Dominate (University of Gatica #5) (11 page)

She trusted him to do that.

They walked out onto the track and Aileen swore a hush fell over the crowd. She was imagining it, but still… it did feel like they had.

Aileen could feel the muscles roll under her skin, the light thud of her feet against the rubber of the track. This was the moment they'd been working up to for the entire season—fine-tuning the past two weeks, and before that for months, since the first day of the indoor season. Once it had seemed far away, and now here it was, hanging in front of her, only waiting for the starting gun to go off.

There was nothing Aileen wanted more than to win NCAAs. Indoors was the stepping stone to outdoors. She wanted to prove to herself she was more than a one-time winner. She wanted nothing more. Except maybe Tyler. But she wasn't thinking about him. Not in that moment. She had her eye fixed on the prize and nothing was going to take that from her.

Overhead, an announcer was introducing them. Aileen heard, but didn't really listen; she was too busy with her own thoughts, and with the feelings that were sweeping through her.

She had felt like this in Poland at the World Juniors, like she was holding her breath and the whole arena was holding it with her, waiting. Waiting the same as she was for the race to start. To be won. For everything to fall into place.

For a long time, she'd been afraid that the race that brought her to the attention of the track and field world had been a fluke. That she had only succeeded by dumb luck. But now she had a season of training under her belt, and she was sure that she was going to make it. Not through dumb luck but through skill. And hard work.

She took a deep breath and smelled the track, and the wide open expanse of room full of people.

“Aileen Nessa,” the announcer's voice said, deep and rumbling. “From the University of Gatica.”

There was polite applause, and from one section yells of support. Her family and her team screaming her name.

There were three more girls to go through and then they would go down to the blocks. They would take their places and be ready. She took another breath and let it out again slowly.

This was it.

The speaker ran through the rest of the introductions. The crowd fell silent. Aileen heard her own heartbeat, steady and true.

The starter took his position. “On you marks…”

They gave the signal, and the girls crouched with their feet placed against the blocks, their toes digging into the track, ready to propel them forward.

“Set…” the starter voice called out crisp and clear

Breathe in. Breathe out. Wait for it. Wait.

BANG!

She didn't even think. She flung herself forward, reaching for the finish line. For the win.

The girls here were good. The best. Coach Anderson had made sure she knew each of them. Knew what they could do, and what she would need to top them. On her left, Emily Brake from NYU. A good sprinter, but rougher over the hurdles than she should be for her place in the championships. On her right, Danielle Rauch, from LSU, who ran like she never tired. They weren't the only ones, and each girl had her own weaknesses and her own strengths.

But it wasn't those that would make the race or ruin it for her. It was her own legs. Her own body. Her own heart pounding strong in her chest, and she was going to make sure that she gave all she could give.

Because it didn't matter what those girls were. Aileen was better than all of them.

She just had to believe that.

They approached the first hurdle, and she breathed in. Breathed out. Pushed off and up and over. Front leg down. Up again. A rhythm like waves, and Aileen imagined that she was water. That she had wings. That she never touched the ground.

Some of the girls running on either side of her had fallen away. The race was over for them whether they kept running or not. But others were keeping up. Two of them keeping pace with her.

One of them was pulling ahead over the next hurdle, and Aileen gave herself another push, gave another inch. There was always more to give. Coach Anderson had taught her that, building her up past anything that she'd thought she could be. There was always something else to throw forward and push with.

She was gaining on the girl ahead of her.

Gaining and passing.

And then she was through, and they were over the last hurdle. She could have been free and clear, but she didn't let herself believe it. Didn't let herself slow down. She wasn't going to lose the race at its end because she got lazy.

Another thud of her foot against the track. And then another.

And that was it.

She was over the finish line. Over, and winning, and the crowd was on their feet, screaming. The girls running in next to her were panting. Aileen could feel her own breath coming fast and shallow through her lungs and into her throat, but it didn't matter.

Her whole body was glowing with victory.

It lit her up like a firecracker, and she thought she might explode with it.

