Page 40 of Floored By Love

I could do this. I could pretend we’re friends. Just like last time.

But without fucking him.

I hoped he couldn’t see the bulge in my pants, but who was I kidding? He, of all people, probably noticed it right away.

I don’t know what made me say it, but I did.

“Do you have the coin?”

He smiled. “It’s in my jacket. Why? Do you need it?”

“No, I-” I what? “I was just curious, I guess.”

“Well, if you want to touch it, let me know.”

His grin said it all. He knew what he said. My cheeks pinkened a tad.

“Looks like you’re up.”

I stretched my arms across my chest a few times, chalked the bars and my hands, and swung myself up to start.

Luke was on fire. I had never seen him like it. It motivated me to keep up with him. The other guys were a mixed bag. Alex didn’t stick the landing on his vault and stepped out of bounds twice on the floor. It seemed the pressure had gotten to him. He was like Grant, though. He liked to be left alone. Colton was first in our division on the horse, which was a big deal with Rasmus here. And same for Orion on the floor. They were all but guaranteed to qualify for those event finals.

Ford was running the stats as we competed. We had the two bar events left. Our fate in the other four event finals was sealed, but I didn’t want to know yet. And they wouldn’t tell us even if we asked. It would be too much of a distraction. The results flashed on the scoreboards around the arena, but I avoided looking at those as well. I saw Coach walk over and sit next to Alex, who took off his earbuds. Hopefully, whatever he had to say would work.

I ended up doing okay on the parallel bars. I knew it wasn’t enough to make the event final, but I was hopeful I’d still qualify for the all-around. Luke crushed his routine and my hug for him afterward was completely spontaneous, though I hoped Cassandra and Noah thought it was manufactured. Fewer questions.

We had been sharing the platypus coin all evening. I don’t know what made me ask about it earlier, but I was glad I did. It became our little secret and made it easier to be friendly again. On the surface, it was an innocent token from our past. In reality, it represented something deeper than that. I pushed that emotional labyrinth out of my head and focused on the positives. Luke saved it. It meant something to him. It seemed to help both of us.

“Y’all are enjoying this,” Colton remarked.

I turned to look next to me. “Aren’t you? You’re doing pretty well for a rookie.” I punched him in the shoulder. We were waiting for Brazil to finish on the rings, so we could all rotate to our last event. For us, it would be the high bar. I refused to call it the horizontal bar ever since Colton made an awful joke about doing something else horizontal.

“Thanks for noticin’, sugar.”

“Why do you call me ‘sugar’ again?”

“‘Cause you’re so sweet.” He pinched my cheek.

I don’t know what Coach said to Alex, but whatever it was, it worked. His high bar routine was the best of the night. And it solidified our seat at the top of the division. I don’t know what issues China had, but they couldn’t gain any traction. But Rasmus and Inácio performed as expected and would be a concern in the future.

With only a few slip-ups, Team USA crushed it. The cameras were in our faces as we dressed and gathered our things before the last wave to the crowd and the walk to the locker room. I saw Cassandra talking to Luke and watched as a big smile broke across his face and he wrapped her in a hug. They were about the same height, but Luke’s shoulders were twice as wide as she was. I busied myself by gathering my belongings. Noah sat smiling next to me.

“So, am I going to be happy with what you want to tell me because you’re doing a terrible job of hiding it?”

“Uh huh.” He nodded. “But, I’ll let Coach tell you the good news.”

I rolled my eyes, but I knew it was all good since he was smiling. I felt a tap on my shoulder and before I could register how close Luke was, he slammed into me and wrapped me in a hug.

“Congratulations, Cam!”

Instinctively, I relaxed. I’d always been a hugger. If watching him hug another person was enough to draw my attention, then experiencing a hug from Luke was infinitely better. I felt myself smile, and I closed my eyes, enjoying the warmth. It was only after a few seconds when I realized I didn’t know why we were hugging.

“Uh...for what, Luke?”

He pulled back. “Noah didn’t tell you?”

“I was saving it,” he replied, next to me.