Balance (Off Balance Book 1) (42 page)

“It’s not like that—”

“It’s not what you thin—”

We both paused and chuckled. “Really, it’s not what you think, Holly. He’s been really great, a shoulder to lean on. Nothing more.”

A look of hurt crossed Hayden’s face, but he quickly masked it. I’d caught it and felt awful at my choice of words.

Hayden’s eyes shot to me before he stepped forward. “Holls, please don’t make it more than what it is. You know how the gym is about relationships.”

“Don’t worry, I’d never say a word, even though you guys would make a cute couple,” she finished with a smile.

My cheeks flamed and Hayden clapped his hands to change the mood. He slipped on a backwards hat and popped a piece of gum into his mouth. “Let’s hit the surf and make the most of today, because tomorrow, it’s back to hell.”

T
HE SUN WAS
setting against an incandescent ocean while soothing shades of pinks and oranges streaked across the sky. I was wrapped in a towel, my feet buried beneath ivory grains of sand as I stared at the roaring waves.

This was my happy place, where I found solace. Where the weight of the world left my shoulders as I breathed in the salty air, exhaling the pressure I was plagued with on a daily basis.

I’ve missed this so much.

The beach was my serenity, and I was glad I’d asked Avery to come visit. Maybe it would help her sort out whatever was going on in her life. There was something peaceful and calming about the crashing waves and salty air. It was where I used to come to get away from my chaotic world living in Palm Beach. I’d sit and stare at the ocean for hours, kind of how I was now, and think about nothing.

A small fire had been lit when Sarah had suggested a game of Truth or Dare. We all sat around starting off with easy, mindless questions for the girls, while the guys dared each other.

“Hayden, I dare you to go streaking,” Gavin suggested with a devious grin.

“Ah, come on,” Hayden responded, standing. Stepping away from the fire, he turned his back to us and stripped off his trunks. Pooling at his feet, he stepped out of them and took off running, his hands thrown in the air. “Yeah!” he shouted, running down to the ocean.

I laughed, covering my mouth when Avery yelled, “Turn around!”

I looked over at her, feeling her enjoyment. Gone was her sadness and in its place nothing but happiness. Her eyes were huge, and she had the biggest grin I’d ever seen. She smacked my arm and said, “Oh, my God. Look at Hayden!”

Sure enough, Hayden had turned around and was running back. He was too far away to actually see anything, but once he drew closer, he covered himself with his hands. Gavin threw him his board shorts and he caught them with one hand. He turned around and slipped them back on. Reagan, Sarah, Avery, and I all got silent as we openly stared at his perfectly rounded ass.

“It’s Gavin’s turn to go streaking!” Avery yelled jokingly.

Hayden looked at his sister. “Truth or Dare.”

Holly rolled her eyes. “Truth.”

“Have you ever skipped out on conditioning?”

She gave her brother a droll stare. “Of course I have. Who hasn’t?”

“Sarah,” Holly said. “Truth or Dare.”

“Truth.”

“Would you rather have rips on both hands or straddle the beam three times?”

I cringed internally at her question. Been there, done that.

“That’s a good one,” Sarah said. She pursued her lips together in thought. “I think I’d rather straddle the beam. That would heal much quicker than my hands.”

“Ah, you guys are boring,” Gavin said. “Someone do a dare.”

Sarah looked around at the group. Reagan leaned in and whispered something in her ear. My pulse thumped harder as both sets of eyes made their way to me. A sly smile slowly spread across Reagan’s face and her eyes brightened. I knew it.

“Adrianna. Truth or Dare,” Sarah asked.

No way in hell was I picking dare. She’d dare me to do something that would completely humiliate me. So I went with truth.

“Are you a virgin?”

All eyes were suddenly on me. The only sound was the crackling of the fire and the waves breaking at the shore as she waited for my answer.

“Well?” Reagan pushed.

Picking up a handful of dry sand, I clenched it tightly, wishing I could chuck it at Reagan for Sarah’s question. She just took the game up a notch at my expense.

“Virgin,” I said, letting the sand shift through my fingers. She cracked a side grin and raised one brow.

“Is anyone else a virgin?” Reagan asked the group.

Everyone answered at the same time, so the only one to know who was still a virgin was myself.

“Are you a virgin?” I asked Reagan.

“No,” she responded, and I was actually surprised by her answer.

“I guess there really is a person out there for everyone,” I quipped. Avery sputtered her soda as she laughed and leaned her weight on me.

Reagan’s brows angled toward each other, infused with anger and spite. “Ava.”

Avery snapped her head over to Reagan and glared at her. “It’s Avery.”

“Same thing. Truth or Dare.”

I chuckled to myself. Avery wasn’t afraid of much. “Dare.”

A wicked smile spread across her face. “I dare you to make out with Hayden,” she said, proud of her dare.

I looked over at Hayden and his eyebrows nearly popped off his head.

I knew what Reagan was doing. She was trying to hurt me. But what she didn’t know was having Avery kiss Hayden wouldn’t hurt me in the least. I considered Hayden a really great friend and nothing more. Though, it was clearly obvious she didn’t see that.

Before anyone could say anything, Avery jumped to her feet and crossed over me to Hayden. She dropped her knees to the sand in front of him, whose blue eyes were filled with shock as he sat motionless. I knew from experience he wasn’t a prude, or a virgin, yet he sat stone-faced still.