She ran because she loved it. Because it was the closest thing to flying. But she also ran because of this. This rush of hot satisfaction through her veins when she left the competition behind.

And this was the ultimate. Only a few moments in her life had ever compared to this one, standing on the track at the NCAA Indoor Championships with the winner's place being presented to her.

She took a deep breath and let it out again, this time letting go. Relaxing.

“Holy cow!” a voice was saying next to her. “You did it, Aileen!”

Aileen turned and found Jani standing next to her, her whole face bright with happiness.

“You did it!”

“That was spectacular,” Chrissy said on her other side. “I can't believe you did that. Do you know what your time was?”

Aileen didn't. Not yet. How’d they get on the track? Officials were going to have a cow they’d snuck on after the race. Wait. Her time? She could guess from the looks on their faces that it was something good, but time didn't matter to her when she was running. The only thing that had mattered in that race was the end, and getting there as soon as she could. How many seconds that had taken, she wasn't sure.

“No,” she said. “What was it?”

She hadn't heard the announcer. Her pulse had been pounding in her ears. She moved to the infield where none of them would get into trouble for being on the track.

“Fastest time this season by any student athlete.”

“Oh,” Aileen said. She was silent for a moment, processing what Chrissy had just told her. “It was?”

“It was,” Tyler's voice said, and then he was there, his hand resting on her shoulder, pulling her into a hug that they could pass off for the cameras as one teammate to another. Not that he was ashamed of her. But there were better places to have a relationship than the public eye. She had started to realize that. “A fraction of a second faster and you'd be qualifying for the Olympics, Aileen.”

“Wow,” Aileen said, and it hit her suddenly in a way closer to home than that glow of victory had been. The victory had been bright and pure. This was nestled somewhere in her chest. Something like wonder. “Oh. Wow.”

The crowd was still cheering, and she turned to look at them, lifting a hand to wave. Another wave of cheers lifted toward the ceiling, and Aileen realized that there were tears rolling down her face. She'd thought she was laughing, but maybe it was both.

“You are so spectacular,” Tyler told her, just as Sean's arms closed around her and wrapped her in a hug that was pretty awesome for all that it was so bony. He wasn’t even competing, but he’d driven to NCAAs to watch them all compete. Somehow he’d gotten an athlete pass and found his way to the middle of the infield.

“You're fucking awesome,” Sean said. “I can't believe that you managed that.”

She tipped her head back, looking up at the lights through the blur of tears, and then she blinked them away and grinned at the friends gathered around her. “I guess that means I'm going to have to build a shelf to put the plaque on. Any of you handy with a hammer?”

***

There were some people who would be jealous. Some guys who would feel like they were in danger of being lesser if their girlfriend had just won a championship event in a crazy-fast time. He couldn’t possibly repeat her performance. Tyler felt nothing but happiness for her. She had deserved every second of it.

Now, standing in front of his own blocks, Tyler was waiting for his race to start.

He wanted to win. Of course he did. It would be amazing to take the title for the men's hurdles and the NCAA Indoor Championships. And it would be kind of cool to share the match of that title with the woman that he was pretty sure he loved more than anyone else in the world.

So, yeah, it would be great to win.

The starter called them to his marks and Tyler took his place at the blocks. He imagined how Aileen must have felt just a little time before, waiting on these same blocks for her turn. She must have felt something like he did, exhilaration running through her veins. Maybe a touch of nerves.

But his training was good.

He
was good.

And he could do it.

The gun went off.

Tyler burst out of the blocks.

It was going to be the tightest race of his life. Possibly his last.

He was the first to reach the hurdles, taking himself over them one after another, but on either side the shapes of bodies were becoming clear in his peripheral vision. Tyler took a deep breath and reached deeper. He was going to beat them.

They went over the last hurdle, and into the straightaway, and Tyler realized that he wasn't going to win. The boy on his left was drawing even. Passing. That didn't mean that he gave in. He threw himself into the race, reaching, reaching for the finish line.

He leaned hard, nearly stumbling.

He crossed just fractions of a second after the runner ahead of him.

Second. Second?

