“Got it.”
“Don’t worry about anything else. Just this. Show me what you’ve got,” he said with a flash of a smile.
I set up behind the jam line and waited for the second whistle, the jammer for the other team out of breath next to me.
Any other time I would have sympathized, but right now, I wanted to win and every struggle for air was an edge for me.
The second whistle sounded, and I took off, outrunning her to the pack. All moving pieces. Action and reaction. Tilly and Eve working together to block their jammer but making a gap for me in the middle.
Closing before I could get there, I went low and watched their players shift with me, leaving the pocket on the high side just like he said.
My breath echoed in my ears as I remember what he told me. Digging in my toes, I ran the line. Eve and Tilly moved in to block their players from getting to me at the same time. Their pivot broke away and tried to catch me as I raced up the track. I turned sideways, facing the rail, giving her my back, just daring her to take the hit as I went into the turn, veering around the corner as I snuck past, my feet burning as I held my edges before I spun forward and cleared the pack.
Their jammer broke out just seconds after me, her pace the same as mine, keeping her a few seconds back, leaving me a narrow window to score points and call off the jam before she could get points of her own and have a chance to take the win.
Tilly glanced back and I saw it coming. She went into full protection mode. Not against me, but for me.
And she knew I liked the inside.
It narrowed down to seconds. Me watching Tilly. Tilly keeping her eye on me while using her body to drive the pack up the back just enough to give me a shot.
I came in fast, got low, braced my hips, and started to slide by as one of their blockers stepped out, planting their skate in front of me.
At the last second, I pushed off the toe, jumping her attempt at sending me to the infield, cleared the pack, and called off the jam by tapping my hands on my hips.
“Yes!” Priest shouted, pumping his fist in the air as my team erupted in cheers as the scoreboard rolled over and we took the win by two points.
By late morning Maven Voyage had taken the win in their bout and the final bout was set. At two in the afternoon, we’d face off one more time.
And no matter what happened, we’d already won fifty thousand dollars.
One year for Crossroads.
We’d bought time.
But we needed so much more.
The exertion began taking its toll, on our team’s stamina, and on theirs. When we began again, the exhaustion and strain in our eyes mirrored theirs. Our movements were clunky at times and sometimes downright erratic.
Tempers flared. The desire to win making each side a bit more desperate.
On the line for one final jam, I took off at the whistle and caught the pack one more time. The hits came harder, some illegal as both sides gave everything they got. Skates tangled. Skaters went down but hopped right back up again.
Maven Voyage’s jammer passed the star to their pivot, turning her into their lead jammer. I was just about to push through and chase her down, driving my one skate in as a wedge between two blockers, when the blocker next to me took an illegal hit to the chest, her arms flying out with the force and her elbow catching me in the eye. I hit the track as Maven Voyage’s jammer came in and scored three points.
The final jam.
Maven Voyage won.
The whistle blew and I lay there trying to catch my breath as I stared up at the iron framing in the roof of the complex, the lights shooting in all directions, catching me in the eye.
Nothing was keeping him here anymore.
We’d just lost but managed to come in second place when we wouldn’t have placed at all, and all I could think is that he would spiral now.
He could check us off his list of people who needed him and I knew just what would happen when he did.
He’d run.
The blocker who took me out skated over and offered me a hand. “Are you okay?”
“Yeah, nothing some ice and a cocktail can’t fix.”
Except neither were going to keep me from the broken heart coming.
“I hear that,” she said with a laugh. “You guys gave us one hell of a fight out there. No one will doubt you guys next time.”
Next time.
Would there be a next time? Would Priest be there with us?
“They better not.”
She skated away and joined her cheering team.
My crew skated up on the track and joined me, Priest cutting through all of them, wrapping his arms around me, lifting me clean off the floor.
His arms swallowed me whole as his body curled around mine. I curled into his heat and closed my eyes while I memorized the sound of his racing heart by my ear.
“I’m proud of you,” he murmured.
I squeezed, afraid to let him go. “We didn’t win.”
“Second place is something to celebrate,” he said, his lips next to my ear as I burrowed into him even more, grasping on to his every word. “You never forgot what you were fighting for out there.”
“I’ll never forget anyone I fight for,” I whispered.
He stilled with my quiet words, his arms loosening on me as I
