Going for Gold Read Online Free Page A

had
imagined. I just kept telling myself that all I had to do was hang in there for
one dance.
    Chris spun me around and pulled my ass back onto him as I
moved to the rhythm. The warm foam on my legs was repulsive, but I tried to
ignore it. It didn't take long before I started to feel his erection push
against my ass. That combined with the vodka I had drank and his fingers
digging into my hips gave me a familiar pull in my stomach. One of his hands
wandering up to my breasts just made it even worse. I dipped low and then
pushed my ass up against him hard. God, I'm so horny.
    Chris kept one hand on my back to keep me bent over while his
other hand slid down and pushed the hem of my dress up over my ass. I put my
hands on his to stop him.
    "What's wrong?" he said.
    "You can't just pull my dress up in front of all these
people!"
    "No one will notice. Come on." He grabbed at the
bottom of my dress with his other hand.
    I pushed him off playfully. "Sorry, babe. You know that
I can't until after the tournament." Shit, he just wants sex tonight. I
had to find a way out, and I couldn't just suggest we leave or he'd try to come
back to my dorm room and bang me there. I looked around the club for ideas.
After a second I spotted a group of guys from his swim team. I pointed over at
them. "Hey, did you see that Bill and Adam are here?"
    "Nope. And I'm not interested in them." He grabbed
my hips to try to get me to grind on him some more.
    "Come on, let's go say hi to them." I pulled him
off the dance floor towards their table.
    "Yo, Chris!" yelled Adam over the music as we
approached. He scooted further into the booth to make room for him.
    "Let's see that gold," said Bill. "Maybe
that's what we need to get some girls over here."
    "First we need to do some shots!" Adam stuck his
hand up to try to get the attention of a waitress.
    I leaned over and talked into Chris' ear. "Hey, I think
I'm going to get going. I'm starting to get a headache and it's kind of late.
Congrats again on winning your race." I kissed him on the cheek and walked
toward the exit.

Chapter 4
    Sunday
    Alina
    Eight years ago, the genius marketing team for the company
that produces Kinesio tape had decided to donate it by the truckload to the
International Tournament of Athletes. The results were exactly what they wanted
- athletes covered themselves in the colorful tape in all sorts of fun
patterns, creating a buzz on social media. The copy cat effect of lesser
athletes was nearly instantaneous. Amateur athletes all around the world
started plastering the tape all over their muscles in an effort to look like
their heroes. Kristen was one of those athletes. For years she thought it was
purely a fashion accessory until our trainer in college told her that there
were specific methods to apply the tape that would aid blood flow and help
muscles heal after workouts. She didn't care. The tape had become part of her
pregame ritual, and she wasn't about to change that.
    Other girls on the team had different pregame rituals. Some
prayed. Others did their hair in a certain way or wore a special headband or
blocked the world out with oversized, colorful, noise cancelling headphones,
listening to the same playlist of five or six songs that they've listened to
before every game since middle school. One girl I used to play with would tape
each of her fingers and then rip the tape with her teeth, finger by finger
mutating from a sweet teenage girl into a hungry wolf ready to rip the other
team to shreds.
    Me? I didn't need any of that. I just needed the sound of the
crowd cheering.
    "Ready?" asked Kristen. Red, white, and blue
Kinesio tape ran down her arms and legs.
    "Ready," I replied. I took a deep breath and got
ready to run through the tunnel onto the court. Butterflies fluttered around in
my stomach.
    The second we burst onto the court, all my pregame jitters
dissipated. The atmosphere was electric. Twelve thousand people were seated
around Maracanazinho Stadium, all waiting to