And I was still here.
Yes, I was terrified. Yes, I shook badly enough that Dean kept tightening his hold around me every few seconds without realizing he was doing it.
But I was still standing.
“I was so afraid of them,” I confessed.
Dean pulled back enough to look me in the eye. “And now?”
I thought about the expression on Kovac’s face when I refused to comply. I’d seen surprise, then shock.
My pulse slowed a little.
“Now, I think they’re beginning to realize they can’t control this quietly anymore.”
Dean’s arm tightened around my shoulders.
The strange thing was, Kovac hadn’t frightened me most tonight.
What frightened me was how easy it had been to say no.
Because once you discover you can do that, once you realize the sky doesn’t fall and the world doesn’t end, it becomes impossible to forget.
I rested my head against Dean’s shoulder.
Tomorrow would bring consequences.
Tonight had brought clarity.
Chapter Thirty-Nine
Dean
The plan had been simple:get Mila to her room, then get Luka upstairs, close the door behind us, and let both of us come down from the emotional nuclear detonation we’d apparently decided to trigger in front of the entire Olympic figure skating community.
The universe had clearly looked at that plan, done an eye-roll, and said ‘As if.’
We barely made it ten feet into the Village before the shouting started.
“FOSTER!” somebody yelled from across the lobby. “YOU ABSOLUTE LEGEND.”
A snowboarder I vaguely recognized ran past us on socked feet carrying his boots and pointed at Luka. “Bro really looked at international media training and said, ‘nah, I’m good.’”
Luka made a strangled sound beside me that might’ve been a laugh while still trying to preserve at least one surviving scrap of dignity.
“I think you two need security detail at this point,” Ethanannounced as he appeared out of nowhere alongside Noah and Sasha, the three of them forming a loose wall around us like overexcited Secret Service agents.
Mila pulled her phone from her pocket. One glance at the screen and her face lit up. “I have to go.”
Luka stopped long enough to give her a huge hug. “Thank you. For everything.”
She flushed beneath the arena makeup still clinging stubbornly to her face. “Please. I fully intend to make a little Olympic history myself tonight.” She patted my cheek. “Keep him safe.”
I smiled. “I don’t know how to do anything else.”
That earned me a look from Luka that made it difficult to remember what I was saying.
Then she vanished into the chaos, swallowed up by a tide of athletes who all wanted to tell her how amazing she was.
