Peeking at Kitten, I only see a smirk on her lips, making me shake my head at her as I look at my beer. Crazy woman is enjoying seeing her man pissed. Not sure what it gets her other than a sick satisfaction that she knows what button to push.
“You know that.” He gives her a hard look. “You’ll be paying for that remark later.”
She smiles even wider, if that’s possible.
Ooh, that’s what she gets. Well played.
“But yeah, no issues with helping,” he continues. “Always wanted to see what those mud runs were like. They advertise them with the sales pitch ‘It’s what the military runs their soldiers through.’ Curious to see if it’s something actually legit enough for us to add to the property up north we just bought for our training events.”
I nod in agreement. I think obstacle courses are great for pushing a person beyond what they think they’re capable of. It has them not only using every single muscle as they switch from running to climbing walls and crawling through mud, but it’s a mental test as well. How far you’re willing to push yourself to get to a goal line.
“Good. Think you know anyone else who’d be willing to join us? Bailey said she only needed two, but if there are others willing, she has the room. Her initial team was a group of six, including her.”
Both look at me with matching smiles. I know my intent with Bailey is obvious, but I didn’t think it wasthatobvious.
Oh, what the hell. Yeah, I did.
I nod as a chorus of laughter filters around the club like a wolf howling as I watch Bass tell my dad and the rest of the brothers in the club a story. Got a feeling it’s about me, as they all keep looking over at me. I might not want to stop my dad from being happy, but I sure as shit don’t care about Bass. Guy might have been there for me when I needed him, but I think he’s gotten a little too comfortable with my dad. With learning about all my faults as a kid.
“Prospect,” I bellow at the kid behind the bar, and he comes over quick. “Get Bass a whiskey and keep the glass full, will you? Tell him it’s a thanks from me to him for helping me out. Use the Johnnie Walker we reserve for celebrating. I’ll replace whatever he goes through.”
The kid nods and heads off.
“Why you basically buying a brother a drink? You know that shit is expensive, hence why we reserve it.” Flint looks at me but doesn’t call the prospect back to tell him no.
“Because I think I just found the other willing brother to join us tomorrow.” I say it with a straight face but feel the twinkle in my eye. Guy’s going to hate life tomorrow, but that’s not my problem. I’ve just got to convince him to do it tonight. And after about four glasses of the good stuff, the guy will say yes to just about anything.
Flint knows it from the way he laughs as he holds up his beer for me to cheers him. “Welcome back, brother.”
Yes, welcome back indeed. Got my dad, my club, and soon I’ll have my woman. Just got to get muddy to get the last one.
But fuck it, I’m Gator. And like any true alligator, I fucking love the mud.
Chapter 10—Bailey
“Stop biting your nails.” Meekail grabs my hand and squeezes it.
I smile at the support, even if I do pull my hand out of his and go back to biting. I rarely bite my nails unless I’m nervous. Which makes no sense right now, and I say it.
“Why am I nervous?”
Meekail looks over at me from across the picnic table we claimed as ours when we got here. Jordan said he would do the race with me when my team dropped out the first time, but he still made a commitment to volunteer setting everything up. He’s over in the T-shirt area passing out the “free swag,” which is actually just what half the registration fee paid for when we all signed up.
“You’re nervous because despite how badass you are, you don’t think you’re a physical type of girl. No matter how many times you do a challenge for your kids, you always doubt yourself, even more so when it’s outside your comfort zone. And this is about as far as it gets for you because you still harbor the scared little girl inside who remembers being laughed at when you tried out for cheerleading your freshman year.”
My jaw drops at his words as he speaks of my past. I completely forgot about that. More like burned it from my memory when I was a kid. It was humiliating to get laughed and pointed at. I did everything right, then fell on my face when I had to do a herkie because I stepped on the side of my foot and took down like four others who were trying out too.
“I can’t believe you remember that.”
He snorts as he grabs the hand I was about to bite on once more and holds it tight. “Of course I do. I was the one who helped you up and took you to the nurse to get the sprain looked at.”
Oh yeah, I’d forgotten he was there for mascot tryouts too.
We were both trying to fit in and failed completely. Me because of my misstep, and him because he was there for me and missed his name being called to try out.
“Sorry—”
He cuts me off with a shake of his head before I can say anything more.
