me. I was overworked, and I was fucking tired. I had no time to sleep.
I could sleep when I'm dead.
His arms dropped to his sides and pity filled his face. Kova's entire mood shifted. "Go home, Ria," he said softly.
Fire fueled me, my eyes widened. "What? No!" I rebutted, stepping back. "You have no reason to send me home."
He took a step toward me and cupped my shoulder with empathy. "I can see it in your face that you are drained. You look like shit. I worried practicing at this magnitude would set you back."
"Oh, please. I've only gotten better, and you know it. But Coach Kova has a bug up his ass. When he gets mad, gymnasts must leave," I mocked, rolling my eyes, and regretted the words the moment they left my lips. I sounded like a damn child.
He was still soft with me. "Yes, you give me lip, and yes, I take it, but this is not like you, Adrianna. It worries me. Go home and sleep. Your body obviously needs it. Take tomorrow off and go to the doctor. Get your vitals checked. You have not been yourself lately. If you do not, and you keep up this behavior, the closer the competition gets, the weaker you get. It will not end well for you."
I stood my ground, grinding my teeth together. "I'm not weak."
"I would never take you for a weak person."
"I'm not leaving. I have two hours of vault practice left. Then I will go home."
Kova shook his head in incredulity. "What is it with you? When are you going to learn I have your best interest at heart and to trust me? I am genuinely worried about you. You clearly need rest."
"The last time I put all my trust in your hands, you hurled it away. I can't afford to let that happen again."
"I thought we were past that. You just cannot let it go, can you." Kova looked away, his jaw tightened. I loved when it flexed like that. Such a masculine thing to me.
"Nope, and I won't. So, now, if you'll excuse me, I see Madeline growing more and more impatient with me by the second. I need to get to vault. I'm sure she'd love to know what this little spectacle was about. She doesn't like it when I waste her time."
Kova stared at me with disdain written plain as day on his handsome face.
I lowered my voice. "I'm going to do what I need to in order to get what I want."
"I understand that, Adrianna, but you are going about it all wrong. This is going to backfire on you, trust me."
I shook my head and turned around.
"You are walking on thin ice with me," Kova said under his breath before I was two steps away.
Looking over my shoulder, I said, "What could you do that could possibly hurt me even more?" When he said nothing, I smirked and turned back around, walking away.
"Your legs separated off the spring board, and in flight."
I landed with the sound of Kova's voice to my right. I glanced at him and grimaced. I wasn't sure why he was here when he wasn't my vault coach, but one thing I was sure about was that he had other girls to coach and mentally break down aside from me.
"I know. Madeline already told me," I said dryly, fixing my leotard. It had pulled up on one side, giving me a wedgie. Hated when that happened. I walked past him as if he was a stranger.
It had been an hour since he tried to send me home, and I was still fuming.
"So lock your ankles together instead of trying to glue your thighs," he suggested behind me as I readjusted my ponytail and tucked in the flyaways. "Sometimes stronger quads make it hard for the legs to stay closed."
I gave him a thumbs up and kept walking.
I stopped in front of Madeline who looked at Kova behind me in question. My stomach churned. I prayed to the heavens above that I kept my face neutral as she glanced back and forth between us. I didn't need to look over my shoulder to know that Kova was cool as a cucumber himself.
"So the good thing about your leg separation"—Madeline returned her attention to me—"is that I know you're squeezing your butt really hard to keep everything tight. That shows you're trying, but now let's get those legs glued together. Try your vault again and focus on