by Ivy Smoak
"Alex!" Tim yelled when Alex got back to the table. "We get to dance in front of the entire world!"
"Umm...what?"
Tim filled in Alex as we all walked back to their dorm and began talking strategy with Kristen. I tuned them out. I didn't care what their strategy was. There was no way I was ever going to be a part of that dance.
"Didn't Gabriela Santos volunteer for Brazil?" Bryce asked.
"Yeah."
"So you want to completely annihilate her in your volleyball game and in the tiebreaker?" He smiled at me.
"That doesn't sound so bad. But I'm just going to beat her in volleyball. I'm not actually going to dance in the tiebreaker. Besides, there isn't going to be a tiebreaker."
"Well, it was brave to volunteer."
I never considered myself brave. "Kristen kind of tricked me into it."
"Still."
The way he was looking at me made my face flush. I had worn the dress to dinner that I thought was too sexy for our first date. The sparkly one that Kristen had deemed appropriate and I had deemed inappropriate. But tonight I wanted to look sexy. If Bryce made a pass at me, I wasn't going to deny him. Hell. Having sex tonight would probably help me focus better in the game on Saturday. Because recently sex was on my mind a lot more than volleyball. All I could think about since Bryce won gold was how his lips felt on mine and how his hands felt on my ass.
We walked up the stairs to their room.
"I'm sorry it's such a mess," Tim said immediately after he flicked the light on in their room. He ran over to his perfectly made bed and plumped the pillows. And then he removed his athletic shorts from the ironing board and put them in a drawer.
Who irons athletic shorts? In fact, the label on them probably specified "do no iron." Or maybe it didn't, because no one in their right mind would do it anyway.
Alex turned the TV on and flopped down on the only couch.
Bryce adjusted the pillows on his bed to lean against the headboard so that we could sit up. "Is this okay?"
I was already kicking my shoes off. "It's great." I slid onto his bed and pulled the sheets up to my waist.
His Adam's apple rose and fell as he watched me climb into his bed. He shoved his hands into his pockets and turned toward the TV.
For a moment he seemed engrossed in the news report about some table tennis player losing.
"He was walking around like he had something up his ass," Tim said.
Bryce shook his head. He was probably wondering why Tim knew what that looked like.
"What movie should we watch?" Alex asked. He was scrolling through the list of titles available on demand.
Bryce walked over to the other side of the bed. He hesitated for a second before sliding under the sheets beside me. He put his arm around me and I rested my head against his shoulder. I felt like I fit perfectly in his arms. His cologne completely engulfed me. I had that fleeting thought again that I wanted to lick his skin. Calm down.
"How about that new movie based on the latest Nicholas Sparks book?" suggested Kristen. "I heard it's just as good as The Notebook."
"Nah," Alex said, cutting Kristen off. "Let me check out the adult movies."
"Stop degrading women!" Tim threw a pillow at Alex's head.
Bryce laughed. "This is basically every night with these two. Why don't we just watch that new comedy with Owen Wilson?"
"I've been dying to see that!" I said. And we liked the same kind of movies? If I had to watch one more stupid action movie with Chris I probably would have killed myself.
"Me too."
Everyone else agreed that it looked good and Alex turned it on.
Owen Wilson was as funny as Owen Harris was hot. My school girl crush on Owen Harris didn't seem nearly as strong when I was around Bryce though. And Bryce was in my fantasies way more than Owen Harris ever had been.
I put my hand on Bryce's stomach. His abs immediately tensed. God. I could feel his muscles through his shirt. But I wanted to run my fingers through the lines of his six pack. I had been dreaming of doing that ever since I had run into him in the locker room. I moved my hand to the buttons of his dress shirt. I slowly undid one button and then another. His body seemed to stiffen even more. Before he could protest, I slipped my hand into his shirt. Fuck. It was even better than I had imagined. His skin was so soft. And he had at least an eight pack, if not more.
