Page 119 of Floored By Love

I fished my phone out of my pocket, and sure enough. Damn it. Not that I should be worried. I was confident that she and Luke left things on good terms, but it was still awkward for me since she kept Luke behind her wall of supervision for years.

Orion must’ve felt similar to me because he sat down without acknowledging her. She congratulated me on my gold medal and explained her appearance.

“I just wanted Luke to have another supporter in the stands. I know we certainly didn’t see eye to eye on a lot of things over the years. Congratulations to you, Cam, by the way. That certainly was a way to announce the relationship.”

“You can say that again,” my mom said.

Well, aren’t they chummy now?

“I would’ve paid to see the looks on the Riveras’ faces,” Cassandra added.

What?! I turned to look at her and she was smiling.

“What? After four years of keeping you away from him, it was a tremendous relief to watch, and I couldn’t help but feel grateful that it still worked out for you two, relationship-wise and medal-wise. I hope Luke kicks just as much ass today as you have.”

Colton leaned in and said, “Sounds like you gotta fan.”

28

Lucas

Well, the Olympics were over. Our competitions anyway. And I didn’t faceplant this time. I’d like to think it was because my parents weren’t breathing down my neck or forcing me to live my life how they wanted. But I knew it was the kiss.

Honestly, as weird as it sounded, that’s all I could think of during both of my routines.

I’m sure the announcers said my confidence was a result of my experience, or because Shane was my coach again, when, in reality, it was another man. A man that I was pretty sure loved me.

He wouldn’t just kiss anyone in front of the world, would he?

There wasn’t much drama with the events, either. Gracias a Dios. I crushed both routines, and I didn’t have to watch myself get pushed down the leaderboard. I won the gold medal in the parallel bars first, and then both Alex and I made the podium in the high bar. I won another gold, and Alex finished with a bronze.

The platypus coin wasn’t too far away, and Cam sent me an encouraging sext message, so I definitely had the right mindset to tackle both bars.

After the parallel bars, I had noticed Cassandra in the stands near Cam. She sent me a text too, saying she was here. I was both surprised and not that she stuck around. She had said coming to my events was a possibility, though I hadn’t seen or heard from her since the hospital.

The more time passed, the more I believed something happened to her that helped her finally see what Cam and I had. No one went from following my parents’ orders to flipping the script without a good reason. I guess the fire was kind of a good one.

Even without something as drastic as that, people could change. It was possible she just softened over the years, and didn’t show it until a few days ago. Who knows?

Alex and I finished showering up, and got dressed. Shane and Ty were waiting for us outside. They had coached us through the events, along with Woodward.

We were about to leave the locker room when he pulled me aside.

“Hey Luke, I just wanted to say how proud of you I am. Two golds, two silvers, and a bronze,” Coach said, putting his hand on my shoulder. “You are the most decorated male gymnast in American history since the eighties. That is quite an accomplishment.”

“Thanks, Coach. It was easy?” I tried to make a joke.

“I’ll bet it was,” he replied, shaking his head. “Good luck with the press.”

I rolled my eyes. Warning. Fun times ahead.

“Are there any questions for Alex?” I asked, exasperated.

A hand shot up. “Alex, how did you feel watching two teammates kiss on the podium?”

“Uh-”

I interrupted. “Let me clarify. Are there any questions for us that aren’t about the kiss?”