by R.S. Grey
What about coaches, I thought before I could help myself.
Lexi nodded before Rosie could even get a word in. “We’ll be there.”
“Uh, not me,” June corrected with a finger pointed in the air.
“Right.” Lexi rolled her eyes. “Everyone but Miss Priss will be there.”
I nearly raised my hand to join June. I didn’t really feel up for a party, especially if Erik wasn’t going to be there. I needed some time to process the last twenty-four hours, and heading to a party with a bunch of rowdy athletes wasn’t really going to help with that. I kept quiet though; I could always bow out after Hudson and his teammates left.
Hudson smiled down at Rosie. “Okay, awesome. Good luck today. I can’t wait to hear about the competition later.”
“Oh-h. Yeah. Okay,” Rosie stuttered, too infatuated to think of a real response.
Hudson and his teammates waved and walked away, leaving Rosie to revel in excitement.
“Oh my god. Oh my god. YOU GUYS.”
Molly and I exchanged a smile.
“I won’t even be able to concentrate today!”
June scoffed. “You better be able to.”
Molly rolled her eyes at June’s bluntness and then reached forward for Rosie’s hand. “I’m excited for you.”
“What should I wear?” she said, turning her spoon through her oatmeal, though I knew she probably wouldn’t eat much more of it. Even I had butterflies in my stomach after that exchange…or maybe they were fluttering around because, oh yeah, I’M IN LOVE WITH MY COACH.
Lexi smirked. “I have something perfect for you to wear.”
At once, Molly and I leaned forward. “No!”
“What?! I was just going to give her a dress.”
“How short is it?” I asked with a hard stare.
She shrugged. “It’s not that short.”
My eyes narrowed.
She hesitated. “Fine…it’s technically a tube top.”
“Don’t worry, you can borrow something from me or Molly,” I said to Rosie with a wink.
“Fine. I’ll wear the dress then,” Lexi said. “But grab a banana before we leave. We really should show her how to give a proper blowjob before tonight.”
“LEXI!”
“I was kidding.” She laughed, waving us away before eyeballing the fruit stand. “Mostly.”
As we rode the shuttle from the village to the arena, I let thoughts of Erik settle into the front of my mind. It truly was an inconvenient time to fall in love. I was about to compete in team finals and I couldn’t tell if the butterflies in my stomach were from the competition or from the fact that I was about to see Erik.
The stands inside the arena were completely full, but it was the television cameras set up around the room that gave me real pause. As we walked out of the tunnel onto the main floor, I swallowed past the lump in my throat. I’d competed with cameras on me before, but this was on a whole other level. NBC had set up a large announcer desk on the arena floor with multiple cameras angled around it.
“Is that Erik?” Lexi asked, pointing over to the desk.
I nodded. He was perched behind the desk with Valerie, Great Britain’s team coach, and an NBC anchor. It looked like they were in the middle of an interview, smiling at one another like they were old friends.
Even as I tried to resist, I scanned over him from afar. The Rio sun had given him a slight tan since we’d arrived, making it nearly impossible to ignore his chiseled features. The announcer asked him another question and I watched him smile, a slow, rolling grin that showed off his straight teeth and one isolated dimple.
He replied and Valerie laughed, leaning over to touch his shoulder. My stomach rolled.
“Relax,” Lexi said, forcing me to loosen my fists. I hadn’t realized I’d been clenching them until her fingers laced through mine. “They won’t make us do any interviews.”
Of course she assumed I was stressed about the cameras, not the man sitting in front of them.
“Right. Whatever. It doesn’t matter.”
Still, I turned to watch him finish the interview, telling myself it didn’t matter if he liked Valerie. Erik was free to do whatever he wanted. We had never set up any rules. We weren’t in a relationship and we weren’t friends with benefits. Hell, we weren’t even friends. If he wanted to laugh with Valerie on television, he could be my fucking guest.
I shook my head and turned away, following the team over to where we had set up shop two days before during qualifications. We dropped our bags and started pulling out things we’d need for competition: water, grips, tape, and pre-wrap. I forced myself to focus on the little things: taking sips of water and rolling out my muscles. I mentally rehashed my practice from the day before and tried to ignore the crowd around me.
For the opening ceremonies, they lined up all the gymnasts by country and the announcers droned on about competition and international ties. I zoned out as they led us through introductions. One by one, they announced each country. As a group, the gymnasts stepped forward, waved, and then fell back in line.
I tried to keep my nerves at bay, telling myself I still had a while before competition would start, but after they introduced the United States, time started speeding by. They wrapped up the introductions and ushered us to our first event. The butterflies in my stomach were rioting. I pressed a palm against my abs, trying to calm the tension, but it didn’t help.
Our first rotation was beam, so after we went through the opening ceremonies, we stripped off our warm-ups and started practicing for the event. I watched Molly hop up first, starting with easy skills before she worked up to her tumbling passes. She nailed each of them, so lost in her own world; I envied her. I turned back to my warm-up area and smoothed the sole of my foot over the white strip on the ground that was the same length and width of the beam. I started on one end of the tape and practiced my skills on the floor, happy when I finished and found my feet still centered on the white tape.