I moved my thigh on top of his legs. I didn't care that it pushed the hem of my dress up. I wanted his hands on my bare ass. If there was no one else in the room I would have straddled him and moved his hands to my ass for him. I would have unhinged his belt in a heartbeat. I so badly wanted to taste him. Just the thought was making me wet.
Instead, I undid another button and slid my hand even lower down his torso.
His breathing hitched. He ran his hand down my back and stopped at the hem of my dress.
Touch me. I lifted my thigh a little higher, making the hem of my dress rise even more.
His fingertips slipped onto my ass. He groaned. It was so quiet and low that I wouldn't have heard it if I wasn't right next to him.
He slid his hand a little lower, cupping my bare ass cheek. His touch was scorching.
I slid my hand down farther trailing my fingers through his happy trail.
"Alina." His voice sounded so seductive. Just like it had after our kiss.
"Bryce." I hoped my voice sounded alluring and sexy. I traced the waistline of his pants.
He grabbed my hand to stop me from exploring further. "Are you trying to make this impossible?" he whispered.
"No." My heart was beating so loudly that I thought he could probably hear it. "I want to celebrate your victory."
He pulled the hem of my dress down and sat up a little straighter. "Not tonight."
I hadn't thought about him turning me down. He probably thought I was such a slut. I removed my leg from his and sat up straighter too. I bit my lip and turned my attention back to the movie. I was so embarrassed. I could feel his eyes on me, watching my reaction. Was this just a game to him? To see how much I'd embarrass myself because of this stupid sex ban? I folded my arms across my chest.
The bed sagged slightly, but I didn't look toward him. I was so mortified. I squeezed my eyes shut. For some reason I wanted to cry.
"You have no idea how much I want you, Alina," he whispered in my ear.
His words and his warm breath against my skin made me swallow hard.
"You're all that I can think about." He kissed the side of my neck. "I want to kiss every inch of you. I want to taste you. I want to hear you scream my name." He lightly bit my earlobe.
Holy shit. I pressed my thighs together.
He grabbed my chin and tilted my face toward his. "I just meant that we can celebrate together after you get your gold. I don't want to jeopardize your chances of winning."
I got completely lost in his blue eyes. "Kiss me."
He smiled. "Yeah, I can do that." His hand slipped to the back of my neck as he pulled me closer to him. He was such a good kisser. But I could also feel his restraint. He wanted to rip my dress off just as badly as I wanted to rip all his clothes off. He seemed to pull back way too soon.
"I can't wait until Saturday night," I said. I nestled my head onto his chest. In just a few days I'd have gold around my neck and Bryce on top of me. And I couldn't deny the fact that I was more excited about the second one.
Chapter 25
Thursday
Bryce
It was hard to get out of bed. Not because I was depressed, but because everything was so perfect. I had won my race, and more importantly, I had kissed Alina. And it had taken every ounce of restraint in me not to take it further. All I wanted to do was pin her to the mattress last night and have her. I didn't even care that there were other people in the room. It was like I needed her. And she had kissed me like I was the air she needed to breathe. She definitely felt the same way about me that I did about her. Life was good. I wanted to stay in bed
as long as possible so that nothing could make that feeling go away.
"Dude, come look at this," said Tim. He was on his laptop at this desk. Alex wasn't anywhere to be seen. Alina and Kristen had left last night after the movie.
I had wanted to ask Alina to stay. I wanted to hold her all night. Hell, I wanted to do a lot more than hold her. Saturday couldn't come fast enough. "Do I have to?" I groaned. "I thought I was going to be able to sleep in now that my race is over."
"Sleep in a different day. I need your help."
"Alright, one second." I rubbed my eyes, rolled out of bed, and pulled on a pair of athletic shorts. I didn't feel comfortable wearing boxers around Tim after he wanted me to check out that dude in the showers the other day. "So what am I looking at here?" As far as I could tell, it was just a team photo of the USA diving team.
"I think I might have found Python!"
