She pulled away but her legs buckled. I grabbed her again to keep her upright.
“Are you okay?”
She clutched my arms. “My legs don’t seem to want to work properly.”
“You must be exhausted. Hang on, I brought you something else.”
I made sure she was steady before letting go, then retrieved the bag I’d left sitting on the ground. I pulled out a banana and opened one of the bottles of Gatorade I’d picked up at the store.
“Thank you.” She took the bottle and drank deeply.
“We bought enough for everyone.”
“We?”
“Yeah, me and Shepherd.”
She took another drink. “Why were you with Shepherd?”
I shrugged. “He came over to ruin my life, but he actually helped me figure things out.”
“Ruin your life?”
“Never mind.”
A woman with curly blond hair, much of it wet and matted against her head, came up behind Hazel and wrapped her in a hug. She was followed by Shepherd, holding hands with a blond woman who was obviously Everly, and another pair, both with dark hair, who appeared to share the same genetic material. Probably siblings. The women all wore matching shirts and finisher’s medals around their necks.
“So this is him?” The dark-haired woman crossed her arms and looked me up and down, but she had the hint of a smile on her face.
Hazel slipped her hand in mine. “Everybody, this is Corban. If it’s not already clear, the events of last weekend were a misunderstanding. And I’m his penguin.”
“I don’t know what that means, but it’s so nice to meet you,” the curly-haired woman said. “I’m Sophie.”
I held out my hand, but Sophie came in for a hug—faster than I was expecting—and I practically punched her in the stomach.
“Oof.” She grabbed her middle.
“Oh my god, I’m so sorry.”
“Nope.” She held up a hand and took a deep breath. “Totally my fault. Let’s try that again.”
This time, I went in carefully, keeping my arms to the sides. She gave me a quick hug and I patted her on the back.
Everly gave me a bright smile and we executed a hug without any inadvertent punching. “I can’t believe we haven’t met you yet. I’m Everly. This is my husband, Shepherd.”
I nodded to Shepherd. “Yeah, we’ve met.”
“Oh, that’s right.” Everly winced. “Sorry about that.”
Shepherd was still eying me like he hadn’t made up his mind about me. He didn’t look sorry at all.
“I’m Nora,” the dark-haired woman said. She gestured over her shoulder. “That’s my brother, Jensen.”
Jensen raised a silver flask with a smile. “Cheers, mate.”
Nora stepped close, putting her arms around me, and spoke quietly in my ear. “Good job, big guy. I’m glad Shepherd didn’t have to burn down your life.”
“Um, me too?”
She patted my arm and winked. “Don’t fuck it up.”
“Not a chance.”
I passed out bananas and bottles of Gatorade to Hazel’s friends. More finishers came in from the course, dozens of tired and triumphant faces passing by. A man with a purple and teal mohawk and wearing a peacock costume—complete with a huge fan of feathers—approached.
“Nice finish, ladies,” he said.
All four of them answered with a chorus of thank-yous.
“I love your costume,” Everly said.
Nora nodded. “It’s fierce.”
“Thank you.” He puffed out his chest, then turned to Hazel. “I just had to tell you, I really wanted to quit around mile ten. But I heard you asking everyone what they’re running for, and I remembered why I decided to do this. It gave me what I needed to finish.”
Hazel smiled. “I’m glad my spontaneous words of encouragement were helpful.”
He grinned at her. “More than you know. I also wanted to tell you I overheard that fake-ass group of mean girls giving you crap before the race. Don’t let those bitches dim your shine.”
“It’s too bad they punked out on us,” Sophie said. “Bella owes me five hundred dollars.”
Peacock Man raised his eyebrows. “She what?”
“Bella’s their ringleader,” Nora explained. “Sophie bet her five hundred dollars that our times would be faster than theirs.”
“And you won?”
“We crushed them,” Sophie said.
“Oh, hell no. Don’t go anywhere, I’ll be right back.” Peacock Man turned and strutted into the crowd.
“Do you think he’s really going after them?” Everly asked.
Nora laughed. “I think he is.”
“You won the bet?” I asked Hazel.
“We didn’t just win.” She pushed her glasses up her nose. “We owned them.”
God, she was adorable. I grabbed her and kissed her forehead. I loved her so damn much.
A few minutes later, Peacock Man’s tail feathers appeared in the crowd. He approached with a smug look of triumph on his face. With a flourish, he stepped aside and sure enough, he’d brought a group of four women wearing the gaudiest outfits I’d ever seen. Bedazzled Bitches? Who in their right mind had thought that was a good idea?
They looked miserable. One of them scowled at Peacock Man. He shook his head as if to say, don’t even think about leaving.
Nora, Everly, Sophie, and Hazel all crossed their arms and narrowed their eyes. Shepherd and I shared an alarmed glance, and I wondered if he was thinking the same thing I was thinking. I wouldn’t want to face the collective wrath of the Dirty Martini Running Club.
“Trying to leave before you pay up?” Nora asked. “Classy, Bella.”
One of the women in the middle huffed and rolled her eyes. I guessed she was Bella.
“It’s not fair,” the woman next to her said. “She shouldn’t have to pay. I think it was our shoes. We must not have broken them in properly.”
“Shut up, Drew,” Bella said. “It wasn’t your shoes. You just failed.”
“Me?” Drew asked. “We all ran today, Bella.”
“If you three hadn’t been weighing me down, I would have won.”
“Pay her, mosquitoes,” Hazel said. “Then go annoy someone else.”
I lowered my voice. “Mosquitoes? That’s a good one.”
She smiled at me. “Thank you.”
“I didn’t bring any cash,” Bella said.
“That’s okay,” Sophie said. “I’ll take PayPal, Venmo, whatever.”
Bella’s nostrils flared. She pulled her phone out of a pocket on her leggings, her narrowed eyes locked on Sophie. “Fine.”
Sophie cheerfully took Bella’s payment.
“You guys are like lions and hyenas,” I said.
Hazel looked up at me. “How so?”
“Female hyenas are vicious to each other. There’s usually a dominant female who controls all the reproductive opportunities, and the subordinate females attend to her like servants. Female lions are one of the few social predators who are completely cooperative. The lionesses in a pride all have equal access to mating opportunities and they almost never fight or attack each other. Plus they hunt together, share their kills, and help each other raise their cubs.”