by Ivy Smoak
"Okay. I love you so much. Enjoy your last few days there."
"I love you too, Mom. See you soon."
Bryce smiled and walked over to me. "Hey, Kristen," he said. "Want some pizza?"
"Absolutely."
I couldn't take my eyes off him. I knew it was fast. But I was falling for him. My heart actually hurt at the thought of saying goodbye on Monday night. But if he was serious about making a stop on the east coast, then I didn't have to worry about a goodbye yet. Eventually he'd have to go home though. Maybe I'd go to Pasadena with him. I could save up more money and start a new bakery. I wanted to tell him how I was feeling. I didn't want to take things slow. For once in my life, I didn't want to play it safe.
"What?" he asked with a smile. He took a big bite of pizza.
I'm falling in love with you. I shook my head. "Nothing." I grabbed a slice.
"We have to eat fast," he said.
"Why?"
"Apparently Tim booked us a spa day."
"Us? Does that mean you too?"
"Um...yeah. Tim was rather insistent about it." He shrugged. "He said it was like massages and stuff. To make sure we're all ready for the dance tomorrow."
"Oh, no, the dance tomorrow," I said with a mouth full of pizza. I hadn't even been thinking about the stupid tiebreaker.
Bryce laughed. "It's our chance to beat Gabriela. Well, Kristen's chance I guess."
"I am definitely going to win this dance off. It's time to finally show that bitch her place." Kristen opened up the container with a delicious looking piece of chocolate cake. "And a spa day sounds perfect," Kristen said. "That's just what we need, right, Alina?"
Right now all I needed was for Bryce's arms to be around me. And for us to celebrate the way we had originally planned. I cleared my throat. "Absolutely."
Chapter 30
Saturday
Bryce
The spa was on the third floor of Dorm 22, which from the outside looked suspiciously like a five star hotel. The rumor was that all of the highest profile athletes were staying there and that after the games it would be converted into an actual five star hotel.
I immediately felt relaxed just walking into the place. The walls were lined with waterfalls that produced a constant, soothing background noise that nearly put me to sleep when combined with the vanilla fragrance they were pumping into the room.
A middle aged woman greeted us at the front desk. "Welcome to the Athletes' Spa. Can I have your name please?" she asked.
"Tim Newman, and this is Kristen, Alina, and Bryce."
"Let's see..." She scanned her computer screen. "Ah, there you are. Would you prefer a male or female massage therapist?"
"We'll take a male," said Kristen immediately.
"We will too," agreed Tim.
"Wait, what?" I said. Damn it. I should have known Tim would want a man.
Alina and Kristen started laughing. It was the first time Alina had smiled since losing her match. I didn't want that smile to go away again, so I decided to keep the joke rolling.
"You know what?" I said. "Send us the biggest, strongest men you've got."
Alina laughed even more.
Tim raised his hand for a high five. "My man. I underestimated you."
"Hey, what if we want the biggest, strongest men they've got?" said Kristen. "That doesn't seem fair."
Tim shook his head. "I'm sorry my dear, but the spa is like a street fight. The early bird gets the hunk."
"I don't see how that phrase applies to a street fight..." I said.
At this point, Alina was laughing hysterically. God, I loved her laugh.
The woman at the desk looked concerned. "I should actually point out that the spa has fairly strict rules of etiquette and is nothing like a street fight. For example, any requests for sexual favors from your massage therapist will lead to early termination of your massage." She pointed at a sign behind her titled Spa Etiquette.
"Don't worry," I said. "I'll make sure he doesn't try any funny business with the masseur."
"Good. We should be ready for you in about a half hour. While you wait, you're welcome to relax in the sauna or hot tub. Your massage therapists will come get you when they're ready. The men's locker room is to your left, the women's is to your right."
"Have fun with your hunky men," said Alina.
"How could we not?" asked Tim.
I glanced back at Alina as we walked towards the locker room. This spa would be so much better if the facilities were co-ed.