Once, it might have been a disappointment. Tyler had made a point, more than once, of how much he hated to lose. But right now, standing on the track at the NCAA Indoor Championships, second place didn't seem like a bad place to be.

There were members of the Gatica track team gathering around him, congratulating him the same way they had just done for Aileen. And Aileen herself was there, wiggling her way through the group to press a hand to his chest, looking up at him with an enormous smile on her face.

“Congratulations,” she said.

“Thank you,” Tyler said, and he wondered if she could hear the feeling in his voice. How good he felt with her so close to him.

Maybe even as good as he felt with that second place in the event.

People were still swirling around them, congratulating them. The world was a rush of color and sound, and through it Tyler locked eyes with Aileen and everything else faded away. There was only her, and him, and the sweet heat of want between them, mixing with the glow of success and making him feel incandescent.

The group that tumbled into the restaurant behind Coach Anderson was a little rowdy, all of them still running on adrenaline and the high of victory. They were talking and laughing as they took their seats at the table, jostling for places next to the person they most wanted to sit by. Aileen, a little to her surprise, found herself sitting between Tyler and Jani, with Chrissy and Ryan across the table from her and Sean beside them. It was the part where she was sitting next to Tyler that she hadn't expected.

It was strange to be so close to him after two awkward weeks apart. Strange to think about him without guilt, or without her stomach turning over. She turned to look at his profile, admiring the strong lines of his nose and jaw. When he turned and caught her staring, she dropped her gaze, blushing like they'd just met all over again, and she heard his low chuckle.

“Having trouble?” he asked.

“Not at all,” Aileen answered. “I'm doing just fine, thanks.”

“I can see that.”

“You were really spectacular, Jani,” Chrissy said when Aileen tuned back into the others' conversation. “I was half convinced you were going to grow wings and fly.”

Jani laughed. “I think they would consider that a disqualifying measure. Wings are sort of cheating.”

“Well,” Chrissy said. “You don't need them, because you're amazing.”

“Aw, you guys. You're way too nice.”

“Not a bit,” Chrissy said. “We're just giving credit where credit is due.”

“And speaking of credit due,” Aileen said, “You were really amazing, too, Chrissy.”

“Yeah!” Jani agreed. “You did fantastic in the pentathlon yesterday. All-American. Not too shabby.”

Chrissy smiled, and leaned into the arm that Ryan had wrapped around her shoulders. “Well, you know what they say. Practice makes perfect.”

“I think you were probably born perfect,” Sean said from his place on the other side of Ryan, which seemed to Aileen to be a dangerous place to be hitting on his girlfriend from, but maybe they'd worked out some kind of deal, because Sean didn't get hit in the mouth.

“Oh, give it a rest already, would you?” Chrissy laughed. “There's such a thing as just taking it too far, Sean.”

“Have you even met me?” Sean asked.

“Point taken,” Chrissy said.

The waitress arrived to take their orders, and everyone fell silent, waiting for their turn. As they waited, Aileen watched Chrissy and Ryan, snuggled together on their chairs, and she wondered if Tyler would object if she scooted a little closer and laid her head on his shoulder. She wasn't sure that she was quite ready to find out, after how awkward things had been between them.

When the orders were taken, voices started up again, stories running the length of the table and back, accompanied by laughter.

Coach Anderson stood up. Everyone went immediately silent.

“I just want to say to all of you here tonight,” the coach said, “congratulations. You have all done amazing jobs this indoor season, and I couldn't be more proud of my athletes. You're everything that a coach could wish for.” He grinned at them. “Enjoy the rest of your night.”

The whole table erupted into applause as he sat back down, and Aileen looked at all the smiling faces lined up across from her and on both sides of her, and felt that maybe all could be right with the world again. Under the table, her hand reached out for Tyler's, and he took it, folding his fingers around her own and gently tugging her hand to rest on his thigh, his thumb stroking along the side. Aileen dipped her head over her still- empty place setting to hide her smile.

