Between Heats (Downtown Aquatics Book 1) (11 page)

“Go, hotshot!” she cheered. It wasn’t a particularly loud yell,
but it came just as the announcer stopped for a breath, and a lot of people
looked in her direction. She pulled the bill of the cap lower down her face,
but she thought she saw Aaron smirk even if he didn’t acknowledge her. She
heard Frank let out a hearty guffaw.

A whistle sounded as the swimmers got on their blocks. The
crowd quieted down as the racers bent down into the start position. Madison’s
heart was beating so loudly for Aaron. She could see the tension in his arms.
Then at the signal, the crowd erupted.

He reacted quickly, like a cannonball of pure muscle propelling
itself into the water. His arms were cocked at his sides in mid-air and only
straightened out right before he entered the pool. Madison’s eyes never left
him. When he surfaced and his first stroke cleaved the water, it seemed like he
was
only fingertips
ahead of the competition.

“Go, Aaron!” she screamed, getting on her feet. She was the
only one among the three of them really getting into it, even though Zoe also
stood up beside her.

But Aaron didn’t need the encouragement. With every powerful
stroke, he pulled himself ahead, sprinting on at an impressive speed. His arms
were a blur. Nobody even came close. When he touched the wall, Madison didn’t
need to look up at the board and check the times to know that he finished
first.

Aaron was already squinting at the huge screen when he tore his
goggles off. She saw him reach over and casually shake hands with his
competitors on either lane. She was bursting with pride. Then he looked up at
her and she could feel the pull of him, the leftover intensity from his swim
spilling over and reaching her, even though he was still at the far end of the
pool. His face broke out into a wide smile and Madison answered in turn,
feeling just as invincible.

“That was exhilarating!” Madison exclaimed to Zoe.

Zoe laughed. “That’s just a preliminary heat. But he had a great
time on that. Wait until you see the finals.”

She tried to adopt the other girl’s expression of casual
amusement and failed. She was too excited, anyway. “Can I go see him now?” she
asked instead.

Zoe shook her head. “Not yet, sorry. Usually, it takes a while
before Aaron leaves the area. He needs to cool down and recover first and then
they all
kinda
wait for the
end of the actual event and listen to Coach. Sometimes he even gives interviews
immediately after a finals swim. Give him about an hour to get all sorted out
and find us.”

Frank stood up. “That’s my cue to leave, though. Lovely to have
met you, Madison.”

“You’re not staying, Frank?” she asked.

“Oh, you’ll get used to this,” Zoe interrupted. “There’s so
much downtime between events and Aaron doesn’t race in more than two events in
one day, not counting the finals, so we try to find other ways to keep
ourselves busy. In this case though, you and I are the only ones with that
problem because Dad’s bailing.”

Mr. Harding bid them goodbye. The two of them watched him walk
away in silence, not paying attention as they announced the final heat. “He
never misses a single meet, you know? I’m only here because Aaron twisted my
arm to keep you company. Don’t get me wrong, I love my brother and you’re not so
bad yourself, but I’m not going to sit here in the sun to watch Aaron race. But
Dad always shows up. He pushes Aaron harder than anyone but nobody cheers for
him more than Dad.”

“Sounds like a good man to have in any corner,” Madison
acknowledged sincerely.

They didn’t pay much attention to the final heat, only to check
how quickly the top-seeded swimmer finished his heat. Madison’s heart leapt
when she realized the Aaron beat his time—he now had the fastest
preliminary time going into the finals.
That
ought to make him happy,
she thought gleefully.

Her phone buzzed and she checked, assuming it was Aaron with
the good news. But to her dismay, it was a message from Sean.
Where are you?
She stuffed it in her
pocket without bothering to reply. She really didn’t need this right now.

Thankfully, Aaron arrived at the stands. Madison nearly flew
down to hug him but he caught her. His hair was still damp but she didn’t care.
“Am I totes uncool for cheering so loudly?” she asked into his shoulder.

