Unrivaled, page 8
That seemed… reasonable. Semi reasonable. Worth the risk, at least. Grady didn’t want Jess to miss out on her trip, but she wouldn’t go if it meant he was alone at Christmas . He didn’t want to die of mortification either, which was what would happen if it ever got out that he’d gone to Max Lockhart for dating advice. But if Grady could trust anyone on the planet to give him the unvarnished truth about what was wrong with him, it was Max.
Fuck.
Deal.
EVENTUALLY THEY settled on the Wednesday before the season opener for their “date.” Max booked the facility and sent Grady a Venmo request ten seconds later.
Grady sent him one back—six bucks for the bottled water Max drank in his hotel room. Max texted him a middle-finger emoji, but they both paid, so that was all debts cleared. Frankly he was impressed Grady had gone along with it. Max hadn’t exactly picked a cheap date option, and he’d been cagey about what they were doing. On top of that, while Max had dated some, he didn’t have the smoothest track record with relationships either. Getting someone to like him and have sex with him was easy. Connecting with them on an emotional level was a skill he hadn’t mastered.
Grady must really be desperate for his help.
Max wasn’t above taking advantage of that. It was just that the advantage he wanted wasn’t financial.
If Grady got overly competitive about mini golf, Max couldn’t wait to see what he made of this.
Wednesday morning, Max parked in the lot at the gym and got out of the car to enjoy the crisp fall day. He was a couple minutes early, which he wasn’t going to analyze. There’d been less traffic than he anticipated, that’s all.
Grady pulled in exactly on time. He made it a point to park a couple spots over from Max in the deserted lot. When he got out, Max saw he’d taken Max’s instructions seriously—he was wearing a T-shirt and shorts and carrying a bag with his sneakers, same as Max. Though was it really necessary to show up with his facial hair perfectly groomed, just to highlight the sharp lines of his jaw and cheekbones? Max had made it clear they were going to be sweating, but he wasn’t supposed to be sweating about Grady yet.
Oh well. He could hardly complain about the eye candy.
Grady shut the car door and shouldered his bag. “Did you bring me out here to kill me?”
“Don’t be dumb. I’d hire a professional for that.” Max hit the Lock button on his remote. “Now, no more smart remarks. We’re here on a date, remember? How can I fix your form if you don’t play along?”
Grady’s pained grimace would sustain Max through so many ugly losses. But to be fair, he added, “You can still back out.”
Grady squared his shoulders. “No.” He schooled his features too, the furrow of his brow smoothing out. “I’m game. I can do this.”
Because now that Max had offered him an out, his pride demanded he not take it. Max knew how to handle him. “Cool,” he said breezily and gestured toward the gym. “So, how about I tell you where you’re taking me on our date.”
“That sounds like a good place to start.” Grady cut him a sideways look. “You know, since this is the most expensive first date I’ve ever been on.”
“Bzzz.” Max backhanded him gently in the gut. “First offense. No talking money on the first date.”
“What? Come on, you set me up—”
Max raised his eyebrows. “You gonna argue with me about the criticism?”
Grady’s shoulders slumped. “You’re enjoying this way too much, aren’t you?”
“Oh bud, we’re just getting started.” Pointedly, Max stopped at the door to the gym.
Grady gave him a capital-L Look, but he got the door, so at least he wasn’t a complete lost cause, etiquette-wise. “What is this place?”
Max walked in and spread his arms. “This… is a gym where they train for American Ninja Warrior.”
Grady’s mouth dropped open, but before he could say anything, Brad stepped out of the office. “Max! My man.”
Max greeted him with a high-five bro hug. “Thanks for coming in on your day off.” The gym didn’t normally open on Wednesdays.
It definitely didn’t normally open for two people, which was why their reservation was so expensive. But that was fine. Grady could treat him. Max was worth it.
“For glass seats to the next game?” Brad laughed and released him. “My wife’s gonna flip. I’ve got your paperwork all set if you want to follow me into the… office….”
