AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Ihalf expected Maggie to complain about doing an obstacle course—but she didn’t. I definitely thought she’d have something to say about wearing the weight vest, but she surprised me and kept her mouth shut. In fact, Maggie had been suspiciously reserved all morning. Where was her head?
During the run, she’d made a few comments, answered a couple of questions but, for the most part, did not take part in our conversation. I wondered if she was one of those people who liked to check out when they ran so that they weren’t counting every footstep to the finish line.
I knew Maggie was listening to us because she’d chuckle every once in a while, but then slip back into silence—which bothered me. Maggie was never quiet, and I wanted to ask her what was on her mind. I wanted to ask her more than that, but I kept my mouth shut.
It was evident that Maggie did run often, and I never once heard her huff or act as if she needed to slow down. Once I told her to lead the pace, she’d picked it up nicely, and I wasn’t the only one that noticed.
After we returned, we polished off a few bottles of water, and then Trevor and I set up the obstacle course. We generally had everyone that went through our training run it at least twice, but I was pushing Maggie to the edge and wanted her to do it at least three times. I knew the obstacle course would be hard for her, especially the rope, but if she was as motivated as I thought she was, I had a feeling she’d get it done. Maybe not in under two minutes, but she’d finish. I’d never known Maggie to give up on anything.
Maggie darted off the line when Trevor said go, and she had no trouble popping herself over the two obstacles, even with the vest on. She got caught going under something, but readjusted herself lower and made it with only a short lapse in time. She pushed, she pulled, she ran, she tripped but caught herself, and when she hit the rope, Maggie tried her damndest. I could see her arms shaking, knew without a doubt that her legs were probably screaming at her, and I could tell that she was huffing. Her face was red, but she kept trying.
I glanced at Trevor, we shared a look, and then I jogged over to her side.
“Don’t!” she hissed at me.
“Maggie, let me just help you get started. A little boost, and then you can finish it.”
She grunted but didn’t reply, and I lunged to the side to allow her to step on my knee and use it to get higher. She struggled for a moment, but then she finally grabbed the top, and even though she didn’t want me to, I pushed her backside a bit to help get her over. Maggie slid down the other side, got to her feet, and crossed the finish line before slamming her back into the wall, sinking to the ground, huffing and puffing the whole way.
Her face was flushed, stray blond hairs stuck to the sides of her cheeks, and she see-sawed air through her parted lips. The woman had never looked more gorgeous to me, and I shook myself and turned away.
“What was my time?” Maggie finally asked after Trevor tossed her a bottle of water.
“Do you really want to know?”
“Yes,” she snapped before she guzzled half the water from the bottle.
“Three minutes and twenty-seven seconds.”
“I blame that on the wall. If I had gotten over that, what do you think my time would have been?” she asked him.
“You would have been over, but only a few seconds. You did excellent, Maggie; that wall just tripped you up.”
“Stupid wall,” she growled as she glared at it. When I laughed, she turned the glare to me, and I put my hands up.
“I was not laughing at you. I was laughing at the look on your face.”
“Same thing.” She sucked back the rest of the water. “How long do I get to rest before I have to do it again?”
“How about we let your muscles take a break, and we can try that again after lunch. We can work on some self-defense until then if that’s okay with you.” I answered, and she nodded, looking frustrated with herself.
Trevor helped her to her feet, and then he checked the vest he was wearing to make sure it was secure as I helped Maggie get hers off. “Oh, my god!” she exclaimed after the vest was off. “Let me run the next one without a vest and have no problem doing it in under two minutes.”
I chuckled. “Yeah, that’s not the deal.”
“Just once.” She batted her eyelashes at me.
“We’ll see.”
Trevor tossed the stopwatch to me, and Maggie stood by my side as Trevor ran the course, coming in two seconds faster than me. “I’ll get you on the next round,” I told him as he slapped me on the back.
“Yeah, we’ll see about that.”
For the next two and a half hours, we worked on self-defense drills intermittently as we discussed safety topics so we could rest between sets. By lunch, we were all starving, and when Maggie excused herself to the restroom, Trevor took a seat next to me at the table where we had some lessons laid out.
“She’s in really good shape,” Vaughn said.
“Yeah, she is.”