She heard a rumbling laugh in his chest. “You’ve definitely
been hanging around my sister too much. But you’re still the best cheerleader
I’ve ever had.” When they broke apart, he gave her a quick kiss. He nibbled on
her upper lip and gave it a tug before letting go.

He turned to his sister. “Thanks for coming, Zoe. Mind if I
take Madison away? I need to get a bite to eat.”

She waved them away. “Sure, sure,” she said, looking eager for
them to take the PDA elsewhere. “Bring back something cool to drink, Madison?”

Arm in arm, they walked to the concession stands. Some of the
younger fans in the area would stop them and ask Aaron for a photo and he
always indulged them. Madison felt a surge of tenderness as she saw him
interacting with kids. She loved that he was so easygoing and friendly and she
couldn’t believe that she ever thought he was rude. He didn’t seem to think
anything of it and headed for some chicken pasta salad, which he soon began
shoving into his mouth.

“So? How was your first meet?” he asked in between bites.

“Very impressive so far,” Madison replied. “And I’m really
proud of you.”

Aaron suddenly looked rueful. “Sorry if I can’t stay with you
the whole day. I could slip away to load up but I’ll need to get some rest
between now and the finals tonight. Can’t say it’ll be different tomorrow.”

She shook her head, smiling up at him. “Don’t worry about me.
Zoe’s been teaching me the ropes of proper Harding cheering. You just keep on
doing well, hotshot. And who knows, by the end of this meet, you might even get
a special prize from me,” she added seductively.

Suddenly, her phone buzzed again, startling both of them.
Madison cursed herself for not putting it on silent mode. In hindsight maybe
she should have looked at it, but at that moment, her indifference towards the
message must have given away who its sender was. Aaron briefly glanced at her
but didn’t say anything.

“Do you want anything to eat?” he asked mildly. “If you get
hungry later, the concessionaires have in-seat food service. VIP perks.”

“I’ll try that later,” Madison replied shakily. She leaned over
and took his fork in her hand, taking a small bite from his pasta salad. “But
for now, this is enough.”

Aaron grinned. “I like the cap. But I’m pretty sure that
belongs to me.”

“It’s not the only thing here that belongs to you,” she murmurs
to him suggestively. “If you’re not too tired tonight, I’m sure I can be
persuaded to stay…”

He pulled her closer and gave her a kiss. “Baby, you don’t know
how little convincing I need.”

“Hey, you two, break it up!” a loud voice said and Madison saw
one of the freestyle swimmers from earlier walking towards them. Aaron gave an
embarrassed laugh and stepped away, then introduced her to a guy named Craig,
who attended the same university as Zoe. Craig’s presence made them switch to
small talk, and eventually they both gave up having some free time left because
the guys had to report back to Coach Didion and get their rest.

“Sorry, I need to catch some sleep. Later?” Aaron asked.

“You bet. Make it count, hotshot,” she said as they
parted.
 

She headed back to Zoe with a
slushie
and a hotdog and the two of them settled in to watch the rest of the heats. As
the day went on, with the crowds thinning at midday, Madison had to admit that
the Harding way of picking out which heats to watch seemed like a smart thing
to do. Eventually she wound up checking Sean’s other messages after he rang
again.
Got a big project for you. Pick up
the phone.
The second one read:
This
offer won’t last forever. Answer the phone.
Finally:
Now.
She had to admit, she hadn’t encountered Sean this adamant
before. So when he called, she finally answered.

“What is it?” she snapped, leaving the bleachers in search of a
quiet corner away from the crowds. “I’m busy right now, Sean.”

“
So’s
this man I want you to meet,”
he replied. “For the record, I rang Elliott. He said you weren’t booked today.
I dropped by the cafe too, so unless you have a new job you’re not telling me
about, you’re pretty free.”

“Personal business then,” she told him.

Sean clucked his tongue. “You didn’t use to be like this,
Madison. I liked helping you out because you were so eager. Remember that
script I showed you?
That found-footage horror movie
franchise?
You said it
yourself,
it’s a huge
deal. Anyway, there’s a dinner tonight at a new place on Sunset and the casting
director’s going to be there. You could go and finish that little personal
errand of yours right there or you could be at Sunset at 8:30 with me.”

