21. Lucas #2
Cam hadn’t discussed it with me, and I couldn’t read Noah well enough to tell if he was as surprised as I was, but Cam was going hard today. I was almost in shock when he finished. I hadn’t seen this Cam on the podium before. It was…arousing.
Noah greeted him with a high five and Cam headed straight to the seats after a half-hug from me. No kiss.
“You okay?” I sat down next to him.
“Yeah. I’ll explain when it’s done, but I need to focus today. I need Coach Luke now. I should’ve given you a heads up, but my mind’s been all over the place and I just decided this is what I think will work. If that makes sense.”
I knew the mind of a professional athlete enough to let him go where he wanted to go.
“No problem at all. Whatever you need, Cam.”
“Thanks.”
Well, wherever Cam had gone, it was working.
Three events done - floor, horse, rings - and he was in the lead. Miles was close, in fourth, which was absurd because he was in the third group. He was beyond anyone with him. Hudson and Woodward must’ve told him some good shit because he was working his little ass off.
Cam had the vault and the bars left. Miles had the high bar, floor, and horse.
Hiruto and Inacio were the others in the top three. The other three from Cam’s group - Alessandro, Maksim, and Jo?o Paulo Matos from Brazil were close behind Miles.
Cam remained aloof, all ice and focus. It was the opposite of the team finals, but it was working and I wasn’t going to let my feelings or desire for kisses get in the way if this was how Cam wanted to compete.
I was going to spank the fuck out of him later, but for now, whatever worked for him, I supported wholeheartedly.
“Did you guys have a fight?” Noah asked, as Cam headed to the podium to warm up for the vault.
“No. I don’t know where this new strategy came from.”
Noah considered that for a moment, before grabbing my shoulder. “Sorry for you, but I’ll admit it’s working.”
“Oh, I’m aware.”
Noah chuckled. “He’s gonna get it, isn’t he?”
I smiled. “I will be thrilled if he gets the gold medal, but I’m not quite sure how to handle this…development. He’s never been like this before.”
“No shit. It’s almost robotic.”
“Laser focused,” I added.
“Determined.”
“It’s like he’s owning every apparatus.”
“I heard you liked Dom Cam.”
I shushed him. It was time.
Even with all his practice for the other events, the vault was still his best. I have a feeling he could do it with his eyes closed at this point. The Kane, that is.
“Here we go.”
In four point three seconds it was done.
“Was that…?”
“Different,” Noah finished for me.
“It was the Kane, but…more.”
I didn’t know how to react when he came down, but was ready for anything.
“You guys like that? The Kane Two.” He waggled his eyebrows and finally gave me a smile before sitting down, leaving me and Noah half-in-shock and standing with our mouths hanging open.
“Where did you pull that from?” Noah asked, walking over. I followed.
Cam shrugged. “Always had it. Didn’t have a reason to do it. I’m pushing, in case you hadn’t noticed.”
Oh, we had fucking noticed, mister.
“Uh-huh,” was all Noah said, and we waited for the other guys to fall short of Cam’s greatness. Etienne Beaufort was the only other gymnast that had ever done the Kane and he hadn’t done it successfully in the last year, so…no threats on the vault here tonight.
I still couldn’t get over the change in Cam’s demeanor.
It wasn’t dominant Cam, it was more like detached Cam.
I’d seen him focused before, but this was almost a caricature of that.
But it was working, so I liked it…and didn’t at the same time, which made me feel like an ass.
People did worse things than act a little machine-like to win a gold medal.
“Just let it ride. Cam’s an adult,” Noah whispered into my ear. “It’s weird to me too.” He squeezed my thigh before leaning back in his chair, waiting for the signal to move to the next apparatus.
I heard the crowd react and instinctively looked at the high bar. Miles hadn’t fallen off, so he must’ve done something good. I watched the end of his routine and hadn’t seen any mistakes. It was a pretty ambitious routine; his score should reflect that.
Hudson and Woodward greeted him with high-fives and butt slaps. The former picked him up in a bear hug when his score was announced.
14.900. The highest score on bar of the afternoon.
And it moved him into third place.
The Wolf fell off the parallel bars, and then Hiruto and Inácio both fell off the high bar, launching Miles into first place with Cam set to go last on the high bar. Without any mistakes, Cam should overtake Miles. The gymnasts left on the floor weren’t in reach of a medal.
With each release, I held my breath. Like the floor exercise, he put a lot into each rotation around the bar, kind of like he was angry.
I practically flinched each time he let go because it seemed like he was going to fly into the stands.
But he never missed. He always found the bar.
