“But this is my last chance at a gold, babe, and I’m not going to screw it up.” They glared at each other for a long moment, and Caleb finally shook his head. “If that’s a deal-breaker, then I’m sorry, but it is what it is.”
“Hi, Caleb.” A young woman in scrubs came over carrying a boot and opening the Velcro straps. “Let’s get you fitted up for this, okay? And I’ll take it off again, and the doc will come give you your shot, and then we’ll put it back on you.”
“Sure, cool. Thanks.”
Hawk sat through all the medical bullshit, and as soon asCaleb was released, they headed for the transport that could take Caleb back to his dorm.
“You don’t have to go back with me if you need to get back down to the city,” Caleb told him.
His jaw tightened again, and Hawk rolled his head on his neck. “I’ll make sure you get back safe.”
“Gee, thanks, Dad,” Caleb snapped.
“You think I’m out of line.”
Caleb nodded, his shoulders up tight. “I mean, yeah, it’s my career, it’s my body. I get it. I think I’m being stupid, but it’s my choice.”
“You’re totally right.” Hawk knew it was probably hypocritical for him to be so angry, but his heart was still thudding from Caleb getting hurt. This was hours later, and he didn’t think he could cope with this right now, as much as he wanted to support Caleb’s run at the gold.
They rode the little off-cart shuttle to Caleb’s dorm. When Caleb stepped out, he held up a hand. “Look, why don’t you head back down, and we’ll talk about this after okay? I need to be in a decent head space for the medal round, and you’re clearly having issues.”
Hawk opens his mouth to argue, then shut it again because hewashaving issues. “Okay. You’ll rest, keep your foot up?” His hands in his pocket so he wouldn’t grab Caleb and shake him or kiss him or something equally stupid.
“I will. I’ll also take some Tylenol and hydrate because those shots give me a fucking headache.” Caleb wouldn’t look at him, but Hawk got it. He genuinely did. And Hawk had some thinking to do.
“Sure. I’ll text you when I get back down to the city.” Hawk needed Caleb to know he wasn’t disappearing for good, and he thought this was the best way to get it across.
That did give him a flash of those bright green eyes. “Okay, I’ll probably beasleep.”
“Of course.” He wanted to kiss Caleb all of a sudden, and that would be out of line considering where they were standing. So Hawk just reached out and touched Caleb’s wrist, and he was grateful that Caleb didn’t flinch away. “We’ll talk soon, yeah?
“Totally.” Caleb gave him a strained smile before spinning around to limp inside the dorm.
Turning away, Hawk headed off to find a ride to the train station. He could walk, but it was pretty damn cold at this point, and he didn’t really want to worry about getting lost either. He needed to buy a ticket, validate it, make sure he got on the damn train, and get back to work.
Like when he was playing hockey, he needed to get his head in the game, and he would have plenty of time, he hoped, to fix things with Caleb after the gold medal round.
Seventeen
Caleb stood at the top of the half-pipe run, his board solid underneath his feet, swaying back and forth a little bit. He was visualizing the run in his mind, knowing that on this second one he’d have to do everything crisp and clean and perfect, no matter how much his foot hurt.
His first run hadn’t exactly been a shit show, but one of the Japanese guys was on fire, and Nakao was just enough ahead of Caleb that he was a little bit worried.
Coach had talked his ear off, which Caleb had learned to tune out, even without his headphones in. That was their process. Coaches talked; Caleb ignored them. He knew what he needed to do.
He grinned a little thinking about the text he’d gotten this morning when he woke up. Hawk had texted him a couple of times since his practice run. Mostly just telling him what his schedule looked like and where he was going to be when. But this morning there had been a bedhead selfie and a thumbsup. And a,
You’ve got this, baby
That had made him happy because he didn’t want to go into the day feeling as if he was at odds with Hawk. He knew the injury was a concern for Hawk, but he thought it was probably more that the RA diagnosis had been sprung on him with no warning.
He put Hawk out of his mind, then, because the starter gave him the go-ahead to begin his run whenever he was ready.
He rolled his shoulders one more time, moving his head to visualize the last of the aerial tricks he had to do, which was the most difficult in the run. It was a triple cork 1440. He’d landed it many times, but it was still intimidating, especially at the end of the run.
Amplitude, style, timing, clean landing.He kept running that through his head. Then he nodded, took a deep breath, and dropped into the pipe.
When he was in the halfpipe, Caleb never thought about anything. He used muscle memory and relied on his training and knowledge of the course gained from practice runs and the preliminary rounds to guide him. He also counted tricks off in his head as he did them.