Avery didn’t hesitate and grabbed Hayden’s cheeks, pulling his face to hers. Just before she pressed her lips to his, he glanced my way for consent. I knew he was being nice so I smiled in return. Knowing Avery, she was going to put on a show just to piss Reagan off.

His eyes stayed on mine for another second or two longer until they closed shut and he kissed her back. I watched, along with the rest of the group, in silence as the dare went on a little longer than we all expected. Avery climbed onto Hayden’s lap, his eyes stayed shut as his brows lifted high on his forehead again. He wrapped an arm around her lower back and threaded the other through her windblown hair and kissed her the way he once kissed me. With passion and intensity.

Someone cleared their throat and the kiss abruptly broke apart. Hayden’s lips were flushed and swollen, his eyes wide as Avery climbed off him and resumed her seat next to me, like she didn’t have a care in the world.

I shifted my eyes over to Reagan and took joy in her expression. She was seething over her dare backfiring on her.

I smiled from ear to ear.

“All right,” Avery said, rubbing her hands together. “Who’s my next victim?”

“A
drianna, come here,” Kova said, gesturing me over with two fingers. I’d been at practice for three hours now working on bars. Only another hour or so before I could break for lunch and I couldn’t wait. I was waterlogged from the beach yesterday, so any break I got was essential.

“Yes?”

He lifted my hand to his face and scowled. “I cannot stand the sight of your wrists. Go in my office and in my desk drawer, there are a pair of wristbands for you.” He looked square in my eyes. “Wear them.”

I flattened my lips and nodded. Kova had a way of making something so small feel like such a big issue. My wrists were fine.

“Hey, Ave,” I said, smiling from ear to ear as I stepped into the cold lobby. She had slept over and came to watch my practice before she had to drive back to Palm Beach. Having her around for the past twenty-four hours had been really good and I was going to miss her dearly when she left.

“What are you doing?” she asked, sitting in a folded metal chair, her cell phone in one hand.

I shook my head and rolled my eyes, holding up my wrists. “Apparently this bothers my coach.”

She looked at me, perplexed. “Your hands?”

“The sight of your wrists offends me greatly,” I said in my best manly Russian inflection. Avery sat motionless for a moment until she erupted with laughter.

“Are you serious?” she asked, grinning.

I raised my brows, nodding. “He doesn’t like how I wrap my wrists and has new wristbands for me. I just need to grab them real quick.”

Her brows scrunched together, her chocolate eyes zoning in. “Fish lips has new gym gear for you? He bought them?”

I laughed, shushing her with a finger pressed to my lips. “Don’t say that too loud,” I whispered.

Avery looked around the bare lobby. “Stop being paranoid, no one else is here. Would you rather I say Coach Kissable instead?” She looked over her shoulder and through the glass at Kova, who was making his way across the gym. “In person, he really does have some nice lips, not to mention, a seriously rocking body. I could almost see his muscles. But does he always look like he’s mad at life?”

I glanced in her direction, locking eyes with Kova. “For the most part. How long will you be here for?”

She looked at the time on her phone. “Not much long—”

“Come on, Ria. You are on a roll and I do not want to break it.” Kova barged into the lobby, cutting off Avery. Surprisingly, he wasn’t mean about it, and his unexpected compliment rendered me speechless. Kova rarely remarked positively on my practice, but I noticed he’d been doing it more and more lately.

The sound of a chair sliding across the floor broke my slacked jaw stare.

“Hi,” Avery said, walking over to Kova with her hand outstretched. “I’m Avery, Adrianna’s friend from back home.”

Kova shook her hand. “A pleasure to meet you, Avery.”

“Likewise,” she responded. “I was just telling
Ria
here how impressive your gym is compared to the one back home she used to train at.”

Ria.
The voices faded away, leaving me falling into a black hole. She gave nothing away in her expression, but I knew what that one sentence meant. The beat of my heart thumped wildly in my ears as one word played on repeat in my head.

Ria.

All I could process was how I’d once told Avery my library “crush” was the only one who called me Ria.

Subconsciously, I knew Avery would never utter a word to anyone, but that wasn’t the issue. There were so many problems at the moment I couldn’t think straight on which one to tackle first.

I wasn’t sure how much time passed when I heard Avery mention how she calls me Ria. Dear God. I was going to be sick.

“Nice to meet you, Coach,” Avery ended with a megawatt smile.

“Same to you.” Turning to me, Kova said, “I have to get something from my car. Grab the wristbands and meet me back in the gym quickly.” I nodded blindly as he walked out the front door.

Lifting my apprehensive eyes to Avery’s, I prepared for the worst, but I came face-to-face with a Cheshire grin instead.

“You got some ‘splainin’ to do,” she said in her best Ricky Ricardo voice. It was terrible.

“Avery.”

She placed a comforting hand on my shoulder. “Shh,” she lowered her voice. “Say no more. Your secret is safe with me. But you can bet I’m going to wait until you break for lunch so we can talk.”

I gave her a thankful smile.

“Just one question,” she said.

My eyes widened. “Yeah?”

“You couldn’t go for that cutie, Hayden? You had to go for
him
? Are you trying to get your ass kicked in?”

A low chuckled escaped me and Avery laughed too. “It just happened.”

She hitched her thumb over her shoulder and gave me a blank stare. “
That
does not just happen. Hayden happens. Not fish lips.”

I pursed my lips together, feigning a smile.