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

“I was crying and bratty…He came over to get me.”


“No. I mean, my chichidid—Otousan,” Tom Alan said, still a little amazed. “If the creep hit me, I don’t remember that. Maybe that day a good thing erased the bad stuff in my head. That’d be good. So, Papa knocked right on the ding dang door, man! All, ‘I’m here to pick up your son.’ And I’m sure it wasn’t that easy, unless the creep didn’t want to make a scene, or he figured that he’d get me later.


“Anyway, ‘I don’t want to go home,’ I say at the end of the day. ‘Why not?’ Mr. Tsuchino…Nobuo asks. ‘I just wanna skate—all day—every day!’ I say. He asked me if that was all there was to it. ‘I can’t tell you,’ I said. That’s the first thing they do, the abusers…”


“Tell you not to tell,” Milo said, strumming Tom Alan’s ear like a guitar string.


Chapter 67