Balance (Off Balance 1)

I pulled my bottom lip between my teeth and contemplated what to say. Hayden just kept staring at me, waiting for an answer, but I was rendered speechless. I averted my gaze, ashamed of the truth. How did I explain I wanted everything without looking desperate?

Hayden placed both hands on my shoulders. “Answer me.”

I shrugged helplessly. “What do you want me to say?”

“You need to come forward and go to the police. This is rape, Aid.”

I shook my head frantically, my heart drumming against my ribs. “I can’t. It’s not rape, Hayden. It’s not.”

“Yes, it is. You’re underage.”

“He didn’t force me though.”

“Regardless if you consented or not, he still took advantage of you. You’re under his training, he preyed upon you like a disgusting sick fuck.” He ran a hand threw his hair. “I can only imagine who else he’s treated this way.”

“No, he didn’t. It’s not what you think. Please, you don’t know what you’re talking about.”

Hayden furiously yanked the car door open. “If you won’t do it, then I will.”

“No! Please!” I begged, on the verge of tears. “Please don’t. I’ll deny it if you do.”

He looked at me, stunned. “I think you need mental help. He brainwashed you, didn’t he? Threatened you if you told anyone?”

“No,” I lied. “I’ll deny it.”

Hayden slammed his door shut and stepped up to me. He cupped my jaw and I stared into his sincere blue eyes, my fingers laced over his.

“Did you do it to get ahead? Because you didn’t need to. You have what it takes, babe. You’ve improved greatly,” he said with such sorrow that my heart ached. “You’re a different gymnast, you’re not what you used to be. You’re so much better. Don’t be one of those girls who sleeps her way to the top. That’s not who you are.”

A fat tear slipped from my eye. Hayden saw it and pulled me to his chest, his lips pressed against the top of my head. I sobbed quietly on him, holding him. I needed him to understand the repercussions if he opened his mouth, but fear was taking over.

“Please, Hayden. Don’t tell anyone. You can’t.”

“You’re putting me in a tough spot. What he did is wrong. How long has this been going on?”

I swallowed. “Months.”

“How many months?”

I went with the truth. “I’m not positive, but about six months or so after I came here.”

Hayden cursed under his breath, hissing with anger.

“You don’t understand and it’s not what you think, I swear. There’s so much more to it than you know.” A heavy sigh burst from my throat and I said quietly, “He took me out of the meet for his own personal reasons.”

His brows bunched together. “What are you talking about?”

“He?

?s taking me out of my first meet, that’s what you walked in on. I went in there to yell at him and one thing led to another. He even called my parents and told them I wasn’t ready, even though he told me I was. He purposely took me out for his own personal reasons.” Tears began falling while I cried into Hayden’s chest. He wrapped his arms around me, comforting me and protecting me at the same time.

“He can’t do that.”

“He can, and he did,” I said between hiccups. “There’s nothing I can do about it now. At the end of the day, he has the right to take me out of a meet.”

Hayden cursed under his breath agreeing with me. “This is a big deal, Adrianna. We need to notify someone.”

I sucked in a breath and clutched his shirt in my hands. My heart was broken for two different reasons and I didn’t know how to deal with it.