Chapter 6

Tricia looked up in the stands and smiled as she saw Thad watching her and ignoring the books in his lap. She knew that he had an exam in the morning, and then they were leaving for the state finals.

She took a deep breath and started her routine. She had struggled with the triple Axel earlier in practice, when Thad hadn’t been here, but once he walked into the building, it just seemed to flow.

She did it again and again, without flaw, and she was fairly confident that if she felt like this at the invitational next week, she would be untouchable. And since Thad was committed to being there, she wasn’t really worried about it.

In fact, she was looking forward to what the two of them would be able to accomplish. While the furor around Thad had died off in the past week, she was pretty sure that it would be back with a vengeance when he set a new world record at the state meet.

There was still some argument about his record, but the state had submitted the times and the equipment verification to the International Association of Athletics Federations which was responsible for verifying world records. They planned to have representatives at the State meet to ensure the timing equipment was properly certified.

Tricia shook her head and focused on the upcoming triple Axel. She executed it flawlessly, and then turned and did it again as she went back across the ice.

“What in the hell was that?” came the screaming voice of her coach.

Everyone in the rink had stopped and looked up at her. While there weren’t many people around at nine in the evening on a weeknight, there were still more than a few.

“Sorry coach, I was just feeling really good and threw in an extra jump for practice!” Tricia replied.

“Seriously?” her coach replied as she skated out to speak with Tricia. “Can you do that again?”

“I think so, why?” Tricia asked.

“Because if you can do that, we can throw in a new triple combo late in the program and get some extra points!” Her coach exclaimed.

Tricia nodded and looked up to the stands where Thad was sitting. He was smiling at her and completely ignoring the book that he had open in his lap. Tricia giggled to herself when she wondered if it was even right side up.

She started across the ice again and started doing triple axels across the rink, hitting each one as easy as if it were a single. It all just seemed to come so easily now that she had figured out how to do it.

The rest of practice flew by, and when she was done, she quickly changed clothes and headed out to meet Thad for the drive home.

Thad had his mother’s car and when he saw Tricia emerge from the locker room, he walked over to meet her at the door.

Waiting for her to walk around the rink, Thad marveled at her beauty. They had been together for a week now and getting ready to head to the State Meet tomorrow. It had taken some work, but their teachers had agreed to excuse both Thad and Tricia, particularly once they saw them interacting with each other.

Thad’s teammates had teased him that even a blind man could see that Tricia was in love with him, that he had lost his mind over this girl.

Tricia neared and wrapped her arms around Thad’s neck, pulling him down for a kiss. He gladly gave in and kissed her soundly. Then she grabbed his hand and nearly skipped to the car, pulling him along.

“Did you see me in practice?” Tricia asked, her enthusiasm evident in her voice.

“You were incredible,” Thad replied as he closed her door and walked around to his side of the car.

“I am still amazed at what you are able to do out there on the ice, it just looks so incredcible!” Thad finished as he got in the car and started to drive them home.

“Can we stop and get something to eat on the way, I am starving!” Tricia asked, giving Thad her best puppy dog eyes and pout.

“Will I ever be able to say no to you?” Thad asked dramatically. “Actually, I am rather hungry as well. Can we grab Chick-fil-A? Would that be alright?”

Tricia nodded and bounced a little in her seat as they made their way home.

“I’m so excited that we are headed to States tomorrow.” Tricia chatted.

Thad tried to pay attention to the traffic as he made the turn into the parking lot. While they could have gone through the drive through, they were sure to see some friends inside, so they both preferred to eat there.

A few minutes later, they were seated in a booth with their food and chatting across the aisle with a couple of other students. Time seemed to fly by and soon they needed to leave so the staff could close.

Thad stood to take their tray to the trash bin, when he saw the three men wearing masks walk in the door. He immediately noticed that two of them were holding guns down at their sides.

Realizing that they were about to rob the place, and that Tricia might be in danger, Thad reacted without thinking. As he moved toward the men, time slowed for Thad, much like it did when he was on the track.

Faster than anyone could see, or react, Thad was right in front of the three men.

While he had no real fighting experience, he had taken a couple of years of Tai-kwon-do as a kid, so he knew how to throw a punch and how to kick. Without hesitation, he punched the lead man in the throat.

He then turned left and chopped down with both hands on the arm of the second man holding a gun. When he heard the man’s arm crack and the gun start to fall out of his grip, he turned to the last man. Realizing that he had a clear shot over the fallen first man, Thad lashed out with a kick to the groin of the third man.

As he watched the third man fall, the man whose arm he had broken, turned and used his good hand to punch Thad in the back, and then turned and fled out the door.

