Page 49 of Floored By Love

Besides the obvious balance to stick the landing and the skill to do the move, a successful vault resulted from the correct running speed and the height generated from the springboard. Noah and I had tweaked this vault so many times that we knew I had the maximum height from the board. The trick was to land as close to the end as possible to get the highest arch. I trained my muscle memory to stick my feet within an inch of the end of the board. We watched the tapes. No one was as close as that because it carried a tremendous risk. A risk I hoped would pay off today. Our team needed a boost to push us ahead. An insanely difficult vault would do just that and put my name in the record books at the same time.

“Is this where we finally see the Kane?” Ty asked, as we walked to our next zone.

I nodded.

“You’re finally going to do it?” Luke asked quietly.

“Yup,” I answered. I watched as a huge grin broke out on his face.

“That’s amazing, Cam. I know you don’t need it, but we agreed,” he said, holding out his hand. The coin was in it.

As my fingertips brushed the palm of his hand, a touch of excitement tittered through my body. Even with our hugs two days prior, I hadn’t felt like this since we bumped into each other in the locker room. And even though we weren’t even close to being naked, I felt the same stirring in my groin. I inwardly cursed myself. Every time my mind got a handle on the Luke situation, my dick betrayed me.

“This is it, Cam. Get ready.”

CAMDEN KANE. UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.

It never got old hearing that over the loudspeaker. I heard the cheers from the American section of the arena. Knowing my mom, Erika, Graham and anyone else from Team USA was there to support me meant a lot, but I couldn’t focus on that now. I had to focus on my body, and doing a vault no one had ever seen at a competition before. One I had done countless times.

I jogged back and forth twice down the runway to loosen up a bit. Walking over to the chalk bag, I crouched and chalked my hands. This was it. It would be over in a matter of seconds. I was ready, waiting for the judges’ signal.

With the signal given, I glanced towards my team at the last minute. Noah and Coach were side by side, standing. All the guys but Luke were also standing. He had his head bowed with his hands clasped in front of him. I knew he wasn’t praying. He was just worried for me. Whatever nerves I had disappeared. Somehow, I just knew it would work out.

I saluted the judges, stepped over the runway trim and stared down the one hundred fifteen feet between me and destiny.

It always happened so fast. I never remembered it until it was over and I could watch the replay.

The sounds of the arena had disappeared. I only heard my feet pounding on the runway. The time came to start my round-off with a half twist, so I lunged forward, hands reaching for the floor just before the board. My feet pushed off the board and after another half twist, my hands pushed off and up. The muscles I added in the last four years helped me gain the height I needed. And then I was airborne, and I unleashed all the momentum I had built up in my sprint.

The Kane, as it was to be called, was the most difficult vault a man had attempted at the Olympics. I couldn’t see the floor as I landed. My body had to be perfectly placed in mid-air, so that when my feet came down, my center of gravity was exact. Falling over would mean it wouldn’t count.

I was still in shock when I landed, but autopilot kicked in and I saluted the judges again. It was only then that the roar of the crowd crept back into my ears and I started to hear again. I noticed all the events had stopped and the other teams were clapping for me. Noah and Coach were there to hug me as I came down the stairs.

“You did it, Cam. It was perfect,” Noah squeezed hard, then let go.

Coach put his arm around me. “I have never seen a new move in person. That was incredible. Thank you, Camden.”

Colton was jumping up and down as I trotted over to the team bench. Everyone gave me a hug. When Luke had his arms around me, he said, “I knew you could do it. You were incredible.”

He whispered it right into my ear. I couldn’t help the smile that came across my face. My teammates were already looking at the scoreboard. Amidst the sounds and cheers of the arena, I heard it faintly at first, but in less than a minute, the sound of it filled the entire arena. My team was helping, of course.

“Kane! Kane! Kane! Kane!”

I had never felt anything like this before. When I won the national championship, sure, that was amazing, but I didn’t have people chanting my name. I had never seen it happen to anyone else before, either. I didn’t know what to do but smile. And blush.

Fuck, it was a lot of attention.

“Smile, Cam. Everyone’s lookin’ at ya,” Colton teased.

I playfully shoved him away and tried to hold back tears. I swiped my hand across my brow and risked a glance at the screen again. Still nothing.

Come on!

The Kane cheer suddenly stopped and screams and cheers erupted instead.

16.366.

The guys surrounded me again to celebrate. I saw Noah come up behind them. “Highest score of the night!”