he was there opening my truck door and pulling me into his embrace. I sagged into Hayden's chest, feeling his warmth, even though I was so cold inside. I shivered, goose bumps ran down my arms and my knees buckled. I fisted his shirt and cried silent tears while his hand rubbed slow circles against my back, holding me tight as I lost myself.
"It will be okay, Aid, I promise," Hayden said softly, then he kissed the top of my head. "I promise to take your pain away. Let me take you away from here."
I nodded and exhaled.
We were a team, he had said. I exhale, and you inhale.
A lot of time passed when my eyes couldn't produce any more tears. I felt myself completely shut down inside. Exhaustion taking over, I was void of any emotion.
Everyone had a breaking point, and I'd just reached mine.
I was so tired. Tired of thinking. Of feeling. Of hurting. Of giving.
I just wanted to release it all, and so I did…with Hayden.
To be continued…
Turn the page for a preview of Release, the third book in the Off Balance series.
Chapter 1
I was stuck in a nightmare I couldn't wake up from.
Locked inside a dark box, I sucked up my oxygen. My lungs burned for fresh air and my heart beat faster and harder. That harrowing moment cruelly replayed in my head over and over, mocking me for my gullibility. I begged for someone to pull me from the darkness suffocating me, but no one could hear my fists hammering on the wall.
Kova was married.
He'd deceived me, and continued to, after I’d given him every fiber of myself. He’d married Katja three months earlier in secret.
My mind flashed with innocent moments we'd stolen over the course of a year. I tried to recall every instance we were together and what I could have possibly missed or mistaken for something else, but I drew up blank every time.
He was Konstantin Kournakova and I was Adrianna Rossi. He was my coach, and I was his gymnast. Nothing more.
I’d made the frantic call to Hayden, knowing he wouldn’t waste any time. He was at World Cup in less than five minutes, pulling me into his arms and holding me tight. I fisted his shirt, fitting so perfectly into him, as if our bodies were made for each other. In a way, we were, but not in the way that mattered.
"Why do I have a strong sense of déjà vu?" he asked, compassion filling his voice. There was no judgment coming from him. "God, you're shivering."
Hayden was there for me when no one else was. Not my mom, my dad, Kova, or even Avery. They all had deliberately lied to me without a second thought. Yes, we all told little white lies, every one of us, but there comes a point in time when we make the conscious decision to bleed those lines red.
"I'm so stupid." Tears streamed from the corners of my eyes and my temples pounded viciously. "I knew better."
I’d been so naïve to think what we had actually meant something to a man like Kova. For him to go and marry Katja was soul-destroying. And even worse, he’d kept it a secret for months and made love to me while he had a wife. How he lived with himself after the way he treated someone he supposedly cared about was astonishing. I truly had no words.
I felt used, dirty…disgusting.
We are a team—I exhale, you inhale. He was the air I breathed, and ultimately what suffocated me.
The heartbreaking truth was, when it came to Kova, I’d always been an afterthought for him, second to his precious Katja. He didn't want me, had never wanted me. He’d picked her. He’d married her.
"You can't keep putting yourself through this," Hayden said softly.
"I know." My head spun faster than a rollercoaster, unprepared for the onslaught of emotions. I was too cold and numb, and breaking inside. "You're right."
"What happened this time?" Hayden brushed back the hair stuck to the side of my damp face. The thought of telling him left a sour taste in my mouth.
"Just take me home, please."
I couldn't keep allowing that man to wreak havoc in my world. My heart ached in ways I didn’t even know was possible. Actions spoke louder than words, and while Kova was a clusterfuck of contradictions, his last action spoke loud and clear.
A secret marriage was the ultimate betrayal.
I wasn't sure when or how—everything was a blur—but Hayden put me in