Execution (Off Balance 2)

He gave her instructions and nodded, then waved for Reagan. He repeated his stance and eyed her as she took off running. As she went to perform a double back tuck, he popped her lower back up with his hand on the first rotation to give her a little more height, then raised his arms in the air to spot her landing, moving with her as she rotated.

Then, he nodded for me and it was strictly coach mode. Taking off, I performed a full-in, a double twisting double back tuck with the first twist performed on the first back tuck. His arms came up, helping me spin my twist a little faster, popping my lower back for more height and then putting his hand behind my back to stop the power.

"Good," was all he said when I landed. I looked at him, but he was already looking for Holly, waving at her to go.

I frowned. Good? That was all? He'd given my teammates suggestions and all I got was good? I didn't want to hear I did good, I mean, of course I did, but I wanted to hear where I needed improvement more. There was always room for improvement and I knew Kova lived by that.

I paid attention to Holly and Reagan. Kova gave them both detailed suggestions.

When it was my turn again, I looked into his eyes, but he wasn't looking at me, he was watching my feet to prepare to spot me.

I performed another full-in. I had so much momentum that I rebounded and kicked back with one leg. My heart dropped and Kova placed a hand on my stomach to stop me, then quickly removed it like touching me burned his skin.

I knew my mistake was because my chest was too low to the floor, a typical landing during warm ups.

And he said nothing. Absolutely nothing. This was a man who didn't like the way I breathed on the balance beam and yelled at me for it. But I take a huge step out on floor and he's tight lipped.

Something wasn't right.

I looked at Kova, but he was looking over my head for Holly, purposely avoiding my gaze. A sharp pain shot through my chest and I rubbed the ache.

I waited for Kova to give me instructions.

But nothing ever came. He just continued to look over my head. My stomach knotted and my face fell when I felt the springs of the floor recoiling from Holly taking off. With no option but to get out of the way, I got back in line.

The same thing happened the next ten, maybe twenty times I went. I lost count. He said nothing to me, hardly physically spotting me, not that I needed it, and he wouldn't look me in the eye. Detached and distant, after last night, this was the last thing I ever expected from him. Kova was a cold stranger on edge.

His lack of attentiveness was messing with my head big time. Kova thrived on barking orders, yet he gave me none. Not even a sigh. He demanded precision and perfection and dedication. My dedication was there, but the way he was behaving, pretending like nothing I did mattered, when I knew in my gut everything I did mattered to him, threw off my perfection and precision. I knew he knew that, he had to. There was no way he didn't notice I was off. The man had an eagle eye, yet he was holding back from me, and it was making the cramping in my stomach much worse because I couldn't stop dwelling on it.

I chewed my lip, trying to figure out what to say when he finally spoke.

"Please, get back in line, Adrianna," he said above a whisper, still not looking at me. "Please." The tightness in his voice rendered me speechless. All I could do was nod silently and turn around.

As I walked to the opposite end of the floor, the front door to World Cup opened and in stepped Katja.

God, she was the perfect Russian Barbie. Pulling her sunglasses up to rest on her head, something sparkled in the light as she moved her hair. Her gaze immediately shot to the gym. She looked around like she was looking specifically for something…and her eyes stopped on me. I gave her a friendly smile, but she didn't return it.

Instead, her hostile gaze raked down my body and I stiffened, despite my heart pounding against my ribs. A chill exploded down my spine and my stomach churned.

All the noise in the background faded away and I immediately looked over my shoulder at Kova. He stood with his hands on his hips, intently watching Katja, but he wasn't looking at her with hearts in his eyes.

No, he was staring at her like he was terrified he was about to lose everything, despite his confrontational stance.

I glanced back toward Katja and her eyes were still on me. I shook it off and walked to step in line as Kova made his way toward her. He opened the door and stepped up to her, placing a kiss on her cheek. I looked around the gym to see if anyone had noticed anything, but it appeared they hadn’t. Holly and Reagan were having their own conversation, and Madeline was watching Kova and Katja with a big grin on her face. The rest of the gym was in their own world.

Confused, I looked around again. I was missing something, I just didn't know what.

Trying not to let the awkwardness of the situation bother me, I shook it off and took off running and completed another tumbling pass, landing it nicely this time.

A cramp formed in my stomach and I looked around, trying to make a point not to stop on Kova and Katja and make it seem like I was aloof. My skin prickled with awareness, but nothing seemed out of the ordinary.

Maybe it was just me. My nerves were jittery, and I was guilty of sleeping with her man.

I got back in line and watched Holly tumble. Reagan stepped up behind me and my gut told me not to take a turn.

But I did. I had a meet coming up and I had to practice. I took off running again and heard Reagan say something to Holly about celebration right as I started my tumbling pass halfway across the floor, but I accidently undercut, making it difficult to perform the next sequence of skills because of my poor hand placement. I didn't do the double back twist, instead, I did a simple back layout mid-flight.

I tried not to look toward the lobby, but I did. All I could see were lips moving and Katja's startling peridot eyes fixated on Kova. Her eyes shifted toward me and I quickly averted my gaze, pretending I was looking somewhere else.