Ah. He’d recognized Grady, who looked like a bug under glass.
“Uh,” Brad said.
Time for Max’s charm to come to the rescue. “Brad, Grady. Grady, Brad.” They shook hands, bound by Max’s invocation of social norms. “Don’t worry, Brad’s not going to tell anyone we’re actually friends.”
“No one would believe me,” Brad said.
“We’re not friends,” Grady said at the same time.
“You’ll get used to his sense of humor,” Max promised Brad. Since he couldn’t reprimand Grady for his bad date manners in front of Brad, he said, “Let’s go sign some waivers.”
Grady made the patented Wet Cat face, but he didn’t argue.
“So the course is pretty simple right now,” Brad said as he led them into the main room. “Training starts in September and ramps up from there. We just shocked the drop pool, so your clothes are probably going to discolor if you fall in. Sorry.”
“Drop pool?” Grady repeated.
“Dude, are you not familiar with your country’s greatest cultural export?”
“It’s for when you fall off the Shrinking Steps,” Brad said.
“Shrinking Steps. Are those the things that look like… demented lily pads?”
“Aww, look at him learning new things!” Max elbowed Grady in the side. “I don’t suppose you want to give us a demonstration before we start?”
Brad grinned. “Thought you’d never ask. Though I have to say, your friend’s going to be at a disadvantage.”
Max and Grady looked at each other. Max took a little extra time on the breadth of Grady’s shoulders and the thickness of his thighs.
Finally Grady cleared his throat. “How so?”
“Upper-body strength-to-weight ratio.” Brad stretched his shoulders and back. He was half a head shorter than Max and a lot leaner. “You’re huge. No offense.” He grabbed his right foot and stretched his quad. “The course is usually easiest for smaller people.”
A lot of the obstacles involved hanging from bars and swinging from platforms.
Grady said, “I think I’ll be fine,” practically grinding his teeth, because he could not stand to be challenged.
Max couldn’t wait until he did Wet Cat for real.
“Yeah, you’re probably right,” Brad said, because he had better people skills than Grady. “Okay, so the first section is balance. See those padded benches? They’re designed to wobble. So the first obstacle is to run across them until you reach the second platform.”
He pointed to the next section of the course. “Then there’s the Ring Toss. You’re going to jump up and grab those rings, one in each hand. They’re not attached to the pegs. So you’re going to use your body weight to stretch out and snag one ring on those green hooks hanging down from the bar. Then you pull the other ring off the first hook and stretch to the next one, until you get to the platform.”
That didn’t sound so bad, and it was only a short drop to a well-padded floor.
“Then you’re on to the Shrinking Stairs and—yeah, maybe I’ll just demonstrate?” Brad said dubiously. Max followed his gaze to Grady, who looked unimpressed.
Oh yeah. Max was gonna laugh so hard when he fell in the pool.
All limbered up, Brad handed Max a stopwatch. “See if I can beat my personal best.”
Max heard, Let’s see how wound up your cranky friend gets when he can’t match my time. “Okay. On your mark… get set….” The watch beeped.
And Brad was off.
He ran straight across the padded benches with nary a wiggle. When he grabbed the rings, he switched right from a jog into a sort of monkey-swinging motion. Five rings later he was on the third platform.
Then he sprinted across the Shrinking Stairs—they wobbled too, and they got taller and smaller as they crossed the pool. Brad made it look like a breeze. Next up was—
“What the fuck,” Grady muttered.
Next up was the Salmon Ladder, a bar you had to hang suspended from and then sort of jump, but with your arms, until the bar caught on the next set of rungs. There were five sets. At the top, Brad grabbed a rope, which he used to swing fifteen feet to a metal bar mounted on a horizontal wooden beam.
“Still think this is gonna be easy?” Max asked as Brad bouldered along the beam.
“Fuck you.”
Brad dropped to the padded platform and descended the steps to the final obstacle—the wall.
