Stepbrother WHOA! (The Stepbrother Romance Series #5) Read Online Free PDF

close to Jaxon and we both got into joking with everyone else,
making bets about who would get injured that day—there was always someone at
these tournaments—and who would be the standout in each division. There were rumors
about some of the bigger names in the extreme sports community who might be
coming out for the tournament—obviously none of the pros would be there, since
they had bigger fish to fry, but there were some up-and-comers who would
probably be right up against us.
    The coaches lectured us as we got closer to the
mountain where the tournament was going to be happening. “All right, you guys
have all been doing really well in practices since the last meet, and you all
did pretty well at that tournament, but it bears repeating: no tricks you don’t
already know you can do. I know it’s a temptation—I totally get it. But landing
a trick cleanly is better than wowing the judges and breaking a leg.” We all
laughed and I knew that Jaxon for one was going to more or less completely
ignore the advice.
    I was feeling more confident than ever. The tweaks
and the tricks that Jaxon had given me were already starting to show promise;
even if I’d felt defensive when he’d started critiquing my style and my action
on the slopes, it was easy to see that he was right. And I had to admit that
being defensive when someone who’d been on a board longer than me, who was
better than me objectively, was silly. I was just glad that I hadn’t let my
cockiness and defensiveness get between me and what Jaxon wanted to teach me.
    The bus ride was long; the site for the meet was
farther away from the campus than the first one had been, and we’d even
discussed heading up the night before just so we wouldn’t have to make the trek
early in the morning; but we couldn’t pool together enough money to get
everyone into a hotel, and we damn sure weren’t going to all sleep on the bus.
    Everyone was buzzing with caffeine and adrenaline by
the time we got to the tournament. I was practically ready to jump out of my
seat, full of sugar and coffee and chocolate from the ride. One thing for sure:
between the snacks one of the members of the team had made and the food and
drinks available at the tournament no one had any real excuse to go hungry.
    It was obvious from the moment we all stepped off of
the bus that this was a much bigger tournament. There were journalists from all
the major magazines and channels that covered snowboarding, there were tons
more people, and we found out within a few minutes that we’d be up against a
lot more competitors. Just like in the first tournament, there was a slopestyle section, a big air section, and a half-pipe
competition, and we were all signed up for all three—except for one or two of
us who were specializing. We all wanted as many points as we could possibly get
for the team, so that we would have a chance later on in the season of getting
to the big final tournaments, where there would be serious competition and even
some pros on the docket.
    We wandered around, gearing up and checking out the
different merch stalls, getting our nerves under
control. We would all get a few practice runs on the slopes, on the half pipe
and the big air courses before the competition got underway. I watched Jaxon do
his practice run and cheered him on, getting more and more excited about the
day.
    When I went down on my practice runs, I got a feel
for the conditions; it was a little firmer than I was used to, but it would be
easy to get my rhythm. I was more confident than ever—I tried some of the
tricks that Jaxon taught me on my practice go- throughs ,
and the tweaks to my tricks and aerials were starting to settle into habits.
    Even better than the fact that I was a stronger
boarder than ever, I was excited by the fact that I at least wouldn’t be driven
to distraction by Jaxon’s presence. I could cheer him on, I could enjoy
watching him, and I could go about my performances without obsessing