by Aimi Myles
“Thanks,” she said and dabbed her eyes as she sniffed. Seeing those tears work so hard to try and come out, tears that I caused, hurt me. It had always been my job to protect her.
“I’m so sorry Maureen,” I said. “Meeting you that day was one of the best things that ever happened to me. I’m sorry I blamed you for my fears, and I’ll never do that again.”
Mauri nodded and sniffled. “I didn’t come here to cry.”
“You’re too hard on yourself.”
“Maybe.” Her voice was broken with sadness.
I shifted myself to land next to her. I hesitated then rubbed her back. Expecting Mauri to be Mauri, I was ready for her to chop my hand away. She gave me a face that said what in the world are you doing? If you don’t be a man right now… I took her into my arms and laid her head on my chest. She didn’t push back. She didn’t embrace me either. For once I realized it felt really good to have her close to my heart.
We didn’t say much the rest of the day, but I let her have the bed and she spent the night over. When I went to my couch, she told me I was too tall to be sleeping on it again and made me sleep on my side.
The next day, I had the TV on in the living room area. She had eaten the breakfast that I cooked for her and sat next to me on the couch.
After a long while she said, “You really believe that? What you said yesterday.”
“I don’t believe it; I know it,” I said and turned all of my attention to her. I wrapped her back up in my arms and was thrown off because she didn’t resist me. Again, she laid her head on my chest.
“Humph,” Mauri said.
“What?”
“It’s accurate.”
“One hundred percent?”
“I’ll give it a one percent margin of error, but really Kaz. One of the best women in your life? I know, you your future wife, but…” She raised her head up to see my reaction.
“My mother,” I said and couldn’t stop smiling. “Grandmothers. Your sister. My cousins.”
A smile. She cracked a smile. “Are you going to keep going, or—”
“Future daughter… if I’m so lucky.”
“You forgot the ‘s.’ ”
“ ‘S?’ Did you go see that fortune teller again?”
“I don’t have to see anyone to know that you will have at least two girls. You look like you’re going to have girls. Maybe one boy. Maybe.”
“Naw, Maureen. I’ll be with my wife all the time, and you know that gives you a higher chance at having boys.”
“You’ll get tired.”
I snorted. “What!? I’m not going to get tired. I’m never going to get tired loving her.”
Mauri rolled her eyes and pushed away from me. “Please, you will get tired. And you’ll make up some excuse, and be over at my house, complaining about it.”
“Mauri, I’m not going to be complaining to your mother. What would I look like, complaining to your mother? And I think she’d remind you that she bought that house a long time before you were born.”
“All I’m saying is that was a nice speech.”
“Mauri, I poured out my heart,” I said. “That’s the best I can do.”
“And I forgive you.”
“Thank you.”
“But everything isn’t magically OK,” she said. “You apologized before. What makes this different?”
“Because we’re destined to be together. And there’s no margin of error on that.”
Mauri didn’t seem to be as pleased as I wanted her to.
“And if there was,” I said. “I’d find it.” I started pointing, speaking with my hands again. “And I’d grab it. And strangle it. And I’d drown it. Then burn it. Chemically evaporate every single particle left. Every electron, gone.”
“OKKK,” she said.
“I’d do that for you.” I wanted to taste her lips so bad. But she’d slap me.
“Well, allow me do something for you,” Mauri said. I must have licked my lips or was noticeably feeling her because she said, “Don’t stare at me like that. Like you’re salivating just to kiss me again.”
“OK, I’m not trying to.”
“I know, but it makes me want you. And I want to jump on top of you, and I don’t want you to stop kissing me, but we can’t. You’re not good for me at this moment, and you’re going to pull me back into this.”
“I’m sorry. I don’t mean to—”
“Of course you don’t, but your eyes start twinkling and all of that, anyway. Let’s get back to the reason I came. We need to talk to Mark. Sam said—”
“Sam…” I said and shook my head.
“Mark has valuable information Kaz. He has to. You yourself said he holds back and releases the rest of his furry randomly sometimes.”
“Not even believing, but having a suspicion that Mark even thought…”
“He has the best motive,” she said. “His home life was wrecked by the guys he put all of his work and time into. He had the most respect and trust for you all. And to find out that his wife had not only been cheating on him, but sleeping around with Brayden and whoever else. You were about to. We can’t stop giving him a pass anymore. We have to tell the police.”
“No,” I said. “Telling the police isn’t going to help. He won’t open up to them.”
“I agree, but he may know things about his wife, and doesn’t want to turn her in. He didn’t expose her for who she really is in the past. Why would he do it now? Maybe he wants our help.”
“Yeah. He’s been broken enough already, but sending the police over there will hurt him even more. We go.”
“We don’t know if he’ll hurt you.”
“He won’t,” I said. “Remember he chose me after the whole cheating thing. He will protect his investment.”
“How do you know he’s still the same guy? If this was his plan… build up your confidence, chance to win again. Tear you down. Would that not be the greatest victory? All of the stories they’re putting together for you. All of those interviews you have up and coming. All to not make it or lose in the end.
