Cassius Stevens, Madison (best reads of all time txt) 📖

worry her. She wouldn’t let fear take away from this moment. She didn’t need to. She had CJ.

Hybrids were superhuman, and whatever scheme some lurker scumbags had in store, CJ and his partner could handle it. They had already sniffed out the problem, and she wouldn’t have been surprised if Ouroboros packed up and went home now that they realized the hybrids were on to them. They would go down just like the Horatius Group.

Kendra wanted to call up Graham and tell him she’d been right, but she wasn’t sure if CJ would like her spreading his true identity. After everything she’d heard about the hybrids being mistreated, she could understand why they’d want to keep a low profile, and as much as she trusted Graham, she didn’t want to start off her new relationship with her soulmate on the wrong foot. For now, she had a simple task, withdrawing from the race.

She sighed, small hints of disappointment finally creeping in as she continued her final tour of the course. She’d trained long and hard for the race, and not being able to run it hurt, but the last thing she wanted to do was give CJ more reasons to worry.

He might be wrong about anything suspicious going on, but that didn’t mean his feelings weren’t real. She needed to prove to him she’d respect him.

Kendra eyed the closest obstacle. It was an uneven pyramid climbing challenge that turned into a difficult rope-swinging transfer after the summit. While she hadn’t done this exact type of obstacle before, her climbing experience and arm strength were well-suited for it. When she’d seen it the day before, she’d become excited.

It wasn’t that she thought it’d be easy. Instead, it’d push her to her limits. She’d have to dynamically adjust her strategy while relying on her physical conditioning. The obstacle would have tested her body and mind.

Kendra sighed. Sometimes in life a woman couldn’t have it all.

There were a lot of good obstacles on the course. It was a shame she wouldn’t be able to run it.

She kept reminding herself that it was one race, and skipping it didn’t mean she was giving up the sport. Everything would work out, just like it had with her dating situation. She’d concentrate on what she needed to do and the fact she’d found a great guy.

Plenty of OCR athletes suffered injuries that kept them off courses and out of races for months if not years and came back to the sport. All she needed to do was not look like she was afraid to her fans. She couldn’t ignore all the hype leading up to the event.

An obvious solution presented itself. All she would need to do was go with a cover story about a minor injury to justify why she had to pull out of the race. Lying to her fans didn’t make her feel good, but it’s not like she could announce an evil organization might be there looking for hybrids and Vestals. It might even make things worse for the hybrids.

It was a strange feeling, being both elated at realizing who CJ was and unsure about what would happen that day, let alone the next. Kendra had always tried to take her life day-by-day, but she tried to have a direction to point herself, and now she found herself questioning that direction.

Was she meant to be the Roving Champion? Would that even be possible if she went off with CJ?

From what she knew, the hybrids didn’t even live in America anymore. She wasn’t ready to give up everything, but she also didn’t want to let CJ go. Her heart and very soul told her she would regret it for the rest of her life, and she would never, ever find a man like him again.

“It’s okay,” she murmured to herself after taking a deep breath. “I’ll figure it out going forward. First things first, I need to get out of this race.”

Kendra pushed against the stream of fans and athletes walking the circuit to explore the obstacles. She apologized along the way, worried about getting recognized and getting slowed further. Soaking in fan praise on her way to drop out under false pretenses didn’t feel right, even if she had good reasons for the deception.

It was hard to push against the massive ocean of people threatening to sweep her along. She understood their desire to inspect everything as closely as they could before the event started.

A good obstacle looked different up-close than it did on the TV from the comfort of one’s own home. Seeing the heights and sizes involved could communicate how difficult the sport could be. That made it even more exciting for fans and deepened their appreciation.

A teen girl stepped in front of her. “No way. It’s you! You’re the Roving Champion.”

Kendra smiled and slowed, almost overwhelmed by the enthusiasm in the girl’s eyes. “Hi.”

“You competing today?” the girl asked.

Kendra sighed and shook her head. “I’m sorry. Something came up, and it’s not safe for me to compete. A little overtraining can go a long way toward ruining your day.”

The girl’s face scrunched up. “I missed half my long-distance season last year because I screwed up my knee. I feel your pain.” She smiled and pulled out her phone. “Could I get a selfie with you?”

“Sure.”

It wasn’t like the world was going to end because she spent a couple more minutes getting through the crowd. The more she thought about it, the more her hurry felt misplaced. She had plenty of time before the event started.

Kendra moved behind the girl and put up her V sign. The girl snapped the picture and waved, a huge smile on her face. The expression lightened Kendra’s heart.

Fans were always fun. It’d taken Kendra a while to get used to the idea of people being her fans, but now that she was at peace with it, she always strived to make sure they left with a positive experience, regardless of what was going on