"Who?"
"Python. The guy with the giant penis. See." He pointed at the crotch of one of the divers. "Doesn't it look like he has a huge bulge?"
I couldn't help but laugh. "Please tell me you're joking."
"Oh, you think it's not big enough? Hmm...I guess you're right."
"No, I meant that you're joking about trying to track him down."
"Would the CEO of the Guinness Book of World Records pass an eight foot tall man on the street and not measure him? I don't think so."
"What does that have to do with this?" I asked. "Are you the CEO of a company that keeps track of records for the world's largest penis?"
"No, I just want to ask him how he does it. Please just tell me if you think this might be him."
"I don't know. Instead of looking at his package, why not look at some of his other features that would actually be visible in the photo."
"I didn't look at his face. All I know is that he had a huge penis, great abs, and skin the color of velvety milk chocolate."
"So he's black. Do you remember what hairstyle he had?" Am I really having this conversation right now?
Tim stroked his chin. "No, I don't think I saw that. Just his huge penis."
"I dunno how you're going to find him then. Maybe you should just give up and pray that I never tell anyone about this conversation."
"What? Why? We should tell more people so that they can help us find him. Not telling anyone would be like the police classifying an amber alert as top secret."
Tim mentioning an amber alert made me think of Em, which immediately made me think of Rodrigo and that stupid burner phone. If Tim showing me pictures of well endowed black men hadn't completely ruined my state of bliss, the thought of Rodrigo certainly did. Hopefully there aren't any new missions for today.
Tim was so focused on his hunt for Python that I didn't even have to be discrete about checking the phone. I just grabbed it out of my drawer and opened the drafts folder:
Good work yesterday. I'm sure your sister appreciates it. One final mission: Make sure the USA wins the tiebreaker event.
At first I thought it was an easy assignment because the tiebreaker was so unlikely to happen, but when I reread it I realized that it was worded in such a way that made it seem like Rodrigo was certain it would happen. The only explanation was that Rodrigo had other operatives working to ensure that the USA and Brazil tied in overall medal count.
I deleted the draft and put the phone back in my drawer.
"Hey Tim, how confident are you that you'll be able to choreograph a dance that will win Kristen gold in the tiebreaker? If it happens."
Tim spun around in his chair. "Uh, I dunno. Maybe fifty-fifty. I mean, my choreography will obviously be the best, but I found a video of Gabriela doing the samba and she's pretty freaking good at it. And our backup dancers are another variable that could tilt the odds against us."
"Could you do anything to get those odds a little higher?"
"I guess I could research the judges to see what they like, but that's bordering on violating the integrity of the ballroom. And you know I would never do anything to jeopardize such a beautiful, noble sport."
"What if someone's life depended on it?"
"I know that it's easy to get sucked into the cut-throat world of competitive dance, Bryce, but don't you think you're being a little dramatic?"
Did Tim seriously just accuse me of being dramatic? I think I might kill myself.
"Bryce? Is everything okay?"
I took a deep breath. It was clear Tim wasn't going to do anything to improve our odds unless I told him about Rodrigo and his threats against Em. And fifty-fifty odds of the USA losing and Em getting killed were way too risky for my liking. I had to tell him. "If I tell you something, do you promise to never tell anyone else about it?"
"You're the love of my life, Bryce. You know you can tell me your secrets."
"I'm what? No, Tim. How many times do we have to go over this? This is the same as the difference between being in love with someone and loving them like a brother."
Tim shrugged. "Still don't see the difference."
"The love of your life is the girl that you want to be with forever, not something...never mind. It's not worth explaining."
"Whatever you say. Now what was that secret?"
"Remember the other night when the Uber driver drove off with me?"
"Yeah. He made you carsick."
"No." I lowered my voice just to be sure no one would hear us. "He kidnapped me and took me to some strip club where this asshole threatened to kill Em if I didn't help them rig certain events."
