Kickass Anthology (15 page)

“Unless it’s on me.”

The cocky tone in his voice brought a genuine smile to Fin’s face. “If you wear a jockstrap around me, you have no right to complain if I nibble on your ass.”

The laughter in Jay’s eyes died quickly as his voice took on a more serious tone. “I know you wanted to keep running with the others, but we wouldn’t be able to keep up the same pace. These marathons are an annual thing for Red – I think this is his fifth one. If we tried to keep up with them now, we would be too exhausted to finish.”

“I know.”
I don’t want to end up quitting at the end like Mort.

“This is a good pace for us. We can keep it up for a lot of miles.” He raised an eyebrow when Fin snorted. “What?”

“You said ‘keep it up.’ Might want to save that for later.”

The next few miles flew by for Fin. Jay relented and allowed them to pick up the pace – a little – until they were about ten miles in. Fin felt better at Mile 11 in the marathon than he had at the same point in the half-marathon, which he took as a good sign. They walked through the aid stations, drinking as needed, and it was encouraging to be met with such enthusiastic cheering volunteers at every stop. He felt the first signs of tiring somewhere between Miles 11 and 12, but the atmosphere of the race and Jay’s unflagging encouragement kept his spirits up.

There was a little girl with her parents at one of the aid stations. She was an adorable little thing, with bouncy blonde curls and big green eyes, and she was cheering for the runners at the top of her lungs. She left her daddies to skip along the sidelines beside Fin while he walked and drank.

“What’s your name?”

“Fin,” he answered, trying not to gulp down the refreshing drink.

“You mean like a shark fin?”

He couldn’t help smiling at her. “Exactly like that.” Her eyes lit up as she held out her hand for his empty cup. “Wish me luck, okay?”

“You don’t need luck, Fin. You have an awesome name. You can do it. Win the race!”

She stopped short as one of her daddies rushed up and grabbed her hand, but she continued jumping up and down, waving her little hand and cheering at the top of her lungs until Fin could no longer hear her.

“She was cute,” Fin remarked with a smile.

“She was. We can’t let her down, Fin-With-The-Awesome-Name,” Jay replied with a wink.

At Mile 13, Fin couldn’t deny that he was tiring. He had also begun to notice some achy spots here and there, like a twinge in one of his quads and some general discomfort he hadn’t felt up to that point. He mentioned it to Jay, who watched him run for a few strides before pointing out that his posture had gotten a bit sloppy. Once Fin made some adjustments, some of the discomfort faded away. The twinge in his quad didn’t. He decided it was part of running a marathon.

When they passed the halfway point, a deep voice bellowed out their names. Fin was so surprised he almost stumbled; although there were plenty of cheering spectators still on the sidelines, no one had called out his or Jay’s names for miles. Jay caught his elbow and pointed at someone in the crowd. Their roommate stood above everyone else, holding a giant sign that said: “FIN & JAY – I’ll be waiting at the finish line with PIZZA & BEER!”

“Oh my God, I
love
that man!” Fin exclaimed, waving back at him. He hadn’t been allowed pizza or beer since Jay started writing out meal plans – at least not real, greasy pizza. After the marathon, they would need to eat and drink a lot so their muscles wouldn’t start cannibalizing themselves. Jay couldn’t say no.

“Hey now, I’ve made you a healthy, delicious veggie pizza,” Jay protested, laughing as he playfully shoved Fin’s shoulder.

“Of course I love you more, babe, but I have to tell you, that was
not
a pizza. It was an abomination.”

By Mile 17, Fin was truly tired. Not weary or like he couldn’t go on, just tired. He could feel a blister forming and that twinge in his quad had evolved into an actual pain. “One of the hazards of running a marathon,” he had joked. Jay still seemed to be in great shape and was watching him closely. The pain was irritating and it would have been nice to run without it, but it wasn’t anything Fin couldn’t handle.
Still feeling pretty good, all things considered. I can do this. There’s beer and pizza at the end of this insane rainbow!

