Page 82 of Off the Edge

Okay. I’ll tell Miles you’re on your way

thanks . . . for everything.

She’d know what that meant. She’d texted Ren last night. She’d known I’d needed him.

Of course, we’re partners. Now get your ass here

Fifteen minutes later, as the shuttle bus pulled to a stop outside the PR building, I’d managed to comb my fingers through my hair enough to calm it down and some of the panic had faded from my eyes, at least as far as I could tell in the foggy shuttle-bus windows. I could do with not looking like a deer in headlights once I got in front of any cameras. I’d be alright once I was with the team and had my head back in the zone.

I hurried off the bus and jogged into the building, showing my lanyard at the front desk. A woman there pointed me down a corridor.

I just had to hold it together for two more days. I could do all my falling apart after.

Just two days. Today, and tomorrow was the free dance. With any luck, our group would be early, and I wouldn’t have to spend the day racked by nerves.

Either way, in two days, it would all be over.

I turned a corner, and as my head came up, I spotted Miles coming toward me, flanked by two Olympic-branded officials. Neither looked friendly, but Miles’s face when he saw me dropped. It wasn’t anger, not this time. It was worse.

I slowed.

Miles held out a hand, and made pushing down motions. “Cam, you need to come with me.”

“What? Why?”

I’d never seen his eyes go so cold before. “Let’s not discuss this in the corridor.”

I eyed the two guys. What the hell was this about now? Behind them, toward the end of the corridor, I spotted Zoe and the others in a room, their heads bent low, faces ashen. Then someone closed the door, shutting them in, or me out.

“What’s going on?”

“Cam, please. With me.”

“Mr. Navarro,” one of the guys said. I grabbed his lanyard and read the badge. Site Security. What the fuck?

“Miles . . .”

“Camden,” he warned. “You do not have a choice here.”

“What the fuck have I done now?”

“Don’t do this here,” Miles warned. “Stay calm, come with me.”

Calm? Fucking calm?

Was I being arrested by the Olympic police or something?

“I haven’t done anything.”

The door at the end of the corridor opened, and Zoe met my gaze. She knew. They all knew something.

“I’m being pulled in front of the panel again, is that what this is?”

Miles grabbed my arm and roughly marched me back the way I’d come. “Stop talking and breathe. I realize this is terrible timing for you, and you’re already dealing with personal issues, but trust me when I say this is not the time to get loud. You sit and you listen, and you nod and you fucking agree to whatever the panel are about to say. Do you understand, Navarro?”

He’d never spoken to me like this. Never warned me, never lost his patience. Never pulled me by the arm like I was a child needing to be disciplined.

I tore my arm free. “Fine.”