Chapter 10
SAWYER
ISHOULD’VE KNOWN when our moms told us we’d be doing a “fun, casual” obstacle course this morning that they were full of it.
This wasn’t going to be some peaceful bonding or some let’s-enjoy-nature activity where we all cheered each other on. Hell no. This was a setup. A carefully orchestrated, emotionally manipulative, sibling-baiting setup designed to bring out every competitive instinct the Montgomery sons possessed.
It was working, too, because while our moms were trying to hide their grins over their coffees, Hudson was on one side of the starting line, rolling his shoulders back like he was about to enter a boxing ring.
Rome was stretching like he’d just been cast in another action film, God help us.
As for me, I was laser focused on scanning every inch of the course, looking for weak spots.
“Nice form,” Drew said, admiring Hudson from behind before moving in beside him. “Too bad I won’t be seeing much of it when I’m kicking your ass.”
Hudson glanced at him and scoffed. “You’re about to eat mud, Edwards.”
“I do seem to remember the last time we rolled around in the mud together. Pretty sure I came out on top.”
“Oh my God,” I muttered, scrubbing a hand over my face. “You two are insufferable this early.”
Rome snorted. “No, they’re insufferable always. Also, I’d just like to point out that I’m the only one here with actual stunt training, so if you’re thinking you have a chance here, you don’t.”
“Please. You played a vampire with a wire harness,” I said. “Let’s not pretend you scaled Everest.”
“If you knew how hard it was to be in a harness strangling your balls and chafing your ass for fourteen-hour days, you’d be apologizing to me right now.”
“Boys,” Mama called out from the sidelines, shielding her face from the sun with her hand. “Try not to kill each other before lunch. This is supposed to be fun.”
“No promises,” Hudson said under his breath as he waved at them.
I turned his way, a retort on my tongue, but my attention got caught on the crowd of people gathered, including two men standing near our moms, and I snapped my mouth shut.
Peter stood off to the side with Alec, who looked perfectly content to stay right where he was, coffee in hand and sunglasses on like this was some spectator sport.
Peter, on the other hand, had always joined in on these competitions, and he was watching us with a look that said he’d rather be participating than sitting this one out.
“Aw, looks like Peter’s old man won’t let him come out to play,” Rome said, following my gaze. “Too bad. Would’ve been fun to trample his ass.”
“Yeah.” I blew out a breath and turned back to the course, shaking off the way one look at Peter threw me off. It was weird, not just his being here, but watching us. Not being beside me but beside another man.
Last night had opened my eyes a bit, though, because the Peter I knew never would’ve talked to me the way he did. Hell, the Peter I thought I knew wouldn’t have done the dickhead move of showing up here at all.
Or, you know, breaking up with me in the first place.
“How’s your shoulder holding up?”
I turned to see Beckett returning, having changed into one of the resort’s fitted athletic shirts, and the white material clung to him in an almost indecent way.
Or maybe that was just my line of thinking after feeling his hands on me last night. Magical freaking hands.
“Um.” He’d asked a question—what was it?
Oh. Right. Shoulder.
“It feels fine, actually,” I said, rolling it a bit, and nope, no pain. Only the tiniest bit of soreness from where he’d worked out the knot. “You should insure those hands, though, because I was definitely feeling it last night.”
“Yet here you are.” His gaze traveled over the course and he shook his head. “This a good idea?”
“Uh oh,” I heard Drew say behind me as I turned to face Beckett.
“Oh, Becks. My dear, sweet boyfriend.” I almost said fake boyfriend and had to stop myself.
Maybe I needed to quit referring to him that way in private.
“If there’s one thing you need to know about me, it’s that I would hobble in from my deathbed before I let these three get bragging rights for all eternity. ”
He arched a brow and glanced past me at my brothers and Drew, and whatever he saw on their faces made him nod. “Understood.”
“Good.” I smiled and leaned in, giving him a quick kiss on the cheek before I realized what I was doing.
Oh…shit.
I froze, still inches from his face, and cursed silently.
Was I not supposed to do that? I didn’t even know why I had, other than it felt natural to do it, but what if he didn’t like it or thought I’d just crossed a line? I mean, we hadn’t discussed kisses, even cheek kisses; we’d only mentioned holding hands and casual touches and—
Beckett curled his arm around my waist, pulling me in close and not leaving an inch of space between us. He held me tight, his fingers spread across my lower back, his breath warm on my lips as our eyes locked.
