Page 59 of Depths of Desire
Later that night, I found his hoodie waiting for me on his bed.
And I wore it to sleep.
Because it smelled like his apartment. Like home.
I curled into it, heart still thudding quietly against my ribs, and thought it wasn’t that I just liked spending time with Oliver.
It was that everything, from the way I measured time, to the way I carried myself on and off the ice, to the future I hadn’t let myself dream about in years, somehow, it all had him in it now.
And I wasn’t afraid of that anymore.
SEVENTEEN
OLIVER
The water stilled around me.My fingers brushed the edge of the pool, and I surfaced slowly, breath hitching as Coach called out the times.
“Good work, Hayworth.”
I nodded, shaking the water from my ears, heart still hammering against my ribs. My body buzzed with the familiar aftermath of exertion, effort, and a faint burn in the shoulders. I hoisted myself out of the pool and peeled off my cap, blinking against the overhead lights.
“Wait up,” Coach called as I grabbed my towel. “Just a heads-up. Nationals moved. Second week of June.”
I froze. “What?”
“All qualifiers are being shifted. You’ll get an official notice soon, but…yeah. Second week of June. Keep training like you’re heading in hot.”
My towel slipped from my shoulder.
Second week of June.
I stood there, wet hair clinging to my forehead, chlorine in my throat, lungs half-full of water and panic.
That was the week.
The week Lennox had booked the trip.
The lodge. The mountains. The second shot at the place that changed everything.
The place where we’d begun.
I’d said yes. I’d meant it. I wanted that trip more than anything. Not just for the nostalgia. Not just because it was romantic.
But because it was with him.
Because it mattered.
And now, this.
Nationals.
The place where everything had gone sideways. The competition that had taken my confidence and driven it into the dirt. Olympic silver had stung, but it was Nationals where I truly fell apart. No one even talks about sixth place. No one remembers that.
And I had sworn—sworn—I’d come back stronger.
What was I supposed to do now?
Withdraw? Skip it all for a trip I’d said yes to before this new timeline? Try to explain that I was in love with someone who made the air taste sweeter, and I couldn’t let that go?
