curved slightly at her theatrics. In a world where ‘duck face’ was the norm, it was refreshing to see her make a goofy face, crossing her eyes and sticking out her tongue and doing all sorts of facial acrobatics.

That girl was capable of incredible cuteness.

I tried to zoom in, but the digital zoom on the iPhone was nothing more than a quality-degrading crop. I frowned when I noticed a crack in front of Adelaide.

There was a momentous clap of thunder overhead, and the next thing I knew, the slope shattered like glass and came down, knocking her off her feet. The toe of the avalanche rushed down, stopping just two feet past me.

My eyes immediately went to Adelaide. She appeared to be swept down about twenty feet or so before a second wave of snow covered her up.

Dread filled my chest. “Fuck,” I cursed. “
Fuck. Fuck. Fuck
. This can’t be happening.”

I exploded toward her. Immediately my avalanche training and experience as a ski patrol took over. I needed to act fast. She wouldn’t last past twelve minutes under the surface.

Pulling out my beacon, I got a signal and found her within what I estimated to be about ninety seconds.

She was fully buried with only a portion of her face exposed. 

Thank God
.
She can breathe through her nose.

Frantically, I began digging her out. The panic in my chest eased somewhat when I found her uninjured. She was breathing but barely conscious.

Without wasting precious time, I quickly unstrapped her skis. Her gloves and hat were missing, presumably lost when the snow had ploughed into her.

Cold as ice, her whole body was shivering aggressively.

I need to get her some place warm. Fast.

My pulse quickened as I scooped her up in my arms and sped down the mountain, my board making S-turns down the slopes until we reached the trailhead.

Skidding to a halt, I set her down, unstrapped my board, chucked it aside, then scooped her up in my arms again.

The cabin wasn’t too far off. I started sprinting. She wasn’t heavy but her weight was dead in my arms. Still, I’d never run so fast in my life.  

I made it to the cabin in about fifteen minutes. Adelaide was still dazed and barely conscious, her body limp and lifeless. I set her down on her feet, cradling her against my shoulder as I reached into my pocket for the keys. Thankfully I had the foresight never to come to the backcountry unprepared.

When I got her inside, I laid her on the bed and started stripping off her cold, wet clothes. I was slightly taken aback when I found her completely naked—no bra or panties.

Quickly, I tore off my boots, followed by my jacket, shirt, and pants until I was nude except for my boxer briefs.

I eased back onto the bed and wrapped my arms around her, covering her body with mine, skin to skin from chest to ankle, letting the heat of my body seep into hers.

Gently, I cradled her face against mine, my breath ragged and warm against her skin.

Her whole body was shaking uncontrollably and it seemed like the more she tensed up and tried to stop it, the more violently it shook.

“Don’t try and stop it, Adelaide. Keep shivering.” She was still dazed and I wasn’t sure if she even registered what I was saying, but I continued talking. “Your body is shivering to produce heat. Let it do its thing.”

For a long while I stayed like that, holding her to me, pressing her body to mine. I was keenly aware of her soft breasts flattened against my chest, her heart beating against mine. But I didn’t even
go
there.

In time, I began to relax my hold when I felt the warmth slowly returning to her skin.

“En-Ender.” I heard her stammer. “I think I’m okay now.”

Taking a deep breath, I drew back slightly so I could look into her face.

Her eyes were clear and lucid now, as if she’d just awoke from a nap.

As she tried to move, I stopped her. “Stay right here,” I said, pushing myself to a sitting position. Grabbing a quilt from the foot of the bed, I wrapped it around her like a second skin. “Rest.” My voice was gentle but firm.

She didn’t respond, but she let her eyelids drift shut.

Shifting my weight off the mattress, I got dressed and went outside to fetch some firewood from the woodpile under an awning.

Lightning streaked across the sky, followed by a clap of thunder.

Damn
.
No way we’re getting out of here anytime soon
,
at least not today
.

I darted back inside, fired up the wood stove and began heating up some water.

