The radio crackled again. “Okay, we’re a go.”
Lara entered the court first, the crowd applauding for her. Roy held his hand up, holding Indy back, and her eyes grew wide. It was really loud out there, definitely the loudest she’d ever heard a crowd for one of her matches.
“Good luck,” he said, his hand squeezing her shoulder before he waved her through.
Empty, the OBX main court didn’t seem that big. Compared to the huge stadiums at the Grand Slams, it wasactually very small, but as she stood on the court with every seat taken, music blaring in the background, and the din of people chattering in their seats, to Indy it might as well have been Centre Court at Wimbledon.
All of these people were here to watch her play, to watch her win or lose.
Indy’s heart pounded, mimicking the harsh bass echoing through the speakers. The music was meant to pump up everyone in the stands, but it was sending her pulse rate through the roof.
Glancing into the crowd, Indy noticed that Caroline was courtside, next to the rep from Solaris. A few rows back, Penny, long past the need to play in a tournament for up-and-comers, sat with Dom and Jack. Indy was pretty sure she caught Jack looking away from her once her gaze landed on their group. Infuriating man. Teddy was behind them next to Jasmine. Her match had been earlier that morning. She’d won easily.
Indy looked elsewhere. She had to take it one match at a time. There wouldn’t be a chance to face down Jasmine unless she won this one and two after it.
She sat down in her chair and pulled the laces of her sneakers tight. She took several deep breaths, trying to block out the noise, but it was almost impossible.
“Players to the center of the court,” the chair umpire said, standing next to the net. A coin flip would decide who served first.
“Heads,” Lara said.
“The call is heads,” the umpire said, and flipped it onto the court. The coin bounced once, spun, and then rattled flat onto the ground. “It is tails. Miss Gaffney?”
“I’ll serve.”
Lara’s face went pale and Indy’s nerves faded.
Her opponent was afraid, and there was nothing more devastating for an athlete than fear.
As they warmed up, Indy made sure to unleash her serve at maximum velocity, paying little attention to where it went. She wanted to nurture the fear, not give Lara the chance to overcome it.
Finally, the chair umpire said, “Play.”
The tennis balls were brand-new. They would fly hard and fast.
Across the net Lara was lined up far behind the baseline, shifting her weight back and forth, waiting. Indy didn’t make her wait any longer.
The serve was perfect, down the center of the court, skidding off the white painted line and past Lara, who flinched but had no chance to return it. Indy smiled, the tension releasing from her body, the rush of adrenaline settling into a comfortable ease.
The match was over before it started.
GAME, SET, AND MATCH, GAFFNEY.”
Penny stood, applauding Indy’s win, her third in three days. It was a decisive victory and she could remember what that felt like; a few years ago, she was down on that court, winning her first Classic semifinal. Long before there were sponsorships and British bad boys, there was tennis and her simple love for the sport. She still loved it, of course, but everything was so complicated now.
Indy and her opponent met at the net and shook hands to end the match, and Penny turned to leave. She had a training session with Dom and Alex in fifteen minutes. Coming down the stairs out of the OBX stadium with the rest of the crowd, Penny felt him before she saw him. It was like that in Australia, too. She’d felt his eyes on her long before he’d approached her. She tried to disappear into the throng ofpeople, but he was head and shoulders above nearly everyone. If he wanted to find her, he would.
“Penny,” Alex said, suddenly beside her. The people around them shifted, and she was forced closer to him. “Come on. We need to talk.” His hand reached for her and then stopped, hovering and dropping away instead, flexing and then relaxing. “Please, love.”
“What do you want, Alex?” she asked, acutely aware of the eyes that followed them as they started down the path leading away from the stadium.
“I want to talk to you.”
He drew to a halt near their practice court.
“I don’t have anything to say to you.”
“Yeah, see, I don’t believe you.”
