Page 41 of Chasing Gold, Catching Her

Alisa picked up the pace, her tongue swirling and flicking, driving Tora wild with need. She could feel Tora’s thighs trembling around her head, could hear the desperation in her voice. She wanted to give her what she needed, to make her shatter with pleasure.

With a final, hard suck on Tora’s clit, Alisa sent her hurtling over the edge. Tora’s body convulsed, her inner muscles clenching and fluttering as her orgasm crashed through her. “Ah, fuck yes!” she cried out, her head thrown back, lost in the throes of ecstasy.

Alisa held on, riding out each wave, her tongue soothing Tora as she came down. When Tora’s grip on her hair loosened, she slowly kissed her way back up her body, nuzzling and caressing as she went.

Tora pulled her up into a searing kiss taking her by the hair, tasting herself on her rival’s lips.

“That was… incredible,” she breathed, her eyes shining with satisfaction and something more, something softer. “You’re amazing, Alisa…”

Alisa smiled as if it was the best day of her life, maybe it was, but it wasn’t at all about competitions and awards, it was also about both of them, period.

Chapter 9

February 2025, Ice Hearts championship, Helsinki, Finland

Alisa examined the morning ice while the machine rolled across the rink, smoothing it before the first rental. She was listening to music on her phone and getting ready for a productive workout; Tora was standing opposite her on the other side of the rink, and Alisa noticed her only now, though apparently Tora had noticed her first, because she was already looking at Alisa and smiling predatorily, holding her phone in her hands, her partner nowhere to be seen, the coach too, and she was standing there alone, and Alisa frowned as she looked at her.

She felt for a moment as if Tora were only a hallucination, but then again, Tora could also be at practice at five-thirty in the morning. They were not the only ones who had been given permission to enter the ice from that hour on before the World Cup. They had two hours to train, followed by breakfast and a short nap. Alisa felt even more stressed because the coach had said that if they did not take the gold this time, they could say goodbye to the qualifiers for the ISU championships, which led to the Olympic quotas.

Whether they went or not would be decided here.

Alisa gripped her phone tightly and looked at the screen, where a message from Tora appeared.

Tora: If you win gold, ask for whatever you want.

Alisa: Agreed.

Perhaps Tora also understood that if Alisa dreamed of the Olympics, then they had to win today, or the federation was unlikely to send them to the quota selection competitions… and it would have been such an honor.

Alisa smiled to herself and looked back toward the far end of the arena, but Tora had already disappeared from sight. Had she imagined that Tora was here with her for their first training session in the morning? She did not think so… Alisa had slept perfectly in the car. Finland could be reached by car from St. Petersburg, so they had decided to drive, and she had slept on Lev’s lap the entire way.

They stepped onto the ice and began their rehearsal with practice jumps and throw-outs, the most difficult part, and these brutal workouts always took place in the morning, while the athletes still had the strength.

The coach turned cheerful music on through the speaker and she and Lev began to practice. Soon the ice filled with other couples, including Tora and Loke, but they did not look at anyone else at all, only rattled off throw after throw, lift after lift, jump after jump like machines. They were too full of energy, and Alisa doubted whether they would win today… all this time they had never managed to beat them, and she kept thinking, could today really be different?

She had begun to lose faith that they could take gold through sheer force at all; it was difficult to defeat the Norwegians, they were already becoming a global phenomenon and the world’s favorite couple, while Lev and Alisa were spoken about only with indignation and irritation inside their own skating club, and it upset her, because she wanted support, but there was nowhere to find it except from her rival, what an irony.

After they had practiced the necessary jumps and lifts enough times, they skated through the program once more, and then Alisa went to breakfast and took a short nap before the lunchtime training, and the day ended with a walk around Helsinki with Lev, where they talked about life, not figure skating, because they wanted to distract themselves, because the next day the short program was waiting for them, and after that, the free skate.

* * *

Alisa and Lev won this time, they took the gold, and Tora and Loke took the bronze. No one had expected it, and yet they were smiling anyway, pleased with the result, although the distance from first place had been only three points, not so much, but it mattered to Alisa, even if it did not seem to matter to Tora and Loke’s coach. The woman who coached them seemed capable of smiling at absolutely any outcome and adored them simply because they existed, and not because they could land this or that jump, enter a lift from the correct edge, or spin properly through an element…

When Alisa saw how Tora immediately threw herself into the coach’s arms and then Loke’s, the three of them hugging each other tightly after they had skated their program, she felt something sharp prick beneath her ribs. Pike never rejoiced with them like that. Maybe it was simply a difference in mentality, they were Norwegians, how was Alisa supposed to know what was normal in their culture, but it looked so sincere and so… kind, that Alisa wanted to smash something. Even though they were the ones standing on the podium with gold medals around their necks, no one in this country seemed happy for them, no one.

When second place was announced for the Estonians and third for the Norwegians, the entire hall burst into applause. It upset Alisa, but she could do nothing except continue to stand there proudly and smile, the gold medal cold and heavy in her hands while cameras filmed them from every possible angle.

And then the relatives of the skaters came out onto the ice and everyone began hugging there too, right on the rink, and Alisa and Lev remained standing alone on the podium. They had no one to hug, no one had come with them. Alisa’s parents were in another city, too far from Helsinki, and Lev’s parents were busy with work, and Pike had already congratulated them from outside the arena, watching with that restrained little smile of hers, although at least she had smiled.

Alisa felt wild joy inside herself and, at the same time, pressure. It seemed they really would go to the qualifiers now and fight for Olympic quotas, which meant they would have to train even harder and perhaps strengthen the program, correct every weak point, because the next ISU championship in Boston would be special, and it could not be lost, otherwise it would become a disgrace for the whole country before the Olympics, and that simply could not be allowed.

Her thoughts were beginning to spin themselves into that terrible knot of anxiety again when she suddenly felt Tora’s warm hand on her waist and realized that the other skaters had climbed up beside them onto the podium.

“A photo?” Tora asked with a smile, pulling Alisa a little closer to her.

Loke stood close beside Tora, another Estonian pair pressed against them, Alisa and Lev stood on the other side, lifting their medals toward the cameras, everyone smiling at the photographers, and then Alisa noticed a woman standing near the barrier who looked impossibly like Tora, so much like her that for a moment Alisa thought she must be an older sister.

But then, as soon as they stepped down from the podium, Tora skated straight toward the woman and almost threw herself into her arms.