“I’d want you there if I lost, too.” Madison looked at the dirt beneath her feet. “I’d want you there all the time.”
Elodie took Madison’s hands in her own, causing Madison to look up and meet her eyes.
“I’d be there,” Elodie told her.
“I shouldn’t have brought this up. I just keep making things worse for myself.”
Elodie let go of one of Madison’s hands and placed her own on Madison’s cheek, stroking her thumb over the skin, causing it to heat and turn red.
“You’re so beautiful, Maddie,” Elodie said so softly, Madison almost didn’t hear her.
Madison took a chance and placed her hands on Elodie’s waist, pulling her against her body.
“Why do you feel so good?” Madison asked.
“I don’t know.” Elodie laughed. “You do, too.”
“We need to stop. We should get back,” Madison said; her brain finally turned on and told her this was a terrible idea.
“We should.” Elodie leaned in. “I just want to kiss you, baby,” she said.
Madison pulled back.
“What?” Elodie asked. “Did I say–”
Madison’s heart pounded inside her chest. No one had called her ‘baby’ since Wiley. Elodie had called her ‘babe’ before, but not ‘baby.’ Madison closed her eyes, thinking of Wiley’s face, her voice, her hands, and then those images were replaced by images of the woman standing in front of her. Elodie’s face, her voice, and her hands that had just been in her own took over, and she opened her eyes.
“Wiley used to call you that, didn’t she?” Elodie asked. “Maddie, I’m sorry. I–”
Madison moved back into her, placed her hands on Elodie’s face, and pulled her into her. She kissed her hard. It took Elodie a moment, but she responded. Their lips moved against each other. Madison moaned at the relief of finally being able to kiss this woman after weeks and weeks of wanting. Elodie’s arms went around her waist. She pulled Madison into herself. Madison never wanted to let go. She never wanted to stop kissing Elodie Booker. God, she was kissing Elodie Booker; the Elodie Booker. Her panties went wet at the thought. She’d been turned on by this woman so many times before they even met, and now she was kissing her. The fantasies that had led to Madison touching herself were endless, but none of them compared to what it felt like to actually be kissing her.
“Maddie, are you okay?” Elodie asked when they finally pulled apart.
“Yeah. Why?”
“Babe, you’re crying,” Elodie replied, wiping tears from Madison’s cheek that she hadn’t realized were there.
“Oh, I didn’t mean to.” She tried to wipe them away herself, but Elodie took her hands and kissed the inside of her palms. “It’s just a lot.”
“It is, yeah,” Elodie replied.
“I swear, I don’t always cry after I kiss someone,” Madison said, trying to laugh away her embarrassment.
“Are they happy tears or sad tears?” Elodie asked.
“A little of both, I think,” Madison answered honestly. “What does this mean? You said you didn’t want this.”
“No, I didn’t.” Elodie pressed their foreheads together. “I never said I didn’t want this, Maddie. I said I shouldn’t want it; that we shouldn’t do this.”
“The end result is the same,” Madison said.
“Maybe, but there’s a big difference between the two.” She kissed Madison’s forehead. “I absolutely want this. I’ve tried not to want it, but I do.”
“What does it mean?”
“It means we should get back so you can win this event, and then we should look forward to the next tournament. It’s a big one,” Elodie replied.
“I don’t care about the tournaments right now, El. I want to know about us.” Madison tugged on the hem of Elodie’s shirt.
“Win. Then, we’ll talk, okay?”
“And if I lose?” she asked.
“I don’t kiss losers, Maddie.” Elodie winked at her.
“Don’t give me that sexy wink and tell me I can’t kiss you until after I win. That’s not fair.”
“You can hold my hand while we walk back. Is that a good enough compromise?”
“For now,” Madison said, smiling.
◆◆◆
Madison lined up her shot. She fired. She heard it hit the target the second after she lowered her bow, and she smiled. It took everything in her not to turn around and kiss Elodie, but that would be unprofessional and inappropriate.
