Chapter 2 #2
Ember wasn’t so sure about that. People said they didn’t see color when they looked at others, but she knew firsthand that wasn’t always true.
“You’ll see,” Brain said.
He sounded so confident, Ember became even more curious about Doc’s story. But she didn’t get a chance to ask anything before Lucky began speaking.
“You’ve got a room on the same floor as us. You been up there yet?”
Ember nodded. “I dropped off my stuff and came straight here.”
“Leila, Nick, and Aiden headed out on a tour of the city this morning, said they’d be back after lunch,” Lucky said.
Ember nodded. Leila Mason was the other woman who’d made the modern pentathlon team. She knew her fairly well from the competitions they’d been in together. Aiden Covington and Nick Hodge made up the men’s team.
“The water polo team has been here since before the opening ceremonies, and from what I understand, their competitions don’t start for another week,” Lefty said. “When do you compete?”
“The pentathlon is a two-day event,” she told the group. “The first day is the first round of fencing. We fence in thirty-five rounds, going one-on-one with every contestant in a one-touch bout. We get ranked on how many victories we have.”
“Holy crap, that’s a lot of matches!” Trigger exclaimed.
“Yeah. It takes most of the day. The second day, we go through the second round of fencing. The two lowest-ranking competitors go first. Whoever wins that round moves on to face the third-lowest-ranking person. And so on up the line until everyone’s competed again.”
“How does the swimming portion work? Are you ranked by who gets the fastest time?” Grover asked.
Ember was pleased that they seemed to be genuinely interested.
“No. It’s not like the regular swimming events.
We don’t have a finals and we aren’t technically competing against each other.
We swim two hundred meters and get a score based on time.
A time of two minutes and forty seconds earns two hundred and fifty points.
Every tenth of a second above or below that benchmark is equal to plus or minus one point.
So obviously the faster you swim, the more points you get, which is what we want. ”
“Interesting. I never thought about how it works. I guess I’d just assumed it was whoever won that portion got more points,” Brain said.
“Well, that’s kind of true,” Ember said.
“Because the more points we earn in fencing, swimming, and show jumping, the bigger head start we get for the combined shooting and running event at the end. Once the run starts, the winner is the one who crosses the finish line first, so it’s really important to get as big a head start as possible. ”
“So you could be in last place, but still manage to win,” Brain said.
“Technically, yes. But speaking from experience, it’s very hard to do. You’d have to hit every one of your shots in the shooting portion without missing to have a chance,” Ember told them.
“What’s your best event?” Grover asked.
Ember loved this. Loved educating people about the pentathlon. Loved not talking about other influencers, or branding, or any of the other crap her parents loved and she couldn’t care less about. “Shooting,” she said without hesitation.
The men all grinned.
“What?” she asked.
“Too bad we don’t have a shooting range here, I’d love to ask you to join us,” Trigger said.
“I wouldn’t want to embarrass you,” Ember teased.
They all chuckled, and she had a feeling they were humoring her.
“Using a laser gun like you do in competition isn’t anything like shooting with real bullets,” Lefty said.
“I know,” Ember agreed. “Although, I can hold my own.”
“I have a feeling you can,” Trigger said. “You have plans for dinner?”
Ember blinked. Was he hitting on her?
“Not because I’m trying to get in your pants.
I love my wife more than life itself and would never cheat on her,” Trigger explained, reading her mind.
“I just thought that if you were interested in eating somewhere other than the cafeteria, we’ve got tonight off—it’s the only night we all have off—and I thought you might like to join us. ”
“Oh, that’s really sweet. But I don’t want to leave the Olympic Village.
And I have to get up early to get some practice in tomorrow.
But thank you. Seriously.” And she meant it.
She liked these guys. They were down-to-earth and funny, and they made her feel…
normal. To them, she could tell she wasn’t Ember Maxwell, social media darling.
She was Ember the athlete…which she liked.
“All right, but if you change your mind, just let us know. Our rooms are scattered throughout the floor you’re staying on.
Since you’ve been up there, you’ve probably seen that we have an S on our doors for ‘security.’ Just knock, or slip a note under one of our doors and we’ll grab you before we head out. ”
“I will, thanks.”
“Anytime.”
“And…Trigger?”
“Yeah?”
