Page 155 of The Forever Vault

I nodded. “No more sex talk. I know that quite possibly could be our thing, our tactic, but I need to focus.”

We went in reverse order of our qualifications score. Ihsan, who had the best score, would go last. I placed sixth and would go third tonight; Orion was fourth, so he would go fifth. It put more pressure on the athletes with the highest qualification scores, but that was essentially what pushed athletes to do their best. As the number one seed, Ihsan would have the privilege of knowing exactly what score he needed to post for a gold medal.

Riku Nimora and Inácio Silva, both solid all-around gymnasts, were up before me and posted average scores.

“You know what to do, kiddo,” Woodward said, walking over to me before my name was called.

“Yes, Coach.”

I peeled off my jacket, folded it and put it into my bag, then kicked off my shoes. Stretching my arms over my head and at every other conceivable angle, I waited to move to the podium until I heard my name.

“CAMDEN KANE, UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.”

“Never gets old,” I said.

“Let’s go get ‘em, handsome,” Luke said, slapping my ass as he followed me onto the podium.

I was still horny as fuck, but filled with a warmth only Luke could give me. It was a feeling I had noticed more and more in the last year or so. It was why I had what I had in my jacket.

He lifted me up so I could test the chalk level on the rings, and then a second time, so I could add a little more. Clapping my hands got rid of the excess.

“You ready?” he asked.

I nodded, then approached the rings. Having him there with me had quieted every nervous part of my body. I said a silent thank you, saluted the judges, and positioned myself under the rings. A second later, I was settled and Luke’s hands were gone.

I had worked with Noah to streamline my routine into three sections, which had made it a little easier for me to remember and a bit more memorable for the crowd. I showcased several strength elements in the first part, including my opening Felge to swallow, followed by a front salto into a cross.

The difficulty increased further into the routine, where I added handstands and additional strength elements preceded by large, dramatic swings. It was a kind of dance of sorts. As the imaginary melody in my head soared, I had to tell myself to breathe at certain moments.

After that last back uprise into a saddled L-sit, I had two sequences left. The first consisted of a Yamawaki into another handstand, though this one started with bent forearms. I pressed up, willing my muscles to stay tense, and focused on keeping the rings as still as I could to prepare for my dismount, a full twisting double back salto tucked.

The rings flew to the side, dramatically, but completely clear of my body as I twisted, feeling gravity take me quickly down. I knew something was off, but focused on the floor, waiting for the impact, so I could stabilize any and all muscles immediately if needed.

I ended up landing quite solidly, but facing the wrong way. I hadn’t done the full twist. I’m not quite sure what I did exactly, but I took it in stride and saluted the judges. The only ones that likely noticed were the coaching staff, Colton and Ty, and maybe my mom and teammates. It depended on how much they paid attention to me at practice.

“What happened?” Luke asked, hugging me as I came off the podium.

I shrugged, knowing cameras were right in my face. “Didn’t get enough power.” Keeping my voice low, I asked. “You think the judges are going to care that much? What did I even do anyway?”

“Either something new and cool that they’ll name the Kane, or they’ll just deduct a few for not doing the full twist? I’m betting on the latter.”

The score came back relatively quickly, and it was pretty good for missing an element.

14.433.

The crowd reacted because it put me ahead of Riku and Inácio, which was technically first place, but there were still five more gymnasts to go. I wasn’t optimistic.

“Well, it could’ve been worse,” Luke said. “I think I might need to watch the tape again and somehow purchase a print of your face when you landed,” he added, which made me laugh.

“That comical?”

“You forgot to smile, despite sticking the landing. You looked confused.”

“Well, I was confused.”

I heard my ringtone going off in my bag, so I pulled it out.

“Hi, Mom!”