Loving Noel (Wildcat Graduates Book 1) Read online

  One of the medics loads my board onto his skimobile and gives me a lift down the rest of the mountain, which I discover, isn’t very far at all. He takes me over to the bar and grille to wait for everyone so I don’t have to walk there. Fortunately, Cade and Michelle arrive at the base of the trail just a few minutes after I did and they walk with me over to where the rest of our group is sitting. They all give us big hugs as we sit down at the table to look over the menu. My dad looks over at me with concern.

  “Did I see you get off a Ski Patrol snowmobile, Noel, or was I just imagining it?” Everyone looks at me, wide-eyed, and they immediately bombard me with questions. Before I can answer them, Mercedes and her family walk over to our table.

  “Oh Noel, I’m so glad you’re alright! How are you feeling?” Mercedes asks as she walks to my side and holds onto my arm. Cade is beside himself, trying to stifle his laughter. He fails miserably. Thanks a lot, jerk.

  “Hold on everyone. Calm down. Yes, I caught an edge on the last part of the trail and tumbled over the side. Someone saw it and got help when they got to the bottom of the trail. Ski Patrol came and checked me over. They said I’m fine, just banged up a little bit.”

  Looking over at Cade, Dad interrupts, “Why didn’t you call us, Cade? Michelle?”

  “It only happened a few minutes ago, and you know the reception on the mountain isn’t reliable. Besides, we were almost at the bottom and some lady behind us had the Ski Patrol up there before we knew it,” Cade explains while Michelle backs him up.

  “It really did happen very fast. They had already come to help him before we could do too much,” Michelle states as she looks over at her dad, who had been giving them disapproving looks.

  “It’s true, Mr. Daniels. I didn’t realize it was them until I got closer, but it really did happen pretty fast,” Mercedes tells everyone. Apparently satisfied with the explanations, Dad lets it drop and invites her and her parents to eat lunch with us, which her parents decline for their own afternoon plans.

  “Thank you, I’d love to join you for lunch. I’m starving.” Mercedes smiles at my dad as she takes the empty chair next to me. Why is her chair so close to mine? There is plenty of space where she is sitting to spread out some.

  We continue on through ordering lunch and talking about how everyone’s skiing has gone thus far. Halfway through the meal, Mercedes asks to use my phone so she can call her parents to check in. Apparently she left her phone in her locker at the ski shop. Her phone call reminds me that Xana is supposed to call before she goes to her grandparents’ house tonight. I really miss talking to her. Texting and short phone calls aren’t enough.

  After lunch, Michelle, Cade and I decide to head back home and take a nap. Sitting through lunch has made my body stiff from the crash and I’m not sure I can snowboard anymore today. Everyone else is going to ski for a few more hours before they head home.

  Somehow, we end up taking Mercedes home with us. Something about her parents coming over for dinner tonight or whatever. Honestly, the pain meds have kicked in and I don’t remember much of the conversation about that. I’m sure Cade and Michelle will tell me about it later. I get the feeling Michelle doesn’t like her either. What is it Xana and Stacy call her, Lay-Me-Lexus? Damn, that is pretty funny. I bet Michelle has other words to describe her, from the looks she’s making behind her back. Damn, I just need a nap.

  Back at home, we decide to watch a movie until everyone gets back from the mountain. Grandma has Mom and all the aunts are taking care of the desserts for tomorrow so that they don’t have to spend all day in the kitchen. That’s one thing she’s very adamant about. Christmas is for family and not cooking all day. I’m so tired that I don’t even argue when Michelle and Mercedes want to watch some chick flick. I think Cade just agreed to get them to shut up. The last thing I remember is sitting down on one end of the couch, waiting for Xana to call, and the movie starting.

  Once the movie is over, I head upstairs to take a shower. I haven’t heard from Xana yet, and I can’t wait to talk to her. She should have called me by now; it’s almost time for dinner. My nap and the pain meds have helped me feel a little better, and I am starving. Why am I always hungry when I’m at Grandma’s?

  Blain, Reece, and I are watching a movie over at their house when Stacy calls me after lunch to ask if I’ve talked to Noel yet today. She sounds worried and that makes me uneasy.

