Peter was watching. My honor was at stake.
The whistle blew, and everything else dropped away.
I took off at a sprint, clearing the first hurdle without breaking stride, my boots pounding the dirt as I ran to the rope. Using every bit of my competitive streak as fuel, I grabbed hold of the rope and hauled myself up. Behind me I could hear Hudson and Drew talking shit to each other and Rome laughing like a lunatic, but it all faded into the background as I focused on the next obstacle, then the next. Pushing myself harder and faster and not giving myself a second to think about anything but staying ahead.
Except that wasn’t the truth. Because Iwasthinking. About the way my shoulder didn’t hurt anymore because of a specific someone who maybe, just maybe, was watching my ass right now.
I hit the mud pit at full speed, landing hard enough that it splashed up my legs, soaking through my shorts instantly. I didn’t let that deter me a bit, and I powered through it with a curse, dragging my feet free and grabbing the next rope to pull myself up.
“You trying to swim in it?” Hudson shouted behind me.
“Eat my mud,” I threw back, not slowing.
A hand brushed across my side, so quick I thought I’d imagined it. But it was impossible not to feel the spark under my skin as Beckett moved up beside me, his breathing a little heavier now.
“You’ve done this before,” he said. Was that admiration in his tone? Or surprise?
Considering the only athletic thing he’d seen from me was pulling a muscle doing a dance move that should be outlawed, I could understand why he might assume I wouldn’t be great at this.
It was just stubbornness more than ability at this point.
“Yes,” was all I said, not taking the bait of distraction as I pushed harder, my muscles burning as I hauled myself up the incline.
I really needed to work out more.
But Beckett kept pace, matching my moves, making me completely, utterly aware of him. He didn’t try to overtake me, and I had the thought that he probably could’ve.
Instead it felt like we were running this thing together. Which was ridiculous. This wasnota team sport; this was a win-or-die trying situation, and I was not about to?—
“Hey, Sawyer, your dick’s out,” Drew yelled, but considering he was behind me, I wasn’t falling for that one.
“Bite my ass,” I called back. When Rome’s laughter rang out, I could hear the way he was gaining ground on me as I hit the final stretch.
Elevated beams. The bastards swayed in the breeze and tried to go completely sideways when I stepped onto them. My pulse pounded in my ears as voices got closer, closer, but I needed to focus and balance.
I held my arms out as I crossed the first beam and mounted the second. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see Beckett on the set of beams that ran parallel to mine. With his outstretched arms, his fingertips were close enough to almost touch mine…
But I didn’t. Didn’t even think about it. Except I did, because I couldn’t help but see him, the way our movements synced up in a way that made it harder to breathe.
My legs were screaming as I started on the third beam, and Beckett must’ve seen me almost lose my balance halfway through, because he said, “Don’t fall.”
“Bet you wish I would.”
“Never.”
His fingers brushed mine, just for a second, and my breath hitched, my gaze snapping up to his.
Big mistake.
There was something heated and entirely too overwhelming for me to think about when my brothers’ footsteps pounded behind me.
As much as I hated to do it, I yanked my hand away, made my way across the final beam, and then dropped down onto the last stretch, where all I needed to do was run.
Beckett wasn’t by my side as I sprinted toward the finish line, my lungs burning something fierce. I pushed as hard as my body would let me, and when I crossed the finish line first, I let out an ear-piercing shout of victory.
“Suck…on…that,” I managed to say between deep lungfuls of air, even though my brothers weren’t close enough to hear it.
My eyes found and stayed on Beckett, who hadn’t been far behind me, crossing the line second. If it were possible, he looked even hotter after the obstacle course. Mud streaked up his muscular legs, splattered up his sweat-plastered shirt and even across his jaw. His hair was damp, his chest rising and falling as his eyes found mine. His mouth turned up on one side, like he was proud of me or something.