And when his feet hit the mat, they were planted solid.
He wobbled for half a second, but caught it, and the arena erupted into cheers and applause.
He fucking killed it.
Watching the replay later, the announcers agreed that Cam seemed like he was out to prove something. It wasn’t until after the medal ceremony that I understood everything.
He came off the podium, tears streaming down his cheeks, and immediately ran into my arms. I squeezed as hard as I could with my right arm and rested my left hand on his waist.
“I’m so proud of you.”
“I’m sorry I was such a robot the whole afternoon. I just had to win. I needed that gold medal.”
“I get wanting to win, Cam, but why the desperation?”
He nuzzled into my neck and answered, “Because this medal isn’t just mine, it’s ours. It was for you. You couldn’t win anymore and I felt like if I won then maybe your injury wouldn’t have been for nothing. I needed to win so at the very least, we’d have a gold medal to share.”
“Dios santo, Cam. That’s so sweet of you. I would love to share the medal, but you were scary. Don’t do that again. Even Noah was weirded out.”
“Well, it worked.”
Miles and Hudson were standing nearby and I pulled the silver medalist into a congratulatory hug. Hudson wore a bright smile and snuck his way into my arms for a hug too. Miles had earned his medal.
Woodward walked over to us, ear to his phone. “Yes, Madam President. He’s right here. I couldn’t say it better myself. Oh, I’m just the coach, ma’am. Yes, here he is. One second.”
He covered the phone with his free hand. “It’s the President, Cam. She wants to talk to you.”
Cam stopped to stare, seemingly unable to process that information.
“Like, the President as in Diana Gilmore?” I asked.
Woodward nodded as he handed Cam the phone.
“He-hello?”
Hearing her voice must’ve snapped him out of it because he turned on the charm in one second flat.
“Oh, thank you, Madam President. I’m happy to have done it on American soil. The home crowd really helped me through all of it so far.”
I pulled Woodward aside and asked, “Why do you think she’s calling?”
He shrugged. “I know she wanted to be here at the Olympics. Maybe she’s a fan of gymnastics? I really have no idea. I was about to call my wife and the phone rang. Out of habit, I answered and a man said, ‘Please hold for the President.’ I thought it was a joke, but it wasn’t.”
“That’s completely fine. I’d be happy to meet them.”
My attention was drawn back to Cam.
“Thank you for asking. If they’re here, tell them to come on down.
It’s my pleasure, Madam President.” Cam paused.
“Yes, Luke is here too. I’ll tell him you said that.
Hopefully, one day. We’d love to meet you.
Thank you, and good luck with being president.
I mean, you know what I mean. I’ll remember that, goodbye. ”
Cam handed the phone back to Woodward. “Oh my God, I made such a fool out of myself.”
“Oh who cares about that! It was adorable.” I dismissed his concerns. “What did she want?!” I half-screamed, grabbing his bicep.
“Her kids are here. They want to meet us.”
“Really?”
Cam nodded. “I think that’s them.”
I looked where he pointed and sure enough, several men in suits with earpieces, flanking a small group of kids, were making their way down the arena steps. One suited woman was already near the floor, talking to arena security.
“Must be them,” Woodward said, as we all watched them approach. It looked like two teenage boys and two younger girls. I recognized the President’s children right away - her son, Chadwick, was classically handsome, and his younger sister, Chloe, had distinctive pink hair.
Chadwick approached Cam first.
“Hi! My mom just texted and said she talked to you. I’m sorry to interrupt your celebration, but I really wanted to meet you.
” Chadwick directed his gaze at Cam. “And the team,” he added, though it was clear he had a preference.
He hadn’t even glanced my way, or at Miles, for that matter.
I’m Chad. It’s a pleasure to meet you, and congratulations on your two gold medals. ”
Cam held out a hand, but Chad had opened his arms at the same time. What could’ve been more awkward, Cam smoothed out by grabbing Chad’s hand and pulling him into a hug.
“I can’t believe I’m taller than you.”
“I can’t believe you just said that!” Chad’s friend hit him on the shoulder.
Cam laughed. “Yeah, most of us are short. We didn’t really have a tall one on the team this year. Ezra’s the tallest, I think.”
“Hey Chad, you gonna hog Cam all night?”
I watched Chad’s eyes roll, before he introduced his sister, Chloe and her friend, Sienna, and then his friend, Aaron.
“Miles, can we get a photo with you?” Chloe asked, much to Sienna’s delight if the squeals were any indication.
Chad got photos with Cam, me, us together, Miles, all three of us, then all of us with Hudson, Noah and Woodward, and almost every other combination possible.