“I don’t understand,” April said, face contorted in confusion as her mind tried to sort through the fog following all that happened that day already.
“Oh, don’t worry darlin’, I’ll spell it out for you. The only way for you to experience the same pain and humiliation you’ve caused me over the years, is to lose those same sponsorships and titles you took from me. Tit for tat, as it were. The easiest way for me to do that, is to tell the world about your secret little romance, and watch your head spiral to lose this title and the next while I watch the sponsorships leave you and come crawling on over to me. You do remember those pesky little Lifestyle clauses in the contracts, don’t you?” Suzie’s grin reached from ear to ear. The sinister look in her eyes said it all.
April was cornered.
If Suzie outed her, she’d risk losing everything. Wasn’t that the very conversation she’d just had with Jade? If she went along with her dad’s plan, she would save face but lose Jade, only for Suzie to out her anyway and she’d have lost Jade for nothing. If she outed herself first, whatever happened, she would still have Jade by the end of it, wouldn’t she?
April swallowed down her tears, refusing to let any show or fall in front of the snake of a woman before her. “When?” April all but whispered.
“I’m not an unreasonable person, darlin’, I’ll wait until after the Open. Can’t have you focused enough to beat me to a Grand Slam title, now, can I?” Suzie smirked. “Either you out yourself by the end of that tournament, or I will. The choice is yours.” With that, Suzie turned on her heal and left.
For the second time that day, she found herself alone and crying. What was she going to do?
Chapter 38
Jade
Jade felt awful. She was beyond exhausted and ready for a few days back home before making her way to New York for the US Open. It had been a tough couple of days, and while she missed April with every fiber of her being, she knew that this was the right thing to do. However much she hurt at the moment; she needed April to know that the decision was entirely hers to make.
She had kept herself busy helping injured athletes and living in the hotel gym when she wasn’t needed for work. She worked out to switch her mind off. Trying every piece of equipment available to stop the spiral of thoughts running in her head like a hamster wheel. Treadmill, bike, rowing machine, free weights,bench press. Anything she could do to exhaust her body to the point where she at least would be guaranteed some sleep when night came.
The nights were the worst part. That wastheirtime together. Her hotel room was too quiet, and sleep was the only way to avoid it. Video calling any of her family reminded her of the many video calls with April. That made her ache to hold her partner even more.
She decided to call the one person she knew would cheer her up.
“Auntie Jade!” Sophie’s excited face filled her phone while her niece moved her tablet around before finally sitting still for the call.
“Hey Squirt, how have you been?” Jade asked.
“I’ve been good! Auntie Cleo and Ivy took me and Willow swimming last weekend, it wasawesome! We went to a different place than usual, and this one had a million different slides to go down!” Jade laughed at the sheer level of energy her niece was giving off as she spoke. “Auntie Cleo was a scaredy-cat though and wouldn’t go down the biggest one with me, but Ivy did. She sat on a big blow-up ring, and I sat on her lap, and we went whizzing down so fast we skipped along the top of the pool at the bottom! It. Was. EPIC!”
Jade laughed at Sophie, imagining the look of horror on her sister’s face, but glad that Ivy was brave enough to take their daredevil niece down the tallest slide.
“Did Willow go down that one too?” Jade asked, already knowing the answer about the quiet younger girl.
“No, she was too little for it, but she said it was ok because she’d just stay with Auntie Cleo. They went on two other slides while waiting for me and Ivy to come down the big one.” Sophie grinned, “then we went back to their house for movies and pizza.”
“Did you choose a good movie?” Jade asked, remembering the regular conversations and arguments between her sister and their niece over movie choices.
“Yeah, it was a really old one that Ivy said we’d enjoy. It was way better than Auntie Cleo’s choice of watching Robots again though.” They both laughed at that. Jade couldn’t count the number of times her sister must have watched the animated movie. “It was about a boy in a library, and he goes inside different cartoon books. It was so fun, but Willow got a bit scared at one part, so she got to sit on Auntie Cleo’s lap for a while.”
“Oh, I think I remember that one, it has the same little boy in it that’s in the Christmas movie you love with the bandits, doesn’t it?” Jade checked.
“Yes! That’s him!” Sophie practically shouted over the phone. “We then got to have a sleepover too. It was the best!”
"I’m glad you had fun. I’m looking forward to being home in a couple of days and seeing how much you’ve grown since I last saw you. Have you measured yourself recently?” Jade knew her niece was obsessed with everything science. So, she figured that human biology was included in it.
“Not since my birthday, but I was tall enough to go down the biggest slide at the water park. The lady said I was big enough with a little extra height to spare too.” Her niece announced with pride.
“That’s great, Soph! So, tell me, how’s that dad of yours doing? Behaving himself?” Jade knew she’d get an honest answer from Sophie, where Evan himself would always replyfine, obviously.
“He’s doing good, me and Willow got our sleepover at Auntie Cleo and Ivy’s house because Dad and Toni went to a hotel for the day and night for their anniversary. When they picked us up, they came in Dad’s car, and we came back to our house where they told us that Toni and Willow were going to be moving in with us. Isn’t that great?” Sophie beamed.
“Oh, wow, that’s fantastic!” Jade was so happy for her brother. He’d been through so much and deserved every happiness he could find.
Sophie went quiet for a minute.
“Soph, everything ok?” Jade was concerned, Sophie seemed so happy about the move, so, why the sudden quietness?
