AllFreeNovel
Share Us
The coach rolls his eyes, throwing an arm in the direction of where Lucas lies on the ice. I reluctantly turn to see the medics are now there with him, a stretcher lying on the ice as they attach a neck brace to him. I watch the whole scene, my heart pounding at everything that’s happened, at the fear I know he must have felt when he lost that landing.
It’s every jumper’s worst fear, not the landing itself, but losing it. Knowing you haven’t yet hit the snow, but that there’s nothing you can do to recover what you’ve just fucked up. Knowing also that it’s going to hurt like hell.
I take a deep breath as I see Lucas lift an arm and push his goggles up and I exhale, grateful, realizing at least he’s conscious.
“Get out of here, Nick,” the coach repeats, cutting into my thoughts and I feel my other hand, the one not holding Lis’ curl into a fist as an overwhelming urge to punch my coach comes over me. I cannot believe how little he cares about what’s just happened to one of our jumpers.
“Nick,” Lis whispers, her other hand on my back, tugging at my sweater.
The coach smirks, his arm now pointing at the door behind us. “Go. You wanted this weekend off and you have it. I don’t want to see you until Monday,” he says, before turning his back on us.
My grip on Lis tightens as I turn now and lead her through the door, down the stairs and back to my room. My heart is pounding in my chest, my brain going a mile a minute as try to comprehend how my coach, who is supposed to be a guy who cares about us, who only wants the best for us, reacts the way he did to an accident like that.
That wasn’t just a shitty landing, that was a messed up, dangerous one. A landing that’s pretty much going to rule Lucas out for the next six months, maybe a year. His shot at the Olympics is basically done.
“Nick,” Lis says again, gripping my hand tighter.
I don’t stop, pulling her behind me, until we reach my room. Once inside, I slam the door behind me as I walk over to my bag, throwing random shit in before I grab Lis’ bag too.
“Nick, what are you doing?” she asks, her hand on my arm, stopping me.
“We’re leaving,” I say, knowing I’d made these plans as a surprise for Lis anyway, but hating that they’re now sort of tainted by what’s just happened.
“What do you mean leaving? You can’t?—”
I blow out a hard breath, stopping my packing as I turn to her. None of this is her fault and all I wanted was for this weekend to be perfect. Lis showing up early had been amazing and only made it more perfect. But I also had more stuff planned, and now with everything that’s happened, I feel like it’s ruined.
“Nick,” she whispers, a worried look on her face.
I step closer, pulling her into my arms as I rest my cheek on the top of her head. “I’m sorry.”
Lis pulls back, looking up at me. “What are you apologizing for, this isn’t your fault.”
I lean my forehead against hers. “Because I really wanted this weekend to be perfect,” I whisper. “I wanted everything to…”
“Hey,” she says, her hand moving to my cheek. “This weekendisperfect because we’re together. Don’t let this ruin it.”
My eyes close, knowing she’s right, but still hating that she just saw what she did. It’s not like I’d try to hide it or anything, hell, even I’m freaked out by Lucas’ accident. I just fucking hate the way my coach acted, the way he spoke to me, pretty much reinforcing what Lis and I both think about him.
He’s an asshole who doesn’t give a shit about me or anyone in the team like he claims to.
“I know,” I eventually say, opening my eyes as I give her a smile. “It is perfect, but we’re still leaving.”
“What—”
I drop a quick kiss on her lips. “I already made plans, babe, we’re just gonna go a little earlier. Grab your things.”
An hour later,the Uber is dropping us off at the boutique hotel set high up in the mountains, on the other side of the valley to the training facility.
I’d heard about this place my second year here and it’s a place I always dreamed of bringing Lis to, even if by that stage, we were long over. So the second I knew I was coming back here and she was coming to visit, I made a reservation. Especially given everything that had happened right before I left.
“What is this place?” she asks as we check in at the small office.
It literally only has ten rooms, and they are actually more like small cabins, private and isolated with amazing views of the mountain according to their website. There isn’t even a restaurant, just room service. The lady behind the desk smiles as she hands me the key and a map for how to get to our room and as we turn to leave, I take Lis’ hand in mine.
“You’ll see.”
Lis smiles at that and I can’t resist leaning in to give her a quick kiss before we make our way to our room. When we get there, I unlock the door, before taking Lis’ bag from her hand and letting her go in first.
