2Austin Tucker had loved only a few things in his twenty years. The first had been his little sister Audrey. The day his parents brought her home from the hospital and presented that strange, pink, wiggly creature to him had counted as the greatest in his short life. Then a year or two later his mother, fed up with him climbing and swinging and inevitably falling from the tallest point in every jungle gym in a ten mile radius brought him to a gymnastics class in the hopes that he would learn how to fall without hurting himself. The first time he saw a set of parallel bars he'd fallen desperately in love.
There was a time when he thought that he'd never feel that way about anything again, the closest he came was the affection he felt for his motorcycle Lolita and his English bulldog, Sam, but now, pulling up into his reserved parking spot at the Rocky Mountain Gymnastics Training Center, he knew that wasn't the case, because nestled behind him, her grip on his leather jacket firm, Kaylie Cruz had stolen his heart in a way he never thought anything else could or would. He couldn't put it into words and would probably offend her if he tried, but he was definitely head over heels in love with the girl. There was something about her, a glow that radiated from the inside out and drew him in, he was like a fly to honey.
The Rock parking lot was nearly full by the time they arrived. He smirked as he saw the new Audi sports car sitting conspicuously in what had used to be Emily Kmetko's reserved spot. He supposed it only made sense to give it to Payson being that there were two Keelers at the gym on a daily basis, keeping what could be very different schedules.
He cut the engine and Kaylie leapt off the bike quickly, handing him her helmet, and motioned the car pulling in behind them towards the spot that read clearly, Reserved for Cruz.
He frowned as he watched Kelly Parker pull her cherry red Mustang into the spot. He still didn't trust Parker, though Kaylie had nearly demanded he give her a chance. She'd also somehow talked him into letting Kelly stay with him, insisting that the girl he privately nicknamed Satan, had no where else to go. His lake house was quickly becoming very crowded with strays. He didn't mind sharing with Max, though that relationship was still a little awkward after the bombshell revelation that he was bi-sexual, but Kelly Parker was a different story all together.
"Are you sure about this?" Kelly asked, taking out her gym bag which had the Denver Elite logo blazoned across the side from her back seat and then leaning back in and grabbing Kaylie's as well. They'd all met up this morning at his house and they'd left Kaylie's car in his driveway, knowing that it would be difficult for Kelly to find a spot.
"I'm sure," Kaylie said, reassuringly, putting her bag over her should and nudging Austin subtly with her elbow as he climbed off Lolita.
He rubbed the offended area lightly and managed a grimace in Kelly's direction. "Sasha won't turn you away," he said, the only semi encouraging thought he could come up with on the spot, it was also likely the truth. Kaylie smiled at him brightly and he knew it was worth it.
They only managed to get a few steps into the Rock before they were besieged by tiny girls in leotards wanting to congratulate Kaylie on her recovery. Austin's eyes met Sasha's across the floor. He loved Kaylie, but there were times when she allowed herself to get caught up in the moment and this was one of them. She'd brought her friend here and as the crowd around her grew, the responsibility of getting Kelly up to Sasha's office clearly fell to him.
He nodded to Sasha and then flicked his eyes in the direction of the gym office. Sasha returned the nod, clearly understanding the message. Austin gripped Kelly's elbow lightly, "Come on," he said, to her leading her away from the crowd. She followed willingly, though she shot another desperate look in Kaylie's direction. "She couldn't help you with this anyway," Austin muttered as they mounted the stairs. Kelly suddenly resembled a prisoner being led to her death. "You know Sasha, he's going to want to hear it from you."
"Right, you're right," Kelly said softly, probably more to himself than him and he felt satisfied that he'd done the duty of her friend's boyfriend, if begrudgingly.
They slid through the glass doors and moved into the office.
"Austin, umm Kelly," Summer said, looking up from her desk. She made no attempt to hide the suspicion or curiosity in her voice or on her face. "Is there something I can help you with?" she asked, her eyes flickering to Kelly's arm where Austin still held her lightly.
He quickly dropped his hand at Summer's pointedly disapproving expression, having forgotten it was there. "No, we're just waiting for Sasha," he said, frowning at Summer. That woman had the uncanny ability to involve herself when her opinion was neither asked for nor needed.
"And your wait is over," Sasha quipped from the door and moved into the room, his presence nearly filling the space, much as it always did. Austin often wondered how he did that, but then he'd been accused of a similar effect himself, so perhaps it couldn't be taught. "What can I do for you?" he asked, leaning against his desk, eyebrows up expectantly.
Kelly looked towards Austin and then desperately to the door, obviously hoping Kaylie would arrive and rescue her from doing this herself. When no help seemed forthcoming she looked down at the ground. Austin rolled his eyes, Kelly Parker clearly was not used to asking for things.
"KP wants to come train at the Rock," he heard himself say, though when he'd decided to say it, he didn't recall.
Sasha leaned back at the force of the pronouncement. "Really?" he asked. "Did you speak to Marty about it?" he asked, addressing Kelly directly despite her not having uttered a word yet. Austin nearly snorted aloud at the obvious victory in Sasha's voice. Apparently that rivalry wasn't as dead and buried as the two men would like everyone to believe.
