Execution (Off Balance, #2)

by Lucia Franco

He lowered his voice to just above a whisper, and his eyes turned tender. "Ria, you have a dream. I am trying to make it a reality. Go with it. Please, just trust me on this."

finish line, just like he championed me. Sometimes the moments in life that caused the most damage to the heart put us on the path of reward and gratification. To the greatest glory. And in that moment, when Kova explained what I needed to do, I felt like everything that happened up until this point, was meant to happen. Where there was perfection, there was pain hidden in darkness.

A lot could be said about the man standing next to me, probably more negative than positive, but there was one thing I knew for certain—today showed he cared about my success in the sport.

Kova wasn't as despicable as I thought he was.

"What's your weakness?" "You," he said without hesitation.

Kova was my strength, but I was his weakness. A weakness he worked on to improve and make resilient.

"Say it," he pushed on in a whisper. I didn't need to, he could read the answer in my eyes. "I want to hear you say the words, Ria. I need to hear them." I swallowed, shying away. "You." My voice cracked. "You are my strength, Kova."

"What inspires you?" "You," I said softly. "Ask me what inspires me." I asked him. "You," he said. My stomach fluttered. "What drives you to push harder?" "You," I said.

"We are a team—I exhale, you inhale. We fight together. We work together. It is an amazing feeling when you find someone who shares the same passion as you. The possibilities are endless. I am the beast beneath your beauty, pushing you. From here on out, we do it together. You come to me for anything and I will do everything in my power to make it happen."

He cared so profoundly it was suffocating. He was untrusting and put on a façade, and I could see why. When he gave, really gave himself, he invaded your personal space to the extreme and took control.

know I do not say this often, but you are a great gymnast.

"Ria, everything I do has a reason. Pulling you from the meet was not such a bad idea because you got a behind the scenes look. Am I right? It will make you better overall."

"I am not the asshole you think me to be." "It was an asshole move, Kova. Therefore, you're an asshole."

Kova immediately took my seat, then wrapped a strong arm around my waist and pulled me onto his lap.

I wasn't that girl, and he wasn't that guy. We were just two people who shared the same ambitions and a connection that couldn’t be explained, only felt.

I can be overbearing and bossy, among other things, but one thing you must not have realized about me is that I am fiercely

Hurt what is mine and there will be consequences."

"You said mine, though. You said, 'hurt what is mine.' I think you care about me way more than you let on. Am I yours, Kova?"

"I'm going to prove it to you. I'm going to show you that I want it, that you're not wasting your time with me. I'm going to show you that I'm worth it."

"I already know you are worth it."

"I always know when you are around. I can smell you."

"You have a very subtle hint of the ocean that lingers on you. I can always detect it."

way. I have things set up for your future I want for you. Things you do not know about yet.

"Why can you not just trust me?"

"It's not like I have a slew of boyfriends at my door waiting for me to call on them."

"You better not."

"You know I think you are strong,"

"Believe me, malysh, I notice everything about you."

You better have not had anyone else's cock but mine."

"Not everything is what it seems, Ria. Just because I am with Katja, do not presume you know what goes on behind closed doors, even if I insinuate there is more. Everyone's life is nothing but a façade. We all lie."

The harmony of two people who are so wrong for each other but somehow come together, throwing everything off balance to the point that nothing makes sense but it feels right. That is us. That is trust. You do not let someone into your body you do not trust.

"I wish you could see yourself through my eyes, only then would you realize how much you mean to me."

This was way more, a crazed obsession with deeply seated emotions we didn't want to acknowledge because everything in society told us it was wrong.

"There is no better way to wake up than with you in my arms. I wish I could wake up like this every day."

"I…cannot…stop… You are mine and only mine."

"Only you, Ria," he groaned, "only you. I cannot live without you or this feeling you bring me. I want to be in you every day, all day, for the rest of my life. I want to wake up next to you, make you only mine, and do this every fucking day. This is heaven. You are my everything."

"When two people connect so deeply when they have sex, is this normal? I feel like I'm on another dimension when I'm with you."

"No, it is not. It is not normal at all,"

"Have you ever felt like that with anyone else?"

"No, never. Only you."

"Only you, Ria. Why do you think I cannot get enough? I have never felt like this with anyone else, and I do not know was it even is. All I know is that I am hooked on all of you. Hooked on your body, hooked on your smile, hooked on your personality, hooked on your ambition, hooked on you. I can only hope you feel the same way."

I was that stupid girl who never learned and always went back to the boy who wrecked her heart time and time again.

Strength didn't come from what you could do, it came from the power within one’s heart, a determination unlike no other to thrive.

"You are already in my head, baby. More than you know."

Eu vou do céu ao inferno e de volta pro céu com esse homem.

"YA takoy ublyudkare'. Proklyatyy, yesli ya proklyat, yesli ne budu."

This wasn't just any old smile. This was a full-on, I'm so proud to call you mine, type smile.

Coitada, a lunatica

I will always be by your side, that is, if you will have me.

If I hadn’t known any better, I'd say he was making love to me. Heartbreaking, soul-crushing lovemaking.

Leaning down, he gently kissed my forehead, then pressed his lips to mine. My hand cupped the back of his head as he kissed me like he was saying goodbye forever, a thought that terrified me.