Page 1 of Love In The Air

1

Hate was a very strong word. One Izadora Grant tried her best not to use, especially not for people. However, the man standing in front of her with his cocky, shit-eating grin warranted use of the word multiple times over.

“You’ve got to be fucking kidding me!”

His smile grew wider. “Hey, Iz. Long time.”

Not long enough by her count. It had been eight years since her high school graduation. Eight years since the day she looked her nemesis in the eye and wished him goodbye with as much pleasantry as she could muster (she might dislike the guy, but she wasn’t a complete monster). Eight years since she breathed a sigh of relief knowing she’d never have to deal with Chance O’Brien ever again.

And yet here he was, standing five feet away, grinning at her like the time he beat her in the school science fair.

Fucking A!

“Chance,” she muttered through clenched teeth. “What the hel—I mean, what are you doing here?”

He turned his head, taking in the large room around them filled with tumbling mats, silks and hoops hanging from the twenty-foot ceilings, and people in tightly fitted yoga clothes milling about.

“Same thing as you, I imagine.”

Oh no! Oh, please don’t let the next words out of his mouth be—

“I’m with the company.”

Dammit!

Iz sucked in a deep, calming breath. Or she tried to anyway. The furious pounding in her chest reminded her she was far from anything resembling calm. Calm had always been a hard reach around Chance. She couldn’t help it; the guy pressed every single one of her buttons. In school, they’d always been competing. For grades, parts in the school plays, scholarships, even homecoming dates.

One would think since they were both were members of their high school’s LGBTQ+ Alliance, they would be friends. After all, as a Pansexual woman she was used to having people dismiss her sexuality as not real or simply waiting to “pick a side” and she knew Chance as a Bisexual man got the same treatment. But just because they were on the same team, didn’t mean she had to like the guy. Especially since Kelly Fritz picked Chance over Iz for senior prom.

That heartbreak still stung.

Trying her best not to let their past color her present, Iz forced a smile. “I didn’t realize you were still into aerials.”

They’d both been on the high school gymnastic team, which had a minor component of aerial training. Iz had fallen in love with the lyra and continued her hoop study during college and beyond. It had always been her dream to join a company and travel the world. Now she’d finally achieved her goal. But it looked like fate was giving her a big middle finger if the man in front of her had crashed her dream.

“Yeah.” His smile grew, white teeth blinding against the dark hairs of his closely trimmed beard. “I tried out trapeze, rope, and straps—and not just the aerial kind.”

She ignored his wink. Chance always loved to get a rise out of her by saying outrageous things. It seemed the man hadn’t matured past high school. She scoffed, big surprise.

“But hoop will always be my first love.”

On that, they could agree. And only that.

“You look great, Iz. How’s life?”

Seriously? Were they really doing this? Just because it appeared they were working in the same company didn’t mean they had to get all chummy. Did he conveniently forget how much they annoyed each other? Scratch that, he annoyed her. She, however, seemed to have little effect on him.

“It’s fine.”

A deep rumble of laughter escaped him. “Loquacious as ever, I see.”

She held back a growl. Dick. He was baiting her on purpose. Well, two could play at that game.

“Wow, big word, Chance. You must have brushed up on your vocabulary since I trounced your ass in the sophomore spelling bee.”

His smile tightened for a moment before he shook his head with a chuckle. “Same old Iz. Guess I’ll see ya around.”

With that, he turned and headed off toward a small group who were stretching. She watched with narrow eyes as Chance sat and started easily conversing with the group. She knew a few of the people he sat with. Some were from the studio she trained at. And now they were all here.

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