Kelly seemed to be able to respond to direct questions with obvious answers because she nodded, "Yeah, I did. Marty's a great coach, but he understands why I have to do this."
Intrigued, Sasha leaned forward, hands on his thighs, "And why do you need to do this?"
Kelly's shoulders straightened and her expression hardened. "I'm suing my parents for legal emancipation and I just...I just need to get the fuck away from my mother."
Summer gasped, probably at the use of foul language and Austin nearly rolled his eyes. He saw Sasha look sideways at the blonde gym manager. "You'll do an extra round of conditioning today. We don't tolerate profanity around here, we have too many little girls who like to imitate anything and everything our elite girls do."
Kelly stood there, silent, not sure what just happened, but Austin knew that was Sasha's way of saying, "Welcome to the family, Kelly."
"Come on," he said, grasping her elbow again, leading her from the room.
They made it half way down the stairs before Kelly started to pull away from his firm girl on her arm. "But wait, he didn't say if I could..."
"Yes, he did, he told you to do two rounds of conditioning today. You think he would have done that if he hadn't decided you could train here in his head. That was Sasha-speak for, 'You're in.'"
Suddenly it seemed the Kelly Parker he remembered from years on the gymnastics circuit reappeared. She rolled her eyes. "So he couldn't have just said that?"
"You get used to it," he assured her. "Sasha's a great coach. You should know that, he did just lead you all to a gold medal and you should probably get started on those circuits. Sasha doesn't joke about two things, fishing and conditioning."
She nodded to herself and began to walk towards where Payson and Lauren were stretching against the beam. Then she quickly turned and managed a smile, not the sarcastic smirk usually plastered across her face and oddly enough he found himself smiling back, "Thanks Tucker," before turning on her heel and walking away.
Sasha watched Kelly approach Lauren and Payson neither of whom seemed put out in the slightest by her arrival. He assumed they both knew of her plans to join up.
"Are you sure that's a good idea?" Summer asked from his shoulder, watching the same scene.
Sasha frowned at the disapproval in her tone. "Kelly is a great gymnast, I wasn't aware we were in the habit of turning away world class talent."
"It's not her talent that worries me," Summer said and he finally turned to look at her. "Oh yeah, what then?"
"She had a bit of reputation for causing problems, particularly with our girls."
Sasha shot her an incredulous look and tried to bite his tongue, "Psyching out the competition is part of the sport," he began, but suddenly he couldn't contain himself, "and Kelly Parker certainly hasn't cornered the market on, what did you call it, causing problems." His tone was enough to make his point easily and Summer glared at him.
"I thought you'd forgiven her," she said, accusation laced through her tone. Her eyes even narrowed at him. "You didn't lie to her just to get a routine out of her did you? That's just...that's just pathetic, Sasha."
Sasha reeled back as though he'd been slapped. He stepped closer to her and lowered his voice. "I would never do anything like that. I have forgiven her. It was a desperate act from a desperate girl and I think she's punished herself more for it than I ever could." He stepped back, his anger cooling slightly as Summer broke eye contact. "And speaking of that situation, she needs to come clean with Payson."
"Are you sure that's necessary?" she asked, looking out onto the floor again where the four elite girls were beginning their apparatus rotations together.
Sasha shook his head and rolled his eyes. "Of course it's necessary. What Lauren did didn't just affect me, it was a total and complete public humiliation for Payson, one she never should have had to endure."
"Maybe she should have thought about that before she kissed you," Summer muttered, but he heard her and the pain he'd buried for the last few weeks wrenched harshly in his chest.
He let the comment pass without a response because he still truly blamed himself for that kiss. "You can talk to her about it or I can, but either way she needs to come clean. We allowed her the victory and her celebration, but it's time. I can barely look at Kim, knowing what I know and not saying anything."
"Kim said she didn't want to reopen that wound for Payson," Summer continued as if she hadn't heard him. "Are you sure this won't just cause everyone unnecessary pain. Look how happy they are."
At his silence she continued, "Are you sure this isn't about your guilt? You can't still be blaming yourself for that kiss, can you? I swear, Sasha, your arrogance knows no bounds."
Sasha clenched his teeth and felt his jaw twitch in response to her accusation. Somehow he managed to rein in the large part of him that wanted to shout at her, but there was a tiny part of him that whispered, maybe she's right, maybe this is about you, maybe it was always about you.
Then images flashed through his mind, Payson looking devastated, crying herself to sleep, head held high walking into the gym, everyone whispering and giggling not even attempting to disguise their behavior and he felt more resolved than ever. He had enough, standing up and heading out towards the floor. Summer wasn't trying to spare Payson's feelings. She was backing down, just as she always did when it came to Lauren and real consequences. He knew this could possibly destroy a near life long friendship, but Payson deserved to know truth.
As he left the office he turned, "Talk to Lauren and tell her she has until the end of the week and if she doesn't tell Payson, I will."