Free Max and the Prince by R. J. Scott Page B

to relax. He put in
his earbuds and the time until they arrived passed in a haze of him focusing on
relaxation techniques, none helped by the fact Max was pressed against him in
the small seats.
    USW was a team they’d gone up against before, but it had
been a bad coming together last time, with the CU swim team being beaten in
virtually everything. Of course he’d missed that one, sick in bed with flu, and
Kev had sprained an ankle, so they were down their two strongest swimmers, and
that wasn’t false modesty. If there was one thing that life had taught him, it
was that he should be confident in his own abilities. He just hated that this
confidence didn’t extend to social situations.
    Lucien realized he wasn’t relaxing at all and he cursed
inwardly. Sometimes he wished he could turn off his brain.
    “Okay, guys, let’s do this thing,” Mickey announced as they
left the coach.
    There was no time to spend on pep talks anymore as the other
team was there and they really needed to get a move on.
    The first issue he had was the changing rooms.
    “We’re sharing with USW,” Lucien said. He kept his voice
low. “There’s no lockers.”
    Max leaned in. “Don’t make it obvious. Pack anything you
have in one bag and follow my cue.”
    Only as Lucien forced everything in one bag did he realize that
his dark red tee was getting all wrinkled. He was losing it if life was
shitting on him and one wrinkled shirt made him tense up. Great. I’m tense.
If this is the way today is going to go, then I am fucked. He followed Max,
who took his bag with him and casually left it by the seats near the pool, not
hidden, but out in the open. Lucien did the same and hoped that was enough to keep
someone from pawing their way through his stuff.
    The team gathered on their side of the pool, and Kev
indicated for everyone to have a seat. He had a clipboard, and he tapped it to
get everyone’s attention.
    “Okay, Jen, you’re up against Marie Bellingham.” Lucien
heard Jen groan. Marie was good and very seldom lost. “Watch her on the turns.
If you can time those, you can pull a second. Mickey, you and Luke both drew middle
lanes in the 800 freestyle. Do me a favor and race the other team and not each
other.”
    Lucien felt heat rise in his face. He and Mickey had swum
out so fast the time before last, they’d run out of energy, and USW had taken
them to the cleaners.
    Lucien nodded and Mickey added a resounding yeah before they exchanged rueful glances.
    “On the relay, I need you to watch for the exchange, and
that’s all of you, both women and men. Jen, you’re the strongest on the
crossover, I want you to take anchor.”
    Lucien heard the muttering but didn’t disagree, Jen was a
strong swimmer, but she would have already done her main race and the women’s 4x400
was pretty much straight after.
    “Luke, Billy has torn a tendon. I need you to take his place
in the butterfly.”
    Lucien looked around in shock. He hadn’t even spotted that Billy
wasn’t there.
    “Okay.”
    Kev ticked the information on his list.
    “That means I need you in the 400 medley, Max.”
    “I’m… I… what?” Max spluttered next to Lucien.
    “You’re Billy’s backup.”
    “I thought I was seventh on the list.”
    “On the butterfly,” Kev explained in a patient tone.
    Lucien felt like laughing and crowing at the same time but
dismissed both immediately. He laid a hand on Max’s thigh and squeezed.
    Max glanced at him with shock in his bright blue eyes.
    “Okay,” Max finally agreed.
    A whistle sounded and Lucien watched the girls form for the
first race. Kev went with them. Despite being a dick, he knew what he was
talking about. Once all attention was on the race, Lucien leaned into Max.
    “Okay?” he teased.
    “Fine,” Max said with a sigh.
    “Where’s the…?” Lucien left the rest unspoken. Where was the
other person from the bodyguard company and what was she seeing?
    Max nodded his head to indicate the seating opposite,