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"Oh." My jaw bobbed. "I think I just pulled a muscle or slept wrong or something." He gave me a pensive stare but I continued. "It's fine. I'm fine. Everything is fine. I plan to stop at the store after practice and get some of that Icy Hot stuff since I can't take Motrin. It should do the trick. I'm fine, though."
"You are fine," he said, his voice low, only for me to hear. And I knew what that meant.
I threw a smile at Kova, hoping he wouldn't say anything else.
&nbs
p; "Come by my office before you leave today."
My smile faltered.
Fuck. My. Life. Damn it.
He knew. He had to know.
I nodded, then he turned to face all of us.
"I want twenty handstand tucks," he ordered. "Once you are finished with those, after you land the first back tuck"—he used his finger and drew an imaginary circle—"add one more back tuck, jump, jump to a handstand, whip down to the two tucks. I want twenty of these. Go."
Reagan and I glanced at each other. We both had the same thought: He was totally trying to kill us.
Or maybe just me. Maybe he knew I’d lied and the only way he could get revenge was through his lunatic training methods.
"Come on, girls! Get moving!" Kova yelled, clapping his hands loud enough to draw attention. "We have hours of work ahead of us! This is just a walk in the park for what I have planned."
Bringing my legs down, I snapped my hips and rebounded hard by punching my feet into the ground into a standing back tuck.
Searing heat reverberated across my back and I almost lost my footing. I gasped and palmed myself just below my ribs where it was nearly all-consuming and past the point of excruciating. I paused to arch my back, and inhaled through my nose. Bile tossed around in my stomach and I blinked rapidly a few times to get my head straight. I thought I was going to throw up. Eyes were on me, but not just any pair. I knew Kova was watching me without even looking at him. I could feel it.
I turned around and spotted him. He observed me again with his head tilted and stared deep in concentration. Kova was a perceptive man and that only raised my guard even more. The way his chin dipped lower and to the side caused a fluttering in my chest.
Pulling out my ponytail, I pretended I had to fix it. I shook out my chalky mop and flipped my head over to gather my hair, thankfully breaking the gaze. I stumbled for a second from dizziness, then I retied my thick locks into a messy ball. My shaky fingers sought the loose flyaways around the sides of my face and I brushed them back behind my ears.
"Kick those legs down hard, girls," Kova demanded.
I lifted my eyes to him and found his reflective gaze was still on me. Only this time, he was spinning his dumb wedding ring.
My back teeth ground together. That little act prompted a swift change to sweep through me. Like he was provoking me, trying to goad me to show him what I was capable of. I wasn't weak, and I needed to stop acting like every little thing affected me. Because it didn't.
I was annoyed with myself and said fuck everything. I let it all go, and began.
With each punch into the spring floor, I focused on the pain and told myself it wouldn't win.
With each backflip, I shoved the unbearable backache away.
Never in my life had I ever felt anything remotely like this.
I pushed harder, faster. My stomach was a sore mess and I could swear vertigo was on the horizon.
Still, I didn't stop. Not even when it felt like nails three inches thick were being hammered into my backside, I persevered.
I would not be held down. I refused.
I flipped and punched and hopped, chewing on the anger and spitting it out with each handstand tuck set I completed. I drove myself to move quicker, in spite of it all, while I whipped my hips and drove my feet into the ground, cursing the pulsating boulders that were attached to me. I resented myself for feeling this way, but I refused to allow my emotions to control my practice time anymore. I never had in the past, and I sure as hell wasn't going to start now.
Tears threatened to fill my eyes, and I thought I was for sure going to throw up from the sheer agony I was in. I wasn't sure how much more I could handle, but I wouldn't break without giving my all first.
Every second was pure torture, but I kept going…and going…and going. I wouldn't finish early. Not even when I added the extra back tuck and the fiery hot throb was all I could hear and feel and see.
