Chapter 68: Trust

“Do you trust me?”

Blinking, I looked up and smiled at her. “I do trust you,” I replied easily, even though I didn’t know what she had in mind.

“Head back up the hill. I’ll take care of the rest.”

With a nod, I grabbed my sled and trudged upwards, curious as to what she would do.

Ahead of me, Belle had already gone up the hill with the second sled to take another run. My impish pixie waited for me to catch up, got me to give her a kiss “for good luck”, and then sat down on her sled.

From our launching point, I watched Belle zig and zag her way down and then lose speed on the flat part by the picnic benches. Once she was clear, I sat on my sled, looked down at all the girls looking up at me, and took a deep breath.

Rather than push myself forward with any force, I let the sled drop down on its own, surrendering myself to gravity. All I could do at that point was hope I wouldn’t crash...

... again.

A couple of hours earlier, Sam and I had driven our vehicles to the parking lot of this local hiking trailhead, the trails themselves now completely blanketed in snow. We’d brought two EPS core sleds, and my first order of business had been to find a suitable sledding area. And while pretty much anyone could simply hop onto a board at an incline and ride their way down, only true artists could build, modify, and reinforce a real sledding course.

Except for last year, Alice had always been my partner in designing, building, and rebuilding sledding runs with me, and she was happy to help me carve out a course while the other girls went exploring and started up a small snowball fight. Alice would typically be my crash test dummy while I shored up the various banks and turns adapted to the geography of the hill, offering her own opinion and suggestions based on how the ride felt. And for fifteen minutes or so, we enjoyed figuring out the basic structure of the course.

Starting from a relatively flat section high up the hill, the rider would scoot herself forward and over the edge to start a gentle descent, picking up speed before hitting the first turn to send her about forty-five degrees to the right. She’d slow down a bit while traversing the slope somewhat laterally, turn left downhill, and pick up speed again before hitting a wide banked left turn. She’d speed through a natural gully and then slightly uphill for a second - enough to feel a flutter of weightlessness - before making a final turn to the right and then coasting to a stop at the bottom.

That wide banked left turn was the hard part of the geometry and most subject to erosion. It successfully turned Alice the first time we built it, but her weight collapsed the bank.

She and I spent a few minutes trying to shore it up. But then Engineer Skylar figured out what we were doing, and she simply had to come over and put in her two cents. She actually had a really good idea of hauling over a couple of downed logs to use as reinforcement, and the three of us spent some time building that before finally calling over the other girls.

As usual, we sent Belle down first as the lightest crash test dummy and the least likely to bust through the turns. Lacking sufficient mass, she didn’t pick up that much speed and for a second I worried that she wouldn’t make it through the gully and uphill to the other side. But in the end she completed the course with flying colors, and then it was everyone else’s turn to take a run.

One by one, every girl successfully navigated the course (except for injured Luna), with Sam going last just before me. I’d never actually ridden on the sledding run, with only Alice and Belle being the crash test dummies. And although I’d been shoring up the turns by adding more snow and packing it down with the shovel, years of experience riding these courses and blasting through turns the girls had taken without mishap had taught me much about Newton’s Second Law and just what my extra mass might do to that final banked turn. But as it turned out, Skylar’s engineering with the two logs held it up. I didn’t blow through the banked turn...

... I went OVER it instead, catching a little air before falling over the other side and getting spilled out sideways from my sled.

The girls thought me crashing was hilarious, of course.

“Try again,” Skylar suggested.

“I’m just gonna pick up too much speed and go up and over the turn again, unless we build that bank higher.”

“Do you trust me?” she asked with a sly smile.

Blinking, I looked up and smiled at the gorgeous babe. She was dressed to impress and looked incredibly sexy with her bright-blue eyes framed by blonde slut-strands and a cute beanie. She was putting up a good façade in front of the others, but I could see the weariness behind her eyes. Although this morning hadn’t been the first time she’d told the story of what happened, I could tell she was still feeling quite emotionally raw.

