Slow No Wake - By Dakota Madison Page 0,40

had ever seen him smile. His face actually lit up.

“Great job, everyone,” Eddie said. “Who’s next?”

Daniel leaned close to me and whispered, “I don’t think you should do it.”

I frowned. “Why not?” I whispered back.

“I don’t want you to get hurt.”

“I don’t think I have a choice.”

“You always have a choice.”

When I glanced at Eddie, he was glaring at me. “Is there something you want to share with the group, Alexandria?”

Everyone turned their gaze toward Eddie, no doubt because he just called me Alexandria.

“I thought your name was Lexie?” Brad asked as he looked over at me.

“My name is Alexandria, but everyone calls me Lexie.” I purposely glared at Eddie.

“No secrets, Alexandria, and no whispering to your teammates.” Now Eddie was glaring at Daniel.

“Why don’t you call her Lexie like everyone else?” Daniel shot back. “That’s what she likes to be called.”

“And you think you know everything she likes?” Eddie taunted.

“I know what she doesn’t like,” Daniel snapped back.

“Her name is Alexandria,” Eddie insisted.

“Call her Lexie,” Daniel demanded.

The two men were now toe to toe glaring at each other. The already heavy air grew thicker with the tension between them. When I glanced over at the twins, they were both wide-eyed, mouths agape. Ricky was smirking and Brad was shaking his head in disbelief. It looked like I was the only one who would, or could, do anything about the debacle taking place in front of us.

“Enough,” I said as I marched up to the two guys. “Why are you both talking about me like I’m not even here?” Both of them turned to face me. “My name is Alexandria, but everyone calls me Lexie. Got it?”

Both of the men nodded. Daniel bit is lower lip when he looked at me, his expression like a scolded child. Eddie glared at me with a flash of anger in his eyes.

“Now I’m going to get on that trust fall platform like everyone else and my teammates are going to catch me. Is that clear to everyone?” When I looked at everyone else in our group, they all nodded at me. I think they could tell I was in take-no-shit mode.

I hoisted myself onto the platform. Out of the corner of my eyes, I could see Daniel and Eddie on either side of the platform, watching closely to make sure I didn’t fall. Did I really come across as that delicate and unathletic? I made a mental note to check out gym memberships.

I crossed my arms over my chest as Eddie had suggested and readied myself for the trust fall. I could hear Eddie instructing the others to get into their positions.

“Don’t drop her.” I heard Daniel warn the rest of the group. I knew if all else failed, he would definitely be there to catch me, so I wasn’t worried. I fell back and was caught by my teammates. When they placed me back down on the ground, Daniel was immediately at my side. “Are you okay?” he asked anxiously.

“I’m fine,” I reassured him. “Don’t worry.”

A look of relief spread across his face.

“You can’t worry like this about me all day, Daniel. I’m not that fragile.”

He looked embarrassed and I immediately regretted saying it. “Not that I’m not flattered,” I quickly added. “I know you care about me and don’t want me to get hurt.”

That got a half smile out of him.

We all lined up again as Trinity got ready to do her fall. And we caught her when she did. We also caught Serenity, Ricky and finally, Daniel.

Eddie gave us a small round of applause when we finished the exercise. “See, you all worked together and trusted each other and no one got hurt.” Eddie glared at Daniel when he said the last part. I thought Daniel might give him the finger and probably would have if we weren’t in a work setting. I wondered how the two of them still managed to live together with all of the animosity that was now between them. It was kind of scary.

The next element was the swinging log. We each had to make our way across a giant log that was suspended with cables between two poles. Brad went first again and made it across the log in what seemed like record time. Even though he wasn’t a big guy, there was no doubt he was athletic. Ricky went next and also made it across the log with ease. The twins looked at each other and shook their heads simultaneously.

“Can we pass?” Serenity