Page 31 of Unrivaled

Oh yeah. Max was gonna laugh so hard when he fell in the pool.

All limbered up, Brad handed Max a stopwatch. “See if I can beat my personal best.”

Max heard,Let’s see how wound up your cranky friend gets when he can’t match my time.“Okay. On your mark… get set….” The watch beeped.

And Brad was off.

He ran straight across the padded benches with nary a wiggle. When he grabbed the rings, he switched right from a jog into a sort of monkey-swinging motion. Five rings later he was on the third platform.

Then he sprinted across the Shrinking Stairs—they wobbled too, and they got taller and smaller as they crossed the pool. Brad made it look like a breeze. Next up was—

“What the fuck,” Grady muttered.

Next up was the Salmon Ladder, a bar you had to hang suspended from and then sort of jump, but with your arms, until the bar caught on the next set of rungs. There were five sets. At the top, Brad grabbed a rope, which he used to swing fifteen feet to a metal bar mounted on a horizontal wooden beam.

“Still think this is gonna be easy?” Max asked as Brad bouldered along the beam.

“Fuck you.”

Brad dropped to the padded platform and descended the steps to the final obstacle—the wall.

Which he proceeded to run up. He grabbed the metal bar at the top and swung his body up like it was nothing.

Max hit the button on the stopwatch. “Two minutes, eight seconds.”

Brad flopped dramatically onto his back. “Two seconds too long.”

“This is batshit insane,” Grady said.

“Fuck yeah it is.” Max grinned at him. “Fastest time tops? Or you want to make it first through without falling?”

Grady didn’t even think about it. “First through.”

Good idea—otherwise they might use too much energy trying to one-up each other. “Deal.” Then Max grinned. “And sinceyou’retakingmeout on this date, I think that means I get to go first.”

He could tell Grady wanted to argue, but somehow he swallowed the impulse. “Please,” he said through clenched teeth. “Be my guest.”

Max had done a few stretches before he left home, but he did a few more now to make sure he still felt limber and also to make Grady sweat when his shorts rode up. He climbed the first platform and jogged in place for a few seconds to psych himself up.

Now or never.He launched himself onto the first bench.

He almost face-planted when the bench lurched to the side because he didn’t put his foot right in the center. Only years of balancing on skates kept him upright. But he stumbled across the second and third benches to the next obstacle.

Grady’s laughter reached his ears. Max shot him the finger.

All going according to plan.

“Hey! Bad etiquette,” Grady scolded.

“I’m not the one who needs a lesson!” The rings sucked. Max washeavy, and most of his strength was in his lower body. But if it was bad for him, it would be worse for Grady, who was heavier in the ass and thighs as well as everywhere else. He missed the final hook and ended up dropping the ring in his left hand, but he swung his body and got enough momentum to fling himself onto the platform.

He flopped there for a moment on his hands and knees, milking the appearance of trying to catch his breath. “This is the part where my concerned partner checks if I’m still alive.”

“Well, your mouth still works, but that’s no guarantee there’s no brain damage.”

Rather than attempt a response, Max attempted the next obstacle. For Max, the test was a big step onto a tiny wobbly lily pad over a pool. For Grady, it was whether he could have—or fake—a normal reaction.

Max took the big step and let himself lose balance. He flailed spectacularly to no avail and hit the water sideways.

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