AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Her bright smile lifted my spirits, along with the memory of our last few practices, when we’d finally pulled off our new transition perfectly. Only a couple of times, and we’d still been shaky during the last practice, so we’d decided to wait and see how the competition went before confirming if we’d incorporate it here. But I couldn’t help wondering if our heightened synchronization was because of the weight lifted off both of our shoulders.
There were no more gunmen stalking us. No more worries about the Devil’s Dozen hassling Lou. Rafael was dealing with all that crap, and we could focus every bit of our energy on what mattered most to us: the skating.
Yesterday’s short routine had gone as well as we could have hoped. For now, we were in fourth place, below two pairs whose greatest strength was their short program and the Russians who might be our greatest competition, just a single point ahead of us.
We both knew that our best time to shine was the free skate. Everything depended on what we did today.
I whirled around at one end of the rink and caught one of the other skaters staring at me for a second before he jerked his gaze away. The back of my neck prickled with the uneasy sensation of being watched.
He wasn’t the first of our colleagues I’d spotted giving us skeptical looks, ranging from disapproving to unsettlingly curious. Of course our fellow skaters wouldn’t have missed the scandal that’d nearly blown up our chances at Worlds before we’d set foot in Nagano’s huge arena.
That was fine. I had nothing to be embarrassed about when it came to my personal relationships. With Lou, with the other men in her life, and with the other man in mine. My gaze darted across the rink, and I shared a quick smile with Niko.
My professional life, well… I did my best to ignore the niggling voice in the back of my head that pointed out every hint of a wobble or twinge in my muscles. But it was impossible to forget that the last time I’d competed at Worlds, I’d totally fucked it up.
People watching me would be remembering that incident too. They’d be wondering whether I could actually pull off something decent this time without crashing and burning.
I was wondering that too. Every jump of my nerves was as much anxiety as excitement. I had a lot to prove here today.
But then, I also had way more support than I’d been able to count on back then. I had my gorgeous and incredibly talented partner skating alongside me. I had the fantastic coach who’d tracked me down halfway across the world ready to cheer me on. I even had my former rival sitting in the stands after giving us a quick pep talk this morning.
Things were definitely looking up. I’d built success on top of success in the past several months. That was allIneeded to remember.
As I ran through the rest of my warm-up, I reminded myself of those facts over and over. When Lou glided over to me as the group warm-up time came to an end, I tugged her to me for a quick kiss.
She beamed back at me and sank down next to me on our bench. We leaned forward in matching stretches to finish warming up off the ice.
I was just raising my arms over my head when my phone’s text alert tone pealed out. My pulse stuttered for a second before it sank in that none of our calls warning of danger had ever come tomyphone. Maybe Quentin had decided to give a snarky tip or two before we went on.
I pulled my phone out of my equipment bag and tapped the screen to see the message.
In the first second, I just stared at the name at the top of the text.Mom. I hadn’t talked to her in ages—hadn’t wanted to exacerbate her already shaky relationship with Dad by reminding him of the career she’d supported and he’d never approved of. We’d exchanged occasional texts while I was staying at my grandparents’ place, but not since I’d started training again with Niko.
She might be following the competitive circuit on the down low. I glanced to the actual message, expecting it to be words of encouragement and good luck that would feel bittersweet no matter how much I knew she meant them.
Hey, honey. I know it’s been a while, but that’s my fault. And it’s been too long. I realize I can’t make up for all that lost time, but I still wanted to be here for you and show how much I believe in you!
I blinked, struggling to process what she meant. “Be here for me”? It almost sounded like—
With another ping, a new text appeared.I can see you right now. Look across the arena, about ten rows up.
My jaw dropped. She was literallyhere? In Japan? She’d come all the way from the US to watch me compete?
How had she explained that trip to Dad?
My head jerked up. I scanned the stands on the opposite side of the arena—and spotted a familiar slim figure with auburn hair like mine, waving eagerly several rows above rink-level.
As I raised my hand to return the gesture in a daze, my attention slid to the figure sitting next to her, and my arm froze in mid-air.
Dad was here too. Sitting beside her, looking a little stiff from what I could judge at that distance, his expression tight. But he lifted his hand in a brief wave as well, giving me a particle of acknowledgment.
Holy hell. How in the world had this happened?
I lowered my phone to my lap and realized Lou was peering at me. “What’s wrong? What were the messages about?”
“Nothing—nothing you need to worry about,” I said quickly, knowing she must be even more sensitive to unexpected news than I was. “My parents are here. They came to watch.”
Lou’s eyebrows leapt up. “Parents, plural? Your momanddad? I thought your dad hated skating.”
