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“Welcome to the team, bro!” Kruger and Prism called from the edge of the pool.
“Count it out, Wes!” Ryan hollered as he and Jamie started swinging my body once more.
I didn’t even bother to protest. I just laughed.
“One! Two!” Wes counted.
Jamie and Ryan ran forward, swinging me out over the water, then bringing me back in.
“Three!”
I went airborne for one long moment in time, my body sailing out over the water before landing with a hard smack on the surface. The shock of the cold water stole my breath like always as I plunged into the depths and bubbles burst up around me. I let out a scream just because I could because the density of the water was a perfect match for all the emotions overwhelming me.
I yelled it out, letting the waves buffer and absorb it as the cold temperature numbed my skin. I floated for long moments, using my arms to keep me under before glancing at the bright, rippling surface and pushing up.
The second I cleared the surface, I dragged in a long breath and licked the chlorinated water off my lips. Blinking the drops from my eyes, I looked at the edge of the pool where Ryan, Jamie, Wes, Kruger, and Prism were smiling. A few guys whose names I didn’t remember yet were also standing there.
“Elite,” they all started to chant, “Elite. Elite.”
Cutting through the water, I swam toward them.
“Please tell me that was not initiation.” A sarcastic voice cut off the chanting.
Everyone turned, but they didn’t need to because Rush shouldered through to look down where I was still treading water.
“Go!” Jamie hollered, and there was a burst of movement, some yelling, and then Rush was hitting the water with a sharpslap!
Seconds later, he burst up, flinging water droplets from his hair, which was not covered in a swim cap. Actually… he was still dressed in jeans and a shirt.
“You’re lucky my phone is in my bag!” he roared.
“It’s just a little water,” Ryan mused. “It’s tradition.”
Rush cut through the water, hoisting himself out without even breathing hard. Water poured off his wet clothes, which were plastered to his cut swimmer’s body. Unfolding from a crouch, he rose to his full height, taking a threatening step toward Ryan.
They were fairly well matched in height, their eyes glaring into the other’s without blinking.
“Yeah? Well, your tradition sucks,” Rush spat.
“You know where the door is if you don’t like the way Elite does things.” And you know, though they seemed well matched, Ryan was different. He was calmer. Less volatile than Rush. He spoke without challenge but with authority.
Rush put both hands on Ryan’s chest and shoved. Ryan rocked back onto his heels but otherwise stayed planted in place.
“Whoa,” Jamie said, all trace of the goofball he usually embodied gone. He stepped up beside Ryan, so close their shoulders brushed. “What crawled up your ass and died, Rush?”
“Funny. I was just about to ask your captain here the same thing.”
“We don’t have captains here,” Ryan said, almost bored.
“But we both know you run the show.”
Ryan’s shoulders rolled. “Seems you don’t like that.”
“I don’t play second fiddle to anyone.”
“Good thing this isn’t an orchestra, then.”
“Funny,” Rush mused, nostrils flaring a bit.
