Chapter 11
Sasha stood outside the Rock, dreading having to unlock the doors and start his day. In the two weeks since his fight with Payson, when she slapped him right across the face, and the break up between Kaylie and Austin, things at the Rock were tense to say the least.
Finally, he forced himself to turn the key and walk inside. Payson would be there soon to start working, and he was trying to avoid confrontation with her if at all possible. He turned on the lights, scanning the gym quickly to make sure that everything was in order, and then ducked into the office.
Payson appeared not even ten minutes later. Instead of coming up to the office to say good morning, like she would have before their fight, she went straight to the corner, shucked off her sweats, and started to warm up.
When she was on the floor and Sasha could safely assume she wouldn't notice him watching her, he went to stand by the window. She was throwing herself through her new routine with reckless abandon. She fell as often as she stuck a landing, and there was no grace, no artistry in her movements. He wondered if all they'd achieved had been undone in just a few short days.
"Payson," he said, coming out of the office. He didn't descend the stairs, didn't go to her like he wanted to, but simply stood at the railing and looked down at her. She arched an eyebrow and cocked her hip, clearly not open to his criticism.
"What?" she snapped. He recoiled, feeling her harsh tone like a physical blow.
"Relax. Focus. You're all over the place," he said, keeping his voice soft and even so he didn't agitate her any further. She snorted and turned away from him, muttering, and then threw herself into a tumbling pass.
Sasha sighed and went back into the office. Sitting down heavily in his chair, he massaged his temples. He was not happy with himself, or with the situation he and Payson found themselves in. There had to be a way for them to work around their circumstances.
Payson cursed, loudly, from the floor and Sasha ran to the railing to see what happened. She sat on the ground, cradling her ankle, and Sasha felt his heart drop into his stomach. He leapt down the stairs and ran across the gym, dropping to his knees beside her.
"What happened?" he asked, reaching for her ankle. Payson slapped his hands away.
"Nothing, I'm fine," she snapped. Sasha sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose and grimacing.
"Payson, please don't push me away," he said softly.
"I wasn't pushing you away until you made those stupid comments about me and Rigo!" she snapped, getting to her feet and testing her left ankle gingerly. She winced a little, but after a moment she was able to put all her weight on it again.
"I know what I said was stupid, Payson, and you were right to slap me…"
"I can hear the 'but' in your voice. Don't. You weren't just stupid, Sasha, you were way out of line. You made me feel like a horrible person for doing exactly what you're doing. What you told me to do!" Payson shouted. Sasha could see the tears glittering in her eyes and he wanted so badly to reach out and touch her, even though it would probably earn him another smack across the face.
"I'm sorry," he said. She shook her head and looked down at the floor. A single tear slid down her cheek.
"I never thought you would hurt me Sasha. I thought I would always be safe with you, and then you went and said those things. I can't forgive you for that, not yet," Payson said. Sasha thought she sounded more sad than angry, and he hated that he did that to her.
"At least let me wrap that," he said quietly. It was the only thing he could think to say; there was nothing he could do that would make the situation better. Payson needed space, but that was hard to come by when he was her coach and they were only a few months from the Olympics.
Payson frowned at him, but nodded.
"Fine."
#
"I just don't know what to do anymore, Austin," Kelly said, sitting next to him on a bench outside the Rock. They were both avoiding going inside for as long as possible. Kaylie was already there and once they both walked inside, it was going to get really awkward.
"Listen KP, we can't control Kaylie's attitude. I wish she would be rational, but she isn't, so we just have to deal with it," Austin said. Kelly snorted.
"I wasn't talking about her; I can handle Kaylie. I'm talking about Payson and you-know-who," Kelly said. "They can barely be within ten feet of each other without it ending in a screaming match. We're only like five months from the Olympics, Payson needs her coach."
Austin sighed, slumping down and leaning his head back against the bench. Kelly thought he looked exhausted. The last week, between the break-up with Kaylie and everything that was going on with Payson and Sasha, had been rough and Kelly and Austin were caught in the middle of it all.
"Well, we have that pub weekend coming up, maybe it will be good for us to get away," Austin suggested with a sigh.
"I think it will be great for Payson to get out of the gym," Kelly mused. Austin cracked one eye open to look at her.
"It will be good for all of us. I know you're as tired as I am," he said. Kelly slowly blew out a breath and nodded.
"I am."
"Okay, so let's have some fun on our pub weekend. Not talk about Kaylie or you-know-who," Austin suggested. Kelly nodded.
"Sounds like Heaven to me."
#
"Hey, you okay?" Rigo asked, staring at her from across the table. Payson tried to give him her best smile, but it felt forced. Apparently it looked forced too, because Rigo scowled.
"I just had a long day," she said. "And my ankle hurts." Her ankle was still throbbing from when she turned it that morning, but the trainer swore it wasn't sprained.