“Looking good, B-dub,” Lexi called with a wink.
I shot her a small smile and then it was my turn to take the beam. Erik was there, standing a few feet away and watching me with crossed arms. God, he is good-looking up close.
“Hop up,” he said when I hadn’t made a move to take the beam.
I shook away my thoughts, trying to pretend his presence no longer had an effect on me. It was no use though; the last time I’d been on a beam he’d been making love to me.
Oh my god. I blushed from head to toe as if everyone around me could hear my thoughts.
“Focus on the beam,” he said with a commanding tone. “Nothing else.”
Right.
Easier said than done.
Chapter Thirty-Three
Brie
“WE’RE WORLD CHAMPIONS!”
“Lexi, you’re going to burst my eardrums,” I said, holding my hands over my ears.
“Like I care?!”
“We’re all excited,” Rosie said with a small smile, trying to contain her excitement.
It was no use.
We’d won gold for Team USA earlier that afternoon and the moment the gold medals had been placed around our necks, Lexi’s ability to attenuate the volume of her own voice disappeared. She could only scream and shout, too excited to register that the elevator was small and we all wanted to punch her.
“You’re not actually wearing that to the party, are you?” Molly said, pointing to Lexi’s chest.
She still had her gold medal wrapped around her neck. It was huge and heavy, weighing down the material on her skimpy black dress, but she looked quite content with it in place. “Absolutely! I’m always looking for more accessories, and nothing goes with black quite like gold.”
We were in the elevator on the way to Hudson’s party after the longest day of my life. I wanted nothing more than to fall into my bed and sleep, but they’d insisted I join them at the party. I feigned fatigue, insisting I needed sleep, but they didn’t believe that excuse for a second.
I needed to see him.
All day, he’d been there, coaching from the sidelines, happy when we were happy, there to give me guidance whenever my nerves got to be too much. When we’d stood on the podium during the medal ceremony, he’d stood watching from the sidelines, as proud as ever. He’d been there, but other than a quick hug after I’d nailed my floor routine, he hadn’t touched me. It was an intentional distance. I knew he couldn’t treat me special in public, but that didn’t mean I stopped craving it.
After the applause, the pictures, the flowers, the anthem, and the tears, we stepped off the podium for even more photos. It was a never-ending process that bled into the evening and by the time we were done, Erik was gone. I’d seen him out of the corner of my eye, getting interviewed by NBC about the success of the team, but somewhere in the madness, he’d slipped out of the arena before us.
“Don’t you think it’s weird that Erik didn’t stay to head back to the village with us?” I asked as the elevator doors slid open on the fourteenth floor of our athlete complex.
Molly shrugged. “No. He probably just took the shuttle back before us.”
“He’s probably celebrating with the other coaches or something,” Lexi said.
I scowled. “Do you really think he is?”
The thought of him out with Valerie made my chest ache.
“Why do you care? You look seriously hot in that blue dress. You’re a fucking Olympic champion, and tonight, we’re going to get laid.”
Molly and Rosie shook their heads.
“Uh, I’m waiting for Duncan,” Molly said. “Remember?”
Rosie nodded. “Yeah, and I hardly even know Hudson.”
Lexi groaned. “Bores, all of you! Don’t you want to make memories now that will last a lifetime?”
Molly laughed. “I think herpes lasts a lifetime too.”
I fingered my phone in my clutch, trying to decide whether or not to text Erik. He could have contacted me, sent me a congratulatory text or something. Why hadn’t he?
“Put your phone away and get ready to party,” Lexi said, swinging her arm around my shoulders.
I forced a smile as she pushed me down the hallway after Molly and Rosie. They were counting down the condo numbers, but there was no need. The entire floor was quiet except for one condo at the far end of the hallway. Athletes trickled in and out, their voices drowned out by the loud music playing inside.
“I’m going to take a wild guess and say that’s where the party is,” Lexi said, pointing to the two drunken athletes falling to the ground outside the door.
We stepped around them as we approached.
“Should we call someone?” Rosie asked, glancing down with concern.
The two guys were rolling on their backs, laughing hysterically.
“They look fine to me,” Molly said, stepping over them.
Hudson had promised a small party, but the scene we walked into reminded me of the frat parties I’d seen in the movies. It wasn’t just the soccer and swim teams; there had to be over a hundred people crammed into the living room and kitchen, spilling out onto the balcony and surrounding bedrooms.
“Oh god,” Molly groaned. “This is going to be…”
“AMAZING,” Lexi finished, waving down a guy passing around drinks on a tray.
“What’s in these?”
He grinned, assessing Lexi with a long glance down her legs before landing back up on her medal.
“This crap isn’t for you baby, I’ll get you the good stuff.”
Gag me.
I pushed her past him, waving away a drink.
“Don’t accept a drink from a stranger. Even if these people are athletes, that doesn’t make them angels.”
No. One quick glance around the room—over the guys playing beer bong, the couples on the dance floor, the group taking shots near the kitchen, and the squeals coming from the bedrooms—showed we definitely weren’t among angels.
“Rosie!”
A loud voice boomed over the crowd and we turned to see Hudson pushing his way through to get to us.
