Out of Bounds (The Summer Games #2)(6)

“THANKS FOR THE WARM GREETING! IT WAS NICE TO MEET YOU TOO!”

I thought I heard him mumble something under his breath, but he disappeared around the front porch without a reply just as the door of the small cottage whipped open behind me.

“BRIE! Finally.”

Molly’s small arms wrapped around me from behind and I smiled. Even if Erik’s greeting had been cold, I still had Molly. She was another member of the gymnastics team, a veteran I knew I could depend on to cheer me up. I turned around and hugged her before stepping away to get a good look at her. She had bright red hair, freckles dotting her cheeks, and an infectious smile. She was still wearing her pajamas: a bright pink tank top and matching shorts.

“Were you just shouting at Coach Winter?” she asked, reaching around me for one of my suitcases.

“Long story,” I said, glancing over her shoulder. “Are you the only one here?”

She nodded. “Yeah, you guys weren’t supposed to get here until later.”

“Yeah, yeah. Believe me, I know that now. Why didn’t he yell at you for being here early?”

She laughed. “My host family went on vacation, so I had to come here a few days ago. It wasn’t a big deal since I train at Seattle Flyers anyway.”

Unlike the rest of the team, Molly wasn’t flying in to train with Erik for the month. Though she was originally from Oklahoma, she’d left home at the ripe age of 13 and moved in with a host family from Seattle Flyers, all so she could train with Erik. It wasn’t an uncommon practice for young girls to leave behind their family and friends to go and train at elite gyms. Fortunately for me, Austin had more than its fair share of good coaches.

“Erik didn’t chew your head off for needing to arrive early?”

She frowned, confused. “No? Why would he?”

I rolled my eyes. “No reason.” I tried to push aside lingering thoughts of him. “C’mon, show me the house.”

She led me past the small kitchen and up a wood-paneled staircase. The upstairs was minimal: three small bedrooms and one small bathroom for all five of us to share. What a joy morning time would be.

She pointed to the first door on the left. “That’s June’s room.”

I frowned. “What do you mean? She’s not even here yet, how is that her room?”

Molly shrugged. “She texted me last night to get the layout of the house and when I told her, she claimed the only single bedroom.”

“Of course she did. What a lovely teammate we have.”

Molly laughed and pushed me farther down the hallway. “C’mon, you’re bunking with me whether you like it or not.”

I didn’t protest. I liked Molly and she was a valuable asset because she’d been training with Erik for the last five years. Surely she had some dirt on him that would be valuable in the coming days.

She waved me to the second room down the hallway. It was painted a pleasant shade of light blue and the bunk beds at least looked like they’d been built in this century. I carried my suitcase into the room and kicked the door closed after me.

“I claimed top bunk, if that’s okay,” Molly said, turning to glance at me over her shoulder.

I tossed my suitcase on the bottom bunk and kicked off my shoes. “Sounds good. Now give me the scoop.”

She smiled. “About what? June? She’s just nervous about the games. I swear she thinks living with us will distract her or something.”

I rolled my eyes. “Really? How wild does she think five Olympic gymnasts can get?”

It was a rhetorical question Molly chose to ignore.

Other than Molly, I knew the other three girls from the competition circuit. There weren’t that many elite gymnasts in the United States, and even fewer on the fast track to the Olympics. A few years ago I’d started seeing the rest of the team at competitions around the United States. In some cases, friendships had developed naturally. In other cases, they…hadn’t.

“Honestly, I think June is just scared of Lexi,” Molly admitted.

“I think we all should be scared of Lexi.”

She laughed.

Lexi was a free spirit, even by normal standards, and I loved her for it.

“Honestly though, I think after we live together in this shabby cabin for a month, everyone will be getting along,” I continued, tipping a smile up at Molly.

“I think that’s wishful th—” Something caught her attention out the window. She hopped up and pushed the dusty drape to the side. “I knew he brought a girl back to the house last night.”

I followed her over to the small window and peeked out in time to watch a pretty brunette in high heels teetering down Erik’s gravel driveway. As she slid into the passenger seat of the car, she glanced back at his house with a wistful smile. I couldn’t see Erik, but something told me he wasn’t out on the porch wishing her a farewell like a gentleman would have done.

My brows arched. “Does he do that a lot?”

Molly shrugged. “I’ve only been here a few nights, but at practice, he never talks about girlfriends or anything. I always just assumed he was sort of…”

“What?” I prodded.

“Celibate.”

I laughed.

“I wonder what she looks like,” I said, leaning forward to get a better look at her before she disappeared into the car.