“Good game,” her competitor said, giving her the requisite handshake.
“You too,” Madison replied.
Then, she turned to Elodie, who was smiling widely. Madison took the few steps toward her, set her bow down, and hugged her.
“Seven straight tens. Nice,” Elodie said into her ear.
“Dinner tonight?”
“What?” Elodie asked, chuckling against her neck.
“I want us to go out to dinner tonight. A date, El. I’m asking you out on a date. Say yes.”
“Elodie Booker,” a male voice from beside them interrupted. “I haven’t seen you in years. How are you? How have you been?”
“Klaus, it’s nice to see you,” Elodie said, pulling out of the hug and hugging the man Madison didn’t know instead.
“Where have you been?” he asked.
“I left the sport for a while,” she replied, sliding a little closer to Madison. Then, Elodie’s hand was on the small of Madison’s back. “This is Madison Fletcher.”
“I know. I just watched you win. Congrats, kid,” he said.
“Thanks,” Madison replied even though she didn’t like to be called ‘kid’ with Elodie standing right next to her.
“I’m coaching now,” Elodie said. “Madison’s mine.”
Madison lifted an eyebrow and almost said some smart‑ass comment, but Elodie’s hand tugged on her belt loop, indicating that that wasn’t wise. She smirked instead.
“Coaching? Why? You’re way too young to be coaching.”
Now, Madison wanted to punch the guy.
“It’s what I want,” Elodie said, dropping her hand from Madison’s back.
“Well, all right. Look, are you leaving now or staying for a bit? I have Jack and Robin over there. They’d love to catch up with you.”
“Oh, I–” Elodie looked at Madison before finishing.
“It’s okay,” Madison said, knowing how disappointed she likely sounded. “Go. Catch up. I’ll be fine.”
“If you’re coaching now, Robin’s starting a new program up, like the academy. You should talk to her. There might be a spot for you.”
“I’m not looking for another job,” Elodie said.
“She already has one,” Madison added because she couldn’t stop herself.
“Let’s talk anyway, though. There are a lot of opportunities opening up for people in this sport,” he said, placing a hand on Elodie’s elbow.
“Maddie, I’ll–”
“Go,” Madison said with a smile. “I’ll have a quiet night in and eat a salad.” She smiled at her. “We can talk later.”
Elodie mouthed, ‘I’m sorry’ to her as Klaus pulled her along to meet up with some old friends.
Madison tried not to be disappointed. She wanted Elodie to get back at least some of what she’d lost when Rod died, but she didn’t want it to be tonight. Tonight, she wanted Elodie to share a meal with her. She wanted them to share a room tonight, too. She didn’t know about sex. They’d only kissed, and Madison had only ever been with one person. She did know that the kiss they’d shared had been amazing, and she wanted to do that again and again.
A few hours later, after she’d finished her lame salad and watched a couple of episodes of Orange Is the New Black on her laptop, Madison thought about taking a shower and going to bed. Then, she heard a knock at the door. She smiled, looked skyward, thanking God, and walked to the door. She opened it a second later and smiled wider at Elodie Booker standing there, looking adorable.
<
br /> “Hey, stranger,” Madison said, leaning against the door.
“Hey, Maddie,” Elodie replied in a tone that told Madison they would not be making out tonight.
CHAPTER 22
“What happened?” Madison asked.
“Nothing happened. What do you mean? Can I come in?”
“No,” Madison said, shaking her head.
“What? Maddie, what’s going on?”
“You’re here to tell me this can’t happen, aren’t you?”
Elodie’s face fell, and she said, “That’s not what I was going to say.”
Madison squinted at her.
“Fine. It’s what I was going to say, but, Maddie, let me come inside. I don’t want to talk about this in the hallway, and we need to talk about it.”
“We kissed. You kissed me back, El. It’s not just me.”
