Page 2 of Floored By Love

I scoffed because he was right. “What am I supposed to do? You’ve met Cassandra. She’s always around. And how the hell do you know what a Fleshjack is?”

“Bro, I was in the closet before, not under a rock. Plus, Declan’s been expanding my repertoire.”

“And your vocabulary too, apparently.”

“Yeah, yeah. He’s the smart one. Blah blah blah. My brothers have the same jokes.”

“So, my sex tutorial helped?”

“Uh, yeah. It did.” Ty smirked, his cheeks growing pink. “But to get back to the more pressing issue, are you going to talk to him? If you’re really over him, I’ll drop it, but I don’t think you are. I know how rough that first year was. Feelings that strong don’t just disappear.”

And he was right. I wasn’t over him. At all. I had written him so many emails and just never sent them. Half afraid that they wouldn’t be enough, and half afraid my parents would see them. I was so paranoid that first year. I spiralled into depression and only came out of it when Ty finally intervened and helped me find a therapist.

“I’m not over him, Ty,” I admitted, leaning forward, my chin resting on my hands. “But what if he’s over me?”

“You won’t know unless you talk to him.”

“You were there for nationals the year after the Olympics. I thought Cassandra and Noah were going to come to blows and Cam was just trying to walk past me. She won’t let me near him.”

“I remember,” Ty replied. “But maybe we can get you two alone now that we’re back at the Olympics?”

“I’m not staying in the village this time. My parents put me and Cassandra up in a two-bedroom suite at the Waldorf.”

“I guess I should’ve figured.”

“Yeah.”

After a few minutes of silence, I asked, “What do you think of the new guys, Coach Ty?”

He smirked, knowing I was changing the subject, and pointed at Alex on the rings. “Well, I think he’ll be fine. He won the championship last month, remember?”

“I remember, you ass.”

Alexander Chen, one of the alternates from Brisbane, had really improved in the last few years. Overall, our team was stronger than last time. The last three national champions were on it: Cam, myself and Alex, in that order. Alex had actually won the last two. I came in second to him just last month. Cam was right behind me in third.

“Sorry, sorry, I know it’s still raw.”

“And the kids?”

“Kids?” Ty asked. “Really, Luke? Colton’s twenty-two and Orion’s twenty. They’re both older than you were at your first Olympics.”

“Well, O feels like a kid brother, and Colton is…” I paused.

“Cam’s best friend?”

Well, shit. I sighed. “Did you have to say it out loud, Ty?”

“Well, they are,” he admitted.

And then I asked a question I knew I didn’t want answered. “Do you think they’re more than that?”

Ty paused before saying, “I don’t know, Luke. I think that’s something you need to ask him.”

“Colton?!”

“No, Luke,” he said, rubbing his forehead. “Cam.”

Cam. Just hearing his name so much in the last few minutes made it feel like a lifetime ago and not just four years. I hadn’t spoken to him that entire time. Well, other than on-camera pleasantries to maintain the facade of sportsmanship. I wondered if Cam felt as disgusted by the fakeness as I did when all I wanted to do was grab his face and kiss him and tell him how sorry I was for being such a coward. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath, pushing thoughts of the past aside.