Page 29 of Salto

“That’s my girl.” He flashed me a grin and headed off to be rambunctious with the other male gymnasts doing karaoke in the living room.

“Ugh, the banter between you two is too good. Are you sure you can’t date him?” Laney whined next to me, her entire bag of popcorn gone from watching the show.

“You did it,” Mia said, ignoring Laney. “Look at you. Fending him off like a champ.”

I chuckled and rolled my eyes. “Can I just eat junk food in peace now?”

“Absolutely not,” Laney said, grabbing my wrist. “We’re playing a game.”

“That sounds like the opposite of peace.”

“Too bad.”

She dragged me toward the living room, where a group had already formed in a loose circle.

The karaoke machine was still playing softly in the background, but someone had turned the volume down enough that people could actually hear each other.

A few of the guys abandoned the microphones and dropped onto couches or the floor while others carried over bowls of chips and half-finished drinks.

“What are we playing?” I asked suspiciously.

“Truth or dare,” Laney said, pausing for dramatic effect. “Athlete Edition.”

CHAPTER 11

Ihated Truth or Dare. It felt juvenile. But Laney and Mia were excited. So I told myself I would bow out if anything got too uncomfortable.

Physically, I dealt with major discomfort. Maybe that was why I had so little tolerance left for it in my social life.

The game started with dumb dares and harmless questions, and everyone laughed when someone had to do something mildly embarrassing.

There were a few kisses. Because would it really be Truth or Dare without a kiss?

I had to refrain from rolling my eyes, but it wasn’t horrible. At least it was staying pretty tame.

After a few minutes, I actually started to relax.

Then—

“Sloane. Truth or Dare?”

My attention shifted to my teammate, who used to be my best friend.

Sloane sat across the circle, her long blonde ponytail draped over one shoulder, one leg crossed over the other as if she owned the room. Sloane was quite intimidating to people who didn’t personally know her, probably because she was effortlessly confident.

It was weird that we had grown apart when we used to do everything together. I used to be closer to her than I was to Mia and Laney.

“Truth,” she said.

Max grinned. “What teammate do you have the most bad blood with?”

A few people leaned in.

Sloane didn’t hesitate. “I don’t have any bad blood with anyone, Max.” She rolled her eyes and took a swig of her drink.

“Oh, come on. Spill it. There has to be someone you butt heads with.”

“Well.” She hesitated. “I guess you could say Scar and I had a falling out.” Her eyes landed on me as the confession left her lips.