Chapter 20

Chapter 20

Saturday morning arrived and I was shitting my pants. Following Melissa's advice, I put the white lingerie outfit underneath my beautiful ski outfit if I must say so myself. It was this beautiful white, black, and gold snow suit with pretty gold snow boots to match. The hood had nice fur around it and was warmer than I expected it to be. It hugged my body nicely insinuating my itty, bitty curves but you could see them very clearly. Oddly enough I felt super sexy in this fit and not only because I had this lingerie under it. Thankfully, I didn't have to wear any crazy dress for this week's challenge. That I was so thankful for because pants were more of my thing one hundred percent.

Waiting in the ski lounge, I was so nervous waiting for Cyrus to show up. The whole sex thing aside, I didn't know how to ski. I didn't know the first thing about it to be honest. I have never been, and this was my first time at a ski resort. I was certainly going to embarrass myself and you know what, that was ok. Finally getting to see him is what mattered the most to me. It was only a few days, but man did I miss him. He was starting to become addicting and that was worrisome.

A few more minutes passed and finally the apple of my eye showed himself. He was late and now I felt how he did whenever I would show up late to our secret meetings. It was torture.

Cyrus smiled as soon as he saw me, a little surprised, I was there. "So, you can show up on time for this but not when I want quality time?" He asked pleased that we were finally having a date.

I laughed standing up to greet him. "Let's be clear, I have to be at these things on time." I say wrapping my arms around him.

Hugging him felt like something I've been away from for who knows how long. Even through our puffy snowsuits, his scent was just as strong and inviting as always. The way he engulfed me, squeezing me lightly, sent chills down my spine. It appears he missed me as much I him. After our night of cuddles and kissing, how could we not? That was what brought us closer together and will forever be a defining night in our relationship. For now, I must learn to ski and quickly.

Letting go of me, we grabbed our gear that was supplied to us before going up on the lift. The panic didn't start to set in until we were sitting down to go up. The nerves I felt about embarrassing myself were real. However, the view from up here was impeccable. The way the snow laid on the rooftops with the mountains behind them really was beautiful to see. It was a breath of fresh air being able to see something different for a change. It was even better that I got to be here with Cyrus.

Speaking of Cyrus, he looked at me with excitement on his face. "So, can you ski?" He finally asked me.

I laughed nervously. "Well, not exactly." I say, "this'll be my first time."

"So, in other words, we need to go down the kids slope?" He poked fun at me.

I frowned rolling my eyes in amusement. "Haha, very funny. It's not my fault I have never been." I stuck my tongue out at him.

He laughed as we prepared to get off the lift. "It's ok, I'll teach you. I happen to be an exceptionally good skier." He boasted.

I'm not sure if I believed that a hundred percent but he was my only option at this very moment. At least if things ended badly, I could put all the blame on him. Then we'll see how overconfident he is after that.

Nevertheless, I was going to trust him throughout this process. Knowing his mother, she had her kids up here honing their talents at skiing like everything else. The woman was mad with making them be perfect at everything she wanted them to do. So that's why if he said he was good then I believed him. Though the learning part wasn't going to be so easy.

See, we were on the smallest of slopes, and he started to explain to me what to do. Of course, I was listening and trying to retain the information. However, it was so much in so little time that it got all jumbled inside my head. Cyrus was trying his hardest, reexplaining things while also laughing at my pathetic attempts at trying to get down this itty-bitty hill. This was so embarrassing but expected.

"You can go faster than that! Come on, A!" He yelled at me, making me more nervous.

I shook my head trying to keep my slow pace while also keeping balance. "Easy for you to say Mr. Pro! This isn't as easy as you make it seem." I complained.

He sighed yelling at me again. "Look, the hill isn't even that big. If anything, you'll just fall on your side!" He tried to comfort me in his weird way.

"I'm trying not to fall at all!" I yelled back losing a bit of focus.

"We've been out here for a while now and you still haven't made it down one hill. Plus, is it really learning if you don't fall?" Ugh, he had a point.

I've been trying to get down this hill for the longest and it wasn't even anywhere near big. Instead of enjoying himself he's been trying to help my hopeless ass. I was never going to get anywhere if I didn't push myself. As terrified as I was, nothing was going to stop me from going down this damn hill.

Without further ado, I mentally put my big girl panties on and started to pick up the pace. At first it felt great having the air hitting my face and through my hair. My heart was racing as I continued to make my way down the slope. It was so fun that I started to feel a little bit too confident going faster than anticipated. Thus, in turn I was going out of control, forgetting what he told me to do to stop. Panicking, I straightened my knees, the one thing you should never do, and instantly lost my balance. Before anything else could happen, my body started to roll the rest of the way down the hill and that was the end of me. Nothing about this was fun and I wanted to go crawl into a hole after that fantastic show.

Finally, I stopped rolling before just laying back processing what happened. Cyrus came over to me as fast as he could before actually helping me up.

"Holy shit. That was epic!" He exclaimed looking at me still laid out.

I frowned, picking myself up off the ground. "Nope. I don't need any help at all thanks for asking." I say sarcastically.

He laughed. "No need for the tude missy!" He said jokingly. "After that epic disaster I think you deserve some hot chocolate!" He was more excited about that than I was.

