Heath started to rise. I seized his hair at the roots and held him there. He reached for the medal around my neck, trying to pull me down with him.
So I ripped off the medal and threw it to the floor. Then I tore my engagement ring off too. The diamond bounced off the bronze, ricocheting into the shadows under the bed.
This time when I stormed away, Heath didn’t follow.
Out in the common area, I picked up the first bottle I found andchugged straight from the neck. One of the hockey players, a ruddy brunette with braided pigtails, let out a long whistle.
“Rough day, Ice Queen?”
I wiped my mouth, smearing the remains of my lipstick. “Don’t fucking call me that.”
Chapter 62
The next hour passed in a blur. I gulped down plastic cups of Molson while grinding to Lady Gaga songs until I was simply one more sweaty body moving to the music.
Most of my life, I’d been working toward a single goal: winning gold at the Olympics. That was the bright light that guided my every move, my every decision. Now? Everything had gone dark. I couldn’t picture my future. Allowing myself to think even as far ahead as dawn sent dread surging around me like murky floodwater.
If I stopped dancing, I feared I’d drown.
Around midnight, the Lins showed up. Garrett scanned the crowd, looking for someone. Bella zeroed right in on me.
“What are you doing?” she shouted over the bobsledders belting out “Bad Romance.”
“What areyoudoing?” I shot back. “Thought you were staying at that fancy hotel so you wouldn’t have to mix with the common folk.”
“We were invited,” Garrett said. “Are you okay, Kat?”
I know how I must have looked: hair plastered to my neck, breath reeking of cheap beer, stripped down to my sports bra to dance with strangers. And Heath nowhere to be found.
“I thought alcohol wasn’t allowed in the Village,” Bella said.
Technically, she was right; the U.S. delegation had rules against alcohol consumption. But other countries weren’t as strict, and for a bunch of adrenaline-junkie high-performance athletes, rules were more like suggestions. The party hadn’t devolved into the orgiasticbacchanal I’d heard rumors of from past Olympics, but as the night wore on, it turned wilder. The darkest corners were full of people making out up against walls or balanced on the edges of furniture, and I’d noticed quite a few couples—and bigger groups—disappearing behind closed doors.
“You wanna go eat some carbs?” Bella offered. “I heard about this place with incredible poutine, over by—”
“Oh,nowyou’re concerned about my well-being.” I rolled my eyes and took another drink of room-temperature lager.
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“Why did you show me that article?”
She rocked back on her heels. “What?”
“Why did you show it to me,” I repeated, “right before we skated?”
Bella glanced at her brother, but he was preoccupied, peering out over the sea of faces.
“I thought you needed to know,” Bella said.
“You could have waited until afterward.”
“Everyone was talking. It was only a matter of time before you found out, and I figured you’d rather hear the news from your best friend than from—”
I laughed. “Mybest friend? We’ve barely spoken in years, Bella.”
I knew how nasty I sounded. I saw the way she shrunk from me. I didn’t care.
Garrett was watching us now, too—gauging whether he needed to get involved or if he could stand back and stay neutral.
