Balance (Off Balance Book 1) (40 page)

Glancing down, I saw my sports bra had a damp circle on it. I noticed a drop of liquid the size of a pearl on me. Confused, I touched the sticky substance, and rubbed it between my thumb and index finger.

I looked over my shoulder at Kova. He was seated on his knees, but the position of his body struck a pang in my chest. He was bent over, his elbows on his knees with his face buried in his hands.

His raging erection was gone and I put two and two together. He came, and he was mortified by it.

In that moment, I truly felt the weight of our actions. Looking at him physically hurt me. Any normal person would’ve ran in the other direction, morally disgusted by his behavior. Probably even tell someone of authority. But I didn’t, and I wouldn’t. Especially since I didn’t think it was disgusting.

After all, my dad was twenty-three years older than my mom. Age was just a number to me.

I
couldn’t make eye contact with Kova when I walked in that morning. It was too awkward. Seeing the way I left him had been on my mind all night.

Broken.

When I pulled up to the gym, cars were already lined in the parking lot. The sun was peeking behind the building, the gloomy gray sky being pushed up. Sunrises used to be my favorite thing to watch when I was feeling down, and it just dawned on me I hadn’t seen one in months. A twinge in my chest resonated, a sudden homesick feeling streaming through me once again.

Normally, I was one of the first to arrive, but not today. I’d been a few minutes late, and typically that would’ve bothered me and earned some rather colorful choice of words from Kova, but I was panicking about facing him, so I sat in my car for a couple of minutes to avoid him. I highly doubted he’d say anything to me anyway.

When I stepped into World Cup, I quickly went to my locker and undressed. I had on a simple black leo today. My hair was already pulled back into a ponytail, but I decided to add a couple swipes of mascara and a thin, black line of eyeliner. Voices drifted down the hall and my heart sped up the closer the footsteps grew. I shoved everything inside the metal locker and waited for them to pass before I closed it. Once they did, I quietly expelled a breath and left the room, heading to the gym.

My feet hit the blue floor and I made a beeline to the warm up area to start my morning stretches, adding in the ones Kova had taught me during our private sessions. I specifically ignored meeting his gaze, but his presence could not be disregarded. It was impossible. The hair on my skin rose and the back of my neck prickled. I knew he was on the other side of the gym talking with another coach from the boys’ team. From the corner of my eye, I could see Kova glaring at me, but I didn’t look over.

“Hey Adrianna,” Holly said, walking up to me. I plastered on a fake smiled.

“Since the coaches gave us tomorrow off, we were thinking about hitting the sand and having a beach day. Did you want to come?”

I paused. “What do you mean we have off?” I couldn’t afford to take off time.

“Listen, we don’t question our rare vacation days, we use them wisely. A bunch of us are hitting the beach tomorrow and some of our friends outside the gym are coming too. I’d love for you to join us.”

I bit my lip. Reagan would be there. After the way she treated me, the last thing I wanted to do was spend any extra time with her. That being said, I missed the beach and normalcy.

“Sure. What time?”

“We’re going early to get in as much time as we can. So about eleven?”

“I don’t know where any beaches are here. Can I meet you guys so I can follow?”

“Of course. Want to come over to mine and Hayden’s place and you can ride with us?”

I smiled big. “That sounds like a plan.”

Holly turned to leave, but I stopped her. “Hey, Holly?”

“Yeah?”

“Thanks for inviting me.”

Her smile reached her eyes. “Anytime.”

I
SHOULD’VE KNOWN
better, read between the lines. Any time a coach gave time off, they pushed and worked you to the extreme first. I was talking boot camp drills made for Marines kind of extreme. At this point, rest sounded like a better option tomorrow instead of beaching it. Even death.

“Why are they doing this to us?” I asked Holly after doing standing tucks, back and forth across the floor. I climbed the rope in a pike position until my muscles ached, walked across the floor in a handstand multiple times, executed front walkover front tucks until I was dizzy, and performed so many press handstands on beam I’d lost count. And that was only the beginning. We did standing dismounts off the vault, body tension exercises and sprinted until we saw stars in our eyes. We still had bars to work. We’d been at it for hours. Conditioning to the eighty-seventh million power. My stomach muscles were hardened with soreness and I was on the verge of vomiting. There had been no time to think of anything else other than what my body was being put through.

Holly shrugged. “Your guess is as good as mine.”

“I bet he’s fighting with his girlfriend,” Reagan chimed in and I turned to look at her.

“Who, Kova? What do you mean?”

Reagan gave me a droll stare. “Have you not noticed his behavior today? He’s been mean and nasty all day, more so than usual. I overheard Madeline tell Kova to calm down and he fired back at her. I actually got scared when he did. I’ve never seen him speak so harshly to another gymnast, let alone a coach and it surprised me. That’s how you know something isn’t right.”

I had a sinking suspicion I was the root of his issue.

“Yeah, but Madeline isn’t any better,” Holly added, giving her a sideways glance.

Reagan agreed. “Let’s just hope this torture session will be over soon. I’m not sure how much longer I’ll be able to stand.”

Three hours later, we were allowed to leave. My entire body was in shambles and I couldn’t remember a time when I just wanted to crawl into bed and die. My back, arms, and legs hurt. Everything ached so badly.

The worst part of today? My right calf blazed with a searing heat like it was on fire when I ran for miles on the track outside. The pain in my leg was intensifying by the day, but today it made its presence well known. I was close to complaining to the coaches but instead I popped some Motrin and dealt with it. Hopefully an ice bath would help.

