Dominate (University of Gatica #5) (8 page)

This was really getting ridiculous.

She was going to stop thinking about Tyler and focus on racing, because she didn't have time to do anything else.

The quarterfinals weren't any harder to run or win than the prelim race, although one of the girls from New York State, the redhead that she'd seen Tyler and Ryan talking to, almost got close as she came in second behind Aileen.

After the race, Aileen went back to the hotel and showered instead of staying and watching the rest of the events. She felt kind of guilty for not watching Jani's high jump, but it was only qualifying and she was sure that her housemate would forgive her. She just didn't know if she could bring herself to stay and watch Tyler again. She already knew that he would do well. There was no way anyone in that quarterfinals field could touch him any more than they'd touched her.

Dinner was loud. There were a lot of track people in the hotel, chattering over their food. People who had made friends through years of passing by each other in tournaments and who only ever really got to see each other at meets. Aileen sat with her own group of friends, listening to them talk without really joining in aside from an occasional comment thrown into the mix to let them know that she was, in fact, hearing what they were saying and that she wasn't completely incapable of joining them in their enjoyment of the evening.

Tomorrow, she was going to be focused. She was going to put this whole thing with Tyler behind her, and start thinking like a success before the distractions got the best of her, no matter how much easier said than done that might be.

Aileen held onto that conviction exactly until she ran into Tyler in the hall on her way back to the room she was sharing with Chrissy.

Almost literally ran into him, actually. It was only their mutual quick reflexes that saved them from a collision. Even so, Tyler reached out to steady her, and Aileen took a step back before his hand could make contact with her skin.

He dropped it back to his side with a sigh. “Still not really interested in talking to me, I see.”

There was so much that she could have said to that, but if she said one thing she might say it all and she was a little afraid of what might come out of her mouth. She shook her head.

“Aileen, things don't have to be like this. We—”

“Please,” she said, cutting him off. “I'm here for Conference, and I need to focus on the races. Let me do that.”

Tyler shut his mouth. For a long minute he stood just looking at her, his expression shuttered, and then he turned and walked away.

Aileen watching him go until he turned a corner and was out of sight.

In bed that night, she found sleep as elusive as she had found it since she had dumped him, and when she finally slipped into dreams in the late hours of the night, it was images of his eyes that she saw in them.

The next morning, Aileen woke early, and although she wasn't exactly feeling as refreshed as she might have hoped, she wasn't as tired as she had been afraid she would be. Maybe she had slept more deeply or something.

Semi-finals were more of a challenge than the two races she had run the day before, and Aileen took a longer time to warm up before her heat. She watched Jani compete in the finals of the high jump competition, easily beating out the competition, and hoped that her own event would go that smoothly.

When she lined up at the blocks, she wasn't thinking about Tyler. Her thoughts were resolutely on the track ahead, the cheering of the crowd. She listened to the beat of her own heart in her ears.

Despite it all, her mind kept trying to go back to him. She shook her head, like the physical motion would clear it of unwanted ideas. It didn't matter how he had looked in the hallway the night before; she had other things that were more important.

On either side of her, the girls looked cool and relaxed, and Aileen turned her attention back to the front, focusing with laser attention on the red of the mondo track.

The starter gun went off, and she pushed off the block. But something went wrong. Her foot turned under her, and she stumbled. It was only a momentary lapse. An instant later she was off with the rest, throwing her all into making up the lost distance.

At least there was one positive thing that had come out of her breakup with Tyler: all that practice running as hard as she could had paid off, and she passed two of the girls before the first hurdle.

Up and then down the other side, and Aileen tried to keep her breath even and steady, although like her legs it threatened to have a will of its own. She took the second hurdle, passing another girl over it, and there were only two ahead of her.

She strained for it, pushing her body, feeling the burn in the muscles, but it wasn't enough. They swept over the finish line with Aileen ahead of the girl who had just been second place, and just behind the one who took first.

She slowed, panting, and pushed escaped strands of hair back from her face.

Coach Anderson was standing at the side of the track, and she saw him give her a thumb’s up, but they both knew that she could have done better. Everyone who had seen her run knew that she could do better.