“I could make it back there by 9,” she said. Maybe if Aaron’s
finals started at 6 PM, she’d still make it in time.

“Madison,
a man like
that’s not going
to wait around that long. If you miss him, that’s it,” Sean warned her.

“Then maybe I’ll just have to miss him,” Madison retorted. The
Splash Circuit Nationals was too important. She couldn’t just up and leave
without seeing Aaron race.

Sean’s voice was silky-low and serious. “What happened to you,
Madison? You used to have dreams for yourself. Don’t tell me you’re content
being a barista or a catalog model. Anyway, if you change your mind, you know
where to reach me.” The line went dead.

Madison shoved the phone inside her bag angrily. Where the hell
did he come off questioning her choices? What made her with-benefits
arrangement with him work was that they never bothered with messy things like
emotional demands. Their relationship was almost clinical, never truly
personal. She wanted to call him back just to tell him to shove it up his ass.

But as she stormed back to her seat, she couldn’t help but mull
over his words. It wasn’t that she was content with where her career was at the
moment. Just for that she wanted to drive over and prove him wrong. But there
was also Aaron and the meet to consider.

A small thought started burrowing in her head. Maybe she
shouldn’t be so quick to blow Sean off. If she waited it out until Aaron’s
finals were over, she could still make it to the dinner. Aaron was bound to win
anyway, and this was just the first of a very long meet. Surely she could miss
one, right?

She checked her watch. There was still plenty of time to change
her mind.

2:30

“But you never swam competitively?” she asked Zoe. “Even if
Aaron and your dad did?”

Zoe shook her head. “Not for me. I was the perpetual
cheerleader before I wizened up. So glad I won’t have to do this all over again
tomorrow. You’re on your own, Madison.” She added with a good-natured laugh.

Whoopee.

2:35

“Can I get some shut-eye?” Zoe asked.

“You get twenty minutes,” she kidded. “Then we’re trading.
Watch the sun.”

3:30

“Is it just me or does that swimmer look very happy to see
someone?”

“Very happy.”

“He’s looking this way.”

“Duck!”

5:45

 
Things started to
perk up as the afternoon stretched towards evening. But Madison looked at her
watch nervously, then at the time emblazoned on top of the huge flat screen
over the far end of the pool. “The finals are about to start, right? They said
six, right?”

Zoe nodded. “Want to grab some dinner? You haven’t been eating
much the entire day. My bag’s low on supplies, too.”

“No, it’s just that… what time do you think will Aaron’s event
start?” she asked. She had bought a program and a heat sheet, as well as a ton
of other merchandise, but none included specific times for the events.

“Aaron’s event was sixth this morning,” Zoe mused. “That
shouldn’t take long…”

Madison’s heart lifted.

“...
so
multiply five by four and there
should be only about twenty heats or so until he races.”

Wait, what?

“Twenty?” Madison exclaimed. “I thought because they’re finals,
they’ll be quicker.”

Zoe shook her head. “The top 32 swimmers in the preliminaries
swim for the finals.
A-B-C-D, eight to a heat.
So all
five events prior to his will have four heats. Aaron finished first so he’s in
the A finals for his event, and oh, that means there are still
twenty-one
heats to go before his,” she
emphasized, as if the correction made any difference to Madison.

She breathed deeply. Heats went by quickly anyway; maybe she
could still leave Irvine at 7:15.
Or 7:30.
All she
needed to do was to wait until he won before racing out of there. Maybe Sean
could stall the casting guy. No big deal.

The crowd had grown since he had last seen it, louder and
much more excited. As the announcer called his name, Aaron raised an arm and
looked around. He turned towards the VIP section and his brow wrinkled when he
only saw his sister there.
Where was
Madison?
He gave Zoe a questioning shrug.

She made a phone gesture back. Aaron nodded and slipped his
goggles over his eyes, relaxing his breaths. She just probably stepped away. He
didn’t try to think anything of it. He still had a race to win.