“I did, and I wanted to. I still want to, but right now, you have a chance, Maddie. I was talking to Klaus and Robin, and they both think you have a big chance of making the Olympic team and maybe even bringing home a medal. Do you have any idea how hard that is? Most people try two or three cycles to even make alternate, and you could make the team this cycle. You’re on your way, and I don’t want to mess anything up. I won’t mess that up for you.”
“You’re messing it up now, El.” Madison’s eyes welled up with tears, and Elodie wanted to stop them from falling. “Just go.”
“Madison, you know I want this, but I’m trying to look out for you.”
“I don’t need you to do that. I didn’t need you to come to my door tonight as my coach. I don’t need you to look out for me.”
“Yes, you do, because I’m your coach. That’s exactly what I’m supposed to be doing.”
“And if I fire you?” Madison asked, standing upright.
“Maddie…”
“What? If I do that, does that solve the problem?”
“No, because you’d still be mad at me right now.”
“That’s definitely true,” Madison replied.
“I’m going to go to my room and pack. We’re driving back early tomorrow. We should talk on the drive, okay?”
“No, we really shouldn’t,” Madison said and slammed the door in her face.
“Real mature, Madison.”
Madison opened the door, startling Elodie, and said, “You’re lecturing me on maturity? You like me, Elodie. You really fucking like me. You like me so much that you let me feel you up the other day on the sofa. You let me kiss your neck and run my fingertips over your skin. You like me so much that you tried to kiss me today, and when I kissed you, you kissed me back. Don’t think I didn’t feel those greedy hands running up under my shirt and pulling me into you. If I didn’t have the final round to compete in, you and I would have done a lot more than kiss out there.”
“Don’t you get what a bad idea this is?” Elodie asked, trying to reason with her.
“Don’t you get that I’d choose you?” Madison asked back. “I’d choose you over all of this, and that’s the biggest thing in the world to me. I’ve never put anything over archery. I never even planned to. I’d pick you over all of this,” Madison repeated and motioned with her hand to the space around them. “Good night, Elodie.”
◆◆◆
“Can you call the room again?” Elodie asked.
“Ma’am, I told you, she completed the automatic checkout at six this morning. Maid service is being done in the room right now. Maybe you can call her cell phone,” the front desk clerk suggested.
“Yeah, thanks.”
Elodie had called Madison’s phone. She had called it eleven times to be exact, and she had sent fourteen unanswered text messages. She took a step back from the counter to let someone else talk to the woman and felt a vibration from her jacket pocket. She pulled out her phone and stared at the screen in disbelief. She read the message to herself. Madison had left already. She had flown back instead.
“Use the time alone to think about what you really want,” Elodie read the rest of Madison’s message out loud. “Fuck.”
◆◆◆
Madison surely got her wish. Elodie couldn’t think of anything else the entire drive back to the house. Kissing Madison had been one of the best moments of her life, and she had won a gold medal and about a hundred other accolades. She should have stopped herself. She should have stopped Madison when she leaned in and pulled Elodie to her. She should have stopped this whole thing from the very start, but she hadn’t because it felt so good having someone like Madison in her life. It felt good having archery back, too.
When she’d left Madison to talk to Klaus, Jack, and Robin, it had been with the intent of catching up for a few minutes. Then, she’d find Madison, and they could talk. Instead, they had caught up for the first minute or two. Klaus asked about Madison: where she’d found her, how long she had been in the game, and what her plans were. Robin offered Elodie a job and Madison a position in her new program called, ‘Archery Olympic Prep.’ Jack asked if Madison had any sponsors lined up and expressed an interest in the sporting goods store he worked for being her primary.
Everything was looking up for Madison, and while Elodie wasn’t sure she wanted to be a coach full-time and give up law, things were looking up for her, too. She knew what it meant to work hard for that trip to the games and for that medal. She knew that it meant athletes made sacrifices. She knew Madison had a real shot at making it this round and not having to wait another four years. She knew Madison had to focus on archery only and that Elodie had already become a distraction for her. For it to work, Elodie had to remove the complication of their relationship. They had to go back to being coach and student. She also knew there was another option entirely. Elodie could step down as Madison’s coach, and Madison would find another one immediately after her amazing showing this weekend.