She hated to lose.

Even so, she made the finals. It was enough to keep her from descending into total frustration, although not quite enough to make her happy.

She took a seat in the stands to watch the men’s hurdles.

The day before she had avoided watching them in order to avoid Tyler, but it was obvious that wasn't going to work after what had happened in her race, and she was privately hoping that there would be some confirmation that Tyler had been affected, too.

Aileen more than got her wish, and then she wished that she hadn't.

Down on the track, the men took positions. Aileen let her eyes move over all of them. Tyler had the third lane. It was a good place to be, and she was confident that he would take the race.

But when they started running, he fell behind.

On Aileen's left, Jani was leaning forward, staring in disbelief at the track. Aileen was pretty sure that her mouth was partly open. She wondered if Chrissy and Sean felt the same.

She had never seen Tyler fall behind. Not like that. What had happened?

His head turned, and he glanced up at the stands, just for an instant. He shouldn't have. It could have been enough to throw him off. But he must have found what he was looking for, because suddenly his pace picked up, and then he was flying over the track with his usual grace, passing surprised competitors who hadn't expected him to come up from behind.

It didn't get him a qualifying place.

Aileen was half up out of her seat, chanting “Come on, come on,” hardly aware that words were leaving her mouth at all. “Fuck. Come on, Tyler.”

Jani was clutching at the arms of her seat, white-knuckled.

Tyler pushed forward, jumping the second to last hurdle, and it looked like he was going to overtake the second place. Over the last, and Aileen was almost sure of it, but at the last instant the tall blond put on a burst of speed, and Tyler was left behind in third place.

There was a cheer from the crowd, but under it she heard the groan from the Gatica track team. How could Tyler not have taken an automatic place in the finals? It was completely foreign to them to see him lose. And not just lose, but lose badly enough that it stopped his meet. Hopefully he’d get in on time.

Slowly, Aileen sank back into her seat, her knees a little week. She turned and looked at Jani, who was looking back at her with wide eyes. Sean was shaking his head over and over, like denying what had just happened could make it not true. Only Chrissy didn't look completely stunned. She just looked unhappy, lips pressed into a tight line.

When they announced those qualifying for the final in the men’s hurdles, Tyler's name was one of them. He hadn't taken a qualifying place, but he had run the race in one of the quickest times. Aileen almost laughed. The fastest loser. That was going to irritate the hell out of him. She knew how much he hated to lose. Even more than her.

After the race, Aileen slipped out of the big fieldhouse where the track was, finding an out of the way corner to warm up before her final run.

Had Tyler faltered for the same reason that she had?

Maybe that was what he had been saying in the hall. Maybe he couldn't stop thinking about her either. Why were they doing this to themselves, then? Was it worth it?

Aileen wondered, not for the first time, if she had made the wrong decision.

She turned and Tyler was there. Her breath caught in her throat with surprise.

“What are—”

He stepped forward before she could finish speaking and his hand lifted up to rest against her cheek.

She didn't pull away from the touch, and after a moment he leaned in nearer, the tips of his fingers stroking the skin beneath them.

“I'm going to kiss you now, if that's okay with you”

Was she supposed to say no to that? Maybe she was, but Aileen couldn't bring herself to. Silently, she nodded.

Tyler's mouth pressed against hers. The scent of his cologne filled her nose. She had missed it, having only caught the barest whiffs during practices he had been at.

Her lips parted under his, letting his tongue seek access, and she tasted him, familiar even after two weeks apart. One of her hands wrapped around his bicep. Her other arm slid around his shoulders, and they were pressed together so close that not even air could have come between them.

When the kiss broke, they were both short of breath.

“What was that for?” Aileen asked, unable to stop the words slipping out.

Tyler didn't answer. He just grinned at her, hand slapping against her backside as he walked away.

“Kick ass!” he called over his shoulder. And then he was gone.

For a minute Aileen just stood there, remembering the way that his body had felt against hers as they shared that kiss.

A smile broke out across her face, and she couldn't seem to suppress it. Whatever had just happened, she decided it had been good, and she wouldn't mind a repeat of it if she could find Tyler again later.

