On his way to realizing his Olympic dream, Tom Alan Baranowski finds himself in the midst of a dilemma. His traditional Japanese coach is insisting upon an arranged marriage between his biological daughter Erika and adopted son Tom Alan, who are partners on the ice. Tom Alan loves Erika, and his coach literally saved his life, rescuing him from an abusive home. How can he say no?<br><br>Somewhat resigned to his “not so bad” fate, everything changes when Tom Alan meets British ice dancer Milo Fisher. The spark between them is almost hot enough to melt the ice beneath their blades, and the two fall into an affair.<br><br>What about Erika? What about loyalty? What about gold? For Tom Alan, the impossible throw quadruple jump is suddenly the least difficult thing in his life.

Quadruple Flip

“They’re gonna do it!” the announcer squealed. And the crowd, the crowd went wild—screeching, stomping, cheering. As Erika tore through the air, did four revolutions, then came down, every single person there, spectators, commentators, and reporters, had gotten to their feet. Erika had, too—both of them, though, not just one.


“Fuck!” Nobuo had said it out loud.


They received a small deduction on the landing but got huge points for finishing the rotation.


Now, as they became known as “The Quad Flip Kids,” the pressure was really on to do it even better in Canada. If they got another gold, they’d be off to Japan—surrogate home ice—for that year’s Grand Prix Final. The international judges would be paying close attention to them after that, which would bode well for Sochi.


“It is a must that we improve our second marks,” Kyoko stressed. “We cannot depend only on tricks. Especially when those tricks are not dependable.”


Chapter 4