The cabin had no electricity or indoor plumbing, just a hand pump. Nestled in the pines, it was an old and rustic log cabin that used to belong to my grandfather. Now it belonged to my brother and me, and it suited us just fine. Yeah, it wasn’t much, limiting us to the bare essentials of living requirements, but it
did
have cell reception. It was a faint signal, but a signal nonetheless.

Next, I just went through the motions. First, I lit a couple of small kerosene lamps that partially lit up the cabin, then I laid out Adelaide’s wet clothes on a rack next to the wood stove, and finally, I dragged over a fold-up metal chair and sat down facing Adelaide.

Inhaling sharply, I took a moment to collect myself before calling Edric.

My brother answered on the first ring. “Hey,” I said wearily. “We’re up at the cabin right now.” He listened quietly as I filled him in on everything that had happened, and when I finished, he said, “Adelaide…” His voice was tinged with concern. “Is she gonna be all right?”

“Yeah.” I exhaled a slow, deep breath. “I think she had hypothermia, but it wasn’t severe.” I swallowed hard before continuing. “She’s resting now. The weather’s turned to shit, so we probably won’t head back down ’til tomorrow,” I said, pushing a hand through my hair. “Which may not be such a bad thing; it’ll give her more time to rest.”

“Right,” he said quietly. After a beat, he uttered a low curse. “Fuck, man! That’s insane! You guys could’ve been crushed by that avalanche.”

He didn’t need to tell me that.

I already knew. It could’ve been worse. A lot
worse.

“Look,” I said, “I gotta go. It’s been a long day.”

“You get some rest too, all right?” I heard the strain in his voice. “Call me if you need anything.” He paused. “Later, brotha.”

I hung up, turned off my phone to conserve the battery and checked on Adelaide. She was still sound asleep, her chest rising and falling with each deep breath.

Sitting there in the gloomy silence, I took a moment to study her profile.

My eyes lingered on her thick lashes, inky against her flushed skin.

I used to tease her about them. “You have eyelashes like a camel!” I’d tell her, and she’d flutter her long lashes at me like a silent film star.

The little minx! She was Twenty Types of Trouble and I knew right away she was not like other girls.

Though I never admitted it to anyone, I’d had a
thing
for Adelaide back then.

Fearless and carefree, she possessed a kind of wild beauty that could never be tamed.

And she was happy being different; she was smart and strong and ridiculously self-assured with her
take me or leave me
philosophy.

I remembered being drawn to her eyes; they were round, liquid brown, and took up half her face.

She was just as fascinating to watch, the way her eyes lit up when she talked, the way her face expressed every emotion she felt.

Suddenly, Adelaide stirred and her large brown eyes snapped open.

Those big brown eyes—they still do it for me
.

As she struggled to sit upright, the quilt slid down, exposing nicely rounded breasts.

Unwittingly, my eyes zeroed in on her hardened nipples.

“Why am I naked?” she squawked, tugging at the quilt and pressing it to her chest.

“You were about to die of hypothermia,” I said coolly. “I had to strip off your clothes to warm you up. I just saved your life, by the way. And you’re welcome.”

“Hypothermia,” she murmured to herself. “Did my core body temperature drop below ninety-five degrees Fahrenheit?”

“I wouldn’t know.” I shrugged. “I don’t carry a thermometer around with me.”

“Erm…” she hedged. “How did you warm me up?”

“How else?” The corners of my mouth lifted into a half smile. “With my
nekkid
body.”

“What?” she gasped. “You saw me naked?”

“Don’t worry,” I said. “It’s nothing I haven’t seen before. You used to streak around the bush stark-naked. Remember?”

“Yeah, but that was years ago. We were just kids,” she implored. “I didn’t have breasts!”

I suppressed an urge to laugh. “Well, if you had been wearing a bra, I wouldn’t have seen your tits—which are pretty spectacular, by the way.”

“So…” Her voice betrayed a hint of nerves. “You saw
everything
?”

“Since you don’t wear panties, yeah… I saw everything. And to be honest, I fully expected a full bush, not a bald eagle.”

A deep blush rose to her cheeks. “I—I just like everything neat and orderly down there. I’m a bit OCD like that.”