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"I know it's months away, but do you have any time off during meet season? I'm trying to plan an Easter brunch and would very much like if you could be there. If not, no worries."
"I'm sure I could make it happen, even if it's for the day."
I pulled out my cell phone and opened my calendar. I knew I had many meets lined up, but I didn't know the exact dates.
I stared at my phone, confused. "It seems I don't have any in…" My voice trailed off. I glanced up at Kova, who sensed me almost immediately. Our eyes met.
"What is it?" he asked, cutting my dad off.
I held my phone up as if he could see the screen. "Do we not have any meets around Easter?"
"Your phone is synced with the calendar. It is up to date."
I glanced back at the screen. I saw nothing. Kova placed his empty crystal tumbler down, stood, and walked over to me. Leaning over my shoulder, he rested his forearms behind me on the headrest. With a wave of his hand, he silently asked for the phone and viewed the dates with me.
His thumb slid the screen up and down, his breath cool and smooth rasped softly against my cheek. "It looks like you have time off, which is a good thing since we have Worlds and the Championships the following two months."
Me and Kova eased into a light exchange about gymnastics. He shifted closer to me and I angled toward him, our bodies casually open and welcoming to one another. We spoke quietly among ourselves for a few short moments about my training that month, my parents long forgotten until I heard a glass clank on the counter.
We both glanced up from the sound and found my mother looking at us. Her eyes filled with disdain as they shifted to Kova, then to me, where they stayed.
A knot lodged in my throat. We'd let our guards down for a split second. There was no way she’d missed the natural harmony that occurred between us.
We eased back into the conversation. My heart hammered and I held stiff as a statue while Kova spoke. I'd been under my mom's examination too many times in the past to ignore her inquisitive eyes. Her stare seared my flawless skin with incomprehensible questions. While Dad was fixated on his phone, my mom continued to glare at us. I swallowed hard and glanced at Kova, trying my best to give him a look of cognizance, a look I'd given him in the past that would hint discreetly for him to pull back and slow down. He picked up on it immediately.
Kova scratched the back of his head and stood, clearing his throat.
"Are you always so intimate with all your gymnasts?" Mom asked as if she were inquiring about the weather.
All color drained from my face. "Mom!"
"Joy." Dad scowled low and deep. A warning.
She ignored us both, her eyes glued on Kova with a vengeance. "Refresh my memory, Konstantin, how many hours a week do you both train together?"
He tucked his hands into the pockets of his pressed slacks. Shoulders relaxed, not a worry on his face.
"Close to fifty hours. Give or take."
"Uh huh." She tilted her head ever so slightly. "That's a lot of time to be alone together, wouldn't you agree, Frank?"
My heart raced so hard and fast I felt every pulse in my body thrashing against my veins, the rapid beating in my ears so loud it was all I could hear.
"If you paid more attention to your daughter than your charity cases, then you'd see that's been going on for a year now. Clearly, it's paid off. Adrianna did excellent. She exceeded our expectations."
If only I could muster a smile.
&n
bsp; Kova added, "I am not the only one who trains with Adrianna. Coach Madeline does as well. We rotate the gymnasts among each other all week."
"How convenient," Mom replied, sipping her wine. Her eyes hadn't left Kova's and she completely ignored the sneer Dad made.
I almost died, but thankfully, Kova was quick. "Yes, we rotate the girls so they do not get too used to our training methods, otherwise it would be useless for everyone involved. They all train the same number of hours, together."
A lie.
"Ana is a stunning girl, isn't she." Mom stated, no question asked. Kova refused to answer. "You know, after the New Year’s Eve party, my housekeeper found a sports coat on the balcony of her bedroom. It didn't look like Xavier's…"