“You made it.” He beamed, glancing over us quickly before landing back on Rosie.
The boy is infatuated.
Rosie offered him a small wave and he stepped forward, bending low to place a quick kiss on her cheek. The gesture nearly burst my heart open. He was confident enough to lean forward and kiss her in front of all of us. He wasn’t playing games with her. He liked her, he invited her to a party, and now he was about to spend the next few hours getting to know her. The simplicity of it nearly made my head spin.
What would it be like to walk into a party and have Erik seek me out, bend low, and kiss me in front of everybody? The idea nearly made me laugh. It was based 100% in delusion.
“Do you want to dance?” he asked, tilting his head toward the dance floor.
A new song had just started to play and I strained my ears to hear it over the crowd—“Ride” by Twenty One Pilots.
“I love this song,” I said, offering Rosie an encouraging smile.
She nodded, he took her hand, and they were off.
“Our little Rosie is growing up!” Lexi said, wiping a fake tear from her cheek.
I laughed and shook my head, watching as Hudson and Rosie took the dance floor. It took me a few seconds to realize how jealous of her I was. I wanted Erik to take me out onto the dance floor and smile down at me like Hudson was smiling at her. I wanted Erik’s attention on me, not because he was trying to assess my next move, but because he couldn’t look away.
From the first day I’d met Erik, we’d been at war. If we weren’t throwing knives, we were falling into each other’s arms. I knew we’d never have that simple kind of love, the kind of choreographed affection Noah had bored me with. Erik and I were too much alike in our volatility. We’d drive each other insane on a daily basis. The bickering, the fighting, the day-to-day battles would never disappear, but we could call a truce on the war we were waging. One of us could surrender, lay down our arms, and admit that this thing between us wasn’t just for fun and wasn’t supposed to end after Rio.
“Brie, you want a drink?” Lexi asked, tugging on my arm to get my attention.
I shook my head and waved her off.
I’d known from the beginning I was physically attracted to Erik—there wasn’t a woman alive who wouldn’t find him physically attractive—but it was more than that. I enjoyed sparring with him. I knew to keep my enemy close, but I didn’t know I’d end up enjoying his company and his time. When we weren’t together, I was thinking about him. When we were together, I was focused on him. In the month and a half I’d known him, he’d taken root inside of me so deeply I couldn’t see past the idea of us.
I pulled my phone out of my purse and scrolled through the contacts.
“Hey.” A male voice caught my attention.
I glanced up and locked eyes with Owen, the soccer player I’d met at the seven deadly sins club.
I had my phone gripped in my hand, my thumb hovering over Erik’s name, ready to hit call.
“Are you here with friends?” he asked, scanning around me.
Molly and Lexi had wandered off to find drinks and Rosie was still on the dance floor. I looked lost standing there alone.
I pointed to Rosie with Hudson. “Yeah, they’ve just abandoned me.” I laughed.
He nodded and smiled, running a hand over his short blond hair.
“Lucky for me then.”
My spine stiffened as he ran his gaze down my legs. I tugged at the hem of my dress and offered a tight smile. “Right.”
“You wanna dance?” he asked, angling his head back to center of the room.
“Actually, Owen, you’re really nice, and I don’t want to lead you on. I’m kind of seeing someone.”
His brow arched.
“Really? Is he invisible? Because I don’t see him here.”
My stomach rolled. “Yeah, well…”
“That kid who was in the club the other day?”
Who? Oh, Noah.
“No,” I said, taking a step back.
His smile twisted into something sinister.
“Well whoever he is, he probably isn’t keeping you happy if you’re coming to a party alone looking like that…” He stepped closer and ran his hand down my arm, eliciting goose bumps I tried to cover with my hand.
I shook my head, ready to shove him away from me, but then I caught sight of Lexi and Molly behind him.
“Guys!” I said with obvious distress. “There you are!”
His hand dropped from my arm and he twisted around to take in my two friends. Lexi nodded in greeting, but I shook my head. “Owen was actually just leaving.”
Molly frowned, confused.
“Good seeing you again,” I said with a fake smile, all but pushing him away from the group.
He snorted and turned away, knowing he wouldn’t get anywhere.
“He was cute,” Molly said, watching him walk away.
I scrunched my nose. “Not one of the good ones. Believe me.”
“Are you sure you don’t want a sip?” Lexi said, holding her drink out to me. We had a day off before individual all-around finals, but I still wasn’t in the mood. I needed to call Erik and I wanted my full mental faculties for our conversation.
“Actually, I’m going to head to the bathroom. I’ll be back in a second.”
I sidled through the party, careful to keep watch of Owen. He was on the other side of the room by the time I slipped into the bathroom, locked the door, and called Erik.
It rang four times before he picked up.
“Brie?”
His deep voice sent a shiver down my spine.
“Where are you?” I asked, glancing up at my reflection in the mirror. My eyes were dilated. My cheeks were flushed. I spun away and stared at the wall, waiting for him to answer.
“At my condo—”
“Could you come pick me up? I want to talk to you.”
“Can it wait six days?”
In six days, the Olympics will be over.
I crossed my arm over my chest, protecting myself from him. “No. I think we should talk now.”