Release Read online

  Release

  by Lucia Franco

  Book 3 in the Off Balance series

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  Copyright © 2019 by Lucia Franco

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  Edited by Nadine Winningham

  Proofread by Amber Hodge

  Cover Design by Romantic Book Affairs

  Photography by Lindee Robinson

  Cover Models: Shelby Smith and Andrew Kruczynski

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  All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law.

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  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents are either the products of the author's imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.

  Contents

  Also by Lucia Franco

  Introduction

  Glossary of Terms

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Chapter 29

  Chapter 30

  Chapter 31

  Chapter 32

  Chapter 33

  Chapter 34

  Chapter 35

  Chapter 36

  Chapter 37

  Chapter 38

  Chapter 39

  Chapter 40

  Chapter 41

  Chapter 42

  Chapter 43

  Chapter 44

  Chapter 45

  Chapter 46

  Chapter 47

  Turn for a preview of Hold On to Me by Lucia Franco

  Prologue

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Also by Lucia Franco

  Acknowledgments

  About the Author

  Also by Lucia Franco

  All or Nothing series

  You'll Think of Me

  Hold On to Me

  Off Balance series

  Balance

  Execution

  Release

  Dear Reader,

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  Much like a student-teacher novel, the Off Balance series is a highly forbidden romance story between a gymnast and a coach. If you find this genre of novels to be not to your liking in any way, shape, or form, this series is not for you.

  This novel is purely fictional and does not reflect on real-life events. Gymnastics is a hands-on sport that involves many hours of close contact with an instructor. My main goal was to focus not only on the beauty of the sport in detail, but also what goes on behind closed doors and how working with a coach for nearly forty hours a week can evolve into something more. This story is meant to push you, to take you outside of your comfort zone. I hope you take the plunge with an open mind before making judgment.

  Release is intended only for readers 18 years of age and older. Reader discretion is advised.

  * * *

  —Lucia

  To my faithful readers,

  I'm so sorry again for the cliffhanger I left you with in Execution.

  If you thought that was bad, I suggest grabbing a pack of smokes and a bottle of vodka now.

  Buckle up.

  You haven't seen anything yet.

  "I am slowly destroying myself and nobody is able to stop me."

  —Anonymous

  * * *

  All-Around A category of gymnastics that includes all the events. The all-around champion of an event earns the highest total score from all events combined.

  Amanar A Yurchenko-style vault, meaning the gymnast performs a round-off onto the board, a back handspring onto the vault with a two-and-a-half twisting layout backflip.

  Cast A push off the bar with hips and lifts the body to straighten the shoulders and finish in handstand.

  Deduction Points taken off a gymnast's score for errors. Most deductions are pre-determined, such as a 0.5 deduction for a fall from an apparatus or a 0.1 deduction for stepping out of bounds on the floor exercise.

  Dismount The last skill in a gymnastics routine. For most events the method used to get off the event apparatus.

  Elite International Elite, the highest level of gymnastics.

  Execution The performance of a routine. Form, style, and technique used to complete the skills constitute the level of execution of an exercise. Bent knees, poor toe point and an arched or loose held body position are all examples of poor execution.

  Giant Performed on bars, a swing in which the body is fully extended and moving through a 360-degree rotation around the bar.

  Full-In A full-twisting double back tuck, with the twist happening in the first backflip. It can be done in a tucked, piked, or layout position and is used in both men's and women's gymnastics.

  Free Hip Circle Performed on the uneven bars or high bar, the body circles around the bar without the body touching the bar. There are both front hip circles and back hip circles.

  Handspring Springing off the hands by putting the weight on the arms and using a strong push from the shoulders. Can be done either forward or backward, and is usually a connecting movement. This skill can be performed on floor, vault, and beam.

  Heel Drive A termed used by coaches to inform the gymnasts they want them to drive their heels harder up and over on the front side of a handspring vault or front handspring on floor. Stronger heel drives create more rotation and potential for block and power.

  Hecht Mount A mount where the gymnast jumps off a spring board while keeping their arms straight, pushes off the low bar, and catches the high bar.

  Hop Full A giant to handstand. Once toes are above the bar, a full 360-degree turn in a handstand on the high bar.

  Inverted Cross Performed by men on the rings. It is an upside down cross.

  Iron Cross A strength move performed by men on the rings. The gymnast holds the rings straight out on either side of their body while holding themselves up. Arms are perpendicular to the body.

  Jaeger Performed on bars, a gymnast swings from a front giant and lets go of the bar, completes a front flip and catches the bar again. Jaeger can be done in the straddle, pike, and layout position, and is occasionally performed in a tucked position.

  Kip The most commonly used mount for bars, the gymnast glides forward, pulls their feet to the bar, then pushes up to front support, resting their hips on the bar.

  L-Grip One hand is in the reverse grip position. This is an awkward grip and difficult to use.

  Layout A stretched body position.

  Layout Timers A drill that simulates the feel of a skill, or the set for a skill without the risk of completing the skill.

  Lines Straight, perfect lines of the body.

  Overshoot, also known as Bail A transition from the high bar facing the low bar. The gymnast swings up and over the low bar with a half-turn to catch the low bar ending in a handstand.

  Pike The body bent forwa
rd at the waist with the legs kept straight; an L position.