Pulling into my complex, Hayden followed closely behind. After he saw me limping, he’d offered to come over and help. I told him it wasn’t necessary, but he insisted and suggested an ice bath.

Dropping the bags of ice at my feet, I dug into my pocket for my keys and unlocked the door. I looked over my shoulder as I pushed the door open, “Thanks so much for helping me, Hayden.”

“It’s no problem,” he smiled, holding two bags of ice in his hands.

We walked into my place and I flipped the lights on. He brought the ice into my kitchen and placed it in my sink in case it leaked.

“I suggest making some tea first.”

I paused, pursing my lips together. “Tea?”

“Yeah, something hot to drink while you’re sitting in the tub. It probably won’t make a huge difference at first, but if you focus on the heat of the liquid, it may help a little bit.”

I rummaged through my cabinets only to realize I didn’t have any tea. It wasn’t something I normally drank, so I never bought it. However, I had coffee. Lots and lots of coffee.

I spun around. “Would coffee do the trick? I don’t have tea.”

“Yeah.”

Hayden walked into my bathroom and began filling the tub. As I pulled out a little coffee cup, I thought about how nice it was of him to offer assistance. I was used to being on my own and taking care of my needs, but fortunately Hayden wasn’t afraid to speak up and be pushy. So when he firmly told me his plans, I easily agreed to them. Anything to ease the pending soreness.

Just as I finished brewing a cup of coffee, a clattering caught my attention. I glanced down the hall to the bathroom and spotted Hayden bent over, dumping the second bag of ice into the bathtub. I couldn’t help notice how tight his sleeves were around his toned biceps or the way his back flexed under the material.

The sound of my cell ringing startled me. I grabbed it from my purse and shook my head at
The One & Only BFFFFFF
on my caller ID
before picking up.

“How nice of you to finally grace me with a phone call.”

“I could say the same of you. I don’t hear from you for two weeks and then you get all pissy on me because I don’t answer for a few days? I’ve been busy.”

“Let me guess, you and your new beau,” I stated mockingly. “A text would’ve sufficed, you know. Not the fuck you button eighty-seven times. I thought something happened to you. I was ready to put out an Amber Alert.”

Avery chuckled at my exaggeration.

“Where have you been?” I asked, my voice malleable. “I miss talking to you.”

“I know, I’m sorry.” Avery paused and then said, “I got into a fight with my boyfriend. It’s been pretty rough...I think we broke up, Aid.”

I was surprised to hear sadness in Avery’s voice. “So why didn’t you call me and vent? You know I’m always here for you.”

“I didn’t want to talk about it, I guess. I’m really just upset over it.”

“This is totally unlike you to be so down over a guy.”

“You mean for me to be a sap?” she laughed sadly. “Yeah.”

Then it dawned on me. “For you to be this put off could only mean one thing. You love him. You love him and I don’t even know who
him
is.” Avery’s silence confirmed my deduction.

“Ave? Are you crying?”

“No,” she lied. Her throaty voice gave her away.

My heart ached for her. “I can’t believe how upset you are and I’m not there to comfort you. I feel like a shitty friend now.”

“It’s okay, I’ll get over it soon...I hope.”

An idea sprung to me. “You know, tomorrow I have the day off. I was going to go to the beach with some of the gymnasts here. Why don’t you drive over, come to the beach, and stay the night? The next day would be boring since I have practice and all, but you can come and watch for a little.”

“Aid, you’re like a million miles away.”

“Don’t be ridic, three hours at most, and that’s with traffic. You have to see the guys here and what they look like. Whoever you’re pining after will be easily forgotten once you feast your eyes upon the eye candy at my gym. The boys’ team.” I knew what would entice her.

Avery perked up. “Boys’ team? You mean Hayden?”

“Well, there are more boys other than Hayden, I just don’t talk to them often. Doesn’t mean I don’t look though.” I laughed, and so did Avery. “So you’ll come?” She groaned and I pushed. “Please, Avery?”

“Oh, all right,” she agreed, I could hear the smile in her voice. I jumped up and down, grinning from ear to ear.

Hayden appeared at my side, concern written on his face. “You okay?” he mouthed. I nodded frantically. “Yeah! I’m way more than okay!”

“Huh? What?” Avery’s voice brought me back to our conversation.

“Oh, sorry. I was talking to Hayden.”

Her voice heightened, surprised to hear his name. “Hayden’s at your place right now?”

“Yes, he’s going to help me soak in ice water.”

“Ice water?”

“He’s filling my bath tub with bags of ice and adding water. It helps relieve swelling and repair my muscles so I can train at the same rate I’ve been going at, or so I’ve been told. Today was brutal, quite possibly the worst day yet. I’ll sit for ten to fifteen minutes or so and say a prayer.”

“Interesting...and boring. So, I’ll leave around seven tomorrow morning?”

“Perfect! I can’t wait to see you!” I said excitedly.

“Later, girlfriend.”

“I’m so excited! Be right back!” I yelled dramatically walking into my bedroom and shutting the door. I shuffled through my drawers for raggedy clothes. Quickly changing into ones I could wear in the tub, I opened my bedroom door to let Hayden know I was finished. I hadn’t seen my best friend in many long months and tomorrow couldn’t come fast enough.

“I can’t wait for you to meet Avery. I’ve known her since we were in diapers.” I was fixing my shorts and sports bra, waiting for Hayden to respond. When he didn’t, I looked up and my cheeks reddened.