over, handing me my clothes and some towels.
“I’ll start the Escalade and make sure the heat is on.”
I left my clothes off. They were still wet anyway. Instead I wrapped myself in two large towels. Mason came back in, barefoot in his sweatpants and shirt. He took one look at me and whipped off his shirt. He handed it over.
“Here. It’s something.”
I grinned, pulling it over me. I was more than okay with him driving home shirtless. “You’re going to attract attention from other drivers.”
He shrugged, then bent and threw me over his shoulder.
“Mason!”
He smacked me on the ass. “I’m being all gentlemanly. Let me carry you outside.”
I stopped struggling and pointed for him to grab my shoes. He must’ve taken his to the Escalade already. He locked the door behind him, double-checked it, and then deposited me in the passenger side of his vehicle.
I was pulling my seatbelt on when he paused. “Shit.”
“What?”
“Hold on.”
He went back in and returned ten minutes later.
“What’d you do?” I asked when he climbed inside again.
“I moved us to a place you couldn’t see on camera, but I still wanted to make sure.” He put his seatbelt on and pulled away from the building. “I just deleted the whole thing.”
“Are you going to get in trouble for being in there?”
“Nah. No way.” He got out to the open the gate, and then again to close it behind us. After that he found my hand. “I’m sure Logan’s blowing up our phones, but I needed that.”
I squeezed his hand. “Me too.”
We shared a look before he turned back to the road.
When we pulled up at the house, there were too many cars for him to pull into the driveway. He still opened the garage, and we went in that way. As soon as we opened the door to the house, loud music and laughter greeted us. Mason hit the garage button, then went on ahead of me. I huddled behind him, thankful for his bigger build.
“Hey!”
I heard Logan, but darted for the bedroom. I was inside and heading for the bathroom when I heard Mason saying, “We went swimming.”
“You couldn’t have told me? Dude.”
“Give us a minute to shower and chan—”
The door shut on Mason’s words, but as I turned on the shower and stepped under the water, I knew he’d be joining me here as well. A few minutes later, he did, but this time I didn’t turn around and find his mouth with mine. I leaned against him as we soaped our bodies and washed our hair. I could’ve turned around, pressed into him, and asked for round two, but my restraint was ironclad. That and I was exhausted. I smiled up at him, watching as he watched me, until we were both clean and there was no reason for us to remain.
I groaned. “How many were out there?”
“More than just Matteo and your two friends,” he said.
Another party.
I nodded, stepping outside as Mason turned off the water. “Chef Logan must’ve called some people.”
I handed him a towel, drying off with mine.
“I think some are Nate’s friends, and I’m pretty sure Matteo called a few guys from the team.”
“Nate has friends?” I was joking. Kind of. I knew he did, but they rarely came over.
Mason finished drying and grabbed new clothes from his closet. I could hear him as I found my own.
“He’s bartending at that place where Taylor worked last year. I think she put in a good word for him.”
“Really?”
I pulled on underwear, considered a sports bra, but tossed it for a regular one, and pulled on sweatpants. Mason’s had looked comfortable at the pool—I wanted to feel that too. I also grabbed one of his football shirts. I wanted to feel like this, like his, for the rest of the night.
His eyes darkened when he saw me wearing his shirt. He grabbed the sleeve, feeling the cloth. “I like when you wear my stuff.”
“Me too.”
He would’ve pulled me to him, but I slipped on some flip-flops and ducked out of his reach. He groaned.
Heading for the door, I promised, “Tonight.”
“Hell, yes.”
Then he reached for the door over my head and opened it for me. When we went out to greet everyone, we went together.
Two days later, my first cross-country meet had arrived. I had my leg pulled up behind me to stretch when Logan pointed a finger in my face.
“May you be the strongest. May you run the hardest. And may your ass beat some bitches and be the fastest.”
“Hey!”