“Will you thank Doc for me?”
“For what?”
“For bringing me to your table to eat. I wasn’t sure where to sit, and as high-handed as it might’ve seemed, taking the decision out of my hands was a relief.”
“Of course. And for the record, you’re totally out of Doc’s comfort zone,” Trigger told her.
“What do you mean?”
“Just that. Doc hates attention. Marching up to you, the Ember Maxwell, in a crowded room, bringing you to our table was totally out of character for him.”
“Oh, well…I appreciate it. That, and for making those guys stop recording me or whatever they were doing.”
“That happen a lot?” Brain asked.
Ember shrugged, trying to downplay it. “Often enough.”
“Right. So it happens all the time,” Brain muttered.
“I kind of gave up my right to privacy once I gained so many followers,” Ember explained.
“Wrong,” Grover told her. “You shouldn’t have to worry about someone filming you while you’re eating. Or doing anything privately. You’re at the fucking Olympics. Other athletes should have your back, not add to your stress.”
His words felt good.
“For what it’s worth…Doc’s a good man,” Trigger told her. “He can be pretty intense, but he’s also one of the most loyal men I’ve ever met. He can be hard to get to know, but once he decides you’re worthy of his friendship, there’s nothing he wouldn’t do for you.”
“Um…okay,” she said after a long pause.
Ember appreciated his reassurance, but wasn’t sure why Trigger was telling her.
It was obvious the man hadn’t been all that impressed by her, if his hasty retreat was anything to go by.
His friends might say he wasn’t turned off by the color of her skin, but his reaction to her was all too familiar.
She’d seen it time and time again in the white world of Beverly Hills she’d grown up in.
Her parents had gotten very good at ignoring the racism, but she couldn’t be as blasé about it.
She liked these guys, and appreciated their offer of friendship, but her time in Korea was short.
Best not to get too close. In just days, she’d go back to her life in the States.
She wasn’t sure how much of a life it was, working out fourteen hours a day, but it was all she’d ever known.
Her parents had pulled her out of the local high school, in favor of an online school, so she’d have more time to train.
College had been out of the question, as it would’ve taken way too much attention away from her training.
She’d just missed qualifying for the last Olympic Games, so it had been their dream that she make this one.
“We’ve learned the hard way never to judge someone by how they look,” Trigger continued quietly.
“The cutest kid could be a decoy so his father can detonate an IED near where we’re patrolling.
The prettiest woman in the room could be the most deadly person there.
Brown skin, black, white, yellow…we see color, of course, but it means nothing to us.
We read people in other, deeper ways. Obviously, Doc read your discomfort and felt a need to help, despite his need to avoid attention.
That’s not something we see him do often. ”
“Why does it matter?” Ember asked. “You’re here for security, and I’m here to compete. When I’m done, I’ll go back to California, back to my life, and you’ll go back to…wherever you came from.”
“Texas,” Lucky said helpfully. “Fort Hood, to be exact. Near Killeen.”
“Right, you’ll go back to Texas and I’ll go back to my life.”
Trigger stared at her for a long moment, and Ember had no idea what was going on behind his guarded expression.
Finally, he said, “All I’m trying to say is that even though Doc doesn’t like to be the center of attention, he won’t let your fame stop him from protecting you…or anyone else here at the Games. Same for all of us.”
His words reassured Ember.
Trigger stood, not giving her a chance to comment, as did the others.
Ember did the same, not wanting to be left sitting at the table by herself.
“Come on, we’ll walk you back up to our floor.
Make sure you know where our rooms are. Then we’ll leave you to unpack and do whatever it is elite athletes do before they compete in the freaking Olympics. ”
Ember followed the group to the bins to drop off their trays. They all got into the large elevator together and rode up to their floor. The men said their goodbyes and told her how good it was to meet her, before they disappeared into their own rooms.
Trigger hung back. “We’ve got the rest of the day off. We’ll all probably call our wives; the time difference is a bitch, so any chance we have to talk to our women while we’re gone, we take it,” he said. “Then we’ll all go to dinner together later, like I said.”
“You all seem very close,” Ember commented.
“We are. There’s nothing I wouldn’t do for those guys. Or their families.”
Ember didn’t understand that kind of friendship, simply because she’d never had it for herself.