Page 30 of Unrivaled

Grady gave him a capital-L Look, but he got the door, so at least he wasn’t a complete lost cause, etiquette-wise. “What is this place?”

Max walked in and spread his arms. “This… is a gym where they train forAmerican Ninja Warrior.”

Grady’s mouth dropped open, but before he could say anything, Brad stepped out of the office. “Max! My man.”

Max greeted him with a high-five bro hug. “Thanks for coming in on your day off.” The gym didn’t normally open on Wednesdays.

It definitely didn’t normally open for two people, which was why their reservation was so expensive. But that was fine. Grady could treat him. Max was worth it.

“For glass seats to the next game?” Brad laughed and released him. “My wife’s gonna flip. I’ve got your paperwork all set if you want to follow me into the… office….”

Ah. He’d recognized Grady, who looked like a bug under glass.

“Uh,” Brad said.

Time for Max’s charm to come to the rescue. “Brad, Grady. Grady, Brad.” They shook hands, bound by Max’s invocation of social norms. “Don’t worry, Brad’s not going to tell anyone we’re actually friends.”

“No one would believe me,” Brad said.

“We’re not friends,” Grady said at the same time.

“You’ll get used to his sense of humor,” Max promised Brad. Since he couldn’t reprimand Grady for his bad date manners in front of Brad, he said, “Let’s go sign some waivers.”

Grady made the patented Wet Cat face, but he didn’t argue.

“So the course is pretty simple right now,” Brad said as he led them into the main room. “Training starts in September and ramps up from there. We just shocked the drop pool, so your clothes are probably going to discolor if you fall in. Sorry.”

“Drop pool?” Grady repeated.

“Dude, are you not familiar with your country’s greatest cultural export?”

“It’s for when you fall off the Shrinking Steps,” Brad said.

“Shrinking Steps. Are those the things that look like… demented lily pads?”

“Aww, look at him learning new things!” Max elbowed Grady in the side. “I don’t suppose you want to give us a demonstration before we start?”

Brad grinned. “Thought you’d never ask. Though I have to say, your friend’s going to be at a disadvantage.”

Max and Grady looked at each other. Max took a little extra time on the breadth of Grady’s shoulders and the thickness of his thighs.

Finally Grady cleared his throat. “How so?”

“Upper-body strength-to-weight ratio.” Brad stretched his shoulders and back. He was half a head shorter than Max and a lot leaner. “You’re huge. No offense.” He grabbed his right foot and stretched his quad. “The course is usually easiest for smaller people.”

A lot of the obstacles involved hanging from bars and swinging from platforms.

Grady said, “I think I’ll be fine,” practically grinding his teeth, because he could not stand to be challenged.

Max couldn’t wait until he did Wet Cat for real.

“Yeah, you’re probably right,” Brad said, because he had better people skills than Grady. “Okay, so the first section is balance. See those padded benches? They’re designed to wobble. So the first obstacle is to run across them until you reach the second platform.”

He pointed to the next section of the course. “Then there’s the Ring Toss. You’re going to jump up and grab those rings, one in each hand. They’re not attached to the pegs. So you’re going to use your body weight to stretch out and snag one ring on those green hooks hanging down from the bar. Then you pull the other ring off the first hook and stretch to the next one, until you get to the platform.”

That didn’t sound so bad, and it was only a short drop to a well-padded floor.

“Then you’re on to the Shrinking Stairs and—yeah, maybe I’ll just demonstrate?” Brad said dubiously. Max followed his gaze to Grady, who looked unimpressed.

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