Tim and I changed into towels and then I followed him to the sauna. The hot, humid air blasted us as soon as we opened the door. There were a few guys sitting on the wooden benches, but there was still plenty of room for Tim and me.
I sat back and tried to relax, but it was hard not to focus on the tiebreaker event tomorrow. If all went according to plan, Em would be safe, Alina would be happy to see Gabriela lose, and Isadora would take down Rodrigo. But if it doesn't go according to plan... I shook the thought from my head.
"So what do you think our odds are for tomorrow?" I asked. "Still fifty-fifty?"
Tim shook his head. "Have faith, Bryce. I can't control for all the variables, but I'd say we have at least a 90% chance of winning."
"Really? You're that confident?"
"I wouldn't joke about competitive dance."
"What makes you so sure? Practice was good, but not that good."
"I have a few cards up my sleeve," said Tim.
"Like what?"
Tim glanced around at the other guys in the sauna. "You really want me to tell you?"
Good point. Better not to discuss it here. "No, I'll trust you."
"As you should. Just sit back and relax."
I leaned back against the wall and closed my eyes. I tried to focus on my breathing instead of the tiebreaker.
It worked for about two minutes until Tim nudged me.
"Dude, did you see that?" he asked.
"What? No, I had my eyes closed."
"Follow me." He hopped up and ran out of the sauna.
Against my better judgment, I got up and ran after him. He was standing in the middle of the hall looking both directions when I caught up to him.
"What's going on?" I asked.
"I think I saw Python."
"What? Not this again."
"I think he was that guy sitting next to us. When he got up to leave someone hit him with the door and his towel fell off for a second. It was definitely him. Man, I should have known that such a majestic creature would be found in the spa. I wonder if there's a treatment he does to make his penis so big."
"Well, he's not here. The hallway is empty."
"He's not in the hallway, but he must be near. Let's split up and look before the trail goes cold."
"I think that spying on spa-goers violates spa etiquette."
"This is bigger than spa etiquette."
Was that a pun about the size of his penis? I decided to pretend like it didn't happen. "Well, I'm going back in the sauna. Good luck."
"Come on, Bryce. Please help me," pleaded Tim. "It's important."
"Mr. Newman and Mr. Walker?" said a man who had just entered the hallway.
"That's us," said Tim.
Thank God. They couldn't have come at a better time.
"Hi, I'm Brad, and this is Jimmy. We'll be your massage therapists today." They stuck out their hands to shake ours.
As we shook hands with them, Tim turned to me and whispered, "Brad has the grip of a full grown grizzly bear. We're in for a treat."
Ew.
We followed the men down the hall to our massage room. They waited outside while we took our towels off and lay face-down on the massage tables.
Jimmy started massaging my back. It really did feel good, although it took a little while for me to forget about the fact that it was a man doing it. He started at my shoulders and worked down to my lower back, and then he poured some sort of hot oil on me. I thought he was going to keep massaging, but in
stead he just patted the area.
"Fuck!" I screamed as a sharp pain shot up my back. "What was that?"
"First time getting waxed?" asked Jimmy.
I turned to look at Tim. "What the hell, Tim? Did you sign us up for a wax?"
"No, just you. I always keep my body baby-smooth."
"Well what if I don't want to be baby-smooth?" I asked as Jimmy applied another layer of wax to a different spot on my back.
"It's part of the agreement you signed when you agreed to participate as an understudy in the dance. We can't have any stray hairs poking through your costume. Those suits are tight and HD catches everything."
Jimmy pulled on the wax and it felt like a layer of my skin came with it. I gritted my teeth and tried not to scream again.
"See, it's not so bad," said Tim. "The only bad part is when he does your package, but I'm sure Jimmy will be gentle. It's worth it for the results though. Alina will love it."
"Nope, I'm not doing this."
"You're really not going to do this after all I've done to help you with this tiebreaker? Not cool, Bryce. Not cool at all."
