Page 52 of Remade

Maxine looked ready to throw in the towel for the day too.

In the meantime, I rounded the pool to meet up with Leighton.

In my defense, this was no picnic for Coach and me either. It was very humid in here.

Did they show sympathy for that? Fuck no.

“I’m so fucking done too,” Leighton gasped. “Screw it.”

I opened my mouth to respond, but he was already grabbing on to the edge. So I signaled to Coach that Leighton was out, and I squatted down in front of him.

“Still a great job,” I said. Three hours of rough drills was not nothing. Everyone at this level was a high achiever. “Catch your breath, baby.”

“Yeah, and then I want a Snickers,” he panted.

I grinned. “I’ll get you all the Snickers you want.”

“Hnnngh…” He clung to the edge and dropped his cheek to it, and I gave him a few seconds to focus on his breathing.

It seemed Shawn’s surrender had triggered the lot of them, and after Leighton was done, Maxine and Tanner followed. We’d see how long the others lasted.

To be honest, it was nice to see Leighton finish second to last, for once. Only because I’d worried he was pushing himself too hard and refusing to accept defeat. That refusal was important in the field where he had no options, but during training, it was just as fundamental to know your limits and customize your training accordingly.

Riley, Zander, and Philip were next, leaving Miguel and Gabriella.

“Okay,” Leighton breathed. “What did Operator Green want? For the record…” He swallowed and blew out another heavy breath. “Her class is really fucking hard.”

I knew it was. She was one of our best in hostage rescue and escape and evade, and we’d only touched on strategy so far.

“This is unrelated to her class.” I retrieved the check from my pocket and unfolded it in front of him. “We don’t have your bank information yet, so I hope this works.”

He squinted and knitted his brows together. “What’s…”

“You may be a recruit, but you’ve earned a payday after Fredericksburg.”

His eyebrows lifted, and his gaze flickered between the check and me. “Um.”

I smiled.

“Are you sure that’s right?” He dropped his voice to a whisper. “It’s almost six grand.”

Compared to the operations he’d work on in the future, this was nothing.

“You earned every penny,” I said.

“Holy shit,” he laughed shakily. “I can pay back Aunt Laura the four hundred I borrowed in August.”

I’d noticed he lived frugally, and that was no surprise. Training was a full-time commitment, so most recruits lived off savings and assistance from family.

“I just have to make sure she accepts it,” he finished. “Fucking hell. That’s a lot of money. Six grand.”

Maybe we could finally get a proper date? We’d gone out a couple times with Alex, but he was only comfortable letting me pay when she was around, for some reason.

“A lot of Snickers,” I teased.

He grinned crookedly.

November 28th, 2024

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