***

Dinner wrapped itself up after about an hour, and one by one they all sat back, comfortably full. As they started rising to make their way toward the door, a small group of track guys broke off from the rest and lingered until Tyler and Aileen’s group got up to leave. Aileen recognized Jason, the enormous shot-putter she had met on her recruiting trip. He’d nearly crushed her with a hug back then, and he looked like he was thinking about trying it again, an enormous grin on his face. Tyler tugged her a little closer like he was thinking the same thing, and she was a little grateful when Jason stuck to words instead.

“We’re going to take advantage of the local night life and hit a club. We thought you and your tiny cute friend might like to come with us.” He winked at Aileen, letting her know that he remembered her and that the title was deliberate. And apparently how he defined her. There were worse things to be, she decided.

“I’d love to. Just one problem,” Tyler said slowly. “Aileen’s under age.”

“I know you like to dance, man,” Jason offered. “And I bet she’s a pretty great partner. I’m sure she’ll be able to get in.”

Tyler glanced sideways at Aileen, a question in his eyes, and for a moment she was too caught up in them to answer. Then she shrugged. Why not go? The worst that could happen would be that she couldn’t get in and they could figure something else out.

“Okay,” Tyler said. “We’ll go out clubbing.” He turned to look at the rest of their group. “You guys coming?”

Aileen nodded. She so wanted to party tonight. Back in Gatica, getting in wouldn’t have been a problem. But a different town? Full of college athletes? That was going to be tough.

“You can count me in,” Jani said.

“I wouldn’t miss a dance party with you guys for anything,” Sean said, somehow managing to wrap his ridiculously long arms around Jani, Chrissy, Aileen, and Tyler for a group hug that ended very quickly when he saw the look on Tyler’s face. The cross-country runner took a rapid step back.

“You’re stifling his creativity,” Aileen said, amused, as she and Tyler started toward the door.

“I’m improving on his survival instinct,” Tyler shot back.

“I don’t think that’s a thing that you need to do tonight.”

“You never know when a zombie apocalypse might happen,” one of the distance runners Aileen only knew because she’d seen him once or twice at practice said. She thought maybe his name was Andrew.

“If there was a zombie apocalypse,” Jani said, “Sean would just run away over the mountains.”

“I would,” Sean said. “I do it all the time. Well, not over mountains. But, you know. Close enough. I’m pretty sure that I could outrun a few zombies.”

That began a spirited discussion over which track and field group would do the best against a zombie invasion that kept them arguing all the way out to the parking lot. The final consensus was that multi-eventers would have the best chance, and Chrissy spent the walk over to the club that was a few blocks down from their hotel looking kind of smug about it.

There was a line of people winding out the door of the club, and Aileen was wondering whether they’d even be able to get in before midnight when she realized just what they’d brought Tyler for.

People were whispering. She saw it start at one end of the line and snake its way down to the other. There were a few people who just looked confused, but more of them were nodding, obviously agreeing with whatever rumor had started.

“Mr. Jensen,” a voice said, and they all looked up to find a man who was almost definitely a bouncer look down at them with crossed arms.

“You—” Tyler caught himself before he could say whatever was on the tip of his tongue and smiled instead. “Yeah. Tyler Jensen.”

The bouncer smiled. “I gotta tell you, kid, I can’t wait to see what you do in the NFL. I’m not a Patriots fan myself, but talent is talent.”

For the first time ever, Aileen saw Tyler blush. “Thank you,” he said, the words a little unsteady. “You’re actually the first person who’s recognized me.”

“Not the first,” the bouncer said. He pointed down the line. “There are plenty of people out there who know exactly who you are.”

Aileen watched the realization that he was going to become a household name hit him. That’s what she’d meant before, when she’d talked to him about the cameras. They were never going to go away.

Like she’d summoned it by thinking about it, a flash went off somewhere in the crowd, probably getting a great photo of a dozen very startled college kids and one future NFL player.

“So much for that thing about our personal life,” Aileen muttered.

Tyler chuckled, and turned back to the bouncer. “Well, if I’m officially famous, do I get any perks?”

“I suppose since this is your first time out and about being recognized by the public, I could let you cut the line.”