He moved his finger to Taylor beside me. “Hold on a second.” He turned to face her, his finger in her face. “May you be the strongest. May you run the hardest. And may your cute and fine ass that I really loved impaling last night be the fas—”
She finished stretching and grabbed his finger. “You couldn’t have used a different word? Impaling? Really?” She rolled her eyes, letting go of his finger. “We got it. Thank you.” She gave him two thumbs-up. “Best cheerleading boyfriend ever.”
He straightened and saluted her, then me. “I’m doing my duty as boyfriend and brother. I hope you both kick ass, but Taylor, let’s be real.” She’d started to lift her other leg for a stretch, but he yanked her to the side and thumped her on the back. “We all know Sam’s going to be legend today. Legend, Samantha. L-e-g-e-n-d.” He said it slowly again, one last time, drawing it out.
I clipped my head in a nod. “Thank you.”
I wasn’t sure if he was helping or hurting. To say I was nervous would’ve been an understatement. Every inch of me was sweating, and my pulse was racing. I could feel it through my forehead.
This was it. This was the day I proved I could live up to the hype—and I knew there was some about me. I’d caught the looks the other teams were giving me. Or this was the day everyone learned I was a choker and a failure.
I tried to calm myself. I’d been annihilating Faith at every practice run, and I wasn’t even trying. According to records, she and a runner from another school had taken the top two spots last year at this meet. When I’d visited Raelynn earlier in the week, she’d filled me in. She said she was sure Faith had probably looked in on this runner’s times, and instead of focusing on beating me the last couple of weeks of practice, she might’ve been more centered on her previous rival.
When we lined up for our starting spots, it wasn’t hard to recognize the runner in question. She had the same diva aura Raelynn and Faith had had the first day I ran with them. She walked like a ballerina, with razor-straight posture and her almost-white hair up in a high braid. Girls didn’t worry about a lot of makeup for runs, but everyone did a light bit because of pictures. This girl had a smattering of glitter over her cheeks, but then again—I scanned the rest of her team—they all did. It must’ve been a team-bonding event.
“That’s Emily Kostwich,” Faith announced as she took her spot next to me. Our coach had put us in spots up front and in the middle. “She and I are your competition today,” she added, shaking her hands out.
“Does she know that?”
Emily lifted her chin and turned a haughty look our way. Her eyes were cold, and they seemed even chillier once she made eye contact with Faith.
“Oh, no.” Faith laughed under her breath. “I guarantee she thinks the hype about you is all made up. Nope.”
Emily wrinkled her nose and looked back to the front line.
Faith groaned. “I hate her. I’m not one of your fans, but if you beat anyone today, make sure it’s her. She needs to be brought down a couple notches.”
I made sure there was a deadpan expression on my face. “Funny. That’s what everyone says about you.” And fuck Coach. I moved over a couple girls, instructions be damned. I was going to run beside someone I trusted, and starting a packed race, Faith Shaw was not in that category.
“Strattan!”
I ignored his
yell and bent slightly. The start would be any moment.
I knew the route. There would be no surprises. We were on a golf course, and I’d walked it the night before with Mason, Logan, and Taylor. I wanted some familiarity, and today the entire way would be lined with flags and signs, and someone would be at every mile.
Some runners waited the first half, then pushed the second. Others were the opposite. I never had any strategy—I just ran, and with the crowd today, I had a feeling I wouldn’t be needing any extra adrenaline.
I breathed out, feeling my clammy hands. I needed to calm down. I could do that.
Stay steady. Stay strong. Stay true.
That was my phrase, and I started repeating it in my head. None of this mattered.
I began to strip it all down.
The other runners.
The whispers.
The rumors.
The hype.
Faith.
Even that Emily girl.
None of them mattered.
It was me. It was the course. It was the run.
It was my old friend. This was just another night I needed to run. Maybe I was pissed at my mom. Maybe I was pissed about Kate and her group that had jumped me. Maybe I was fuming about Cass, Mark’s girlfriend who’d hated me since high school. Or maybe I was thinking about Becky and Adam, about how he tried to set Mason up. Or maybe it was Budd Broudou in the back of my mind, when he was looking for Mason’s girlfriend because he wanted to rip her up with his dick.
All of those enemies flashed through my head.