Elodie was nearly in tears at the thought of letting Madison go. She knew how selfish she was being, trying to keep Madison close but not giving in to what Madison clearly wanted; and if Elodie was being honest with herself, what she clearly wanted, too. Madison’s lips were a perfect match for her own. Her body fit Elodie’s like a glove, and they hadn’t even done anything more than embrace. Elodie had spent five hours in the car, and she already missed Madison. How could she stop being her coach, watch Madison walk away, and then see her on the TV, winning a medal, hugging a different coach and, likely, hugging someone else, too; a girlfriend or a fiancée, or even a wife one day? Then again, how could Elodie stand there as Madison’s coach, hug her, and then watch Madison hug that wife and even those kids she wanted one day? Elodie wasn’t sure which scenario was worse.
◆◆◆
“Can we talk?” Elodie asked.
“About what?” Madison asked back as she let an arrow fly.
“You just left, Maddie. You didn’t tell me you were going. I called. I–”
“I texted you.”
“Eventually,” Elodie said, crossing her arms over her chest.
Madison picked up another arrow and said, “I didn’t want to ride back with you. I needed some time to myself.”
“I get that,” Elodie replied.
“Do you get anything else?” She let another arrow go.
“Madison, you not only won that tournament; you smoked every single competitor there. You had the highest total score of every single competitor; male or female. Do you know how rare that is?”
“Yes, that’s what I’ve been telling you.” Madison let another arrow go. “I’m good, Elodie. I am very good. I might never be Elodie Booker, but I’m a great archer.” She inhaled and exhaled deeply. “I don’t say that because I have a big ego. I say it because it’s true.”
“I know. I just want–”
“I chose you, El.” Madison lowered her bow and looked at Elodie. “I chose you because I wanted you to make me even better. I wanted to be trained by the best.”
“I am training you.”
“Not this week,” Madison replied.<
br />
“What do you mean?”
“I mean, I’m going back to campus. Larry has an apartment there. I’m going to stay with him, and Candace is hanging out with us. I just need some time away from all of this.”
“You won points this weekend, Madison. If you win next weekend, you’ll win points there, too. You won’t have to wait for the trials to qualify if you keep going at this rate.”
“Didn’t you once tell me that I didn’t have to go to any tournaments and only show up to the trials, and I could make it?”
“Yes, but why wait for the last possible way in, if you can do it earlier and know you’re going?” Elodie replied.
“What happened with those people?” Madison walked toward her. “We kissed, and we made plans to talk. I asked you out. And, yeah, we were interrupted, but something happened, El. What was it?”
“Robin offered you a slot in her new program. It’s like the academy, but it’s in Colorado Springs where most of the Olympic training programs are. She has the full backing from the USOPC. Jack offered you a sponsorship, and he said he had a couple of other companies that he knew of that would want to sponsor you, too.”
“So?”
“So, it’s what you should do, Maddie. You should go.”
“You don’t want to be my coach anymore, either?” Madison asked.
Elodie pushed the tears that had formed in her eyes back down and said, “I do, but I can’t. It’s not fair to you.”
“Because I can’t have everything I want?”
Elodie nodded and said, “I think this week is good. You should go spend time with your friends. I’ll do the next tournament with you, since it’s too late for you to find anyone else, and then you can decide what you want from there. Robin’s new program sounds amazing. She won two golds and a silver herself and actually stayed in the sport for the next decade coaching, so she’s a much better fit for you than I am right now.” She choked back the tears. “I should get back to my practice and–”
“Give up again?” Madison said softly. “You had five hours in the car, and that’s what you came up with? That’s what you want?”
“You deserve better than me, Madison.”
A Shot at Gold Page 15