Then just before Mile 20, Fin hit the dreaded “wall,” that point in a marathon where the body’s fuel source of glycogen runs out. His energy tanked, and suddenly
everything
hurt. Jay had been coaxing him to drink and eat those awful little energy gels along the way in an effort to prevent that very thing, but it hadn’t worked. Fin felt like falling on his face in the middle of the road.
Oh God, he made me eat those nasty things for nothing! Be afraid, my love, be very afraid!

Jay noticed the change in him immediately and slowed them to a walk. “Talk to me, babe.”

“Fucking energy thingies didn’t work. Every. Thing. Hurts.”

“The wall.” Realization dawned on his face. “It’s okay, Fin, push through it. We only have about six and a half miles left.”

“Fuck that shit. This is stupid. Every one of these people is stupid.” Fin had to let it out somehow.
Ohmygod, everything hurts!
“Why the hell did you let me talk you into doing this?”

“Because I’m stupid,” Jay shot back, his eyes twinkling.

“Yeah, you – wait, no, you’re not. Dammit. Shut up.”

“You ever notice that you transform into a hot sailor when you get upset?”

“I take it back. You are stupid.”

The stupid grin on his gorgeous face made Fin want to punch him, but he didn’t have the energy.

By Mile 22, Jay was struggling as well, which was oddly satisfying for Fin. Something about knowing that his perfect trainer boyfriend was struggling just like he, the mere mortal, has warmed the cockles of his cold, overtaxed heart.

“There’s something so very wrong about that,” Jay said after Fin told him the reason he was smiling through the pain.

“I know.”

“Yeah, love you too.”

They made a discovery between Miles 22 and 23; it was far more excruciatingly painful to start running again after a walking break, so walking was out of the equation. It was run or bust from that point on, no matter that they probably could have powerwalked faster. Fin spent the entire next mile with tunnel vision, cursing himself, his deadbeat father, and all their ancestors along with the few spectators still on the sidelines.

Stupid people, all gone to the finish line to cheer on the ones who already finished. What about the rest of us? Not good enough to cheer for? Red’s probably lounging in a lawn chair sipping lemonade by now. Fucking Red.

He had been ignoring Jay’s words until he said, “Remember that little girl with the curls? She believed you could do this and I do too. C’mon, Shark Fin, let’s go!”

It made no sense that a little girl he’d never met before could affect him so much. Her words struck a chord in him, knocking away the wall of Nope a little at a time.
Okay, I can do this. Not long now.
He straightened his spine and pushed his shoulders back, engaging his core and concentrating on just putting one foot in front of the other, treacherous right leg and chafed arms be damned.

At Mile 25, Fin started verbalizing his pep talk between labored breaths. Jay looked like he needed it as much he needed it himself. “Look, baby. 1.2 miles to go. That’s totally doable, right? I know you’ve got another 1.2 miles left in you. I sure as hell do. I’ve come this far, I’m not punking out now!”

“Who are you and what have you done with my Fin?”

“C’mon, Jay, I need you.”

He took a painful breath and forced his feet to catch up to Fin’s pace. “There’s way more road behind us than ahead of us.”

“That’s the spirit. We so got this!”

Everything hurt even more, but like Jay had said during training, it was only temporary. There was an end to the suffering ahead.
Just have to make it to the finish line.
Fin repeated it like a mantra, and his feet kept moving, his lungs kept drawing in breath, and he didn’t spontaneously combust or fall to the ground in a puddle of goo.

When they passed the marker for Mile 26, Jay looked at him with a sparkle of mischief in his eyes. “Race you to the finish line?”

Fin’s automatic response –
Are you insane???
– was squashed by the revelation of renewed energy flooding through his exhausted, tortured body.
What the hell? Where was this energy six miles ago? Oh well, it would be a shame to waste it now.

“You’re on!”

The last 0.2 miles flashed by. Fin caught glimpses of cheering spectators lining the road. While they provided a huge morale boost, he didn’t focus on them. His sights were set on the finish line, the one thing he’d spent the past six months of his life working to reach. He raced toward his goal with Jay right beside him.
Just like he promised.