  “I tried calling him after lunch a few times, but he didn’t answer. I thought I’d wait until dinner to try again. Why? What’s wrong,” I ask her as I step into Blain’s hallway, not wanting to disturb the movie.

  “I just talked to Cade and apparently Noel had a little ski accident right before lunch. He said the Ski Patrol had to take him by snowmobile the rest of the way down the mountain.”

  “Is he alright, Stace?” I ask her, my concern growing with not being able to contact him already.

  “Cade says he’s fine, but that’s all I know. You should try calling him again. They should be off the mountain by now. Cade said some of them were coming back early from skiing.”

  “Okay, thanks, Stacy. I’ll call you later,” I tell her and we hang up the phone.

  As soon as I hang up I enter Noel’s cell phone number and try calling him again. There is no answer, so I try sending a text message in case he’s still up on the mountain. After fives minutes of waiting for a reply that never comes, I try calling him again.

  “Hello,” says a very sweet and familiar voice that answers Noel’s phone. I know that voice. It can’t be HER.

  “Hi,” I stumble out in response. “Is Noel there?” Maybe it’s one of his cousins or something?

  “Oh, I’m sorry, but he can’t come to the phone right now. He had an accident today and I can’t let anyone wake him up. But I can tell him you called,” the sticky sweet voice tells me. Mercedes. How the hell did she get Noel’s phone, and why can’t he answer it himself? Is he hurt too badly?

  “Tell him Xana called. And to whom am I speaking,” I ask quietly.

  “Oh, hiii, Xana. It’s Mercedes. I’ll be sure to tell him you called when I wake him up, but he may not feel like talking to you. Oh, I’d better go get his meds. Bye, Xana,” she tells me, not one ounce of regret in her voice. She loved blowing me off.

  What the heck was that?!

  By the time everyone is back from skiing, Mercedes’s parents are here and dinner is ready. I can smell the food all the way upstairs, making my stomach growl. Dinner was loud and plentiful, conversations flowing. By the time our friends leave it is late and all I want to do is go to bed. Tomorrow is going to be hectic with all of my younger cousins opening presents. As I make my way upstairs, Mom calls out that I have a phone call. I walk over to get the cordless phone from her, and find Cade on the other end of the phone.

  “Where the hell is your phone, man? Why did you turn it off? Dude, I think you should call Xana. Right now,” he tells me.

  “I didn’t turn my phone off. I haven’t used my phone all day. What do you mean I need to call her now? She was supposed to call me,” I tell him as I head into my room.

  “All I know is that I just talked to Stacy and she was pissed. At you. Something about Xana being upset and you being an asshole. What the hell, man? Where is your phone?” Cade almost yells at me. Stacy must have really laid one on him.

  I begin to dig through my board pants, looking in my front pocket, where my phone was supposed to be. “Well, shit! It’s not in my pants pocket. The last time I had it was before we started boarding this morning,” I frantically search through all of my board clothes, not finding my phone anywhere.

  “Oh, shit! No, you had it at lunch, remember? Mercedes asked to use it to call her parents. Didn’t she give it back to you? Exactly how hard did you hit your head,” Cade asks as I search the bedroom for my phone. Not finding it in my room, I head back downstairs to search the living room.

  “I didn’t find it in my clothes or in my room, and I don’t remember having when I
got home. Come to think of it, I don’t remember her giving it back to me. I remember her coming back to the table, but not much else. I guess those pain meds were kicking in more than I thought. Shit! What did she do with it?”

  “I don’t know man, but you’d better call Xana soon. I have a bad feeling about what’s going on with her. You know I’ve said Mercedes is bad news. This shit needs to be shut down,” Cade warns before we hang up. I have searched the whole downstairs, and no one has seen my phone. Michelle said Mercedes was on a cell phone once during the movie, but she assumed it was her own phone. Unfortunately, I have to get the number from Dad to call her about my phone. After a quick and irritating phone call, I find my phone with Mercedes, whose dad is bringing it right over. She supposedly forgot that she had it. I wait for him to bring it back before calling Xan. I don’t want to be interrupted while talking to her. I have a feeling I know what happened, but I want to check things out first.

