Avalanche

Chapter 2 | Trestle Trouble

Rob Haywood didn't have a sense of urgency. He didn't care if he was late, on time, whatever. When he showed up was when he showed up. People should be grateful he showed up at all.

His lack of urgency was what prodded him to sleep until 11 am and hit the slopes 30 minutes before an important meeting. He'd flown in from Seattle the day before, anyways, and was getting used to the time change. Or at least, that was his excuse.

He left his hotel room at Aspen Lake Ski Resort and marched out into the hallways, geared up with a snowboard in hand. Or, as geared up as one could call it. No helmet covered his military-cut blonde hair and his so-called snowboarding clothes were a tank top and jeans. He warmed up out there anyways.

A couple was approaching him from the opposite side of the hallway, and both darted to the wall farthest away from Rob as they passed as quickly as possible. Rob snickered.

At 6' 2," he was 225 pounds with no ounce of fat on his body. He found it interesting how his huge muscles tended to make men uncomfortable, cause women to gape, and intrigue children.

Along with lifting weights, years of extreme sports helped to mold his muscular physique. His main sport was snowboarding, but during the summer he enjoyed playing any number of sports. From water skiing to football, he enjoyed it all. Except kickball. He did not like kickball.

Between his appearance, deep voice and jagged attitude, people stayed out of his way.

Well, normally they would.

As soon as Rob got out of the elevator and started heading for the locker room that lead out to the slopes, some South American appearing dude with his snowboard ran right into him.

"Sorry, man," the guy says.

Whatever, Rob thinks to himself. That punk should watch where he's going. He could have scratched my board up!

Rob stays in a bad mood after that, and heads out to the snow muttering to himself about stupid people looking at the floor while they walk.

He boards for a few minutes, warming up a little bit. He tries out a few jumps and performs a few grabs but starts to get bored. He starts heading for the ski lift when he spots the same dude who ran into him inside the hotel, also heading for the ski lift.

He grins. It will feel good to show that kid up out on the slopes. He speeds up but doesn't get too close. He jumps on the lift two seats away from the dude, who stares out at the snow beneath them, oblivious to Rob and his evil schemes.

While sitting on the ski lift, Rob briefly thought about the meeting he was supposed to attend soon. He was supposed to meet his new teammates, who were probably a bunch of spoiled babies, and go over the game plan.

When Rob had first received the invitation from Benedict Winterborn for the new snowboarding team, he couldn't believe that Winterborn was organizing it. That dude was a freaking skiing legend, until he broke his leg, that is. With the number of sports Rob played, he wouldn't be surprised if that's how he ended up as well.

Rob finally nearest the top of the slope. He watched as the dude he was intent on showing up boarded off the ski lift. He then preceeded to watch the girl in the seat in front of him attempt to do the same, but instead of snowboarding smoothly away, fell face-first off her seat right in front of the landing area.

Crap. Get out of the way, lady! Why did everyone have to screw things up today?

One tricky thing about the ski lift was that if you weren't very good at skiing or snowboarding, it was almost impossible to get off the lift smoothly. Rob had taken his share of tumbles while trying to get off the lift when he was first learning, but it always sucked when it happened to the person in front of you and they didn't get out of the way in time.

The ski lift operator tried to move the girl out of the way, but it was too late. Rob's seat had already come in, and he had no choice but attempt to avoid her as he got off. It was a nearly impossible task, and as humiliating as it was, he ended up on the ground right beside the unfortunate novice.