Page 169 of Wrong Pucking Jersey

“If she can beat my PR weight, she wins,” Oscar counters.

Diesel and Kane start stacking the weights.

Dimitri looks at me like many of the others, but I shrug.

“Let him do it. You don’t see me complaining.”

My eyes connect with Oscar’s, and I can see how he’s questioning my underlying motive. He thinks I’m hiding something or acting this way because something is up my sleeve.

Good.

Diesel and Kane are done setting the weight up, leaving me to gesture to the 300 lbs. setup.

“Let’s go, Oscar. Do your rep for the team.”

“Don’t need you to tell me that,” he grunts and eyes me suspiciously before he claps his hands and prepares to deadlift.

“C’mon, Oscar. Show her,” Jayce shouts.

“Yeah, Oscar. You got this,” Diesel adds.

“Let’s go!” Kane cheers, and the rest of the Pincers continue to give support as he preps for his lift.

Everyone is so concerned with what’s happening that they don’t notice Maddox, Damien, Ace, and Wolfgang enter the gym.

Except for me.

One look in Oscar’s direction, seconds from deadlifting, then over me, gives Maddox enough info on what’s happening. He grins proudly before gesturing his head to the right to show they’ll be quietly watching from the sidelines.

The idea of these four watching this competition makes me giddy to impress them.

First, gotta see if Oscar can beat his PR.

With a loud grunt, Oscar begins his set, and the gym echoes with cheers and howls, all eyes on the muscled Pincer.

He almost has it, his entire body shaking with the drive to straighten his back enough, but he falls short at the last second, the weight dropping to the padded ground, which has the Pincers groaning and the Vipers cheering in anticipation.

My turn.

“Bitch, you’re up!” Mack exclaims. She’s already at my side to take my place on the bench to continue playing “ref.” “Now show them who’s boss!”

“If Oscar can’t rep 300 lbs., no way you can,” Jayce calls out as I grab some chalk to rub against my hands.

“Let our girl prove you wrong.”

Butterflies are doing their fluttering job, turning my insides into a tingling mess, thanks to Maddox’s bold declaration, bringing everyone’s attention to the Viper captain.

He’s chilling against the wall with the other three, all of them with their arms crossed and wide smiles that make it seem like we already won.

Jayce wants to argue, but Wyatt steps in.

“Stop the talk and let’s see what Mikayla can do,” he demands with an authoritative voice that has everyone quiet.

All eyes are on me as I clap my hands of the excess powder and squat down before the bar.

Wrapping my hands around the cold metal makes me smile like a fool because I haven’t deadlifted in a hot minute, but I’m confident in what I can achieve.

Let’s do this.

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