"Want me to kiss it and make it better?" Rigo asked, his eyes twinkling with mischief. Payson couldn't help but smile. She liked that about him; his easy going attitude and his playful demeanor. Plus, she didn't have to worry all the time. It was nice to be in an easy relationship, even if he didn't set her skin on fire the way Sasha did.
"Thanks, but I think it will be okay," Payson said, biting her lip against a laugh when he pouted.
"Want to go out to Austin's lake house after dinner? He said we're welcome and I could take you out on the boat," Rigo suggested. Payson snuck a surreptitious look at her watch; it was creeping up on eight o'clock.
"I don't think I can, I need a good night's rest and some ice for my ankle. Maybe this weekend?" Payson suggested. She hated to blow him off for sleep, but it was more important now than ever especially with a publicity weekend coming up.
"Sure, no worries," Rigo said, smiling. It wasn't forced like hers, and that made her feel worse. Why couldn't she just stop thinking and enjoy his company? "You ready?"
Payson nodded and waited while Rigo paid the check. Then he came back to her, offered his hand, and they went out into the night.
The setting sun made the flashbulbs going off in her face seem all the brighter.
"Rigo, kiss her!"
"Payson, do you think Rigo is the one?"
Payson grimaced at all the shouted questions and let Rigo guide her, arm around her shoulders, to his car. It had been that way since the picture of them kissing at Suit Two Hundred. Paparazzi followed them everywhere, hoping to snap more pictures like it. They'd been following Sasha and Kristen too, apparently thrilled to have a new angle on the Payson/Sasha saga. The trashier magazines features pictures of Payson and Sasha and concocted stories painting them both as martyrs, giving up a relationship to avoid the press and any legal troubles so close to the Olympics. Payson had to laugh at the irony; the trashiest magazines were actually the most accurate in this case.
"Have they always hounded you like this?" Rigo asked as they slid into his car. He navigated the SUV as carefully as he could through the throng of reporters.
"Not always, just since that picture of me kissing Sasha came out," Payson admitted. Something dark flashed across Rigo's face. She knew he didn't like Sasha, but she wasn't sure why; he didn't know anything more than anyone else…unless Austin mentioned something to him.
Payson reaches for her phone.
Did you tell Rigo about me and Sasha?
She wedged the phone beneath her knee and stared straight ahead. The air in his car turned thick and tense. Her phone buzzed.
Austin: No, why?
Payson shook her head. She wasn't quite sure she understood Rigo's problem with Sasha.
"Why do you get like that every time I mention Sasha?" Payson asked. Rigo's eyes ticked over to her.
"Get like what?" he asked.
"Like…angry. You don't like him, do you?" Payson asked. Rigo shrugged.
"I don't know him. I just…I feel like there's more to all of that than you're telling me. But I trust you, and if you say there's nothing to worry about, I'll believe you."
Payson scowled. She and Rigo had been dating two weeks; she didn't owe him an explanation. Before she could call him on it though, he pulled into her driveway. When he didn't immediately get out to open her door, he was very old fashioned in that way, Payson knew he had more to say.
"I know it's only been two weeks, but I really like you Payson." She frowned, and then a thought occurred to her. Rigo knew that Payson and Sasha were close, or had been. Was he jealous? It was possible. She shook her head. Stupid, testosterone fueled men.
"I do like you, Rigo." She leaned in and pressed a kiss to the corner of his mouth. "Goodnight." She got out of the car on her own and walked inside, leaving Rigo sitting in the driveway.
Her mom and dad were sitting on the couch, both with a glass of wine in their hands. Kim looked up and smiled brightly at her.
"Hey honey! How was your date?"
"Fine," Payson said, getting herself a glass of water.
"Just fine?" Kim pressed.
"I'm just tired," Payson said.
"Did you see the news today?" Kim asked, coming to stand next to her. Payson frowned and shook her head.
"No, am I in it?" Payson groaned.
"No, but Sasha is." Payson's heart dropped. Sasha in the news meant Kristen by his side, and there was only so much of that sight Payson could stomach.
Kim passed Payson the magazine, open to the page in question. A picture of Sasha and Kristen stared up at her, and a headline that read Belov Headed for Wedded Bliss? Payson skimmed the beginning that highlighted Sasha's past and explained who Kristen was. Then she got to the part that made her stomach clench.
"Kristen says that she's never met a man as attentive and gentlemanly as Sasha. She believes Sasha is "the one" and it won't be long until you see them walking down the aisle." Payson her stomach churn and bile rise in her throat. Who was Kristen kidding? Unless they'd already talked about it. Maybe Sasha really was moving on. Truly and completely on.
Payson's stomach clenched violently and she knew she was going to throw up.
"Honey, are you okay?" Kim asked.
Payson clapped her hand over her mouth and ran for the bathroom.
