Page 58 of Wilde About You

Nate grabbed the bacon out of the refrigerator. "I guess I had the farthest to fall so it hurts the most."

Finn rolled his eyes my direction. "Poor little guy has had his feelings hurt. Do you have time for a game of chess before your ride?"

I glanced over at Colin who was just drinking his coffee. "I've got no urgent plans. Go ahead. The horses are probably still eating breakfast anyway."

The front door opened and shut. Zander walked in wearing work boots and a cap. "Colin, Nate, since you two aren't doing anything, muck the stables. I'm heading to work. They're fed but the poop is piled high so have fun." Zander stopped at the coffeepot and poured a cup.

"Bring the cup back later," Finn called to him on his way out. "He takes all my kitchen supplies and never returns them."

Nate looked perturbed. "I'm no longer the favorite and now I'm a do-nothing who is ordered to shovel horse shit. When did my big bang of a future veer so badly off course?"

"At least you voluntarily took yourself off the fame circuit," Colin said. "You didn't crash and burn."

Finn leaned closer. "Where are our tiny violins?"

I snickered behind my cup. "Technically, you crashed. I didn't see any flames after your fall."

Nate looked at me and then Colin. "I thought you two only just met."

"We did." Colin leaned against the counter with his cup. He was wearing a white T-shirt that hugged his muscles so nicely, I felt my cheeks warm just looking at him. "Turns out Sadie was out on the mountain taking photos for the online sports magazine she used to work for. She was one of the many people standing on the spectator side of the run when I humiliated myself."

"And you still like the guy?" Finn asked.

"I do. I've always gravitated toward the underdog. I do have one really great shot of you just before the crash. It's a cool picture."

"I'd love to see that," Finn said.

Nate sat with his toast. "Yeah, me too. Did you get a picture of the crash, too?"

I looked sheepishly at Colin and was starting to regret bringing up the photos.

"Go ahead, show 'em the full scope of my humiliation."

"You're sure?" I asked.

Colin nodded. "Yep, go ahead. I wouldn't mind seeing me BC, before crash, back when I was still an award-winning athlete instead of a limping old man."

Finn shrugged. "Nothing wrong with being a limping old man. By the way, Nate, bring me that ice pack from the fridge. I need to ice my knee. I'll be out on my chair setting up the chessboard."

Nate stopped mid bite and sighed. "From rock star to serving boy in a few days. This just keeps getting better."

I got up. "I'll get the ice pack, then I'll go up and get my bag. I think the snowboarding photos are on my spare digital camera." I pulled the bright blue ice pack from the freezer. Finn used it a lot. He told me it was an old injury, but it wasn't from sport or a fall. A man who owed him money brought a baseball bat instead of payment, and before Finn could jump out of the way, the man took out his knee cap. From what Colin told me, it was one of the few times he knew about when someone had gotten the upper hand on his dad. Usually, his opponents were the ones limping away in pain.

"Here you go." I placed it on his knee. "Anything else?"

Finn smiled up at me. "Think that's all for now, but I'm still waiting for that chess game."

"You're on." I hurried upstairs and dove into the closet for my gear bag. I was going to need the charger too, so I carried the whole thing downstairs.

Nate and Colin were sitting in the family room looking at their phones. "Oh good, something more entertaining than this toxic social media crap on my phone," Nate said. "I think that's my biggest beef with being in a band. Led Zeppelin didn't have to worry about people stealing or slamming or making fun of their music."

Colin laughed. "Oh yeah, I'm sure they never had to deal with anything like that." He rolled his eyes.

I set my pack down on the ground and rummaged through it for the camera and cord. "I haven't used this camera for a while, so I've got to plug it in. It'll take me a second to find the photos."

"This should be entertaining," Nate said.

Colin hadn't said a word. I looked up, regretting that I'd brought up the stupid pictures in the first place. His face was solid as stone as he stared down at my bag.