She practically floated on air as she walked back to the track to wait for her final. Maybe she should have considered the fact that Tyler was obviously good for her racing career before she had dumped him.

They called the women’s race and she lined up to check in. Once their shoes were checked, an official had them line up in the order of the lanes. Aileen had the second-fastest time, which put her in lane five. She liked being on the inside, like lane four or three, but she wasn’t going to complain. She couldn’t change it. Shoot, she could run out in lane eight if she had to.

She walked with the girls and stripped out of her top, keeping her tights on over her bum-shorts. She preferred keeping her legs warm. Her lips kept curling upwards as she set her blocks and did a few practice starts. She glided over the first hurdle and everything felt spot-on. She busted out her blocks again and her rhythm to the hurdle and the next was perfect. She glanced up at the stands, half-hoping to see Tyler, but knowing he was warming up for his race that was right after hers. She looked for Coach Anderson, who gave her a confident thumb’s up.

She was suddenly more than ready.

The gun-official called them to the start position and she stripped down into her racing gear, double checking that her number bib was positioned perfectly. The broadcaster announced the names and schools in each lane. A holler-whistle erupted from the far side of the track when her name was called. She didn’t mean to glance toward the sound, but her eyes riveted to the tunnel area to the warm-up track was. Tyler was there, surrounded by media but watching her.

“On your marks…”

Aileen jumped three times, tucking her feet close to her bum each time. She stretched and set her spikes into the blocks, setting her arms shoulder-width apart, her head down. Tunnel vision set in. Tyler had set her heart racing and set her confidence back to the standard she expected it to be. She was going to kick ass in this race. Whatever it took.

“Set…”

Her hips popped up as she leaned forward, pressing the balls of her feet hard against the blocks. Head still down, goosebumps shivered down her arms in anticipation.

The gun went off.

GO!
She exploded out of the blocks with a force she’d never felt before. She nearly stumbled but quickened her feet to catch herself and glided over the first hurdle before anyone else. If it was possible, she swore her feet didn’t touch the ground.

One… Two… Three… Drive, pull through… One… Two… Three… Drive, pull through…

She counted, repeating her pattern over each hurdle, waiting for another competitor to come into her peripheral vision. She chest-leaned at the finish and started to decelerate. She fist-pumped once just to herself and then turned and waved to her coach, beaming like a little kid. She’d freakin’ done it!!

If they audience reaction was anything to go by, they’d enjoyed it, whatever it looked like. The girls she’d left in the dust didn’t look like they’d had quite as good a time, but Aileen couldn’t keep the smile off her face.

She heard Jani and Chrissy screaming from the stands and grinned in their direction. She glanced down the track through the officials who were setting up the men’s hurdles to the correct height. Tyler, out in lane seven, was warming up. He caught her gaze and clapped his hands over his head in congrats.

The whistle blew and she grabbed her backpack and hurried across the track to get a seat beside Jani near the finish line. She sat with the team from Gatica to watch the men’s hurdle finals.

“Great job, Aileen!” “Nice run!” “That was an ass-kicking, if I ever saw it!”

She smiled and thanked her teammates. She quickly settled down to the spot Jani was patting beside her.

“That was awesome,” Jani grinned. “That redhead was pissed!”

“She was?” Aileen said quietly. “Payback for beating me in the semis.” Her focus turned to the track, her gaze zeroing in on Tyler in lane seven.

Butterflies flew in her stomach, ramming against her insides liked they were wearing armor. Nerves? She seldom got nervous for her own races, always just the right amount to create the adrenaline rush. But these ass-whooping butterflies were for Tyler. She wanted him. She shook her head.
I mean, I want him to win.

The started called them to the blocks, hollered set, and the gun went off. Aileen was up out of her seat, cheering as Tyler roared down the track. If that was what she had looked like when she’d run her final, it was no wonder the crowd had been impressed.

Standing there with the triumphant shouts of her teammates rising around her, she watched Tyler cross the finish line at the head of the pack.

Aileen realized one thing.

She and Tyler needed each other.