  It doesn’t take long before Mr. Parker drops my phone by the house and I am able to check the call logs. Sure enough there are a few missed calls and texts from Xana. It looks like she called after we had gotten home and were watching a movie. Well, they watched a movie. There are a few calls right after that and several texts asking me to call her. They stopped before dinner, and sure enough, my phone was turned off when her dad brought it to me. It wasn’t dead, just turned off. I have to call Xana now. I don’t even have to ask what was said, because I have a pretty good idea what transpired. Why can’t that bitch leave us alone? I’ve done nothing to make her think she has a chance with me. Even when I took her to Homecoming we were with Cade and Stacy and there wasn’t one romantic thing that happened on my part. No holding hands, no kissing, no nothing. She’s already caused problems before, and I have no doubt she’s tried it again.

  “Hello,” Xana answers, rather bluntly. I can hear it in her voice that she’s been crying.

  “Hey, Xan. I’ve missed you.” I don’t know what else to say. I know she’s upset, but how do I explain things that were out of my control?

  “How are you feeling? I know you had an accident this afternoon. What happened, Noel?” she tries to hide the hurt and worry in her voice, but I can hear her voice shaking as she talks.

  “I’m feeling better now. I just had a bad tumble on the last part of the trail. Nothing was broken, so no damage done. I do feel like I got hit by a truck though,” I laugh lightly to try and ease her worry.

  “I’m sure you were well taken care of. Mercedes said they gave you some pain medication. Are you still hurting?” she asks. She’s upset about hearing it from Mercedes. I can’t even imagine how that looked when she answered. Why me?

  “I’m a little sore still, but I’ll be fine. Cade and Michelle were behind me on the trail, and some lady after them skied to the bottom of the trail and got help from the Ski Patrol. It happened so fast, really, and we were almost at the bottom of the trail. Apparently, Mercedes was there with her parents, too, and she came up behind us after I caught that edge. Her parents came up here after hearing my dad talk about Durango so much.”

  There’s an awkward silence between us. I feel like she’s afraid to ask me something, so I continue on explaining what happened.

  “She followed us to the restaurant where we were meeting everyone for lunch. My dad asked her to join us for lunch and she asked to use my phone to call her parents. Her phone was in her locker at the ski shop and she needed to check in with them. Honestly, I forgot she even had my phone. Those pain killers were starting to work pretty well, and by the time we got back to the house I was ready for a nap. Her, Cade and Michelle watched some movie while I passed out on the couch. I never even realized I didn’t even have my phone until thirty minutes ago when Cade called me here at the house. I’m sorry I missed your calls. I’ve been waiting all day to talk to you, Xan.” I hope she can hear the truth in my words.

  “I’ve been waiting all day to talk to you, too, Noel. I’m not gonna lie, I was really hurt that she answered your phone and told me what happened. I was shocked to hear her pick up my call. She made it sound like it was just the two of you there. Like she was taking care of you, and when you never called or texted back, I was hurt and worried about you.” Her voice is very soft and has little tremors in it. It hurts my heart to hear her like that.

  “We weren’t alone, Xan. I promise! We were…” I begin as she cuts me off.

  “I know. Blain told me that, too,” she answers, but I cut her off before she can finish.

  “Blain told you? What does that mean? Why were you with him?” I ask, my voice a little louder than before.

  “I was at his house watching a movie with him and Reece, if you must know. He encouraged me to give you a little time to call me back, so we finished the movie before I called Stacy to see if she had heard from you or Cade. When I told her about the phone call, she called Cade to see what was going on. He told her you were alright and said nothing happened.”

  “I’m sorry she did all of this. I don’t like you being upset,” I tell her, hoping she can hear how much I care for her.

  “It’s not your fault, Noel. I didn’t want to believe what she said, so that’s why I tried to call and text you, but you never answered.”

  “Apparently she kept my phone. Claims she didn’t know she still had it, but she somehow knew to turn it off. That’s why I had no clue you had tried to call. I am guessing you talked to her while we were watching that movie. I was passed out and Cade went to get some popcorn. Michelle said she saw her talking to someone on a phone, but she assumed it was her own phone. I checked the call logs, and that looks about right.”

  “Why does she keep doing this, Noel? She has to be crazy! Ugh, she’s really starting to piss me off,” Xana exclaims. I can’t blame her; I’m pissed off, too.

