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

Those first weeks of December, the days were full, but the nights were long and sad. Tom Alan barely spoke a word to Milo the entire time. Ben, on the other hand, he and Tom Alan chatted a lot, mostly digitally. One night, ten days before Christmas, on webcam IM, he was giving Ben a screen-full, while someone on the phone was giving Ben an earful.


AniOtouto, on webcam IM: I can’t live without him, Ben. Oh. You’re on the phone. Should I let you go?


Shrimpy2012: No. It’s good, Tom Alan. I can do both.


AniOtouto: I won’t keep you. Is it Adam? :)


Shrimpy2012: No. A buddy of mine. Keep talking.


AniOtouto: What’s saddest is…:( I didn’t even get to tell him everything.


Even if we get by all the stuff I told him, there’s other stuff.


Stuff that isn’t going anywhere anytime soon.


I planned on setting him free. I wanted to spend one night in his arms, then let him go. But we never got that far.


Chapter 76