Oh my God. He’s going to kiss me for real, I thought, and it was a welcome thought.
I’d thought about it all last night when he’d fallen asleep beside me and I listened to his steady breaths, imagining what it would be like to rip the pillow barrier away and press my lips against his. Well, when he was awake, anyway.
He stared down at me, and I wanted to tell him to just do it, to kiss me, because no way in hell was I making another move. The ball was in his court now.
Fake boyfriend, fake boyfriend. The kiss wouldn’t be real.
I could pretend it was real, though. Beckett would never have to know.
There was definite heat in his eyes, simmering behind the cobalt blue. His hand flexed against my back, and just when I started to close my eyes in anticipation, he said, “Don’t think this means I’m going to take it easy on you.”
Rome fucking cackled at that as Beckett let me go and began to stretch his beyond-perfect body.
“Looks like you’ve got some competition,” Rome said, and I flipped him off.
Beckett had left me a little dazed from that hot move, and—
Wait a second. He’d done that on purpose, hadn’t he? He knew how hot he was—I’d told him all night last night, stupid alcohol—which meant he was using his sex appeal to throw me off guard.
Nope. Not happening. Focus. You are not letting any of them take you down. Not even Beckett. Not even if he got on his knees and—
A shrill whistle had those thoughts fleeing before my dick had a chance to get involved. As the instructor took her place on the course in front of us, I noticed few of the other guests of our moms had decided to join in on the competition.
“Okay,” the instructor called out, clapping her hands and pulling everyone’s attention forward. “We’re going to break into teams—”
A loud chorus of nos, including my own, had the instructor frowning. “I’m sorry?”
“No teams,” Hudson said. “Individual times. Every man or woman for themselves.”
Drew nodded. “I agree.”
“Yeah, I’m not sharing the glory.” Rome crossed his arms, and the woman’s mouth fell open in recognition. He winked at her.
The bastard better not get preferential treatment.
“Trust us, it’s better this way,” I added. “Besides, there’s only room for my name on the trophy.”
The instructor frowned. “There’s no trophy.”
“Oh, we’ll find a trophy,” Rome said.
She looked a little stunned by the responses, but quickly recovered and decided to go along with it. As she gave us a rundown of the course, the energy shifted from teasing to full-on electric.
I felt Beckett getting into position beside me and resisted looking. If I caught another glimpse of the way he filled out those shorts a little too well, I wouldn’t be so quick to get in front of him, and that was not an option.
Peter was watching. My honor was at stake.
The whistle blew, and everything else dropped away.
I took off at a sprint, clearing the first hurdle without breaking stride, my boots pounding the dirt as I ran to the rope.
Using every bit of my competitive streak as fuel, I grabbed hold of the rope and hauled myself up.
Behind me I could hear Hudson and Drew talking shit to each other and Rome laughing like a lunatic, but it all faded into the background as I focused on the next obstacle, then the next.
Pushing myself harder and faster and not giving myself a second to think about anything but staying ahead.
Except that wasn’t the truth. Because I was thinking. About the way my shoulder didn’t hurt anymore because of a specific someone who maybe, just maybe, was watching my ass right now.
I hit the mud pit at full speed, landing hard enough that it splashed up my legs, soaking through my shorts instantly. I didn’t let that deter me a bit, and I powered through it with a curse, dragging my feet free and grabbing the next rope to pull myself up.
“You trying to swim in it?” Hudson shouted behind me.
“Eat my mud,” I threw back, not slowing.
A hand brushed across my side, so quick I thought I’d imagined it. But it was impossible not to feel the spark under my skin as Beckett moved up beside me, his breathing a little heavier now.
“You’ve done this before,” he said. Was that admiration in his tone? Or surprise?
Considering the only athletic thing he’d seen from me was pulling a muscle doing a dance move that should be outlawed, I could understand why he might assume I wouldn’t be great at this.
It was just stubbornness more than ability at this point.
“Yes,” was all I said, not taking the bait of distraction as I pushed harder, my muscles burning as I hauled myself up the incline.
