AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Unfortunately, while I’d been busy getting the angle right for coming out of the spiral, I’d ended up off-balance for the lift itself. Jasper’s hand slipped before he’d quite hefted me above his head.
I fell to the ice, his grasp only slowing my momentum. My hip still jarred against the ice hard enough to make me wince.
“Fuck, I’m so sorry,” Jasper said, kneeling beside me. “Are you okay?”
I patted my thigh. “Yep. Just a few more bruises to add to my extensive collection.”
I pushed myself to my feet, my breath coming ragged. Niko stood up, making my attention snap to him.
“You’re supposed to relax,” I chided him.
“And you shouldn’t push yourself too hard either,” he said gently. “That’s enough for today. We can go for this change, but we have to be smart about it. It won’t help either of you if you end up hurt.”
“You weresoclose!” Emi exclaimed. “I know after a few more practices, you’ll have it.”
Jasper squeezed my shoulder. “I am pretty exhausted, Punk. We’ve got lots of time. I’ll put together some new costumes too—something even more striking so our artistry is at another level too.”
I swallowed thickly and forced myself to nod. Inside, my stomach had knotted.
New costumes weren’t going to elevate us enough to make us gold contenders—not if we couldn’t elevate the rest of our routine too.
Just how far over my head had I gotten myself, facing off against the greatest skaters in the entire world?
SIX
Luciana
I floppeddown on my bed and stared at the ceiling, but I just didn’t have it in me to relax today. Our ice time didn’t start for another couple of hours, and my thigh still ached from yesterday’s fall, but I wasn’t going to feel okay until we’d conquered that combined move.
With a muffled groan, I pushed myself upright and stalked into the apartment’s living room. Niko was puttering around in the kitchen making tea, and Rafael sat on the sofa, scrolling through his phone. Jasper had gone off to find fabric for the amazing new costumes he had planned, with Emi volunteering as translator and guide. Quentin had asked to tag along, saying he wanted to learn from Jasper’s expertise in that area.
The sight of Rafael on his phone sent a different prickle of apprehension through me. I stalked over and leaned against the back of the sofa next to his broad shoulders. “Has there been any news from the other apartment building?”
He shook his head without looking up. “Your mother hasn’t launched any attacks there. And her rogue lackeys didn’t take the other bait you gave them with that restaurant you mentioned you visited a lot, since she hasn’t been terrorizing that place either. It doesn’t look like the turncoats are passing on any information.”
Somehow that didn’t make me feel any better. I pushed away from the sofa to pace through the room. “So what am I supposed to do now? Even if they’re not outright betraying me, that doesn’t mean I can trust them.”
Rafael set down his phone and raised his eyebrows at me. “Don’t you have enough on your mind without worrying about that too? Forget about it until they do something that gives you an answer one way or another.”
“Who says they’re ever going to make a move that clear?”
“I do,” he said with a hint of a growl. “Now sit down and relax for once in your life.”
Oh, he thought he could boss me around just like that, did he? I set my hands on my hips. “If I wasn’t the kind of person who takes charge and gets things done, we wouldn’t be here at all.”
Niko wandered over with a teacup nestled in his hands and a mischievous glint in his eyes. “I’ve heard of this concept called ‘moderation’ before…”
I made a face at him. “Oh, don’t you start too.”
He chuckled. “As your coach, I think I have even more right to give you a few orders. And in my opinion, you need to stay focused on your routine and unwind between practices rather than overworking yourself.”
I sighed. “We both know I can’t totally forget all my other problems. They’re pushing themselves into my life way too insistently.”
Niko cocked his head. “I don’t see any of them dancing around the room right now. It seems safe to stop thinking about them for a few minutes at least.”
I glowered at him, but at the same time, I couldn’t deny he had a point. “Why do you have to make sense?”
His grin widened. “That’s my job as your coach, isn’t it? To guide you effectively?”