I thought about everything she’d been through. I thought about how she’d lost the trust of everyone in her family, lost the trust of all her college friends, and how deep down she still feared that confessing her sins of the past would cause her to lose MY trust as well.

But she hadn’t. Her sins of the past were just that: her past. They had nothing to do with me. And thus far, Skylar had done nothing to make me mistrust her.

“I do trust you,” I replied easily, even though I didn’t know what she had in mind.

“Head back up the hill. I’ll take care of the rest,” Skylar replied confidently.

With a nod, I grabbed my sled and trudged upwards, curious as to what Skylar would do. Ahead of me, Belle had already gone up the hill with the second sled to take another run. My impish pixie waited for me to catch up, got me to give her a kiss “for good luck”, and then sat down on her sled.

From our launching point, I watched Belle zig and zag her way down and then lose speed on the flat part by the picnic benches. Once she was clear, I sat on my sled, looked down at all the girls looking up at me, and took a deep breath.

Rather than push myself forward with any force, I let the sled drop down on its own, surrendering myself to gravity. All I could do at that point was hope I wouldn’t crash...

... again.

It was only once I made the first turn that I looked ahead and saw what Skylar had done. Rather than leave the banked turn alone, she’d jammed the shovel into it at an angle matching the banked slope, right at the point where my sled had gone over the top during my first run. This time, when my sled slid up the same section...

... the shovel itself kept my board from going over the edge and redirected me back towards the rest of the course.

“WOO-HOO!” Alice cheered with a double-fist-pump as I slid through the gully and up the other side. “HOLY SHIT, IT WORKED!”

“Of course it worked,” Skylar drawled from somewhere behind me as I made the last turn and then flattened out. But then I heard her add somewhat mournfully... “It sorta worked.”

After sticking my boots out and skidding to a stop, I looked back at the course and realized what Skylar was mourning. While her little shovel trick had indeed kept me from going off-course, the impact had also cratered the snow embankment when the shovel itself collapsed. The two logs had also been dislodged, and the whole banked turn would have to be rebuilt.

“Worth it!” Alice cheered, already moving the two logs back into place.

Handing off the sled to Mari, who was next, I flashed a beaming smile at Skylar and agreed.

“Totally worth it.”

“There should be bonus points for size, right? The bigger, the better?” Sam gave Eva a lopsided smirk, cupping her own boobs for emphasis.

Eva cupped her own boobs, glanced down at her cleavage, and shrugged. “Some might argue that anything more than a handful is a waste, and I do believe that our esteemed, unbiased judge would agree that much like when it comes to boobs, so long as the snowman in question is big enough, it’s big enough.”

“No bonus points for size of the snowman,” I declared, knowing full well that if I were to deem otherwise, the less well-endowed girls of The BTC would end up calling for my head. I smiled and stated firmly, “I’m judging on artistry, not mass.”

“Prettiest snowman wins!” Belle declared, kneeling ten feet away while carefully doing her slow roll to form a nicely spherical snowball.

“Snowwoman!” Mari insisted.

“Snow girl!” “Snow chick!” “Snow maiden!” “Snow hussy?” “Snow gal.” “Snow babe.” “Snow lady!” the others chimed in.

“I’m just sticking with snowwoman”,” I muttered.

With nine girls in the group, they’d split into three teams to build their snowmen (excuse me, snowwomen): Belle, Mari, and Luna; Sam, Zofi, and Eva; and Naimh, Alice, and Skylar. The girls continued working while I walked over to the picnic table where we’d stashed our two sleds and some snacks. Seated backwards on a picnic-table bench out here in the snow-play area, I reclined with my elbows on the tabletop, sat back, and relaxed. After spending more than a few hours digging and building and rebuilding the sledding course, I’d been ordered to stop exerting myself in order to rest up for the evening’s future activities.

It was our final night at Mammoth Mountain, after all. And the girls had plans.

