All said and done, it took less than eight seconds, but they were all breathing heavily by the time they were up and over the wall.
But they had done it.
They leapt down to the other side.
“Now let’s go finish this hellish course and catch that cheating bastard.”
Chapter 6
Boy Riley didn’t leave.
But then again, she hadn’t really expected him to. After all, why would he when she’d basically torn her own clothes off to have sex with him the first time they were alone?
That didn’t exactly suggest she was serious about the breakup.
So, when he’d shown up this morning at the starting line in race gear and with a race backpack rather than his regular one, she’d known he planned to stay.
Never mind that he hadn’t specifically trained for WAR like so many of the athletes had. Never mind that he probably hadn’t had most of the needed supplies. He’d shown up, determination in his eyes.
Whether it was to get answers from her or win the race—or both—she wasn’t sure.
She’d stayed away from him as he’d listened to Zac’s briefing and chatted with the other athletes. He hadn’t come near her. Hadn’t tried to talk. Thank goodness.
Damn heat between them. She had to make sure they weren’t alone for the rest of this race. She couldn’t let that happen again. Her heart couldn’t take it.
So she would just ignore him. Or treat him like every other athlete: with detached respect. If he needed medical assistance, she’d help, of course. And she would clear him to race each day like she had to do for everyone.
But that was it. Besides that, she would pretend she didn’t even know him.
Which worked perfectly as she pretended she didn’t even notice him taking off at the start line for the eight-mile loop that led the athletes to the obstacle course.
Then she had pretended not to watch him on the obstacles themselves.
It definitely hadn’t been his best day. She’d winced with every fall, felt every bruise as if it was her own.
But even unfocused and at a disadvantage, he’d still been beautiful to watch.
He was always beautiful to watch. There was a grace to him, the way his body moved. It was something only the most elite athletes possessed.
She’d always been sort of awed by his physical prowess. Whenever they’d done anything together, she’d always felt clunky and slow and cowardly.
Watching him just reminded her why they had to remain broken up. The physical differences between them from the beginning had been bad enough. The MS would just make it all unbearable.
At that point, she’d turned away from the obstacle course to drive back to the camp where everyone would be sleeping for the next three nights. She needed distance.
“Nobody has died yet, have they?” Zac smiled as he walked over from the supply truck to where she was standing outside the medical RV a few hours later. “I only expect that face if someone needs to be taken to the hospital.”
Zac didn’t know about her diagnosis. Anne would never tell him even if it wasn’t for all the privacy laws. Riley had gone to Reddington City for all her tests to make sure no one in Oak Creek found out.
She found a smile for Zac. “I’m just preparing myself for all the whining about to commence. You know how endurance athletes are. Big babies when it comes down to it. Second only to Special Forces soldiers when it comes to whine.” She elbowed Zac’s rock-hard abs. He, like most of the other guys who made up Linear Tactical, had served in the Army Special Forces.
And they were definitely not whiny.
“If you think they’re going to be boo-hooing today, you should see what we have in store for them tomorrow.”
“Tomorrow’s the kayaking, right?” The specifics of the race were a closely guarded secret until the night before, when Zac, as race director, would hold a briefing about what the athletes could expect the next day. Riley had been sworn to secrecy, and even she didn’t know all the details.
“Yup. Rapids navigation and kayaking skills. Everyone will have two choices: the long and safe route, or the shorter and much more likely to get you killed route.”
She rolled her eyes. “I don’t even have to guess which route most of them are going to take.”
“Well, the river will filter out those who can’t handle it. They’ll never be able to make the turn to get to the harder rapids. But I’ll have most of the Linear team out ready for emergency water rescue tomorrow in case they’re needed. How’s Phoenix on the kayak?”
She tried to hide her flinch. “He wins. Like he does everything.”
Zac ran a hand up over his hair. “Damn, I’m sorry. I heard you guys broke up. I’m just so used to you being—”
She touched his arm. “Don’t worry about it. Everyone is used to the two of us a unit. It’ll take a while for us all to adjust.”
It should only take her thirty or forty more years. “And Phoenix is better on a kayak than a lot of people might think,” she continued, forcing a smile. “It’s less his paddling skills and more his situational awareness, I think. He sees stuff sooner than most people do.”
“That’s why he’s a world-champion athlete.”
She nodded. It was exactly why he was a world champion in so many sports.
“He would’ve made a damn fine soldier also.” Zac poured water into a large pot and set it over the portable stovetop to heat. The athletes would start coming into camp not long from now. They’d need hot water for their MREs or freeze-dried meals. “You know Phoenix has helped Linear out more than once in some kidnapping situations. Gotten our men into places they wouldn’t have been able to access otherwise.”
“I know. He loves making a difference.” How many hours had they spent talking about the missions he’d helped with?
God, she couldn’t keep thinking about this if she didn’t want to end up crying like some whiny Special Forces soldier.
“Okay, so tomorrow.” She changed the subject. “It’s not the kayaking itself that’s going to give me the most business, but getting up and down to and from the river. Gashes, sprains, that sort of thing?”
He nodded. “Hopefully, everyone will take it slow and easy and no one will take the riverbank too fast and end up with a concussion.”
They looked at each other and both rolled their eyes. The chances of the participants, particularly the elite athletes, taking it slow up or down the path into the river were slim to none.
Riley laughed. “I’ll be ready.”
This camp would be home base for the first three nights. The tents were already set up for the participants, although they had to clear out the tent each morning and take everything with them in their backpack. Self-sufficiency was part of the challenge of this race, requiring the athletes to figure out what was necessary for optimum output.
They looked at each other as both their walkie-talkies went off. It was the volunteer stationed about a mile out from camp. “We’ve got our first athlete coming in.”
Riley waggled her eyebrows at Zac. “Let the whining begin.”
They walked together toward the camp’s entry point. “You got your bets on anyone?” she asked Zac.