Thad, caught unaware, stumbled over the two men lying in the floor and fell. He watched the man run out into the parking lot, and he started to get up to follow him, but a sudden booming voice made him stop.

“Freeze, nobody move!” ordered a loud voice.

Thad turned his head very slightly and saw two cops coming into the restaurant from the other side. They had their guns drawn and were pointing them in his general direction.

Thad slowly raised his hands and one of the officers pulled him to the side and ordered him to put his hands against the wall, over his head. Thad did just that and watched as the other officer turned over the first man he had punched. He pulled off the mask he was wearing, only to realize that the man was suffocating from a crushed larynx.

The officer then called for an ambulance as the second officer dealt with the other man who was still writhing on the ground holding his groin. He pulled off the mask he was wearing and realized his face was covered in vomit. The officer jerked back, reluctant to touch him as he didn’t have gloves on.

He quickly cuffed the man lying on the ground, and then after wiping his hands on some napkins, turned to Thad.

“You care to tell me what happened here, son?” the officer asked.

“Don’t say anything.” came another voice from behind him. “Officer, I am an attorney, and that boy is a minor. I am the mother of one of his friends, and I witnessed the entire event.

“Good, can you tell me why there are two grown men on the floor who need medical attention?”

“Yes sir, we all can,” came yet another voice, this one the manager of the restaurant. “Those two men and another who ran out the door just before you came in, walked into the place holding guns. They were wearing those masks and clearly here to rob the store.

“That young man was dumping his trash and saw them enter. He turned and punched that one, kicked that one and hit the third in the arm, causing him to drop the gun that is lying over there.” The manager said pointing to each of the men and the gun as he described the actions.

“That is an accurate account as I saw it as well,” said another adult who had been standing at the counter waiting for their food.

The officer nodded and turned over the care of the two men to the paramedics who arrived just then.

“I will need to get statements from all of you, along with your names and addresses. No one leaves until you talk to me.” He then turned to Thad. “Why don’t you go sit down over there and I will need to come ask you some questions. If you can call you parents, so they can listen on the phone, that would be good.”

Thad nodded and walked over to the table where Tricia still sat.

“That was amazing, Thad! You moved so fast it was almost a blur!” Tricia whispered while grabbing his hand and holding it tightly.

It was 2am and Thad was lying in bed, staring at the ceiling, trying without success to relax and go to sleep. He had been forced to ask Tricia to drive home when he couldn’t stop shaking.

He had called his mother and briefly explained what had happened. The attorney, who was Kelley’s mother, had sat in as well. It was a little weird, having his mother, his girlfriend, and the mother of a girl he had dated last year all listening to him describe what had happened to the police officer.

The officer had made notes and asked Thad to write a statement and sign it. Kelley’s mom had done that, as well as help the officer collect statements, witness signatures, and the like.

“We may need you to come down to the station and give another statement if the DA has questions, but I suspect that these two won’t be going anywhere anytime soon, and we have the gun from the third, and they have done this a few times before, so we know who they are, we just hadn’t been able to catch them until now.” he had explained to Thad.

Thad knew he needed to sleep, they needed to drive to the state finals tomorrow and he needed to work out and practice on the new track before the prelims occurred the next day.

He kept replaying the scene over and over in his mind. He wasn’t sorry for hurting those men, they had meant harm to the people inside the store, having left others shot or injured in their previous robberies. He knew they needed to be stopped.

What bothered him was how easy it had all been. The men didn’t even seem to react to him, but yet the others in the restaurant had all seen him and told the cops exactly what he had done.

But to Thad it was like the world was moving in slow motion while he was still at normal speed. It felt a lot like it did when he found the zone while running.

He rolled over and punched his pillow, trying to get comfortable and yet knowing that he wasn’t going to get to sleep anytime soon.

Just then his phone buzzed. Thad cursed as he rolled over to get it, having forgotten to put it back into Do Not Disturb mode when he had gotten home.

When he looked, it was a text from Tricia. “R U Awake”

After replying that he couldn’t sleep, a FaceTime call came through from Tricia.

“I couldn’t sleep either,” she said as the call connected. She was whispering and in the low light it was hard to see her, but it appeared she was in her bed.

“I was thinking we might help each other relax and go to sleep,” Tricia purred in a soft voice, and Thad found that he was instantly hard.

“Sounds lovely,” Thad replied. “What are you wearing?” he asked in as smooth a voice as he could muster.

“I’m not wearing anything, silly” Tricia replied throatily. “Why don’t you get naked for me too?”

Thad quickly slid off his boxers and watched as Tricia slowly pulled down the covers, exposing her beautiful nude form.

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