  Pirouette Used in both gymnastics and dance to refer to a turn around the body's longitudinal axis. It is used to refer to a handstand turning moves on bars.

  Rips In gymnastics, a rip occurs when a gymnast works so hard on the bars or rings that they tear off a flap of skin from their hand. The injury is like a blister that breaks open.

  Release Leaving the bar to perform a skill before re-grasping it.

  Relevé This is a dance term that is often used in gymnastics. In a relevé, the gymnast is standing on toes and has straight legs.

  Reverse Grip A swing around the bar back-first with arms rotated inwards and hands facing upwards.

  Round-off A turning movement, with a push-off on one leg, while swinging the legs upward in a fast cartwheel motion into a 90-degree turn where legs come together before landing on both feet. The lead-off to a number of skills used to perform on vault, beam, and floor.

  Salto Flip or somersault, with the feet coming up over the head and the body rotating around the axis of the waist.

  Sequence Two or more skills performed together, creating a different skill or activity.

  Shaposhnikva A clear hip circle on the low bar then flying backward to the high bar.

  Stalder Starts in handstand with the gymnast moving backward and circling the bar with legs straddled on either side of their arms or inside their arms.

  Stick To land and remain standing without requiring a step. A proper stick position is with legs bent, shoulders above hips, arms forward.

  Straddle Back An uneven bar transition done from a swing backwards on the high bar over low bar, while catching the low bar in a handstand.

  Switch Ring Performed on floor and the balance beam. The gymnast jumps with both feet, lifting their legs into a 180-degree split with the back leg coming up to touch their head.

  Tap Swing Performed on bars, an aggressive tap toward the ceiling in a swinging motion. This gives the gymnast the necessary momentum to swing around the bar to perform a giant or to go into a release move.

  Toe On Swing around the bar with body piked so much the feet are on the bar.

  Tour Jeté A dance leap where the dancer leaps on one foot, makes a full turn in the air, and lands on the other foot.

  Tsavdaridou Performed on beam, a round-off back handspring with full twist to swing down.

  Tuck The knees and hips are bent and drawn into the chest. The body is folded at the waist.

  Twist The gymnast rotates around the body's longitudinal axis, defined by the spine. Performed on all apparatuses.

  Yurchenko Round-off entry onto the board, back handspring onto the vaulting table and Salto off the vault table. The gymnast may twist on the way off.

  * * *

  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 his car and drove us back to my condo. I’d changed out of my leo, and we went to my room. He hadn't pushed me for answers, but he wasn't oblivious either. He knew why I was so distraught. We’d been down this road before.

  "Aid, say something. You're scaring me. You haven't spoken since we left the gym."

  "I don't know what to say."

  Hayden shook his head, disbelief crossing his face. Deep creases lined his forehead and his nostrils flared, proof that he knew the underlying cause of my pain. Still, he said nothing while I stood there in a daze. I knew he was disappointed, and he should be. I let this happen again when I’d promised I wouldn't.

  My jaw ached from grinding my teeth. I was sure if my mom saw me now, she'd tell me I was worthless, and ask me why a man of wealth and stature like Kova would want a sixteen-year-old whore over a beautiful bombshell he could proudly show off on his arm.

  My mom. I couldn't even let out a sarcastic huff. That was a whole other story. Joy. I would call the woman who raised me Joy from now on.

  Hayden brushed a few strands of loose hair behind my ear and wiped the fresh tears from my cheek before placing a kiss to my forehead. My eyes rolled shut, heavy with exhaustion and the weight of the day. I sighed, pressing my body closer to his, and he responded immediately. I needed to feel. I didn't like this emptiness, this hole, this huge void in my chest that Kova had created.

  "It kills me to see you like this." Hayden pressed his hand to my lower back and held me closer. He groaned in the back of his throat, and I felt the deep, gravely vibration in his chest on the side of my face. "Tell me what I can do to make it better for you. I'll do anything you need, just tell me."

  He was hurting for me. Where Hayden warmed my soul with his presence, Kova darkened it with his passion. Light versus dark. Good versus evil. The contrast always existed between them. Hayden was selfless, soft-hearted, an all-around good guy. Kova, however, took, and took, and took, leaving me shattered and broken. Vacant.

  An agonized tear slipped from my eye as I rem
ained silent. Hayden took matters into his own hands and carried me out of my bedroom to sit us down on the couch. He may not be as big as Kova, but he wasn't average in the least. I felt small but safe in his arms, and I needed that.

  Adjusting my legs to the sides of his hips, I dropped my head into the curve of his neck and sat there until I was ready to speak. I breathed him in, absorbing everything he had to offer. He moved my hair to lay over my shoulder and his hands stroked my back soothingly. I molded myself into his heated body and finally took my first deep breath since coming home from the gym.

  "Did you know?" I asked.

  "Know what?"

  "That Kova is married."

  Hayden froze long enough for me to pull back to look at him.

  "Hayden?" My heart raced as I stared at him, waiting for an answer that wouldn’t blindside me.

  Oh, God. He’d known?

  I tried to stand, but his hold on my hips prevented me from moving.

  "What the hell are you talking about?” The heat from his fingers passed through the layers of our clothes. "Kova isn't married."