“I know how that feels to lose on a semi big stage, and it doesn’t feel good,” Mauri continued. “You can multiply that feeling by 100. Then Mark could slide out the gossip on his wife. Spin it the wrong way. No one would feel sorry that you were attacked and injured. You had it coming. Or this didn’t have to be Mark. It was Dakota. She was jealous you were the champion and didn’t take her for a ride to the top.”
Wow. That’s another reason why I needed Mauri. She knocked the confidence I had for my comfort with Mark right out the park. And mirrored my sentiments about Dakota. I know she hinted at it before but that time it made more sense.
“Mauri,” I said.
“Yep.”
“I’m right behind you.”
---
I made sure to case the scene as we parked in front of Coach’s house. The birds chirped, a neighbor was mowing the lawn, and Ms. Zee was sitting on her porch. Business as usual. I waved to Mrs. Zee on the way in. For security purposes, well, more like in case she needed to be a witness. I wiggled around, waiting for Mark to open the door. Letting him see my nerves wasn’t the best course of action.
“Hey,” Mark said and welcomed us in. “Don’t tell me you two are going on vacation. Kaz I’m expecting you to work through the weekend. We’re so close.”
“No,” I said. “Um, we came to talk to you.”
“Shoot,” he said. That was not my favorite choice for a word.
“Well, this is about the attacks,” I said.
“Did they find the suspect?” Mark asked. “They haven’t told me anything yet. I hope you don’t need to go into some sort of protection. We have an Olympic dream to maintain here.” Mark invited us to have a seat, but we declined.
“No, there’s no new information, so we’re trying to figure out what happened,” I said. “I can’t have this on my mind as I’m trying to swim.”
“You don’t have to explain, Kaz,�
� Mark said. “I understand. That’s why we’ve been working so hard. To get this tragedy out of your mind. I don’t want you to fear another attack as you’re swimming.”
Is he trying to tell us something?
“We came to ask what you knew about it,” I said.
“I know what you know,” Mark said. “I’m sure there’s no missing info there.”
“But there is,” I said. “There’s no polite way to say this, but Dakota. You still live with her.”
“Did she try and sleep with you again?!” Mark’s demeanor flipped. He huffed and jumped out of his chair. “She’s just. I’m sorry Kaz.” He blinked a few times and shook his head. I hoped Mauri wasn’t gifted with the fortune telling I joked with her about earlier. This wasn’t Mark. Not the guy I knew.
“Has she done anything out of the ordinary?” Mauri said.
“Other than increasing the time she spends with Brayden after you broke up with him Mauri?” Mark appeared to realize something.
“What?” I said.
“No, I can’t,” Mark said.
“Can you tell us why?” Mauri said.
Mark shook his head and walked to the end of the room to stare out of the window.
“Look Mark,” I said. “We need this information. My life depends on it. If you know something…”
“I can’t,” Mark said.
“I know it’s hard,” Mauri said as she stepped toward him. “We don’t want you to have to relive the moments, but if we don’t find out what happened, there won’t be an Olympic dream. Kaz could be potentially hurt. I know you care for Kaz. You’ve known him half of his life. I know you’d do anything you can to help.”
“But I have to admit to something…” Mark said and turned around.
I was ready to grab Marui and run. Mark never acted this way. He seemed as though he was going to say goodbye. Admit to his wrongdoing. Admit to trying to kill me. If there was a gun in his back pocket, that would be the time to use it. And the thing was, he wouldn’t even run after. He’d call 911 himself.
“I’m so sorry for not telling you Kaz,” he began. “But I didn’t think anything of it. I must have tried to forget. It was such a long time in between… When we had that meeting, when I told Brayden I was done with him and his family, Brayden was hurt, but his father was livid. He took time to curse me out, stating that you were the reason for my and my wife’s break up.
“He said I was sick to want to win so bad that I’d choose someone who slept with my wife over his son. I don’t know where he got that idea from. I assumed Brayden. He went on to call you every kind of name under the sun. He said he hated that you were born. What kind of parents did you have? He said all of these things and when the police asked if I knew anyone who’d attack you, I said nothing.
“I only told them about the fight—that I chose Kaz over Brayden. I left out the details about what he said and why it happened in the first place. I didn’t want them digging into my marriage and ruining my career. I was selfish.”
“Wow,” slipped out of Mauri’s mouth.
I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. I thought Coach would have done anything for me, but I understood. Although he was upset, angry over how his wife manipulated me. He once thought she would do no wrong, at least not to us. Then he caught me making out with her. Then he caught Brayden. And he wasn’t going to admit that his wife cheated on him with us as soon as she could, after we were grown.
“But there was no way of knowing,” I said. “I could see anyone saying these things when they’re angry. To him, you quitting was as if you ripped Brayden’s Olympic dream away. And he waited around a year to attack.”
Mark shook his head. “But he was more than angry. He was furious. And he waited and waited until he had the right time to attack you.”
“They did check him out as a suspect,” I said.
“They had a good lie put together,” Mauri said. “His wife covered for him or didn’t know.”
“If I would have said more, told them about how furious Vincent was,” Mark said. “Told them how passionate about winning he was. Maybe they would have looked into it further.”