#
Sasha's truck screeched to a stop outside Kristen's house. He cast a glance at the Keeler house as he strode to the door, praying that Payson would forgive him for what Kristen said in the article. When he reached Kristen's door, he knocked, hard.
"Hey, you," Kristen said, her eyes widening in pleasant surprise. Sasha held out the magazine.
"What the hell were you thinking?" Sasha snapped. His blood was boiling.
"What do you mean?" Kristen asked, her smile slipping.
"I mean, telling the press we're getting married," Sasha said, flicking the magazine. Kristen shook her head.
"I didn't! I said maybe someday I could see it, I never said it was a sure thing!" Sasha groaned, scrubbing a hand through his hair and trying to calm himself. Kristen didn't have as much experience with the press as he and Payson did, she would have no reason to know they take your words and twist them into whatever quote suits their needs.
"Kristen, you can't say stuff like that to the press. Ever."
"Why is this such a big deal, Sasha? So the press twisted my words, so what? It's not actually doing anybody any harm," Kristen snapped. He bit his lip against telling her that it was probably hurting Payson.
"You know that I'm a very private person, Kristen. It's none of the tabloids' business and you should respect me enough not to say anything."
"So what, I'm supposed to just stand behind you in the background while you get all the attention?"
Sasha stared at her, dumbfounded. Somewhere along the way, Kristen had turned into an attention seeker. She wanted to talk to the press; she loved seeing pictures of her and Sasha splashed all over the magazines and gossip sites. He dropped the magazine at her feet.
"We're done." Sasha didn't wait for a response. Instead, he jogged to the Keeler's front door.
It was late, but the lights were still on so Sasha took a chance and knocked. If Kim or Mark or even Becca answered the door he would have no good reason for stopping by, but he needed to see Payson. He needed to tell her that what Kristen said wasn't true, not even a little bit.
He let out the breath he'd been holding when Payson answered the door.
"Pay…"
She slammed it in his face.
#
Payson spent an entire week avoiding Sasha except in the gym, where there was no risk of personal discussion. She didn't want to hear about how he and Kristen were meant to be, or how what he had with Payson was simply child's play. She wanted to live in her own fantasy world for a little while longer.
Now, she was safely on a plane to Los Angeles with Kelly, Austin, and MJ. As much as she hated taking the long weekends to fulfill the publicity portions of her contract, she was glad for the time away from the Rock, from Sasha, and from Rigo.
"You'll be doing a shoot together for GQ tomorrow," MJ said, running down their weekend itinerary as she always did on the plane ride out.
"Awesome," Austin said, nodding his head.
"I have to warn you, they want to take the shoot in a more…mature direction," MJ said carefully. Payson's head snapped up. She learned long ago to decipher the tone of MJ's voice, and her tone just told her that Payson was not going to be happy.
"Mature?" Payson pressed.
"Do you remember the shoot they did for Glee about a year ago?" MJ asked. Images sprang to Payson's mind; the male lead of that show and the two female leads in various school settings, the girls in various states of undress. She felt herself flush.
"That's what they want to do?" Payson asked, swallowing thickly.
"Yes," MJ said.
"Holy shit," Kelly muttered. "Isn't the NGO going to be pissed?"
"It's possible," MJ said with a shrug. "But I'm an expert in my field and the NGO trusts me with your careers. GQ will keep the photos tasteful, but they want to show you as women, not girls. Are you two okay with this?"
Payson and Kelly shared a look. If anyone was going to object, it would be Payson, she knew. Kelly didn't have a problem using sex to sell her image. She wasn't the All-American sweetheart, Payson was. She squirmed in her seat. Using the Glee shoot as a frame of reference, Payson knew she would be in some stage of undress for the entire shoot and she would probably be asked to ooze sex. She wasn't even sure she could do that.
But she wanted to. Sasha thought she was a little girl, her parents thought she was a little girl, everyone saw her as some innocent little girl. She was angry, and she wanted to teach them all a lesson.
"I'm game is KP is," Payson said. Kelly and Austin both looked at her in surprise.
"I'm game too. Let's do it."
#
Payson could feel Kelly's eyes on her as they waited in the dressing room for the wardrobe person. She sighed.
"What?" Payson snapped.
"Are you sure you want to do this?" Kelly asked. Payson rolled her eyes at her friend.
"It's not like we're filming a porno or something," Payson said, waving her hand dismissively. Kelly frowned at her.
"No, but you've never been all that comfortable with your…woman-ness. I mean, Austin couldn't even get you to crawl around like a cat," Kelly reminded her. Payson snorted at the memory and found herself fighting a smile.
"That was stupid. And I managed to pull of the sexy parts of that routine because I was acting, just like I do every time we're part of a photo shoot. This will be no different," Payson insisted. Kelly came over to stand next to her, meeting her eyes in the mirror.