  “I know, baby. Just remember what I said before. It’s always you,” I reassure her.

  “I remember. Always,” she whispers and a shiver runs through me. She doesn’t realize how sexy she sounds when she talks like that. Damn, I’m too far away from her. I need to hold her.

  We talk for a few more minutes before we have to hang up. It’s getting very late, not to mention I’m still really sore, and my grandparents always have us up very early. It takes entirely too long to open presents when everyone is here. “Goodnight, Sweetness.”

  Exhausted, I climb into bed and think about everything that has happened today. Mercedes has to stop causing trouble, and Blain needs to be very careful with Xana. I just don’t trust either one of them right now. Hopefully, I’m worrying for nothing about Blain and Xana. At least, I’d better be.

  By the time we got home that Friday, Xana had already gone with Stacy to her aunt’s house in Texas for a couple of days after Christmas, so I didn’t get to see her. Cade and I have decided to keep busy at the gym and batting cages while they’re gone. Baseball practice would be starting soon, so we, along with some of the guys from the team, decided to get a jumpstart on training and getting in shape before Coach Thomas has a chance to yell at us for being sloths. It should keep us occupied until the girls come back from Houston.

  Cade and I talked to Xana and Stacy daily while we were in Colorado, but it just isn’t the same. Cade insists he’s glad to have a break from all of Stacy’s griping, but I know him better than that. He misses her more than he’s willing to admit. Even the guys know he’s lying about not missing her, and they aren’t afraid to tease him about it.

  It’s the Saturday before New Year’s Eve and Cade and I have joined Mark, Cole, Liam, and Kevin at The Dugout this afternoon for some batting practice. Fortunately, they have an inside batting area in addition to their outdoor facilities, because it is freezing and dreary outside today.

  “Dude, are you back in tee ball? Your aim sucks today,” Kevin teases Cade as he misses his fourth ball in a row. Cole, Liam, Mark, and I laugh as Cade flips him off and misses another ball.

  “Shut your hole, man. I’m just getting warmed up. Who
do you think you are, Babe Ruth?” Cade shoots back at him.

  “At least we have a better chance at that than you do right now. You’re the only one who has missed that many balls in a row,” Cole chimes in, slapping Liam on the shoulder. “Right, Liam?”

  “Yeah, if he could stop thinking about Stacy for ten minutes, he might actually hit the ball.” Kevin and Cole laugh at that, and I shake my head in amusement. Who knows how long they’re going to egg him on, so I stop them before it gets out of hand. We really need a good practice.

  “Oh, give it up,” I tell them. “You four have missed just as many balls as Cade at some point. Let’s split up into two groups and get this over with before it gets too late. They’re closing the cages up early today.” I raise my eyebrows at them and Kevin, Mark, and Cole head over to the vacant cage beside us, laughing the whole time.

  Cade has restarted the pitching machine, after stopping it when he missed his fifth ball. Liam and I stand to the side as Cade resumes his practice, hitting every ball pitched his way with force and accuracy.

  “Damn,” Liam says as he watches Cade hit ball after ball, “Looks like we might have another star batter to replace Diondre this season. You look like a baseball master over there, Cade. Have you been practicing without us, man?” Liam crosses his arms in front of him and gives Cade a pointed look.

  “You guys finally shut the hell up so I could concentrate on what I was doing. On the field chatter is quieter than you four Chatty Cathy’s,” Cade tells him after handing me the bat. He begins resetting the machine for my turn at bat and continues, “You guys are worse than Stacy when she goes off on one of her little tirades about something.”

  Liam laughs loudly at Cade’s mini rant. “Awe, Cade misses his itty bitty girlfriend, Noel. I think he needs a hug. What do you think? Does Cade need a hug to make it all better?” Liam asks in a pouty, patronizing voice. I shake my head at him as Cade tosses a stray ball back and forth in his hands, gradually moving closer to Liam with every toss of the ball. Kevin has somehow managed to enter our cage undetected and is standing behind Liam with a large cup of water raised in the air, ready to pour on top of Liam’s head. Cade keeps talking to Liam to keep him distracted, while Liam steps further back away from an advancing Cade.