Tim was right. I had asked an awful lot from him for this tiebreaker and he hadn't even flinched. And now he was just asking me for this one thing. Even if it was a full body wax, I couldn't say no.
"Alright, fine," I said. "But after this we're even."
"Deal. Gentlemen, will you please excuse me for a minute? I need to use the restroom." Tim got up, wrapped his towel around himself, and left the room, leaving me to endure the pain of a full body wax by myself.
Chapter 31
Saturday
Alina
The heat in the sauna was super relaxing. Tim really did know just what we needed after losing. Stupid Gabriela.
"You're falling for him, aren't you?" Kristen asked.
I opened my eyes and smiled. "I am."
"Did you two bang this afternoon?"
I laughed. "No. I was too busy crying hysterically."
"I figured."
"What about you and Tim?"
Kristen sighed. "It was weird. I was being super seductive. It was like he didn't understand any of my cues. God I'm so horny."
I wasn't at all surprised that Tim didn't understand a woman's cues for wanting sex. "Weird."
"I think he's doing a self-inflicted sex ban so we both perform well tomorrow or something. That's the only explanation I can think of."
Or he's gay? "That makes sense. He's super into the performance. I was thinking after we're done at the spa I might try to take things to the next level with Bryce."
"Well, good luck with that. If Tim has a sex ban, I'm sure he's put it on his understudy too."
"Geez. The only good part about having a silver medal is that it means the games are over and we can have sex again." I sighed and rested my head against the wall behind me. "I feel like I'm going to internally combust."
"So I'm not the only one."
"Having sex with Bryce is literally all I can think about right now."
"Good. I'm glad you're not thinking about the game. Besides, we still have another shot at crushing her and Brazil. So really, we should just pretend the game never happened."
"You mean you have another shot at crushing her and Brazil," I said.
"Right. But it'll be a victory for both of us."
"It is going to be fantastic seeing her face when you win."
"Mhm. And after we get gold this time, then we get to have sex with our sexy new studs."
"Is it tomorrow night yet?"
Kristen laughed. "I think those are our masseurs." She gestured at the two strong men that had come into the room. "If Tim and Bryce got the biggest, strongest men here, I'm glad we didn't. These two looked plenty strong. The men working on them must be terrifying."
I laughed.
We followed the two masseurs into the massage room. They left as Kristen and I got onto the table.
"How does this work exactly?" I asked and climbed onto the table. "Do we put our towels around our waists?"
"Just drape it over your ass and lay face down. They won't be able to see anything."
It was good she was here. I felt like I always did the wrong thing. I probably would have just laid down naked on the table and shocked them if Kristen hadn't been there. I didn't want to offend the Brazilian culture.
I had never had a professional massage before, but as soon as his hands touched my back, I knew why people got them. It felt amazing. I closed my eyes as the masseur's hands ran down my back. Shit. I was so wound up that this was making me incredibly horny.
"Oh, God that feels so good," Kristen moaned.
Apparently I wasn't the only one feeling that way. I was very aware of exactly where the man's fingers were.
"Is there anywhere in particular you want me to focus?" he asked.
Yes, between my legs. "Umm..my lower back."
He pushed with just the right amount of pressure. I bit my lip so I wouldn't moan embarrassingly. His fingers went slightly beneath my towel, massaging just above my ass. Holy shit.
"Oh yeah, right there," Kristen moaned.
If was official. We had both somehow become sex addicts during our training. It was hard to find the massage relaxing when I was so horny. When it was done, I was ready to leave. I was going to get Bryce to come back to my room. If we even made it to the room. Maybe we could just find an empty room here.
"Your spray tans will start in 15 minutes," one of the masseurs said before leaving the room.
"Spray tans? Screw that," Kristen said as she wrapped her towel around herself. "I think we should go find the guys." It was like she was reading my mind.
I laughed. "We can't go wandering around the spa."