“OK,” Mauri said. “So what’s his reasoning for attacking again? Why now? Why not later, closer to the finals?”
“Something made him blow,” Mark said. “A trigger.”
“His wife,” I said.
“Did she hit on you?” Mark said.
“Other than telling me to call her Abby, no,” I said. “But we were talking and her husband appeared. He wasn’t excited to see me. That was around the same time when Dakota prepositioned me again.”
“I knew that…woman,” Mark said.
Mauri sighed. “That’s what that meant.”
“What are you talking about Mauri?” I said.
She turned to me. “When Brayden and I broke up, I accused him of cheating. He was livid. He yelled that he would never do that. He wasn’t like her.”
“His mom,” Mark said.
“I’m guessing his father fed him lies,” Mauri said. “Half-truths.”
“And now that we’re telling everything, I saw that she was nice to you, Kaz,” Mark said. “When you were younger, she was nicer to you than she was with the other kids. It was as if she took a special interest in you. But that might have been her being selective of whom she liked, not cheating. She didn’t like Mauri at first, and from what Dakota said, she loved you Mauri while you dated Brayden.”
“And if you saw it Mark, her husband saw it too,” Mauri said.
“And her son,” I said. “So how do we know which one did it? Brayden or Vincent?”
“How do we know Mrs. Reed didn’t do it?” Mauri said. “She never got what she wanted, Brayden to win, so she’d ruin your career. Maybe being nice to you was a strategy.”
“She didn’t hurt you though Mauri,” I said.
“I wasn’t a threat,” Mauri said. “I was the pawn. She whispered in your ear then lured me away from you with Brayden. Their whole family had my life planned out with him. If I married Brayden that would have hurt you.”
“And freed me up. In case we’re going with the flirting theory.”
“And,” Mark said, “she wouldn’t have a problem hiring someone to do the dirty work.”
“But I can’t stop thinking about how Charles worked for Vincent,” I said. “She didn’t like Charles at all.”
“Well, there’s only one thing left to do,” Mark said.
“What?” Mauri said.
“Smoke ‘em out,” I said.
Chapter 15
“One of the most interesting stories of the Olympics is the story about friendship, loss, adversary, and never giving up,” the announcer said. “You may be familiar with the story. In the small town of Staden, a mecca for athletes of all kinds, Kaz Nelson and Brayden ‘Hometown’ Reed grew up as best friends.
“They’d later become Olympic champions, fueling the breakup of their friendship and beginning of their opposition. But the turns that lie beyond the corner were unimaginable. We’ll continue their path to redemption after the break.”
Kaz
At the Olympic Trials, I was more jittery than ever before. I had to prove that I was able, prove that I still would win, and we had to confront Mr. and Mrs. Vincent Reed and child. I didn’t want to put the pressure on myself, and Mark and Mauri argued against confronting, but that couldn’t wait.
Who knew if Vincent, Abby, or Brayden had something more for me, especially when they’d see that I was back up to par? I wasn’t going to take that chance. But the matter would have to wait. I had four final races to make it to and win first. Messing up wasn’t an option; I couldn’t fall below second place. I wouldn’t leave my dream to chance.
I danced around, getting ready in the back room, which was not my style. The first race I tried to be loose and not think too much. Mark, Mauri, and I had put in a lot of work. I was prepared for it.
“Set.”
The bell went of
f, and I was back in the water. The first turn was great. But I had to hurry up. There were only fifty meters left. I went as fast as I could, but wasn’t first. I turned around to check the board. Brayden was. I blinked. I barely came in second. I was upset when I got out. I happened to see Mauri, who pushed her hands down, a signal for me to chill out. Then she mouthed, “You got this.”
She was right. I did have those races. I came back from a horrible nightmare that nearly ended my career. Being there was enough. The next races, over the next days, I didn’t remember how they went in the water. All I remembered was checking that board, and making it through to the games in the end. On the last glance, I was nothing but smiles. I’d be in at least four races.
When the media pulled Brayden and me to the side, I remembered I kept saying I was just glad to be there, glad to be back. Then they reminded me how much the fans had missed me and were happy to see that I was back. My mouth dropped open and I smiled. Brayden patted me on the shoulder.
Before we had to go backstage, Brayden and I took the opportunity to wave at our fans, coaches, family, and Mauri. Vincent appeared to already be agitated. Something about his demeanor was off. I made sure to wave and say hi to his wife first then to him, smiling the whole way. Mrs. Reed waved back. He stared at me, took a break to glance over to his joyful wife, then glared at me again. We had him where I wanted him.
Our coaches and family were waiting outside of the arena along with some undercover police. During the weeks leading up to the trials, we were able to talk to them, along with Mark, explaining the situation and what we found.
They said they would look into it and we shouldn’t worry too much about the trials. Due to the assault, they were working with the other department, and undercover police would be assigned to cover the trials. In addition, they planned to send some of their officers as regular citizens.
On the way out of the arena, to meet up with our crews, Brayden and I were talking and joking around as planned. Vincent wasn’t upset, he was fuming.
“Brayden!” Vincent yelled. “Let’s go. Now!”