I really needed to work out more.
But Beckett kept pace, matching my moves, making me completely, utterly aware of him. He didn’t try to overtake me, and I had the thought that he probably could’ve.
Instead it felt like we were running this thing together. Which was ridiculous. This was not a team sport; this was a win-or-die trying situation, and I was not about to—
“Hey, Sawyer, your dick’s out,” Drew yelled, but considering he was behind me, I wasn’t falling for that one.
“Bite my ass,” I called back. When Rome’s laughter rang out, I could hear the way he was gaining ground on me as I hit the final stretch.
Elevated beams. The bastards swayed in the breeze and tried to go completely sideways when I stepped onto them. My pulse pounded in my ears as voices got closer, closer, but I needed to focus and balance.
I held my arms out as I crossed the first beam and mounted the second. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see Beckett on the set of beams that ran parallel to mine. With his outstretched arms, his fingertips were close enough to almost touch mine…
But I didn’t. Didn’t even think about it. Except I did, because I couldn’t help but see him, the way our movements synced up in a way that made it harder to breathe.
My legs were screaming as I started on the third beam, and Beckett must’ve seen me almost lose my balance halfway through, because he said, “Don’t fall.”
“Bet you wish I would.”
“Never.”
His fingers brushed mine, just for a second, and my breath hitched, my gaze snapping up to his.
Big mistake.
There was something heated and entirely too overwhelming for me to think about when my brothers’ footsteps pounded behind me.
As much as I hated to do it, I yanked my hand away, made my way across the final beam, and then dropped down onto the last stretch, where all I needed to do was run.
Beckett wasn’t by my side as I sprinted toward the finish line, my lungs burning something fierce. I pushed as hard as my body would let me, and when I crossed the finish line first, I let out an ear-piercing shout of victory.
“Suck…on…that,” I managed to say between deep lungfuls of air, even though my brothers weren’t close enough to hear it.
My eyes found and stayed on Beckett, who hadn’t been far behind me, crossing the line second.
If it were possible, he looked even hotter after the obstacle course.
Mud streaked up his muscular legs, splattered up his sweat-plastered shirt and even across his jaw.
His hair was damp, his chest rising and falling as his eyes found mine.
His mouth turned up on one side, like he was proud of me or something.
“You killed it,” he said. “Good job.”
Huh. No smartass remark or joke about tripping me? That was what Peter had always said after a competition, even though he’d never come close to edging me out.
Beckett, though, didn’t seem to care he’d come in second, and that threw me.
“You too—” I started before grunts from behind had us both turning around.
“You’re a fucking cheater,” Drew yelled as he and Hudson battled it out at the finish line, both trying to trip each other up, grabbing limbs and blocking each other.
“Consider it payback,” Hudson said. They were covered in mud from head to toe like they’d rolled in it, and over on the elevated platform, Rome was busy declaring himself the real winner because apparently Beckett and I had “worked as a team.”
I was still trying to catch my breath when I felt an awareness at the back of my neck. I turned before I could stop myself and instantly regretted it.
Peter stood exactly where he had before, Alec beside him, but Peter wasn’t looking at the course or any of the stragglers finishing up.
He was looking right at me.
There was something in that look that I recognized immediately. Something I used to respond to. He wasn’t looking at me like he had a boyfriend—or that I did. It had me instinctively straightening and pulling my shoulders back.
God, it shouldn’t matter that he’d watched me take the win. That I was glad he’d seen it.
“Hey,” Beckett said, his voice low as he followed my gaze. “You good?”
I felt guilty all of a sudden, like I’d been caught doing something wrong.
Ridiculous. Beckett was doing a hell of a good job making sure I wasn’t actively falling apart, but all thoughts of crossing the line had been my own, and I needed to remember that.
“I’m fine,” I said, a little too quickly. “Really. Just trying not to pass out before they engrave the trophy.”
He shifted a fraction closer and I could feel the heat of him, grounding me. “Let me know if I need to catch you.”
That did it. I was swooning now, and doing a piss-poor job trying to hide it.
God, Sawyer, get it together.
Fake boyfriend.
Fake boyfriend.
Fake. Boyfriend.
It’d be fantastic if my brain could get the memo before I did something crazy, like fall for the guy.
Shit.