Page 104 of Bossy Romance

The teams on the track are running along with the two contenders, yelling encouragements.

I can see the sweat rolling down Nova’s face from here. She hates losing with a passion and I don’t think Henry was prepared for just how seriously she takes every competition.

Nova and Henry fall out of their rhythm and Rochelle gains more ground. Nova pulls on Henry’s neck as if that’ll get him to speed up, but it actually does the opposite.

I see the kid lose his balance almost in slow motion, his long arms sprawling out while his giraffe-like legs cave in.

Henry goes down like a kid without his training wheels.

Nova tumbles after him, hitting the pavement. Hard.

The crowd goes silent.

No one cheers for Rochelle when she and the other girl pass the finish line.

Every eye is stuck on Nova.

Including mine.

My heart surges to my throat when I see her groan of pain and then I’m on the move. I might have stepped on a few hands, soda cans and phones as I make a bee-line to the bottom of the track.

At one point, I might even have stepped on someone’s head.

I’m not too sure and nothing else really infiltrates my focus. Not until I get on the track.

“Nova!” Henry yells. He’s smart enough to quickly untie the binds holding their legs together.

Nova pushes herself to a sitting position, making a brave face despite the tremble of her bottom lip alerting me to her discomfort.

I push Henry out of the way and grab Nova’s hand, hissing at the burn marks that shreds her dark brown skin.

“Adam, I’m fine,” she says under her breath.

“Like hell you are,” I grind out.

She tries to pull her hand back. “Everyone is watching.”

Her words barely penetrate my mind. I’m scanning her for other injuries. I notice that there are scrapes on her legs too, long, painful-looking marks from the gravel.

Watching Nova while she’s hurt feels like someone is skinning me alive. I smack my hand against my chest to bring relief, but it only makes the ache worse.

“Hey, man,” Henry touches my shoulder, “let me—”

“Youdon’t do anything,” I growl and flash him a dark look.

He inches back, his eyes wide.

“Adam,” Nova scolds me in a weak voice. She presses on her scraped hand again and tries to stand up.

I wrap my fingers around her arm to help her and notice every wince and crease of her brow when she tries to put weight on her left foot.

Dropping to my haunches, I press on her ankle. “Does this hurt?”

“Ah.” She makes a pained sound and then clamps her lips shut. “No, it doesn’t hurt. I’m fine.”

“You’re such a bad liar, Nova.”

“And you’re making a scene,” she hisses.

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