So I sat back and relaxed. Zofi went around taking photos of everyone, including a re-creation of Eva’s childhood snow pictures so we could send them to her dad. Actually, Zofi spent more time taking photos than building her team’s snowman (snowwoman for sure, since Sam started adding boobs). Mari had planned ahead and brought loose buttons, a scarf, a top hat, and even a raw carrot for decoration. Alice immediately declared that external props were cheating and that only raw materials found on the premises could be legally used. And after only a few minutes, Luna joined me at the picnic table to sit down rather than spend any more time on her sprained ankle.

“Owww...” she groaned while gingerly lowering herself to the bench and then setting her single crutch aside.

“Ankle still hurting?”

“No, it’s perfectly fine. Why would you ever think my ankle might be hurting?” Luna drawled sarcastically.

I held both hands up and bowed my head.

“Sorry,” she muttered. “You’re being typically sincere, and I’m being frustrated, that’s all.”

“Understandable, after all you’ve been through.”

“Feel like I’m letting my team down.”

“Nah, don’t worry about them.” I gestured forward to the area about fifty feet away where the other eight girls continued working. “Belle and Mari have been making snowmen together for like a decade. You were just an obstacle getting in their way.”

Luna blinked. “Was that statement supposed to make me feel better?”

I shrugged. “Just proving I can teasingly mock you like anyone else instead of being typically sincere.”

Luna snorted, shook her head, and grinned.

“And I got you to smile, so Mission: Accomplished.”

Luna chuckled, and her grin widened. After a moment, she sighed and nodded. “Thanks for making me smile, Matty.”

“You’re very welcome.”

“Thanks for everything.” Luna took a deep breath and then added. “I never actually said ‘Thank you’ for coming to my rescue on the mountain, so thanks for that as well.”

I shook my head. “The ski patrol rescued you. I didn’t do a damn thing.”

“You did enough just by being there for me. You made sure I didn’t feel alone.”

I shrugged. “It’s what I do. It’s what we ALL do for each other, honestly. Much as I might want to, I can’t physically be there for every girl at the same time. There are ten of us on this trip, and we all support each other when things come up. I just happened to be the one closest to you when you went over the cliff.”

Luna smirked. “I think the level of support and devotion you give to the girls is a little bit more than just, ‘whoever happens to be closest’. At the very least, I can tell that whenever one of them has a problem, she’ll bypass the four girls nearest to her in order to come talk to you.”

I waggled my head. “Perhaps.”

“Skylar, for example, would bypass all eight of us here to come find you.”

“Well, she’s pretty good friends with Neevie, too,” I pointed out.

Luna gave me a curious look. “Speaking of: what happened this morning with you, Neevie, and Skylar?”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean the three of you came downstairs looking pretty somber. Unexpectedly so, given that the three of you woke up the rest of us with the sounds of early-morning sex.”

I winced. “I’m sorry. Did we really wake up the rest of you?”

“You did, but that wasn’t necessarily a bad thing.” Luna smirked again. “Belle and I were cuddled close on the queen bed and hearing you moan made her pretty frisky. We’re just not as loud as you guys.”

“I’m sure your mouths were otherwise occupied,” I quipped. “And you didn’t use the Murphy bed?”

“Mari took the Murphy bed.” Luna sighed and stared across the landscape for a moment. “I got used to sharing a dorm room twin bed with Isa. I rather enjoy sleeping cuddled up with someone, and so does Belle. She likes to snuggle up with Sam or Neevie too whenever she’s not with you. I told her I wasn’t sure what I was going to do now that Isa and I are broken up, and she offered to let me move in with her.”

“Huh...”

“It’s a nice offer,” Luna continued, “but I wouldn’t really want to intrude on your hospitality any more than I already have.”

“If it makes Belle happy, then I’m all for it.”

“I told her I’d think about it.” Luna waved me off. “But we’re getting off-topic. I was asking about you, Neevie, and Skylar.”