Which he proceeded to run up. He grabbed the metal bar at the top and swung his body up like it was nothing.
Max hit the button on the stopwatch. “Two minutes, eight seconds.”
Brad flopped dramatically onto his back. “Two seconds too long.”
“This is batshit insane,” Grady said.
“Fuck yeah it is.” Max grinned at him. “Fastest time tops? Or you want to make it first through without falling?”
Grady didn’t even think about it. “First through.”
Good idea—otherwise they might use too much energy trying to one-up each other. “Deal.” Then Max grinned. “And since you’re taking me out on this date, I think that means I get to go first.”
He could tell Grady wanted to argue, but somehow he swallowed the impulse. “Please,” he said through clenched teeth. “Be my guest.”
Max had done a few stretches before he left home, but he did a few more now to make sure he still felt limber and also to make Grady sweat when his shorts rode up. He climbed the first platform and jogged in place for a few seconds to psych himself up.
Now or never. He launched himself onto the first bench.
He almost face-planted when the bench lurched to the side because he didn’t put his foot right in the center. Only years of balancing on skates kept him upright. But he stumbled across the second and third benches to the next obstacle.
Grady’s laughter reached his ears. Max shot him the finger.
All going according to plan.
“Hey! Bad etiquette,” Grady scolded.
“I’m not the one who needs a lesson!” The rings sucked. Max was heavy, and most of his strength was in his lower body. But if it was bad for him, it would be worse for Grady, who was heavier in the ass and thighs as well as everywhere else. He missed the final hook and ended up dropping the ring in his left hand, but he swung his body and got enough momentum to fling himself onto the platform.
He flopped there for a moment on his hands and knees, milking the appearance of trying to catch his breath. “This is the part where my concerned partner checks if I’m still alive.”
“Well, your mouth still works, but that’s no guarantee there’s no brain damage.”
Rather than attempt a response, Max attempted the next obstacle. For Max, the test was a big step onto a tiny wobbly lily pad over a pool. For Grady, it was whether he could have—or fake—a normal reaction.
Max took the big step and let himself lose balance. He flailed spectacularly to no avail and hit the water sideways.
Graceful. He came up sputtering. Chlorine stung his eyes as he front-crawled to the ladder.
“You okay?”
Max wiped a hand down his face and blinked up at Grady. Did he look a little green, or was it a trick of the light? “Nothing hurt but my dignity,” he said damply. He swung himself out of the pool, and Grady handed him a towel.
Weird. Max had expected him to fail.
“Can’t hurt what you don’t have.”
That was better. Max dried his face and hair and then wrapped the towel around his shoulders. “Looks like you’re up.”
Maybe it was because he had the advantage of learning from Max’s mistakes, but Grady didn’t have trouble with the benches. He did have an issue with the rings, though, because they’d forgotten to reset the course. Max collected them and handed them up.
To his surprise, Grady didn’t start on the obstacle. Instead he sat on the edge of the platform and cracked his neck.
“What are you doing?”
Grady stretched his arms. “It’s first through the course without falling, right? Time doesn’t count. So there’s no hurry. I’ll take my time to make sure I win.”
For a second, Max didn’t know what to say. “Are you that obsessed with winning, or do you just want my ass that bad?”
“Don’t flatter yourself. It’s definitely about winning.” But his cheeks were pink, and not with exertion. This was a carrot-and-stick scenario.
Max tsked. “It’s not nice to let your date think you’re not attracted to them, you know,” he said as Grady hooked the first ring.
“Are you”—he hooked the third ring—“actually fishing for compliments right now?”
Of course he crossed the obstacle easily. The guy was superhuman. Max could see his nipples straining against his shirt. Nice.
Grady could probably see his too, now, since his shirt was wet.
“I’m preparing you for a life beyond practice dates. Come on, tell me something you like about me.”
He thought Grady might get distracted and lose his balance on the Shrinking Steps, but no such luck. He made it to the platform and then sat down again.
“Really?” Max said judgmentally.
