21. Lucas
Lucas
Noah called Cam to the gym for some basic run throughs and what I guessed would be the pep talk of Noah’s career.
Cam was so close to achieving what no American male gymnast had ever done before - that is, an all-around gold and a team gold.
And likely more than that because of the event finals, which wasn’t something I’d be pointing out to him; he had enough pressure.
The quiet moments - like this, still in the pool, left alone for a moment - were the toughest. They were when I remembered I should be in the Olympics. I should have that chance at something no American male gymnast had ever done before.
I knew I’d be fine. I’d make it through for Cam. He’d be distracted if he had to deal with…this.
But this didn’t matter. Because now was Cam’s last shot. And I wasn’t going to fuck that up with my feelings. My body would heal in time, and so would my heart. Plus, I was still considering proposing to Cam, but I wasn’t sure when to ask.
“Hey!” Ty swam up to me. “You good?”
I nodded.
“Liar. What’s up?”
“Just thinking.”
“About how it should be you?”
“Why aren't you going into therapy again? You’re perceptive as shit.”
“Nah. I’ve just known you a long time, bro.”
“I know what you’re gonna say. I’ll be fine.”
“No harm in having feelings. What happened still sucks.” Ty put his arm around me. “Don’t get hard now, or Declan will beat you up.”
“Declan would not beat me up, and I was hard the moment you swam up.”
Ty splashed me as he pushed me away.
“You guys about ready for some food?” Declan asked, ending our splash fight with his formidable shadow.
“Are you on the menu?” Ty asked.
I made a barfing sound and was rewarded with another splash. Wiping the water from my eyes, I answered, “I could eat, Declan. Where are you taking us, and are we leaving Ezra with his new friends?”
Declan gave them a glance. I knew he and Zeph rubbed each other the wrong way, so I was surprised when he was okay if they came with us.
I was even more surprised when Zeph behaved at lunch. In the past, he and Dec went at it like two alphas sparring for control of who knew what. It was mostly posturing, but it felt like there was a heat behind it.
I found out after lunch, from Ezra, that Brody had agreed to meet with Zeph and Colton tonight on the condition that Ezra watched them.
It explained why Zeph was well behaved. In a few more hours, the muscled duo would plunder the last non-double-teamed-by-them member of the Corbin Fisher group.
Another notch in their fuck-belts of conquest, though I wasn’t sure when they ticked jock number five off their list.
Don’t get me wrong, I wasn’t being judgmental. I completely understood the desire. If Cam weren’t an Olympian, he would’ve been a natural fit for Corbin Fisher. Muscular, clean-cut, hairless and handsome. All of those qualities defined my type; Cam was the definition of all-American boy-next-door.
I spent the rest of the afternoon helping Ty gather his things. With Declan here, the hotel room would be mine again.
Luke: Want to sleep at my place tonight?
As much as I loved being close to Cam, a twin bed made from recycled materials wasn’t the best place to get a good night’s sleep.
“You staying near the venue?” I asked both of them.
“Not yet,” Declan answered.
“Really?” Ty seemed surprised.
“Yeah, I’ve got a little surprise for you. A nice private Airbnb for a few days before all the official stuff starts and our families get here.”
“Well, damn. That is a nice surprise.”
Cam: Hmmm…I think that would be nice.
Luke: Likely a fuckfest going on next door tonight.
Cam: Is that an invitation or a warning?
Luke: A warning…
Cam: I was kidding. We can put on the rain machine.
Luke: How do you feel?
Cam: Really good. After Team Gold, anything feels possible.
I think the excitement of Ezra’s playtime made him forget the women’s team final was tonight.
Coach messaged us, but was fine with us not going in person, considering Miles and Cam had the all-around finals the next afternoon.
With Remy’s presence the other night, it was clear O and Austin were still worried for their safety.
I’d imagine they’d be staying in as well.
It was apparent based on the schedule that the all-around for the men wasn’t in the primetime slot this Olympics.
There were swimming and diving finals already scheduled, and those events proved to be more popular with the American public.
I knew it bothered Cam - it bothered me too.
You dedicate your whole life to something, and a lot of people still didn’t recognize the skill or sacrifice required.
On the flip side, the divers and swimmers worked hard too, and no matter what, somebody had to be at noon.
