“News flash: It’s October, and you just filled that shit up with water from the stream that feeds down from the mountains.” But Ryan was already stripping down too.
Mark followed suit. Why the hell not? He jumped, landing with a splash in a waist-deep combination of ice cold water and mud. It oozed between his toes and sucked at his body as he walked away from the edge.
Beside him, Ryan was laughing like a crazed hyena, sloshing his way through the muck. “Yo, this may be my favorite obstacle on the course this year.”
“No shit.” Ethan was laughing too. “Whose idea was this? It’s genius.”
“I think it was yours, genius,” Mark said. The muddy water reached his chest at the center of the pit. Racers were going to love this.
“Oh yeah.” Ethan grinned like the cocky bastard he was. “Hey, why are you two losers just standing there? Get your asses over here so I can race you to the other side.”
“You’re on, man,” Ryan said, hustling toward Ethan.
“Loser treats at Rowdy’s tonight,” Mark said, sloshing past Ryan.
“Can’t,” Ethan said. “Promised Gabby I’d help her finalize the seating plan for the wedding.”
“Me neither,” Ryan said. “Em and I are going to a movie.”
Mark hauled himself out on the muddy bank beside Ethan. Things were changing now that Ryan was married and Ethan was only a few days from joining him. They were both properly domesticated now. Which left Mark pretty much where he’d always been in life, on his own. “Well, I’m going to beat your asses anyway. Whichever one of y’all loses can treat at Rowdy’s another night.”
“Those are fighting words,” Ethan said with his trademark grin in place. “You’re on.”
“You do remember what he does for a living, right?” Ryan asked Mark, one eyebrow cocked. He was referring to the fact that Ethan coached the Pearcy County High swim team and had a couple of Olympic gold medals tucked away in his closet.
“Special Forces trumps Olympics when it comes to mud,” Mark said simply.
“Shit, man. He’s got some kind of Special Ops stuff up his sleeve,” Ryan said to Ethan in mock alarm.
“I’m not worried.” Ethan crouched down beside the mud hole, ready to jump.
Ryan took his place beside him. “All right then. Three. Two. One. Go!”
Out of the corner of his eye, Mark saw Ryan jump in feet first. Yep. He’d be buying at Rowdy’s. Mark went in slow, keeping near the edge of the pit where it was shallower. He treaded lightly against the bottom, pulling himself forward with big scoops of his hands through the muddy water. To his right, Ethan was attempting to swim through the muck and going nowhere fast.
He and Ethan were neck and neck until about halfway out when the firmer ground around the edge of the pit came into play as Ethan floundered in the mud. From somewhere behind them, Ryan called out, “Godammit, I’m stuck!”
Mark plowed ahead, not slowing until he’d pulled himself out on the other side. “Hooah!” he hollered, raising his fists in victory.
Ethan climbed out after him. “Sonofabitch.”
Ryan hadn’t even made it halfway across. “Oh yeah. Go ahead and laugh,” he called, grimacing as he sloshed deeper into the mud.
Obligingly, Ethan did just that.
“You’re right,” Mark told him. “This is a kick-ass new obstacle.”
They stood there and watched—and laughed—as Ryan finally made his way to shore. He hauled himself up beside Ethan and Mark with a groan. “That shit iscold. My balls have gone so far up inside my body I may never find them again.”
Ethan doubled over in laughter.
“Good thing you’ve already knocked up your wife,” Mark commented.
“Funny. Real funny,” Ryan said, but he was laughing too.
Mark walked over to the pump and rinsed the worst of the mud from his body and then reached for his clothes where he’d dropped them. His cell phone showed a voice mail from Gordon McDermott. Mark pressed the phone to his ear and listened and then turned to his friends. “Our offer topped Jess’s.”
Ryan whooped while Ethan did some weird, hip-thrusting victory dance. Mark didn’t feel much like celebrating though because his gut told him Jess wanted—needed—that land more than they did. But he couldn’t be sorry about winning either.
