“Yeah, well, see that they don’t.” Gray thumbed his way down a list on his iPad. “We were asked to sponsor the high school’s ski team again this year.” He lifted his head and looked at Hud. “They’re down a coach and asked for you. You got any time available?”
Shit. No he didn’t. And yet he could remember when all he’d wanted was to be on that ski team. There’d never been enough money for it. No way did he want a single kid to miss out on a dream because of money. “I’d find time if they let us give out scholarships for kids who have the skills but not the money. If I’m the coach, no one misses getting on the team for lack of funds.”
Gray eyed him over the iPad, amused. “And you’re going to pull the money for the scholarships from where exactly, your ass?”
“We’ll find the money.”
Aidan refilled Gray’s beer. “I’m with Hud. We’ll find the money.”
“Christ,” Gray grumbled, and made some notes. “‘Find the money,’” he muttered. “Sure, we’ll just find the goddamn money.”
“I have the money,” Kenna said, actually looking up from her phone.
When Gray started to open his mouth, she set down the phone—something rarely seen out in the wild—and stood up. And then, making a face at how short she still was, she let out a pissy noise and stood on her chair, snatching the pitcher of beer to her chest as she did. “You won’t let me help the resort,” she said to the table. “You won’t let me do shit because you think I’m fragile. Well fragile this, I’m not giving the beer back until someone says I can sponsor the goddamn high school ski team with my own goddamn money!”
“You have my vote,” Aidan said.
Kenna eyed him. “You just want more beer.”
“Yes,” he said seriously. “But I also want to see you smile.”
“I vote for you too,” Hud told her. “On one condition. I’m going to need a co-coach for the ski team.”
Kenna turned to him. “Me?”
“Well, I didn’t mean the Easter Bunny.”
Kenna stared down at him very solemnly. Heartbreakingly earnest. “You want me to co-coach with you.”
“God yes,” he said. “Have you met any high school girls?” He shuddered. “They’re terrifying.”
She blinked and then gave him a smile that seemed more than a little rusty.
“Cool?” he asked.
“Cool,” she whispered. She carefully climbed down off her chair and filled up his beer to the tippy top.
“Hey,” Aidan said. “What about me? I voted for you first, chica.”
She filled up Aidan’s glass too.
Gray raised a brow.
“First you have to say you would’ve voted for me if I’d asked,” she said.
“Whatever you want,” Gray said.
She laughed in delight. “Whatever I want?”
“Yes,” Gray said. “Because you are to me what high school girls are to Hud. Terrifying.”
She laughed again. “Really?”
“Always,” Gray said fervently. “And another always? Me backing you. In anything and everything, Kenna. All of us,” he said. “You have our vote no matter what. You hear me?”
She stared at him for a long beat, her eyes suspiciously shiny. She hated crying, rarely if ever did it. The last time Hud saw her cry was ten years ago when her cat had gotten out and been stolen.
Except it hadn’t really been stolen. The truth was, a coyote had killed it. He and Jacob had stayed up all night burying the thing so Kenna would never know.
Kenna let out a long breath, nodded at Gray, and dipped her head so that they couldn’t see her face. She then tipped up the pitcher and drank the last of the beer right out of it.
“Seriously?” Gray asked.
She swiped her mouth and smiled. “That’s ‘seriously, coach’ to you.” She flashed a grin none of them had seen in far too long. “Next round’s on me,” she said, and headed to the bar.
Aidan gave Gray a punch to the shoulder.
“Ow,” Gray said. “And what the fuck?”
“I’ve been telling you all she needs is something to do, to feel self-worth again. Stop babying her. You should know by now she hates it.”
Gray snatched Aidan’s beer and flipped him off while downing it.
Aidan turned to Hud, tossing him a brown bag he pulled from his backpack.
“What’s this?” Hud asked distrustfully. He had good reason not to trust a damn thing Aidan handed him in a bag.
Aidan smirked. “Worried?”
“Fuck yeah.”
“Jeez, give a guy a snake one time…”
Gray grinned. “That was a lot of fun.”
Asshole brothers. Hud took the bag with two fingers. “If this is a snake, you’d better say your last prayers.”
Aidan laughed. “That was ten years ago and it was a fucking garter snake, man. Harmless.”
“Harmless my ass. It bit me!”
“It did not,” Aidan said. “You just told everyone that because you screamed like a banshee.”
“I repeat,” Hud said stiffly, “you tossed a snake into my lap.”
“You nearly shit your pants.”
That he hadn’t was solely due to the fact that he’d been sitting next to Trina Anderson, at the time the hottest thing he’d ever seen. He’d been working his way up to getting in her pants when Aidan had ever so helpfully screwed him over. “So I have one fear,” he said now. “So what? Everyone’s afraid of something.”
“You’re afraid of two things,” Aidan said. “Open the bag.”