He spared a glance out of the corner of his eye. Jay’s perfect white teeth were showing. When Fin refocused on the road, the finish line was in sight.
So close, so close, so close!
A flash of red stood out in the crowd cheering them on. He saw Red and the others waiting for them, whistling and pumping their fists in the air. For the last few yards, Fin felt like he was flying, and in one long stride, he crossed the finish line with Jay right by his side.

For a split second, the heavens opened up and an angelic choir sang a chorus of “Hallelujah.”

Then he and Jay were surrounded by the trainers and other staff from the gym, which was one of the sponsors of the marathon. They had a tent set up with fuel and hydration for the runners. Several hands clapped Fin’s shoulders, another ruffled his hair, and then Red grabbed him up in a bear hug and spun him around before setting him on his feet again.

Jay took his face in his hands and kissed him deeply amid cheers and wolf-whistles. When they pulled apart, the pride glowing on his face made Fin’s breath catch in his throat. “You did it, babe. I knew you could.”

“You never doubted me. I believe you. I
can
do anything I set my mind to.”

Their roommate had stationed himself at the gym tent with a stack of steaming pizza boxes from the best pizzeria in the city. Fin turned to make his way toward his reward while he still had the energy to make it there under his own power when he realized there was one thing missing.

“Dude, you promised beer! Where’s the beer?”

“Sorry, man, the health-Nazis over here made me take it back to the truck. Said you could have some later, after getting something
real
to eat and drink.” Their roommate’s stereotypically hippie style of speech coupled with a massive eye roll made Fin grin. It was nearly impossible to stay mad at the man. “Beer’s real, I told ‘em. I dunno what they’re smoking.”

Jay laughed and snagged a cup of brown liquid off the table. “Yes, you can have the beer later, but for now, drink this like we planned. Chocolate-flavored all natural muscle recovery aide, bursting with electrolytes, carbohydrates, and proteins. Everything you need to help your body begin to heal from the torture we just put it through. Lovingly mixed just for you by the gym staff.”

“You never mentioned chocolate.” Fin raised an eyebrow as he took the cup and swirled the contents.
It looks about as appealing as mud, but hey, chocolate is chocolate, right?
He took a tentative sip and made a face. “Jay, that is not chocolate. That is a lie.”

“Then drink the lies, babe, or else you’ll wish the marathon had killed you come morning.”

Wishing he could scrape his taste buds off his tongue, Fin forced himself to consume the entire cupful. He’d started on a bottle of water when he felt a tug on his hand. He turned to see the adorable curly-haired little girl holding one of her daddies’ hand. She had something hidden behind her back.

“I told you you could do it, didn’t I?” she said, picking at a loose string on her dress.

“You did. I finished my first marathon ever, and you helped me a lot.”

Her face lit up at that. Fin thought it was possible she had been one of the little angels singing in the heavenly choir, celebrating his victory. Beaming, she pulled her hand from behind her back and offered him a present.

It was a plush shark with a prominent dorsal fin. Jay burst out laughing, and Fin dropped to one knee and hugged her. “I think that’s the coolest present I’ve ever gotten.”

Jay pulled him back up on his feet and kissed him hard. “So, how does it feel to accomplish your goals, Shark Fin?”

“Amazing! Let’s do it again next year!”

THE END

AUTHOR

Jade Crystal
is easily distracted by the shiny things in the world. She often rambles and at times makes little sense to anyone but herself. She is most focused when writing the contemporary, paranormal, urban fantasy, and sci-fi romances of all her sexy men – in other words, her characters. It’s their story, after all. Jade merely records it. Sometimes her imagination runs away with the stories they tell. Other times, they are infuriatingly quiet. But don’t let them fool you…she loves every single second she spends with them. Her favorite thing to do besides writing their stories: leaving the real world behind and getting lost in books on rainy nights with a cup of hot tea and a handful of chocolates.