"Pay, are you just doing this because of…you-know-who?" Kelly asked. Payson shook her head firmly. Pissing Sasha off was going to be an added bonus, but since her split-second decision to do the shoot, she found herself getting more and more excited about it. She was a young woman with a body she worked for years to turn into a finely tuned machine, why shouldn't she show it off?
"I promise, KP, he is not the reason I'm doing this."
The wardrobe assistant came to get them, showing them each a rack of lingerie and other clothing items with their name on it. Austin's rack had suits and ties, shirts and jeans, but theirs had mostly bras and panties, a few corsets, a few skirts that were barely more than scraps, and a couple of shirts.
"First up," the assistant said, handing a couple of hangers to Kelly and Payson.
Payson looked at her outfit: a bra and boy shorts in red, white, and blue, speckled with little white stars. Kelly had a similar design, but hers was a tiny camisole and bikini underwear.
They looked at each other and burst into laughter.
"My parents are going to kill me," Payson said, ducking behind a free-standing screen to change.
"I can't believe we're letting GQ do this," Kelly agreed with a giggle.
Austin was waiting for them on "set", wearing jeans and a crisp white dress shirt. Red, white, and blue confetti littered the ground, and there was a gold medal around his neck. He looked bored.
"Hey," Kelly said as they wandered up to him. He looked up and his eyes widened when he took in what they were wearing.
"Are you guys sure…"
"Austin I swear if you try to play the big brother right now, I will slap you. We are all adults," Payson said firmly. He held her gaze for a moment, making her squirm, and then shrugged and looked away.
"If you guys are cool, I'm cool," he said.
"Ladies, you look lovely," the photographer said as he came over to them. A few set assistant ran over to check their hair and make-up, fussing over them. Payson resisted the urge to shoo them all away. "We've got a couple of gold medals for the two of you as well."
"Actually, I've got one in my bag I'd like to wear," Payson said quickly. She wasn't even sure where the thought came from, but as soon as the words were out of her mouth she knew she wanted to wear Sasha's medal for the shoot.
The photographer looked confused and a little apprehensive, but he nodded. Payson ran back to the dressing room and took the medal from its place, wrapped in a sock, before lopping it over her neck.
"Great, let's get started," the photographer said. He spent an inordinate amount of time positioning them for each pose. Assistants threw more confetti and eventually the photographer just let them play. Kelly and Payson attacked Austin with the small shining strips of plastic, dumping handfuls over his head. He tossed picked Kelly up, twirling her around. Payson and Kelly danced around, kicking up clouds of confetti as they went.
They changed outfits and sets twice. One was a replica of the Rock where they had several shots of them on their best known apparatus; for Kelly it was bars, Austin was on the rings, and Payson was on the floor. Their final set was an Olympic podium in front of an American flag. It hit Payson that so many people were hyping one or all of them to bring home a gold medal that there would be a lot of disappointment if they didn't.
The entire shoot was a blast, and for the first time in weeks Payson wasn't thinking about Rigo, or Sasha, or Kristen. She wasn't thinking about anything other than having fun with her friends.
"Okay ladies," Austin said when they were done for the day. "You ready to go blow off some steam?"
Payson and Kelly traded a look.
"Hell yeah."
#
Kelly and Austin dropped Payson off at her hotel room before heading down the hall for Kelly's. They were exhausted after a night of dancing in L.A.'s hottest clubs, but Kelly wasn't ready for the night to end yet.
"I guess this is where you get off," Austin said quietly, leaning one shoulder against the wall as Kelly fumbled in her clutch for her room key.
"I guess so," Kelly echoed, pushing the door open. For some reason, though, she really didn't want to go through it.
"I had fun tonight," Austin said.
Taking a breath, Kelly decided to take a risk. She stepped closer to Austin, curling her fingers into his shirt, and rose up on her toes to kiss him.
"What are we doing?" Austin asked when she pulled away. Frowning, thinking he was rejection her, Kelly took a step back. Austin stopped her, grabbing her hands in his and then leaning in to kiss her again.
"I thought…" Kelly stammered. Austin steered her into the room.
"I know what you thought," he said. And then he was kissing her and Kelly didn't care.
A/N: THANK YOU to Isabella, sylia67, rotem, GekkeMeisje, Morelen, phuong1317, Silvercrystal77, Kiwiflea, Ida-cullen, Candace l, JTellersOldLady, Ncisluver, marcoleptic86, Nathascha, LauraW89, I Prey On Blonde Boys, BearyFunny66, Barrel of Monkeys, and DarkMoon2222 for your reviews!
I am beyond sorry that this chapter took so long to post! Things have been crazy busy for me lately, and I didn't have this chapter outlined before I started writing it so I had to do that too. But the good news is that the next two chapters are already outlined so hopefully they won't take quite as long to get down.
As always, review please!