The better we did here would certainly give gymnastics programs nation-wide a boost. Options for men were becoming scarce. There were rumors Florida University was going to end its program next year, but not if Cam and I had anything to say about it.
A positive side effect of not being scheduled for primetime was that it would be over sooner. We’d actually have time to celebrate with his mom, Noah and Shane at a reasonable hour.
Cam ended up falling asleep in my arms long before the women won the gold. According to the commentators, this was the start of a renaissance for American gymnastics.
Lucky for him, Cam had fallen asleep before the show started next door.
As Cam suggested, however, I turned my sound app on to a rainstorm, and that, coupled with Cam’s light snoring, was enough to drown out the moans and fuck yeahs of next door.
I was able to fall asleep easily once I shimmied my clothes off.
The men were divided into four groups of six, based on seed.
Cam was seeded third, so he was in the first group and would start on the floor.
Miles was eighteenth and squeaked into the last spot of the third group; they would start on the rings.
The Japanese duo of Hiruto and Riku who crumbled in London had made it, as did Jack Davies, Inácio Silva, and a long list of familiar names.
The newest names to worry about were Alessandro Amante from Italy and Maksim “The Wolf” Volkov from Russia, who was being coached by Vadim Davidov, one of our former competitors.
Woodward and Hudson were with Miles. Noah and I were together, watching Cam warm up.
Alessandro approached Cam and said something that made them both laugh and I couldn’t help but feel annoyed.
His left leg and right arm were both covered in tattoos and it accentuated the musculature of his twunky body.
“Easy killer,” Noah whispered.
“What?”
“If you manifested a superpower right now, Alessandro would be vaporized. You and Cam forget sometimes that Europeans are a lot more affectionate than Americans. Loosen up.”
Ugh, Noah was right. I was being possessive and suspicious, two very unattractive qualities.
I distracted myself momentarily by glancing into the stands.
Heather was in the same section as the other day and Erika and Isaak were back as well.
Ty caught my eye and waved, and then he made Declan wave too.
Seeing them together always made me think about marriage.
It was hard not to when they were so happy and getting married in like a week.
Even without their upcoming nuptials, I had been thinking more about it lately, and it was time.
I wanted to marry Cam. I wanted to take his last name, and I wanted to keep building our lives together. I was ready to take that next step.
Even though I knew it was stressful for Ty, hearing him talk about Declan and the wedding sealed it. I had wedding fever.
Being boyfriends wasn’t enough for me anymore.
Of course, I picked that moment to look at Cam and he was smiling, illuminated by the tens of thousands of watts of the arena. He looked like Apollo, the god of the sun. He meant everything to me.
Have I told him that enough?
I needed to get my ass in gear. Ty let his injury consume him, and I was going to take the life lesson learned from a friend and not let that happen to me.
It worked out for him, and I had the same thing: a supportive partner, a home to share with him, career goals, and a found family. I didn’t need anything else.
Cam bounded across the floor and practically leapt into my arms.
“I’d ask if you’re ready, but you seem excited.”
“Just letting it out now. I’m going to need to focus when it starts. I’ve got a feeling.”
I didn’t know what he meant, but I was going to let him do whatever he needed.
“Trust your gut, Cam,” Noah said, joining our huddle. “You got Luke’s lucky jock on?”
Cam stepped back to pull the waistband of my jock out from under his leotard, flashing some skin for the audience and the camera that was directly behind us.
Maybe I’d get a bonus from Andrew Christian?
“I should feel weird that Noah knows about that, but somehow I don’t.” I couldn’t help but smile, actually. Seeing Cam in my clothes was one of my biggest turn-ons.
He had the jockstrap. He had the platypus coin. He was ready.
I don’t know what happened when he was called to the floor, but something changed.
I could see it in his face. And when he went for his first pass, it sounded like a grenade went off when he hit the landing.
Each pass was an exclamation point. I would’ve thought he was pissed.
He wasn’t pulling any punches, that was for sure.
Generically speaking, there were two philosophies for the all-around.
Go easy or go hard. Easy meant your normal routines, nothing extremely difficult, and your execution scores would be high.
However, you likely needed someone to mess up to win.
That’s where going hard came in. Those gymnasts went for the higher difficulty scores.
If successful, they won, but there was a higher chance of fucking up and losing big.