Page 10 of Jump on Three

I pressed my lips together. I’d let myself forget where I was standing and with whom. It was just…superstitions didn’t make sense to me. I often got worked up about this topic. I didn’t like that I was forced into doing something because a few people had decided it was lucky.

Luck also wasn’t real, but many athletes liked to think there were forces outside themselves responsible for their losses.

“And now I’ve stopped you from speaking at all,” he said.

“Do you believe in superstitions?”

“Hmmm. I think the mind is powerful. If a person is convinced jumping off a platform will help them swim faster, it might be true to them.”

“So, I’ll have to jump then. For the sake of the believers.”

He sidled past me, his front brushing mine. Not enough for me to feel his tattoos. I wondered if he would have minded me touching them. Not in a salacious spot. Perhaps his arm, or the one on his neck…

My breath caught as Ivan leaned forward. Too far forward.

“This isn’t so high, Evelyn. You can do it.”

I shook my head. “It’s been proven I can’t. My body won’t allow me to take the final step.”

“I’ll jump with you.”

I turned sharply toward him, a bolt of electricity slashing across my chest. “Why would you do that?”

“To help you.”

“Why?”

His mouth hitched. Was he going to laugh at me?

“For the good of the team.”

“Oh.”

That made sense.

“And because you’re Delilah’s sister. I would be a bad friend if I walked away from you right now.”

My brow puckered. “I wouldn’t tell her. She would never know.”

“But I would.” He held out his hand.

“What?”

His fingers wiggled. “Put your hand in mine. We will jump together.”

Ivan’s palm must have been twice the size of mine—another reason he swam so well. His body was built for this sport.

If I put my hand in his, it would be engulfed. Being engulfed by warm, cozy things was one of my favorite feelings. It was tempting. Very, very tempting.

“Will you pull me with you?” I asked.

“I won’t. We will go at the same time.”

His fingers wiggled once more. He must have been growing impatient with me. I had run out of patience with myself. If only he’d stayed on his side of the pool, paying no attention to the girl having a crisis on the diving platform. If only he’d not been so tall, and big, and friendly…ugh.

The screech of the locker room door echoed off the walls, and Ivan twisted to see who had interrupted us. I didn’t have to check. Layla and Clarice’s voices had been burned into my brain.

Their chattering stopped when they spotted the two of us on our perch.

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