I shrugged. “We had a pretty intense conversation, but it’s not the sort of thing I can share with you. Personal stuff. You understand.”

Luna waggled her head. “I understand, of course, and I can respect that you’ll always keep a girl’s secrets private.”

“You’re still curious, though,” I noted knowingly.

“Of course I am,” she admitted with a grin. “But don’t worry: I know better than to try and pressure you into talking about it.”

I arched an eyebrow. “Why do I get the impression you’re still gonna ask Neevie about it?”

Luna shrugged. “We’re girls. It’s what we do.”

“Well this one I’ll falls under the category of ‘Skylar’s Personal Stuff’, so I’d appreciate you not really pushing Neevie too hard about it.” I gave Luna a frank look. “Please?”

Luna blinked, thought about it, and nodded. “Okay. Sure. Because you asked. It’s the least I can do after everything you’ve done for me.”

“Thank you.”

“I’m serious. For everything you’ve done for me.” Luna furrowed her eyebrows, took a deep breath, and gave me a funny look. “I trust you, Matty. I really do, and that’s not something I say lightly. I’ve never trusted a man before. Never. Well, I trust mi papá, but you know what I mean.”

“I think I do.”

“I used to look at this club and wonder what the hell all these girls were thinking. Five girls sharing one guy? Why? At first, I thought you were just a good lay and the girls were using you to get easy orgasms without dealing with romantic complications or needy boyfriends. Figured you’d be a perfect booty-call for Isa. And when she and I kept showing up and you’d let her go for rides on demand, I thought that was really all there was to it.”

“But over time you realized there was more to it than that?”

“I remember thinking the girls kept you in line through sexual favors – ‘Behave or we’ll take away your nookie’ – but it’s not like that at all. I kept seeing the way you were so supportive of their emotional needs. I watched the way you even tried to get inside Isa’s head and heart with that whole chero thing. You’re ... you’re different. You’re special.”

“I’ll take that as a compliment.”

“Not that I have any interest in fucking you.”

“You’ve made that point clear.”

“But I HAVE come to trust you, Matty. I’ve come to enjoy talking to you, in a way that I’ve never felt comfortable talking to other guys before. I see the way you are with all the other girls in The BTC, the way they all know with absolute certainty that they can always depend on you to be there for them. I’ve felt a growing sense in myself that you’ll be there for me, even though I haven’t done anything to deserve it. I guess what I’m saying is ... is...”

Luna shook her head while staring at me. She scrutinized my face as if the words she was looking for were faintly etched into my forehead, and if she could only stare a little harder, she’d be able to read them aloud.

Finally, she took a deep breath, shrugged her shoulders, and gave me a shy smile. “I really like being here with The BTC. I really like this special group of girls, and Belle’s offer to move into the house is really quite tempting. But it’s not only tempting to bring me closer to Belle and the other girls. I guess what I’m saying is: I’m really tempted to move in to be closer to you.”

I predictably failed to declare a single “best” snowwoman, opting to praise all three of the contenders for various reasons.

Belle, Mari, and Luna’s snowwoman was empirically the closest to what one imagines when thinking of a snowman, with three spherical balls stacked in descending order, a top hat, a scarf, button eyes, and the carrot nose.

Naimh, Skylar, and Alice’s snowwoman was quite creative, eschewing the typical three-spheres shape in favor of a more realistic human being design. Skylar had somehow managed to include tree branches in giving their creation a skeleton to help the snow hold its form, and even had one arm extended upwards.

And Sam, Zofi, and Eva’s snowwoman ... uh ... well it was a bit of a hot mess (cold mess?), but it did have the biggest boobs. Well, at least until one fell off and hit the ground with an unceremonious splat.

Alice and Mari sniped back and forth a bit about Mari cheating with the manmade props, but in the end nobody gave me too much flak for being diplomatic about not choosing a winner. Everyone had enjoyed themselves, we took a bunch of photos, and then we packed up to leave.