That did sound very pleasing though and after this stunt hot chocolate was aye ok in my book. Before we knew it, we were out of our ski gear and sitting down in this small café. It was always nice getting to sit down and have a conversation with him. There was always something new to be learned about Cyrus Hadid whenever we got the chance to talk. That's honestly been my favorite part of agreeing to his absurd idea. While we get to chat when we have scheduled time, it was nothing like the after-hour conversations.

However, today was different and not in a good way. Something was about to happen that I wasn't entirely prepared for. It happened out of nowhere and quite frankly put a damper on everything we've slowly been building towards. I was over dramatic, but the way things were said didn't sit right with me. This is how it played out.

We both ordered a hot chocolate that looked beautiful. It came in such a cool mug with whipped cream and chocolate sauce drizzled on top. It was too perfect to drink though that didn't stop me from taking in all that chocolatey goodness. I took a sip while getting whipped cream on the tip of my nose. We both laughed as I whipped it off with a napkin. That's when the dreadful conversation started.

I looked at him with a smile on my face. "Even though that fall was a trip, I'm really glad I got to come here. It's not every day that I get to do this." I said happy to just be here.

He sipped his cocoa nodding his head in agreement. "It is pretty nice here. Though not worth having a vacation home at."

That intrigued me. "Where would you have one mister hot shot?" I asked anticipating a crazy response.

"Mm, somewhere tropical for sure but I haven't put much thought into it. Where would yours be?" He asked me this time, and this was when things started to get a little weird.

I shrugged. "Definitely somewhere with a lake in the backyard with a boat. No, a yacht! That would be freaking cool." Imagine owning a yacht in your backyard? Insane, right? "One day it'll happen. Saving up money will be hard though."

That didn't seem too out of the ordinary for him, being his family is rich and all. It's what he said that kind of threw me for a loop. All this time he's been portraying himself as someone who doesn't care about money or status. But that changed today for some reason. He wasn't talking like he was before. No, today he was sounding exactly like his mother.

"Well, you're never going to save up money with that piss poor job you have." He said not meaning to be rude but coming off quite rude.

I looked at him baffled at what he just said but brushed it off at first. "How else would I get the money to afford my very hypothetical fantasy then?" I was very confused, and I tried not to show it, keeping my tone of voice neutral.

Sipping his hot chocolate again, he gave me this duh like expression. "That's what I'm for duh. Once we're officially together I can buy you whatever you want."

"Wait, do you think I'm in this for the money?" What he was saying didn't make sense.

He shook his head. "Of course not, but you don't come from anything so I'm saying I can supply that for you." He explained himself. "Look, all I'm saying is once you're with me you won't have to serve the needy anymore."

That caught me by surprise. Has he always thought like this? Did he see me as someone he could just throw money at and call it a day? In this moment I felt quite stupid thinking that he wasn't anything like his status obsessed mother. Though this showed me he was everything like her! The fact that he thought working a normal job was helping the needy spoke volumes. Was this how he thought about me?

Sitting back in my chair, I scoffed trying to process what he just said to me. "You do realize I'm a part of the 'needy' right?" I grilled his ass.

His facial expression changed once he realized what he said. "I didn't mean it like that. It's just instead of doing what you do I'll be here to get you whatever you desire. You know, to keep you happy."

"Money doesn't buy happiness, Cyrus. You really think I'm here just to have your money?" I kept asking questions appalled at this conversation in general.

He rolled his eyes, starting to get frustrated with me as well. "I just said I didn't think that, Autumn. You're taking this the wrong way. It wasn't meant to be like that." I can tell he didn't want to argue but I wasn't letting it go.

I chuckle feeling a little pissed at his words. "Then what was it meant to be like because I can tell you for a fact, I'm not wasting my time getting to know you for the money." I raised my voice a little bit.

"This is going in a weird direction that it doesn't need too. Anyway, you should be grateful someone even wants to share their wealth with you." He finished his sentence shortly after realizing he may have fucked up.

I for one was shocked to hear him talking like this. I should be grateful? What does that even mean? Why would I be grateful to someone throwing their money at me? That wasn't what I signed up for. Correction, I didn't sign up for any of this in the first place. This was all forced upon me but yeah, I should be grateful some spoiled brat wants to share his wealth with me. That was really the sweetest thing he could have ever said to me. NOT!

The anger I felt was catastrophic. I haven't felt this much anger in years and that was something serious. This was so minuscule yet felt so big for me. I guess opening myself up to him I involuntarily made him something of comfort. That had to be the worst thing I've ever done considering he wasn't anything like I thought he was. However, it wasn't all that surprising. Saida did say he was an idiot, and this was the dumbest thing he could ever have done.

Not wasting another minute on him, I got up angrily not even giving him a second glance. Of course, he called out to me trying to make things right.

"Autumn, wait all of that came out very wrong. Please don't go." He pleaded with me.

"Oh, I'm going, and don't you worry, whatever we have going on is over! It shouldn't be an issue since you clearly don't like serving the needy." I spoke with so much anger in my voice it surprised him. All I know is this date was over and I wasn't turning back.

I quickly left the café to go back to my room wanting to forget this whole thing ever happened. There was no way in hell I was going to be grateful to someone who thinks like that. This whole time I thought he was interested in me. Getting to know me and my life and where I come from. Instead, he was more interested in forcing me to like him with money thinking that if anyone isn't as wealthy as he is then they're basically the help. What kind of shit was that? Horse shit I tell you! Horse shit!

Cyrus Hadid, you're dead to me.