Chapter 78

Chapter 78

“Is everything okay?” Bella said as soon as I picked up the Skype call. “You didn’t contact me after the short, and I—”

She stopped, taking in the scene on her phone screen: my flushed cheeks and messy hair, Heath’s bare chest, the different decor behind us. The Civil Wars in the background, crooning mournfully about the one that got away.

“Where are you two?”

“Ellis gave us his hotel suite for the night,” I explained.

“Ellis Dean ?”

We gave her a rundown of our eventful evening. The tampering with our skates had been mentioned on the broadcast, accompanied by backstage footage of me flipping my shit at the Russian team—though Kirk had shied away from outright accusing them of sabotage on air. But this was the first Bella was hearing about the hotel room break-ins, my ruined dress, or the dismissive response from Sochi law enforcement. Guess Ellis was too busy enjoying that nightcap to get a new Kiss this time he kept a respectful distance. I spent a few minutes arranging pillows to elevate my foot before flopping back beside him.

“Aren’t we a pair?” I said.

“A couple of geriatric has-beens, hanging on by a thread.”

“Hey now, we would’ve been fine if it weren’t for the fucking Volkovas.”

Heath went quiet for a moment. “You’re sure it’s them?”

“Of course it’s them.” I turned to face him. “Who else would it be?”

“I don’t know. Veronika’s terrifying, but she usually takes her wrath out on her own skaters. And Yelena…”

I tried not to bristle at the softness in his voice when he said her name.

“She’s not what you think,” he said. “When I was in Moscow, she was the only person who was kind to me.”

“Because she wanted you to be her partner.”

“Even before that, when she was still with Nikita. She helped me learn the language. She stayed late to give me tips on my skating technique.”

“So she wanted to sleep with you.”

“Maybe.” Heath turned toward me too. “Or maybe she needed a friend as much as I did. Although I wasn’t a very good friend to her, in the end.”

“What do you mean?”

“I left without saying goodbye, right when we were supposed to start training together. Knowing Veronika, I’m sure she put all the blame on Yelena, made her believe she’d driven me away or something.”

“Earlier, you said…” I swallowed. Before Bella called, he’d been on the verge of telling me the truth he’d kept locked up tight for all those years. “If Veronika didn’t hurt you, then who did, Heath?”

He was silent for so long, I thought he’d fallen asleep. Then he whispered to me, like we were teenagers again, wrapped up in each other under the covers, trying not to get caught.

“I’ve done a lot of things I’m not proud of, Katarina. To get back to you.”

Somehow, we’d drifted close again. His hand was on my pillow, buried in my damp hair. I found the edge of his jaw and traced up to the scar under his eye.

“So have I,” I said.

“But I also made my whole existence about you, for far too long.” Heath’s words came out in a rush, as if he’d been storing them up for ages. “I grew up without a family or a culture or anything of my own, so when I found you…it wasn’t fair to either of us. I had to figure out my own passion, my own purpose in life.”

He wasn’t going to give me the answers I wanted. Not tonight. Maybe not ever.

“And you’ve found that?” I asked. “Your purpose?”

“I’m working on it.”

In Los Angeles. With Bella, and their baby. Whether or not they were in love, soon Heath and Bella would be family in a way he and I had never been.

His lips brushed my hand. “We’ve wasted so much time, haven’t we?”

We had. Years and years we could never get back. If we won the gold medal, would it all be worth it? Not so long before, I would have said yes without hesitation.

“We’re here now,” I told him. “Let’s not waste any more.”