Shepherd laughs as he holds his hand out to me, which I take before hoisting him up. Instead of letting go, I pull him into me before draping my arms over his shoulders.
“Do you know what would be fun?” I ask as he wraps his arms around my waist and pulls me closer. I try not to think about the way his front is pressed against mine or the way I can feel him with how close we are.
Shepherd cocks his head. “I’m positive whatever you’re going to say isn’t going to be fun.”
“What if… we drive there instead of jog. Think of how fun it’ll be,” I say as I make sure to give him a huge smile that will make him appreciate my ingenuity. The moment he sees that smile he’ll be sure to shower me with love.
“Wow! Our car?” he asks as he reaches up and runs a finger over my cheek and into my hair and I find myself leaning into his touch.
“Yes!”
“We could like… get inside the car?”
“Yes!” I moan, which makes his lips quirk up, and I can tell he’s trying not to laugh.
“And I’ll press down hard on that accelerator.”
I squeeze him tighter. “Oh, baby! So hard!”
“And I’ll drive the couple of miles down the road.”
“Yes! Yes! Ooh drive it, babe,” I say.
“And then I’ll park my car right into his driveway.”
“You park that car right into my… I mean his driveway!”
“And then you’ll have gotten no running in and when the bad guys come, you’ll be thinking ‘If only I ran more I wouldn’t be getting shot in the back. Wow, this kind of hurts. Imagine if I’d just listened to my dear lord and savior Shepherd.’”
My eyes instantly narrow. “That was a horrible way to end that. Come on. We’ve run every day this week,” I say. “One day off wouldn’t kill us.”
“Unless we got shot in the back like in my story.” He kisses my cheek and then takes off running as Bear joins him. I’m still standing in the yard as I watch him hit the road and keep on going, disappearing behind the trees.
Instead of running after him, I go into the house, grab the keys off the counter, and go out to the car. Once it’s running, I back out of the driveway and start to drive. I don’t have to go far before I see him jogging along. He must immediately hear me because he turns his head to look before his mouth starts moving and his arms start flailing. I can understand none of it until I get up right beside him and roll the window down.
“Ew, look at that loser,” I say. “I mean… you’re doing so good, but I think I’m going to win. It’s hard to understand how much better I am than you, so I’m sorry but… sometimes I just can’t help it.”
“Great…” he says sarcastically. “I’m so glad that when the time comes I’ll be in shape to run away and you won’t be. I’ll make sure to wave when I pass your weak body lying in the dirt.”
“I’m glad too!” I say as I notice sweat beginning to glisten on his forehead. The temperature has changed quite a bit in this last month, so the days are warm but the nights are still cool. “Oh no, you’re sweating. Let me turn the air on for you.” I switch the AC to high as he turns his head to glare at me.
“I need nothing from you,” he says as he pushes up the sleeves on his shirt, allowing me to see the muscles that he has to be flexing.
“What?” I shout. “I can’t hear you over the cold air whipping around in my face.”
“Bear, have you ever seen such an evil man? We don’t need him, do we?” he asks, but Bear keeps looking at me and whining.
And just because I love being mean to Shepherd, I stop the car and reach for the door to let Bear in. No need, Bear hops in through the window, parks his butt on the passenger seat and pants as his short hair flutters in the air from the AC.
As I match Shepherd’s speed again, he looks at Bear. “Both of you disgust me. I hope he nibbles on your face, Killian.”
“Bear, I think Shepherd’s jealous of us. What do you think?”
Bear flops his head to the left to look at me, tongue hanging out the left side of