Page 101 of Head Over Wheels

My vision blurred as I tasted tears, the rhythm of my heart stuttering and accelerating.

‘The Lucky One’. ‘I Can See You’.

My chest was heaving and I quickened my steps as he flipped over another one: ‘This Is Me Trying’, and then ‘How You Get the Girl’.

I couldn’t take it any more. I rushed at him, podium protocol be damned. Flinging my arms around his neck as the cardboard signs fluttered to the ground, I searched for his mouth and found it, sobbing into the kiss that I’d spent weeks wanting. Fumbling for his cheeks, I opened my mouth and ravished him, screw the censors, and his fingers curled into my back, sliding over my jersey.

Bringing his hands up, he slid off my sunglasses and unclipped the helmet I’d forgotten I was still wearing and held my face up, brushing his thumbs over my cheeks and studying me with all the heat and intensity I could take.

‘I love you, Lori. I’ve loved you for a long time.’ His lips thinned to a tense line as he stared at me with all the painand loss I’d felt myself over the past two weeks. ‘I’m sorry it took me a while to trust in it – to be brave like you. You know I’d race until I was eighty if it was the only way to be with you. But I think this will be better. I’m retiring – to be onyourteam – always.’

I was melting on the spot – at least that’s what it felt like, with tears burning down my cheeks and my nose running. ‘What about your bad luck rubbing off on me?’ I prompted with a poke.

His gaze dropped to where the medallions on my necklace were peeking out of my jersey and then back up to my eyes. He looked a little wobbly too, so I grabbed fistfuls of his T-shirt to hold him steady.

‘Good luck and bad, we’ll deal with it together.’ He brushed a hand along my neck, tracing Leesa’s chain and dancing his fingertips along my skin, as though he needed to reassure himself that I was real. ‘I have two more signs,’ he continued and bent down to retrieve them, clearing his throat as he shuffled to find the ones he wanted.

Next came, ‘You Are in Love’, along with a flash of his eyebrows. Crossing my arms, I gave a thoughtful tilt of my head. The last sign said, ‘You Belong with Me’, and then he glanced at me, his gaze provoking.

‘I’m sorry I tried to end things. Us together… is everything. I’ve always pushed people away, terrified of the end, but you sneaked through online because I could tell myself you didn’t really exist. I started falling in love with you the first time you laughed on the voice channel. You turned out to be evenmore amazing in real life and I’m still terrified, but I can’t run away any more. I’m already so in love with you I don’t know what I’m doing.

‘I want to keep making you happy. I want to watch you and support you – since I won’t have my own race schedule. And when you go and I can’t follow, you can come back to me and I’ll be there.’

‘“Something Human” to come home to?’

‘I thought you didn’t like Muse.’

‘The things we do for love,’ I murmured, pressing another soft kiss to his mouth. ‘But you obviously needed Taylor in your life.’

‘I needyouin my life. Iwantyou in my life. And if that comes with Taylor – and competitiveness and losing socks and banter and amazing sex – then… you know I can do that.’ His hands snaked around my waist and dragged me to him. ‘Are we good? Are we… back? FolkyDunes?’

‘I never let you go. I fell in love with you when you told Colin that Ken means to fuck in French.’

He choked on a laugh.

‘Or maybe when I saw how considerate you were to Matilda. You’re good for me, Seb, which is lucky, because I love you so much.’

A cheer rose in the crowd and we both froze, finally taking note of the camera trained on us, capturing every word. My forehead fell to his chest.

‘Oops.’

His hand slid to the back of my neck as he pressed a kissto my forehead. ‘Don’t worry. You’re wearing the yellow jersey. They have to treat you with respect.’

I lifted my head, smiling at him through tears. ‘I see you noticed my outfit.’

He grinned, leaning close to whisper in my ear. ‘You look hot in yellow.’

Yes, my luck had turned that day in the hills of Girona when I’d met him in person for the first time – the luckiest moment of my life.

Epilogue

r/Peloton · 22 July

Loonie_Dunes678

I have a favour to ask and it’s a bit of a long story, so bear with me. I haven’t been on here a lot over the past few years, but I know how special this space is to you guys and I hope you’ll get behind me. You might have seen a few headlines and social media posts, but here’s the full story:

Lori and I faked that stuff for the media – the photos on her feed, the kisses at the finish line. We weren’t really together. But I was falling in love with her anyway.

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