Stuck on You by Heather Thurmeier Read Free Book Online Page A

the fall of footsteps growing closer and closer. He knew it would only be another moment or two before the girls caught up and passed them. But Ben obviously struggled at their current pace. He couldn’t ask him to push it any faster.
    The girls and their cameraman rushed passed them on the trail, leaving behind a cloud of dust that caught in Miles’s throat, making him cough. “Shit.” He meant to curse under his breath but he knew Ben had heard when he stopped running.
    “I’m sorry,” Ben said, his breath uneven. “I tried, but I’m not that good in this stupid prosthetic yet.”
    Miles turned to him, all thoughts of the girls gone. Ben should never have to apologize to him or anyone else about his challenges with his lower leg amputation. Hell, it couldn’t be easy to adjust to wearing a prosthetic leg.
    If anyone should apologize, it should be Miles — again.
    “Never be sorry. You’re doing great. This competition is challenging for all of us.”
    “Not the girls. They’ll probably pass us on their way back at this point.”
    “No way. It’s only a little further. I bet when we get around that next bend, they’ll still be trying to figure out which way is north and nowhere near the cache.”
    They jogged again and sure enough, when they came around the bend in the trail, the girls were up ahead still searching. And it didn’t seem quite like they knew where they were searching. Paige was on one side of the trail with her head down and her foot kicking the soft grasses around, while Zoe peered around a few large rocks. Neither looked at the GPS unit sitting on the trail where they’d abandoned it.
    The boys slowed as they came up to the girls. “Let’s stick together and watch the GPS. I bet we can find it first.” Miles held his hand out between them so they could both see the little screen.
    “Nice of you to finally join us,” Zoe said from her spot near the boulders alongside the trail. “Took you long enough.”
    “Zoe, don’t be so rude.” Paige glared at her from across the path.
    “Well, I ran in stilettos. What’s your excuse, boys? Aren’t you at all concerned that two girls beat you in a foot race?” Zoe laughed.
    “Considering I only have one foot still attached to my body, I think that’s a pretty good excuse, don’t you?” Ben said, raising his pant leg to show off his prosthetic leg.
    Zoe held her ground, barely acknowledging her error in judging Ben too quickly. “I didn’t know. How’d you earn that trophy?”
    “I’m not sure I’d call it a trophy.”
    “Better than being stuck with a scar,” Zoe mumbled. She sat on the rock and folded her arms across her chest. “Scars are something you regret, but a trophy is something to be proud of because it helped make you who you are. So which is it?”
    “Then I guess I earned this trophy with Miles on the side of a mountain. Not that I feel like reliving the incident play-by-play. Let’s just say I climbed up fine, but getting back down wasn’t so easy.”
    A silence fell over the two teams while they took in the seriousness of his words. The only sound was the cameramen as they circled the group for better angles. Miles wanted to be pissed at Zoe for bringing up a painful past that he and Ben were working so hard to overcome. But when he went to send her a warning look, her eyes were rimmed in red as she blinked away tears.
    Her gaze flickered up to his and for a moment he wanted to go to her. To comfort her. Thank goodness she took that moment to pull her back up straight and put her bitch mask on again, quickly reminding him why it wasn’t worth giving her the time of day.
    “So, you girls still looking for the cache box or have you already found it and you’re just having a little siesta out here on the trail?” Miles said, finally breaking the silence.
    “We looked, but can’t find it anywhere. I’ve double-checked our coordinates and everything looks right. I don’t know what we did wrong.” Paige