These Battered Hands

Callie Blood, sweat, hard work, and a disconcerting lack of tears—my entire life—was meant to culminate in a flourish of glory and significance. I’d thought I’d always known exactly what that meant. But I’d had the timing wrong by about three minutes. I knew now. This moment wasn’t everything. The one person I found myself wanting more than anything during it was. Nik One preconceived notion can haunt you for the entirety of your life. I thought I owed it to myself and to everyone who’d ever backed me to do what was expected. What was right. What I was supposed to do. But nothing is forbidden in love. Not circumstances or propriety or the denial of the object of said affection. I knew now. This was it. If I wanted it, I had to take it. This gymnastics love story is more than grips, rips, and battered hands. For Calia Nickleson and Nikolai Bagrov, it was everything.