Tim looked concerned for a second and then started laughing. "You had me for a second there. But you're going to have to do better than that if you want to trick me."
"Tim, I'm serious. Look, he even gave me a burner phone where he tells me what to do through drafts. He's trying to rig the games so he gets a huge payout on some bet he made." I pulled the phone out of the drawer and tossed it to Tim.
"Wow, you're serious? Why don't you take this to Coach?"
"Because he has Em. He's not messing around. He even showed me a live video feed of Em sitting in her dorm."
"Shit, really?"
"Yes."
"So what are you gonna do then?"
"I have a plan to take him down, but for now I have to play along. He wants me to ensure that the USA wins the tiebreaker event."
"And he'll kill Em if the USA loses?"
"Yes."
"Shit. Fuck the integrity of the ballroom. I'll do whatever it takes to win this thing for you."
"What did you have in mind?"
"Just let me work my magic. Em's going to be okay." He slapped my shoulder reassuringly and went back to his computer.
Chapter 26
Thursday
Alina
This is it. I bounced the ball in front of me and took a deep breath. Just me and the ball. I tossed the ball up and made perfect contact with my hand. My serve sailed over the net.
The libero from Italy's team dove for the ball and hit it short to the setter. The setter ran toward it and bumped it toward the net.
I ran back onto the court, ready to dig the inside hitter's spike. But the hitter spiked it right into the net.
Oh my God.
"Ahhhh!" Kristen yelled and threw her arms around me. Soon my whole team surrounded me. The crowd chanted "USA, USA, USA!"
"We're going to the finals!" Coach Hammond yelled.
We had just secured at least a silver. We formed a circle around Coach Hammond, our arms interlaced. Half the girls were crying. I looked toward the stands. Bryce was folding up his sign. I just wanted to kiss him.
"Brazil plays the Dominican Republic in a few hours. So we'll know who we're up against by tonight. Tomorrow we'll watch all the footage of whoever wins that game. We're not taking any chances. We're going for gold here, ladies. No parties. No celebrating. Get a good night sleep tonight and drink a lot of water. Practice starts at 9 a.m. sharp tomorrow."
We all put our hands into the middle of the circle and yelled, "USA!"<
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As soon as we disbanded, I searched for where Bryce had gone. I found him standing by the exit with Tim. I ran over to him and threw my arms around his neck.
He laughed and lifted me off the ground, spinning me in the air before placing a kiss against my lips. Just when I was thinking how nice it would be if he pushed my back against the wall, he pulled back.
"Congratulations, Alina. You were amazing."
"One more game."
Bryce raised his eyebrow. "One more game till what? Gold?"
I bit my lip and shook my head back and forth. "I mean, yes, but..."
He tucked a loose strand of hair behind my ear. "Of course I know what you're talking about. I actually can't stop thinking about it. One more game."
I was glad the same thing was on his mind.
"Okay, wrap it up," Tim said. "We have to get going. People will be arriving to the tryouts in half an hour."
"I can't wait. This is going to be so much fun," Kristen said.
"Congrats on the win, gorgeous." Tim kissed her cheek and put his arm around her shoulders.
Whoa, when did that happen?
"Maybe you're the ones that need to wrap it up," Bryce said.
Tim laughed. "Unlike you two, we're extremely good at multitasking. Isn't that right?" He winked at Kristen and she immediately blushed.
How did I not know what was going on right now?
"Chop, chop!" Tim said. "We need to go scrutinize some sexy male dancers."
I was seriously concerned about Kristen's mental state.
***
"Wow," said Bryce. "Come look at this."
I walked over to the door and peered out into the hallway. The hallway was filled with guys auditioning to be backup dancers.
"Holy shit," I said. "I thought we'd be lucky to get five guys. This is insane."
"Where's my first dancer?" called Tim from behind the judging table we had set up on the far wall of the dance studio.
"Sorry, I'm calling him," said Bryce. He called in the first guy and then we both took a seat at the judging table.