We ate an early dinner at the restaurant we’d originally intended to visit yesterday. Although it was no longer “Karaoke Night”, they still had a live band. I ate a massive steak along with buttery mashed potatoes, gravy, and vegetables. By the time we got back to the house, all that food was settling into my stomach, and I was feeling quite drowsy.

Some of the girls wanted to slip into the hot tub and I was happy to join them. But even ogling their buoyant breasts couldn’t keep me awake. When I started falling asleep right there in the tub, Sam more or less ordered me to grab a nap, indicating that it would be in my best interests to get some more rest before we had our grand finale to the ski trip.

I did so gladly, cleaning up, getting into my pajamas, and falling into bed. And I think I passed out before my head even hit the pillow.

At some point later, my conscious brain stirred to life and I realized that I was curled up on my left side. But instead of finding myself spooned up behind the warm body of a buxom beauty with her bare breast heavy in my palm, I was hugging a pillow to my chest.

Oh, how the mighty have fallen.

I cracked my eyelids open. I’d started my nap before sunset, with late-afternoon daylight still coming through the window. But it was nighttime now, and the only illumination in the room came from the table lamp on the nightstand to my left. The room was silent – although not completely silent – with the muffled sounds of activity taking place elsewhere in the house.

I also heard the sounds of pages being turned in a book nearby, and after taking a deep breath, I turned my head to glance over my shoulder and found that I was not alone in bed. Sam sat up against the headboard, reading a paperback by the light of the table lamp. And as soon as she realized I was awake, she closed the book, set it aside, and leaned over to hug me.

“Mmm, have a nice nap, Sleeping Beauty?” Sam asked softly.

I briefly groaned at her calling me ‘Sleeping Beauty’, but the feel of Sam’s warm body cuddled up behind me – not to mention the weight of her heavy breasts against the back of my head – made me simply sigh and relax within her embrace. She squeezed me with both arms and leaned over to peck my cheek, nuzzling me softly.

“What time is it?” I mumbled. “How long was I asleep?”

“After six,” Sam informed me. “You were asleep for about an hour and a half.”

“How long have you been here?”

“Mmm, ‘bout half an hour. Just wanted to peek in, and you looked so adorably peaceful that I wanted to sit with you and give you something beautiful to wake up to.”

I smiled immediately. “Definitely something very beautiful to wake up to.”

Sam smiled back and leaned over to kiss me on the lips. Once our lips met, I rolled onto my back while she shifted down a bit alongside me. What we shared was more than just a peck, but not quite a full-on makeout session. And after a minute or so, she pulled up and grinned down at me.

“What’s everyone else doing?” I asked.

“Relaxing, hanging out, whatever. It’s still early and I told them we’d start up our little surprise at seven.”

“It’s not a surprise if I know you’re planning something.”

“It IS a surprise if you don’t know what we’re planning.”

“Drink, have sex, drink some more, and have more sex?”

Sam laughed before replying, “It’s like you can read my mind!”

I laughed with her for a moment before tugging her down to me for another kiss. Our lips touched gently, but she withdrew to keep laughing for another second before finally mashing our mouths together. We shared another brief makeout session, and this time I was the first to pull away to breathe.

“So if you told the girls to start at seven, that means I’ve got almost an hour alone with you, right?”

Sam shrugged. “Well the door isn’t locked, so someone else could walk in at any time. And sorry, but I’m not gonna slide under the covers to give you a blowjob or anything like that. Gotta save all your bullets for now.”

I waggled my head and then pointed out, “I can still save all my bullets while sticking my head beneath your shirt and nursing on your nipples. I can even stick my head somewhere anatomically lower on your body and nurse on something else.”

Sam giggled and promptly pulled her shirt hem up. “Well if you need a pacifier, you’re welcome to start with these.”

“Gawd I love you,” I breathed, immediately ducking my head down while tugging her bra cup out of the way and then feasting on a puffy pink teat, enjoying myself immensely.