Slowly, my mind began to relax, untangling from the events of today, and my eyes closed, allowing her to work as she needed.
I realized how stupid I had been not to take everything seriously. I’d thought the security guards were an overreaction by my parents, but I should’ve understood how significant the threat was when Calvin was on board.
She took the showerhead, using it to wash the bubbles from my hair, the water still warming my cold body, before applying the conditioner to the ends of my hair. All the while, her voice murmured soft nothings, telling me how much she cared for me, how beautiful I was and how she would never let anything happen to me ever again, sometimes slipping into the occasional Spanish, continuing as she used the warm water to rinse the conditioner out.
After the shower, Inés bundled me up in a fluffy cotton bathrobe, allowing me to wrap my hair in a bath towel. She discarded her clothes, wearing a matching robe as we left the bathroom.
Every step, every movement she made softly. A gentle kiss on my forehead, her hands on my arms, keeping me close. Like she couldn’t possibly leave me alone.
“Are you hungry?” Inés asked, settling on the plush sofa, the apartment living room lined with large windows overlooking the park. We couldn’t even hear the city below us, like we were trapped in a separate world, only the two of us.
I shook my head, not telling her that I didn’t remember the last time I had eaten. Every synapse in my brain still felt too fuzzy. All I really knew I wanted was her.
Her brown gaze looked me up and down, the hesitation clear. I didn’t know what to expect from her next, so she caught me off guard when she told me to turn around. I did as she said, unsure as she took the towel from my head, before softly pulling a brush through my long hair.
Then her fingers began to twist at the crown of my head, pulling damp strands as she began to plait my hair, and for the first time in hours, the storm inside me calmed to a gentle drizzle.
“Chloe, I’m...” She hesitated briefly, her fingers tying the bottom of the complicated plait. “I’m so sorry about what happened. I should’ve protected you.”
I twisted around, ignoring her apology as I wrapped my arms around her body. We slid together like two puzzle pieces, robes moving and allowing for bare skin to meet, thigh gliding against thigh.
“None of it was your fault.” I pulled back, my hands gripping her arms, making sure her gaze was connected with mine. “Did you see the latest rumor?”
She nodded, the sadness in her eyes growing deeper. “The breakup.”
It was one of the lies we’d told our team.Nowwe knew who it was.
Her mouth opened and shut, a flicker of something behind her eyes. Her lips twitched as if she was deciding whether to argue, but the words didn’t come.
“Back at the stadium, Calvin said you needed time, but if I had been there I could’ve—”
“You couldn’t have done a damn thing,” I said, cutting her off, my stomach tugging at the memory of what had happened. And while my words were true, I was glad she hadn’t been there. If there had been any other danger, it would’ve included her too. The only comfort I had was the fact she had been safe. “Calvin was right to send you away. But now? I want this. I needyou.”
“On court. I...” She trailed off as if she couldn’t bring herself to say she regretted winning, the competitor in her the thing I’d found myself most in awe of.
I reached out and squeezed her hand. “Don’t you dare tell me you regret winning.” Her eyes met mine, surprise clear in the dark brown. “If you’d played it any differently, you might have lost. And you’d only regret that,” I said, my voice steady. “We knew what we signed up for. This is our life. And if we can’t get through playing against each other, then...” I paused, swallowing hard. “Then it’s over before it’s even begun. And that’s the last thing I want.”
“I don’t want that either.”
“Good,” I answered.
“I think we have to trust that this, what we have, is bigger than tennis. That no matter what happens on the court, we come back here, to each other. And we don’t let the rest of it get in the way.”
Her words hit me like a serve to the chest, knocking the air out of me. “You can do that?”
“I have to,” she said, her fingers closing around mine. “Because I can’t do this without you.”
I stared at her, the weight of her words settling in my chest. “You’re not going to lose me. Not over this.”
“Promise?”
“I promise.” I squeezed her hand tightly, my voice steady.
We sat there in silence, the weight of our promises hanging between us, before it was finally time to face the truth. We knew who had been betraying our trust, who had been profiting from Inés, and it was time to end it.
“How are you going to handle it?” I asked, feeling so small in the face of everything. My fingers tightened around hers, a small comfort against the weight of betrayal. I’d seen how close they were. The brunches with her team, the late-night calls where she spoke like she was confiding in a best friend. I knew how much that trust must have meant to her. And I knew exactly how much it hurt to lose it.
“I can’t keep letting her leak stories.” She chewed her lip, frustration etched into every tense line of her face. Then she looked at me, her eyes burning with something raw, something I wasn’t sure she’d let herself feel until now. “She’s hurting us, and I trusted her with everything.”