“I’m concentrating on the question! Wouldn’t want to lose my focus and fall in the water. That would be embarrassing.” He said the last part smugly.
“Don’t strain yourself thinking too hard.”
“Okay, okay. How about, you give good head.”
Max made himself smile, because he knew Grady meant it, because it was expected, and also to cover the sting of hurt. All the texts they’d exchanged in the past couple weeks and that was all he could come up with? “Good effort, also very believable delivery, but how many first dates are you going to be able to say that on?”
With a huff, Grady crossed his arms. “Look, we’ve established that I’m bad at this. You’re supposed to be teaching me. So… teach by example.”
“Oh for—” Max couldn’t believe it. Grady didn’t want to give him a compliment because, what, he was afraid Max would hold it over his head? How insecure could he be? “All right. Grady.” He settled the towel more securely around his shoulders, like it could protect him from Grady’s judgy face. “You’re a good hockey player. I like how controlled you are on the ice, how tough it is to make you lose your cool. I admire that. It makes you challenging to play against, and I like challenges.”
He waited a moment for that to sink in—waited while Grady’s cheeks went a little redder and he dropped his gaze.
Then he added, “Also you have a really nice dick.”
Grady jerked his eyes up again and narrowed them in anger. “If you—”
Max tilted his head. “Feels different, doesn’t it.”
Grady closed his mouth, his lips pursed. Point made. He wouldn’t forget that lesson.
Max almost expected him to sit there pouting and not try the exercise again, but Grady surprised him. “I like the way you leave everything on the ice,” he said quietly. “You don’t take work home with you. I envy that.”
Oh Lord, what had Max unleashed? He pulled the towel from his shoulders, suddenly too warm, and cleared his throat. Whatever that feeling was when Grady complimented him sincerely, it needed to go back in the box. “See? You’re coachable.”
Grady shot him an amused look. “I think you’re supposed to say thank you.”
“Oh, accepting compliments is a whole other ball game.” Not Max’s wheelhouse. He gestured. “Come on, next obstacle. The point of an active date is you don’t have to make small talk.”
“Didn’t you basically just say it’s my small talk that needs work?” Grady grumbled. But he got to his feet and gripped the bar for the Salmon Ladder.
Max’s mouth went dry.
Grady wasn’t a small guy, especially after spending a summer bulking up. His body was solid. He had to weigh 220. He exhaled and squared his shoulders before heaving himself and the bar upward.
The bar caught. Four more to go.
His body jolted with every step, but his grip held. So did Max’s attention. If he did accidentally win today, it wasn’t like Grady’s ass would be a consolation prize.
“As an FYI, you should definitely do this on all your first dates.” Damn. “It really plays to your strengths.”
Grady heaved himself up the final step of the ladder. “I’ll keep that… in mind.” He jumped for the rope and swung.
For a minute it looked like he wouldn’t make the transfer to the bouldering obstacle. He hit the wall and bounced off, as much as a six-foot-plus man could bounce. But on the second swing, he got a grip on the bar.
Now he was dangling from it, and Max could see the strain in his body. His shoulders ached in sympathy, and part of him wanted to cheer Grady on.
Another part of him knew that wasn’t the best way to motivate him.
“What, you’re not feeling it now, are you? Fingers cramping?”
Grady’s chest heaved, but he didn’t waste breath with a reply. He grabbed the first handhold and shimmied along the beam.
“There’s no shame in falling, you know. It’s more fun if we’re both wet.”
On the next handhold, Grady’s grip slipped. Max was sure he’d hit the pool, but he recovered and made the third grab.
Max needed to up his game or Grady was toast. “Bet your arms are tired. Or maybe not, I mean, you’ve been carrying your team for long enough—you’re probably used to it.”
Grady let out a muffled curse, but he finished the obstacle and dropped onto the second-last platform, then rolled onto his back. “What kind of date talk is that?” he panted.
“Motivational.”
Grady snorted and turned his face toward Max. “How do you figure?”
