“If you’re going to ask why she attacked me,” I said, taking a step back so he finally released me. “Just save your—”
He laughed then, a dark, sinister sound that chilled my blood. “I don’t care.”
I inhaled a shaky breath, waiting for his next words.
“This isn’t about June. This is about you and me.”
I locked my jaw and fisted my hands, ready to fight.
“The next time you pull a stunt like you did last night, you’ll get a one-way ticket back to Texas.”
He leaned in close like he was getting ready to tell me a secret.
“I’m going to say this once, but I want you to think about it every time you feel like fucking with me.” His lips were inches away from mine as he continued. “You’re replaceable. Do you understand? There are a million gymnasts who would cut their right arm off to be a member of this team.”
I pressed my lips together, trying hard to act as if his words meant nothing.
“You aren’t special, Brie, so stop acting like it.”
His words had the same effect as a knife to my heart. You aren’t special.
I was fuming, sweaty, angry, and ready to attack him. Instead, I forced a slow-spreading smirk. “We both know that’s an empty threat. I led trials in three out of four events. I’m not trying to brag, it’s just the truth. If you get rid of me, the committee would let you know in a heartbeat who the real replaceable one is.”
He stood there as I brushed past him and walked into the gym. I ripped off my tank top and shorts. The rest of my team was already stretching out on the floor, guzzling from water bottles and stretching out tired muscles. June sat on the opposite side of the floor with headphones in. I resisted the urge to say something to her as I took a seat next to Molly.
She passed me her water and nudged my shoulder. “What was that all about?”
I shook my head. “Nothing. He just wanted to know how we’d managed.”
Lexi smirked. “I’m sure that was it.”
I barely managed two sips of water before Erik descended on the floor behind us.
“We’re not done yet,” he said, kicking an empty water bottle aside. “Stand up and get in line.”
Not a single one of us argued with him and for the next two hours, he led us through the hardest workout of my life. Handstand pushups, burpees, skin-the-cats, and more sit-ups than I’d ever done before. I thought my limbs would fall off, but I never acted like I was close to giving up; I didn’t want to give him the satisfaction.
We were in the middle of a set of pushups when his shoes cut into my line of sight.
“Keep counting,” he said, crouching low in front of me and casting my body in his shadow.
“Twelve,” we said in unison, bending our elbows and lowering our chests to the ground.
We pushed back up to a plank position and his hand hit my neck. I jumped, surprised by the touch, but I continued, trying to act as if he didn’t scare me. A string of goose bumps bloomed across my skin as he dragged his palm lower, resting it between my shoulder blades. My leotard left me exposed there and his palm felt good, warm and solid against my skin.
“For the past few days, I’ve been trying in vain to earn this team’s respect,” he said, holding his hand steady on my back.
We bent down for another pushup and counted the number aloud.
“But if you won’t give me your respect freely, then instead, I’ll just take it.”
As soon as his words hit me, the force of his hand on my back increased. He pushed down with the weight of his entire body, keeping me from pushing back up to a plank position. I struggled beneath him, straining and groaning with the effort, but try as I might, I couldn’t win against him.
“Do you feel how hard it is to resist me?”
I gritted my teeth, searching for some residual pool of strength, but he pushed down harder, making it nearly impossible for me to move. Maybe I could have finished the pushup on another day, but we’d already been at it for hours and my arms were shaking, threatening to give out.
“Ugghhh!” I groaned as I collapsed on the floor. My lungs gulped in air and my eyes pinched closed. I stayed there, frozen, relishing the break.
Erik stood and walked off, and I swore I heard a light chuckle.
“Asshole,” I muttered under my breath.
He stopped dead in his tracks, turned, and glared at me on the ground.
“Since Brie didn’t finish that round, we’ll all repeat it. From the top.”
Chapter Fourteen
Erik
Brie Watson’s meteoric rise to gymnastics elite has taken the world by surprise. Watson is by far the least experienced—the other four members of the women’s Olympic team have been competing at the highest level for half a decade—however, she just might be the most formidable. She’s earned gold at the World Gymnastics Competition three years in a row, and when the Olympic games begin next month in Rio, she’ll have a chance to write the next chapter of her inspiring Cinderella story.
Watson’s path to success was never an easy one. Raised by a single mother, she has been no stranger to hardship. Her mother, Monica, worked long hours at several jobs to make ends meet and ensure that Watson could continue to train in the sport. The hard work of both Watson women eventually paid off after Brie qualified for her first World Gymnastics meet in 2013. Faced with the prospect of bankrupting the small family to finance the cost of attending, the eventual world champion nearly pulled out. But when a friend close to the family set up a Kickstarter page online, Watson’s tightknit gymnastics community pulled together to fund her path to the world championships.