There’d been so many, but the one that stood above the rest was Analise. And she was no longer my enemy.
They were all gone. I was done with them.
No. This was just me today. Me and my friend, the run.
Then the gun went off, and we started.
Everyone came off the line fast. I heard people from the sidelines yelling for us to slow down. We weren’t supposed to start this quick, but it didn’t matter. No one slowed. Faith surged ahead of me. That Emily girl was right behind her. I held back, just a little. There were a few runners between us.
The first mile passed.
The lead group pulled ahead of the others. This was my competition. I positioned myself at the back of that group.
Mile two passed.
We had fourteen more to go.
The lead group strengthened its advantage. The middle group was back by half a mile, at least. I still waited, content to sit behind the others, but once we passed mile six, then seven, then eight, I began feeling the itch.
I needed to go faster.
Faith and Emily were out in front. Emily had taken the lead a mile back, but Faith was on her heels. She was almost breathing down her neck.
Come on.
I heard the voice in my head. I didn’t know if it was mine, or Mason’s, or even someone else. It sounded like my mom, but no. It was me. My voice.
It’s time to go.
Tears streamed down my face. My stomach was still clenched in knots, but the voice was right. I could go faster and harder. We had eight more miles to go, a little less than that by now.
It’s time.
I moved to the side, and I picked up my pace. In thirty yards, I was ahead of the last ones in the group. Another thirty yards, and I was past the two behind Faith and Emily. They were farther out. It took me another half-mile to be right behind Faith.
She felt me. I knew she did. She glanced back once, but she didn’t react. She’d been waiting. I dug my heels in even more, and I was beside her. We matched our strides. Our arms swung in sync. Our legs tuned in to the other’s, feeling a teammate near. We moved together, and she gave me the slightest of nods. We forged ahead.
We reached Emily together.
She looked back and saw Faith. Her eyes were flat. They were full of pain, and she was exhausted, but she showed no other emotion. Then her eyes moved to mine and rounded a little bigger. But she couldn’t focus too much on me. She returned to facing forward. She couldn’t lose even that tiny bit of time, though it didn’t matter. She just didn’t know that.
Faith and I pulled ahead, then moved over to run right in front of Emily.
We went a half-second faster and began to put distance between us and her.
Tears streamed down Faith’s face as she looked at me and said, “Go.”
It was all I needed.
I ran.
I stopped thinking.
I tuned the people out.
I tuned the runners out.
It was me.
It was the course.
And I had my friend—the run.
Just her and me. Just doing what we always did.
In the beginning, I heard Coach Langdon yelling for me to slow down. He was worried I would burn out. I wouldn’t. I didn’t look behind me, but I was alone. I knew it was only me in the lead, and when I passed each mile marker, people were surprised. Either they were surprised it was me, or they were surprised I was there sooner than they’d expected.
I didn’t care.
I ran the rest of the race with no one behind me, and when I crossed the finish line, the crowd was quiet for a moment. When I stopped, my chest heaving, the tears were still falling. Something had happened. I didn’t know what, but I knew I had run one of my best times ever.
Then Logan was there. He let out a cry and picked me up, swinging me around. Nate came with him. He hugged me too. I knew it was just those two. Mason couldn’t come. He had a football event today because they were getting prepped for their game tomorrow, but I knew Logan had been on the phone with him. He had it in his hand, and I reached for it. I wanted to talk to Mason.
My whole body was buzzing, so when Logan tapped me on the shoulder and said something, I didn’t hear it right away.
His mouth was moving before I heard the words. “You beat the record, Sam!” His hands held my shoulders. “The record.”
“No.” Coach Langdon was next to him now, a shocked expression on his face as he looked from me to his watch. “According to this time, you would’ve qualified for the Olympics.”
It was all a rush afterward.
I took first, and even Faith was happy. She hugged me as soon as she crossed the line.
“That was my best time ever,” she gasped into my ear. “You helped me do that.” She pulled back, and then hugged me once more. “Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.” She kept crying and saying the same thing. A bunch of people came over to hug her. They were congratulating her, then me.