Page 98 of The Forever Vault

“Fuck, no! You said you wouldn’t tell anyone!”

“So, imagine you’re Miles, and your puppy play is his secret relationship.” I let that sink in for a few seconds. “I’m guessing you wouldn’t want Miles asking you twenty questions about it in front of the whole team, would you?”

“Fuck. You’re right,” Ezra said. “I should apologize.”

I patted him on the back. “Just send him a text. I don’t think he’s that upset, but it’s still the right thing to do.”

As soon as we were in our room, Ezra asked, “Who do you think it is? Someone we know?”

“What did Jack say to you when he handed you your bag during qualifications?”

“Uh, good night, Cam. See you tomorrow.”

I knew that would shut him up.

19

Lucas

“Where the fuck is Ezra?!”

I practically shit my pants. It was the second time I had heard Woodward swear…ever.

The other three members of the team were getting dressed in the locker room. Zane had been calling him for half an hour, but it went straight to voicemail every time.

“When was the last time you saw him, Cam?”

“I’m sorry, Coach. It was early in the morning. I spent most of the day with Luke.”

“Uh, Coach?” Miles said. “Jack Davies just tweeted that he and Ezra are stuck in an elevator. They’re here, at the Chase Center.”

“What?”

“Let me see that.” Zane walked over to where Miles was sitting.

“Tweet him back,” Woodward demanded. “Find out what elevator they’re in.”

Miles started typing as soon as Zane handed him his phone back, Hudson watched from over his shoulder. Cam was right. He and Miles were together. I could tell from their body language, especially now that I was looking for it.

“Cassandra, Zane, track down maintenance. Get them out of that elevator.” They left the locker room immediately. “Luke! You’re with me. We’re going to talk to the officials. Great Britain’s probably up in arms too.”

I gave Cam a fake smile and followed Woodward into the arena. I wasn’t sure why he was bringing me. What could I do?

Great Britain’s head coach was already talking to the head judge. I heard him ask how long they could wait. Woodward walked up and immediately said, “Jack and Ezra are stuck in an elevator in this building. Lucas, show him the tweet.”

That. That is what I could do. I wasn’t sure Woodward even had a Twitter account.

“Surely, you have to give us some time to try to get them here. It’s not their fault the elevator’s stuck!”

“Something like this has never happened before. It’s unprecedented. I-I can’t delay indefinitely. I’ll contact arena management. We’ll try to get them here, but I can’t delay more than thirty minutes.”

“Are you being serious?” the British coach asked.

“Let’s go, Lucas.” Woodward was already walking away. “Call Cassandra. See if she’s made any progress. Thirty minutes, my ass! I’m not waiting around for him to do anything about it. We’ll call 9-1-1 if we have to.”

After twenty minutes with no updates, Woodward left with Noah to find Zane and Cassandra, leaving me with Hudson, Miles, O and Cam. Hudson and I were trying to keep the team calm.

“Can we compete with just the three of us?” Miles asked.