"We have 15 minutes to do whatever we want. And I don't know about you, but I have been dying to see Tim naked. I can't even think straight. I'm going insane."
"Okay, fine. But we have to be back here before they come looking for us."
"We better run then."
I stepped into my slippers and ran out of the massage room with her.
Kristen opened up the first door we came to in the hallway. She peered inside and quickly closed it. "Definitely not them." She giggled.
I shook my head. "We just became peeping Toms."
"No. Peeping Tom-ets. Which, let's be honest, is a lot less creepy."
"Is it though?"
"Do you want to see Bryce naked or not?"
Of course I do. "Why would they be naked? We weren't naked during our massages."
"I don't know. If we catch them off guard maybe they'll stand up really quickly and their towels will slip. You're good at getting Bryce to drop his towel. Come on." She grabbed my arm and pulled me to the next door. Bryce and Tim weren't behind door number two either. We tried several other doors, opening them slowly and peering inside, hoping no one would hear us.
"This is going to take forever," I whispered.
"But the payout is soooo worth it."
"I wonder if Coach Hammond knows she turned us into sex addicts?"
Kristen laughed. "Oh geez, you're right. We're acting crazy, aren't we?"
We both looked at the unopened door in front of us.
"How about one more door?" I said.
"Deal. And then we stop our man hunt."
I nodded.
Just when Kristen touched the doorknob, the door opened and Tim walked out with a huge smile on his face. He looked so happy that I wouldn't have been at all surprised if he had just received a happy ending from his masseur. Kristen's jaw visibly dropped at the sight of him with just a towel wrapped around his waist. He certainly had muscles in all the right place.
Tim cleared his throat. "Ladies, what are you doing out here? Your spray tans should be starting any minute."
"I know, but I was thinking..." Kristen put her hand on the knot at the top of his towel.
Tim grabbed her hand and pulled it to his lips. "Trust me, darling, it'll be so much better if we w
ait until tomorrow. I have a huge surprise for you." He kissed her knuckles. "I'm going to make all your fantasies come true."
Darling? All her fantasies? Huge surprise? I started laughing. Was he seriously talking about his dick? "Is Bryce in there?" I asked. Kristen had gotten to see Tim in just a towel. Now it was my turn.
"No, he's not. And you ladies need to take this seriously," Tim said. "Spray tans. Now." He pointed down the hall to the tanning room.
Kristen made a pouty face. "Fine."
I felt two hands wrap around me before I had a chance to turn around. "I like you in just a towel," Bryce whispered in my ear.
I giggled.
He turned me around so I could looked up at him. I immediately ran my hands down his strong chest and abs.
"You're so sexy," I whispered. "And...hairless?" I remembered him having a happy trail when I had tried to seduce him the other night.
Bryce laughed uneasily. "Yeah, apparently having no body hair is important for the dance tomorrow."
I laughed. "Seriously?"
He smiled. "You certainly seem like you're in a better mood."
"There is one thing that would put me in an even better mood." My fingers stopped at the knot in his towel. But he didn't look like he wanted to stop me at all. His Adam's apple rose and fell. It was almost like he was daring me to keep going.
Tim cleared his throat. "That's quite enough, you two. No sex until after we win gold tomorrow."
"But we're not even performing," Bryce said.
He wants me right now just as much as I want him.
"I don't care. Get your hands off her, Bryce. Now."
Bryce sighed and let go of my waist. It took every ounce of restraint to not jump on top of him.
"Are you sure that sex ban should apply to us?" I asked.
Bryce was smiling down at me. God he was so sexy. We were only a few inches away from each other and his cologne had completely engulfed me.
"Understudies are essential for the success of a show. You two will not jeopardize the integrity of everything we've worked for. Do you know how hard it's been to arrange this whole thing?"
"Tim's right," Bryce said.
What?
He leaned in closer to me. "Besides, the longer we wait, the more explosive it's going to be," he whispered in my ear. "I promise it'll be worth the wait." He lightly bit my earlobe.
