Free Fighting to Win (The Elite Book 1) by Nicole Flockton Page B

Drake had been injured after the Olympic trials. If he was hurt, hopefully it wasn’t serious enough to stop him from competing in his events.
    “I think so, but I also think he has a thing for Tamara.”
    “Okay well, good. Umm. Not good that he could be hurt, but good that—” Julia stopped herself from spouting out more useless words. What she needed to do was say what she needed to and then get the hell out of here so she could focus on her events. She would be competing in a little over a week, and if she wanted to win she needed to concentrate on her dives, not on Mitch.
    Wrapping her arms around her body, she looked up at the ceiling. “I think it would be best if what happened yesterday here in this room and last night at the pool doesn’t happen again.”
    There, she’d said it. Her words had sounded strong and convincing. Man, she should get an Oscar or at the very least a Golden Globe for that performance. Even she could almost believe she meant every word she said.
    “I agree.”
    Whoa!
    What?
    Mitch agreed with her. Surely, she’d heard that wrong. Disappointment shot through her, which was ridiculous given she’d been the one to suggest it first. “Oh, okay. Well, that’s good. I’m glad we agree.”
    Why did his agreement hurt so much? The previous year, she’d had no luck getting him to buy into their separation. Why did he agree with her so easily this time?
    “Yeah, I was coming to tell you the same thing.”
    He stood by the door, arms crossed over his hard, muscled chest, an impenetrable force. Looking exactly like the Olympic athlete he was.
    Her feet needed to move. She needed to get out of the room now, before she did something stupid like tell him it was all a mistake.
    “Great. Well, I guess I’ll see you around.”
    She brushed past him, hoping against hope that he would stop her. That he would push the door shut, stopping her from exiting his room.
    He didn’t.
    He let her leave without even acknowledging her parting words. The door clicked shut behind her, a tiny sound but it reverberated around her like a sonic boom.
    Had that really just happened? Why was she so upset? Wasn’t this what she wanted? After the press conference she’d known the scrutiny over how Mitch performed for the rest of the games would be intense. No one would care too much about her performance. She wasn’t a medal chance, regardless that she was the current world champion of her event. The Games were a completely different kettle of fish. Mitch was the big star, and if he failed to win another gold then the press would no doubt blame her for it.
    With heavy feet and an even heavier heart, she walked back down the hallway to exit the building.
    No matter how much her heart ached, this was how it had to be. After the Games were over … well, then Mitch better watch out. She was going to do everything she could to claim back her man.

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    J ulia didn’t normally listen to music before a dive. Mitch had convinced her to try it at the world championships, and she had to admit the variety of songs on her playlist soothed her. Today, however, the music didn’t seem to help at all. Her nerves were rattling out a hyperactive beat that, if they were in time with the songs, wouldn’t be so bad. However, her nerves threatened to explode into puddle at her feet like the water dripping off after a dive.
    Today was her event. Finally.
    The last week had been practice, practice, practice. She had gone to watch Mitch race, but she’d made sure she didn’t attract any media attention. Mitch had seen her and nodded. No special smile. Or even a wink. He won two more events and ended up with a total of four gold and one silver. His Olympics had been a huge success. She was happy for him, while inside she cried at how her hope for a new start with Mitch was ripped away from them again.
    She’d pushed those emotions to the bottom of her feet.
    Thankfully, the press hadn’t seemed to notice they weren’t spending