“What about my friends?” Tyler gestured to the little group behind him.

The bouncer laughed. “Ah, hell. Why not?” He lifted the velvet rope and started ushering them through while more flashes went off, only to stop Aileen just inside the barrier with a hand held out. “Sorry, sweetheart, got to see some ID.”

Heart sinking, Aileen reached into her purse and pulled it out, offering it up.

The bouncer glanced down at it and shook his head. “Can’t let you through. I could get in big trouble.”

“I understand,” Aileen said. “I wouldn’t want to cost you your job.”

“I’ll leave with you,” Tyler said immediately, turning when she did, but Aileen shook her head.

“No,” she said, backing out of the way so that other people wouldn’t have to go around them to get to the door. “You should go in. You’re the reason he let the other guys through.”

Jani and Chrissy, she realized, were still standing beside them.

“I’ll catch a cab,” Aileen added. “It’ll be fine.” It totally sucked, but she wasn’t about to let them know.

“Are you sure about that?” Tyler asked, looking up at the darkened buildings around them like he expected something to jump out of one and drag Aileen away.

“I’ll make sure she gets back to the hotel,” Jani said.

“Seriously.” Aileen gave Tyler a little push against his shoulder. “The other guys specifically asked you to come, and without you they wouldn’t even have made it in. Go. Have some fun. You deserve it. I’ll be fine.”

Tyler hesitated, and Aileen glanced at Jani, who helped her push him toward the door.

“Go,” she said. “Fun. Have it.”

He turned around kissed her, hard enough to make her head spin, and then disappeared into the gloom on the other side of the club’s door.

***

“Hey,” Jason said when Tyler walked into the club alone. “Where’s Aileen?”

Tyler shook his head. “The bouncer made her show ID and he wouldn’t let her in.”

“Well, that sucks.” Jason glanced around at the other guys, the lights of the club flashing across his face. “Are we sure we want to stay here, then? It’s not fun for Tyler if his girlfriend can’t get in.”

“There’s another bar with great music,” Chrissy said, looking up from the screen of her phone. “About a block from here. At least according to the reviews. And they’re not all that picky about carding.”

“You all up for going there?” Tyson asked.

“Of course,” Jason said. “We’re not going to insist on being here when Aileen can’t be. That’s not really fair.” He grinned. “We just want to have fun, preferably with as many of our friends as possible.”

“Sounds like a plan to me,” Chrissy said. “Let’s vamoose then.”

With glances at each other, and shrugs, they followed her back out into the night, past the bouncer who had just let them in, and went to find Aileen and Jani.

***

“So,” Jani said. “What you're going to do is take this ID and hold it out like it belongs to you. Try to look confident.”

Aileen looked nervously at the ID, which actually belonged to Chrissy.

“Are you sure that we look alike enough?”

“Would I steer you astray?” Jani asked. “I’m your roommate. I'm not going to get you arrested. You have to pay rent.”

“I hope that's not the only reason that you're going to try not to get me arrested,” Aileen said.

“Of course it's not the only reason. I actually do enjoy your company, miss NCAA Indoor Championship women's hurdles winner.”

“That is way too long to be a title, and you shouldn't call me that.”

Jani laughed. “Fine. I'll just call you Miss Championship.”

“Or you could call me by my name. That would be preferable.”

“Not right now I can't. Right now you're Chrissy.” Jani pointed at the ID in Aileen's hand and made a stern face. “So get in there and strut your stuff so we can celebrate your enormous feat by getting you very drunk.”

It was Aileen's turn to laugh. With a sigh, she gave in. “Fine,” she said. “I'll take the ID.”

They started toward the door of the bar and Aileen crossed one set of fingers behind her back, hoping that the bouncer would actually accept the ID as hers. Jani had said they weren't strict about them, but if it was really obvious then they were obligated to do something, weren't they? Or did they not care as long as she made some kind of effort?

“ID?” the bouncer asked, hardly looking at her.

She held the ID out to him and he took it, glancing down at it, then up at her face. He handed it back. “Have fun in there, Chrissy.”