Hearts and Aces (Kelsey's Burden Series Book 7), Kaylie Hunter [guided reading books TXT] 📗

cheers as we ran out of the woods and exchanged our flags for fresh ones. Trigger ran up behind us and grabbed a new flag too. Wild Card and I stepped aside for him to run ahead of us before we jogged back into the woods.

“This is last lap… right?”

“No talking. Focus on your breathing,” he said as he gripped my arm harder.

I focused on taking slow deep breaths into my diaphragm and out just as slow, while keeping my feet stretched out ahead of me as I ran. My vision blurred a few times, but Wild Card kept me on the trail. I nodded as we neared the back turn and I veered to the right to follow the deer trail.

“Why isn’t everyone else following this trail yet?”

“Probably… saw… Bones,” I said between heaved breaths. “Wiped… out… hard.”

“Quit talking. Breathe.”

“Quit… asking… questions…” At the log I jumped, ducked, and veered left but my body kept going. I would’ve toppled over if it weren’t for Wild Card grabbing hold of me in time to pull me back on course.

He jogged next to me holding my arm. “There’s at least twenty runners ahead of us. Any ideas?”

I nodded, too short of breath to talk. Making a hard right again, I jogged fifteen feet to the south, straight into the woods, before jumping down into a shallow creek and turning to the east. The creek held less than an inch of water, splashing us as we ran toward the road. I heard more splashes behind us.

“Just Katie and I,” Bridget called out. “Take us to the finish line, boss!”

I ran as hard as my legs would take me. Wild Card stayed close behind me as the creek turned slightly to the left and ended. I ran at full speed toward the inclined slope, but my two leaping steps failed to propel me over and I felt my weight shift backward. Wild Card wrapped an arm around my waist, dragging me upward, as Bridget ran up beside me on my right and pulled me by my arm. I felt hands against my back, pushing me onward. Somehow, with everyone’s help, we made it up the bank and onto the side of the road. I pointed toward the end of the trail as I staggered in that direction.

“You did good,” Wild Card said, pulling me onto his back.

Once again, I hung on as Wild Card ran with me on his back. I could hear the cheers, but my vision was too blurry to see anyone. My arms gave out, and I felt myself falling backward.

“Got her!” Tech’s voice called out behind me. “Go!”

Tech was carrying me by the arms and Wild Card carried my legs. Together they got me to our table and lifted me up to drop my flag into the basket.

“Second place!” Pops called to our team.

When they lowered me to the grass, I rolled into a sitting position—and puked on my shoes.

Chapter Thirty-Two

I’m not sure who was the angriest with me. Everyone seemed to be competing to yell the loudest. Sara and Nicholas were the only ones being nice. They brought me several bottles of water to drink and rinse off with as Haley and Doc took turns checking my pulse and listening to my heart. I wasn’t sure where in the medical journals it said yelling at the patient who was having heart palpitations was a good idea–but they must’ve read it somewhere.

Wild Card stripped off my puke covered shoes before carrying me over to the flatbed trailer and setting me in a lawn chair next to Hattie.

Hattie giggled. “Welcome to the infirmary.”

“Do they serve beer here?”

Bridget opened a cooler and passed me a cold bottle. I didn’t have the strength to open it so I held it against my forehead.

“Kelsey!” Grady called out, jogging over.

“Stay away from my mother!” Nicholas yelled, charging into the yard to stop Grady.

Several guards moved over, pointing guns at Grady.

Wild Card and Donovan walked toward them. Wild Card picked up Nicholas, carrying him back to the trailer. Donovan exchanged quick words with Grady before they started walking toward the highway. I scanned the crowd, noting that Sebrina was watching me. I nodded in acknowledgment. She smirked before turning to follow Grady.

I looked back to my team. “I’ll hang with the kids and Hattie so everyone else can go across the street to celebrate.”

“And have them glare at us all night for that stunt Katie pulled?” Tech asked as he got out his phone and made a call. “You can come out of hiding now. Everyone’s leaving.”

Katie ran out of Lisa’s house and leapt onto the trailer. “That was so much fun.”

“Running in the race? Or running for your life?” I asked.

Katie walked over and uncapped my beer, handing it back. “Both. What’s the next competition?”

“Scavenger hunt in the morning,” Trigger answered. “It starts at nine, though. You and Anne will be working at the store.”

“No, they won’t,” Hattie said. “Alex and I arranged extra staffing so the girls can compete.”

“Are you sure?” Anne asked, looking between Alex and Hattie.

“Lisa and I will be there,” Alex said, nodding. “And Haley, Pepper, and a couple other girls offered to work for old-time’s sake. If you two get done early, though, you know where to find us.”

“What about security?” I asked.

“Whiskey’s taking lead at the store, and I’ve got the house,” Tyler answered.

“The kids?”

“They’re going on the scavenger hunt with us,” Wild Card said. “I already cleared it with Donovan.”

“Yes!” Nicholas exclaimed, jumping up and down.

“Do you know what a scavenger hunt is?” I asked him.

“No, but I’m sick of being home,” he said, leaning against my shoulder.

Wild Card laughed and turned back to Alex. “We’ll need Katie and Anne for the