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I groan in frustration and push away. Spinning, I find his hand on the barbell. That’s all he had to do to keep me from picking it up. The guy is a beast.
He eyes me, and it’s as if I can see him compiling what he wants to say before he says it. He does that a lot. So, now he actually talks, but everything is calculated and measured. Like he’s thinking about every consequence of his words before they even leave his mouth.
“I know you’re mad. I would be, too. But you’re going to come back from this. You’re not going to get there in a day, but you will.”
“How long?” I say, hands on my hips, breathing heavy. Right now, there’s nothing I want more than to throw it in their faces. Yeah, I was held back, but I didn’t quit. That’s not who I am.
As usual, it takes him a long time to answer. “The good news is you have a solid base. Your muscles know what to do, you just have to get them back.”
“But how long?” I insist.
I miss just being able to do things. Maybe I could step up to the platform right now and dive. However, if the fatigue I’m feeling at this moment means anything, I’d probably drown.
West doesn’t answer. He goes back to his bag, taking the training schedules he made for me with him. He folds them carefully and then tosses them in before zipping it up. Even though he’s dressed for working out, he didn’t do a damn thing. He watched, he tweaked, he pumped me up, and my gut tells me I wouldn’t have done this well if he wasn’t in this room with me.
Standing, he turns toward me. “You should talk to your partner about pool times. Let me know and I’ll put it on the calendar.”
My stomach clenches. I didn’t tell him I no longer have a partner. I don’t know what getting back on the rotation will mean for me. Another partner? Will I get Laney back? Do I even want Laney back? Or maybe I’ll switch to singles?
“You don’t have to worry about that. I don’t have a partner.”
He narrows his gaze. I avoid him by going to my bag and grabbing my water bottle before taking a big gulp. Yanking my shirt up, I wipe the sweat from my face, pointedly avoiding him.
“Your coach partnered her with someone else, didn’t she?”
I bite the fabric of my shirt momentarily and then let it go, tugging it down to around my hips again. “Yes.”
“Okay.”
I zip my bag and hike it up around my shoulders before spinning with my water bottle in my hands. He saysokaylike it’s nothing. “She’s been my partner for years. We were so in sync.”
“Where is she now?”
“With—”
“If she’s not here,” he interrupts, “she’s not important. So you don’t have a partner. Do you want another one?”
Taking a page out of his book, I shrug. I’ve been a synchro diver for so long, it never really occurred to me to dive by myself. But now that it’s in front of me, there’s no reason I couldn’t do it. Also, it takes a lot of practice to get in tune with someone else. At this point, I’m probably better off trying to go it on my own.
I shake my head, and he nods like that settles the conversation.
He walks past me, his bag in tow. Opening the weight room door, he holds it for me as I scoot past.
“Come to the cafeteria with me,” he orders before I can walk away without him. “I’ll show you what to eat after a workout.”
I stop in my tracks. I would never go to the cafeteria after a workout. I’m a mess. Sweaty. My hair is probably a tangled nest, and my scar is most likely bright red from exertion. Plus, there’s this whole thing about eating with him. Right there in front of people. It’s like I’ll be holding up a billboard saying what they did was okay.
He strides past, his tree-trunk legs eating up the distance in the hallway. I’m pretty sure I see the hint of a scowl forming. “At least go through the line with me.”
I stare at his strong back as he retreats. Was that disappointment I heard?
Interesting.
CHAPTEREIGHT
West
Dive into the abyss…