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Technically, stretch polyester, but whatever. I was the most alive with my back arched, hands outstretched, thighs the only part of me gripping the fabric.
I wound the silk around my wrists and let myself drop, face first. I caught myself a couple of centimetres off the mat and grinned at the rush of adrenaline through my body.
A handful of younger gymnasts taking a kid's class stopped to watch, gasped and clapped. Their coach, a guy around my age named Charlie, clapped louder than the kids.
The gruff head coach, Nicola, had palmed me off to him when I walked through the door. She muttered something about renting out the silks for a couple of hours a week and that she'd consider hiring me to teach. Then she disappeared into her office with a cup of coffee and hadn't emerged since.
I tipped over forward and landed on my feet.
I tugged my t-shirt back into place as Charlie dismissed the class. The kids went running off to their parents who waited near the door.
"It's been a while since we had anyone who could use those.” He gave me an easy smile. With sandy blond hair, blue green eyes and the body of a gymnast, it was easy to like Charlie. He was a pleasant change from ‘grumpy asshole’.
"I’m a bit rusty," I admitted. "It's been a couple of months since I got to practice."
"If that was rusty, I'd love to see you when you're warmed up and competition fit." He waved back at a couple of the kids as they waved vigorously and giggled. They looked at him with huge eyes that screamed crush.
I got that. If he was my coach, I might have a crush on him too. On paper, he was exactly the kind of guy I should go for, but he didn’t get my pulse racing like Mannix and his friends. Figured I wouldn’t be into the first nice guy I met since I got to Dusk Bay. Hopefully he wasn’t the only one in town. It would be a long year if he was.
I sighed. "I wish I had time for competition training. At least I can get in some practice here and there." I eyed the clock and then the uneven bars. I had a few minutes before Mannix returned.
"Spot me?" Charlie probably had a life to get to, but he didn't seem to be in a hurry to leave.
"Absolutely." He waited until I chalked my hands and got into place under the lower bar. "Ready?"
I could get up there myself, with the help of the ladder beside the bars, but I decided to let him put his hands around my waist and lift me up to the lower bar. I didn't even mind when his hands lingered a little too long, or the way his toned body felt close to mine.
It was nothing like the rush of heat I got from looking at Mannix, Ares and Ice, but it was pleasant enough.
I started to swing back and forth to build momentum, then leapt onto the higher bar. Back and forth, round and round until everything around me was a blur. I was rusty at this too, but muscle memory took me through a routine I'd practised a billion times. I could even hear the cheesy competition music playing in the back of my mind over and over.
I dropped to my feet, stuck the landing and presented, raising my arms above my head and smiling as Charlie clapped.
"You probably guessed Nicola wanted me to watch you and give her my thoughts on whether or not she should hire you," he said lightly. "She'd be crazy not to. How did you never make the Olympic team?"
"I injured my knee right before the trials." At the time, I was devastated, but that was a few years ago now and I didn't miss the pressure of competitions and the need to succeed. I was happy to do this for fun and maybe for profit if Nicola gave me a job.
Charlie sucked in a breath with sympathy and winced. "That's a bummer. I was never quite good enough. Which is my way of saying I didn't take it seriously. I was too busy clowning around on the rings to win a competition, much less qualify for any big ones." He seemed unworried.
"One more go?" He jerked his head towards the uneven bars.
"I have time for one more." I stepped into the circle of his hands and let him lift me. I'd just gripped the lower bar and started to swing when the door opened with a crash.
I startled so hard my hands slipped and I fell to the mat on my ass. Nothing was hurt but my pride, but that had a pretty big dent in it. I knew better than to react to sudden sounds like that. If I did that during the competition, I’d lose a bunch of points.
Dusk Bay definitely had me on edge.
I looked over to see Mannix standing inside the door, his expression as dark as thunder. He wasn't looking at me. He was looking at Charlie like he wanted to rip his head off and use it as a bowling ball.
I stood up and dusted chalk off my hands. "Looks like my ride is here."
"You know this guy?" Charlie asked uneasily.
That was a good question. Honestly, I hardly knew Mannix at all.
"He's my stepbrother-to-be," I said lightly. "I'll hear from you or Nicola?"
Charlie managed to force his eyes away from Mannix's glare and smiled. "I'd say within a day or two. But you'll be back to practice, yeah?"
