My girlfriend Kylie had planned a long weekend away for us with her best friend Jenna and Jenna's boyfriend Lamar.
I'd been working a lot and Kylie had been busy with school so we were excited to have some time away to relax.
Lamar came from a wealthy family and invited us all to his family's cabin in the mountains. I would be a few days of hitting the slopes and chilling by a fire in the evenings.
The plan was for Lamar and me to drive his new Range Rover to the cabin to be left there, while the girls took a flight in to meet us. Then on Monday, we'd all fly home together.
My name's Brandon. I'd just turned 21 and was excited about a weekend of drinking and skiing.
I'm a short guy, only 5'5", kinda petite but toned. I'm not what you'd consider a typical macho guy. I can't grow a beard and don't have much body hair at all. The only hair I could grow was on my head, so I've always kept my reddish-brown hair long, down to about my shoulder blades.
My girlfriend is amazing and I can't believe I charmed a girl as incredible as she is. She's an absolute dime piece. Long brunette hair, hazel eyes, and a ridiculous body. We went to the gym together all the time and it showed with her. It was like she had flawless genetics and all the time she spent training gave her an earned chiselled physique. Kylie's only 5'2", so being with her was the only time I felt tall. She always said she preferred guys like me so I felt like I was all the man I needed to be.
I had only met her best friend's boyfriend Lamar a couple of times, but we had gotten along well. It was a 6-hour drive so we would have plenty of time to get to know each other better.
Lamar was the polar opposite of me. A 6'4" 24-year-old, muscular black man that had played Division 1 football. He was almost pure muscle.
The morning of the trip, we arrived at Lamar's house just after 7 am. Kylie and I started loading our bags into Lamar's beautiful new SUV we'd be road-tripping in.
Before we finished loading, Lamar called me over to show me some of the cool features the car had. Kylie said she'd finish loading the last couple of bags so I could go check it out.
"If you've forgotten anything just let me know, I can grab it before our flight tonight ok?" Kylie said to me
"Sounds good, thanks, sweetheart," I replied
"Have a safe drive, love you lots!"
"Have a safe flight, love you too babe!"
We had said our goodbyes to the girls and were on our way at about 7:30 am.
Though we didn't know each other w
Chapter 1: A Different Kind of Heat
The cabin groaned, a deep, woody complaint that vibrated up through the floorboards. Brandon heard it over the crackle of the fire. He clutched his mug of cocoa tighter, the ceramic hot against his palms, and stared into the flames. Outside, the last of the twilight was being devoured by a deep, pine-scented dark, and another wolf’s howl—closer this time—sliced through the silence.
“Jittery?”
Brandon jumped. Lamar’s voice was a low drumroll from the doorway of the kitchen, barely audible over the fire’s roar. He hadn’t heard him move.
“Just cold,” Brandon said, not turning around. He could feel Lamar’s presence anyway, a shift in the air pressure of the room.
The floorboards creaked under his weight. Slow, deliberate steps. Brandon watched the firelight stretch Lamar’s shadow first, a monstrous distortion crawling up the log wall, before the man himself came into view.
He’d changed. Gone was the ski sweater from earlier. He wore just a tight black t-shirt and sweatpants, the fabric straining over the dense, carved muscle of his shoulders and thighs. A former athlete’s body, maintained with obsessive clarity. He stopped behind the oversized leather armchair Brandon was curled in, close enough that Brandon could feel the heat radiating from him, a different kind of heat than the fire’s.
“Jenna always said you ran cold.” Lamar’s hand came to rest on the high back of the chair, his fingers drumming once. “Little brother.”