Desire Me If You Can Novel - Chapter 24

“Alright, ready? One, two.”

Wilkins checked before giving the signal. The colleagues lined up on both sides shouted out the names of Dane and Grayson, sending fervent cheers. Dane leaned his upper body forward, ready to sprint out immediately. Wilkins looked at both of them, then shouted with a tense expression.

“Three!”

“Whoaaaa!”

“Dane, Dane! Our hope! Our hero!”

“Grayson, my love!”

“Run, run! Grayson, you have to win!”

“Dane, you are our pride!”

Intense cheering erupted with the starting signal, and the two quickly pushed off the ground and sprinted out. Down below, the cheering colleagues watched them. They could see the two figures, even if very small. Except for when they rounded the newly added course.

That spot was a geographical area where the path circled the mountain and dipped sharply into a deep slope. Therefore, the colleagues watching from below wouldn’t be able to see Dane and Grayson until they reappeared on the opposite side of the mountain. That exact spot was where Dane would earn his money.

The flat ground ended quickly, and an uphill path immediately appeared. This was a substitute for the first stage of the test, climbing stairs, and here they had to drag a fire hose up to the middle of the mountain. Although it was a low mountain, the slope was quite steep, and having to haul a heavy fire hose meant the physical exhaustion from the start was enormous. An advantage was that the hose was empty for training on this terrain, unlike when training on flat ground where it would be filled with water.

Skillfully pulling the fire hose upward, they reached a point where equipment was placed. Then, they had to drop the hose and drag firefighting equipment. As soon as Dane saw the goal, he dropped the hose, almost throwing it, and picked up the prepared equipment. Holding two chainsaws, one in each hand, he ran around a tree 100 meters away and returned to the starting point. Repeating this twice allowed them to move to the next course. Of course, dropping a saw midway would result in disqualification. Since they could be seen even from below, not even the slightest mistake was allowed.

Damn it, why am I going through this ordeal…

Feeling sweat already soaking his back, Dane cursed under his breath. As he rounded the tree, he inevitably encountered Grayson. A sense of caution arose reflexively, but unexpectedly, Grayson passed him with an expressionless face, rounded the tree, and came back. He almost lost the lead in a moment of distraction, but Dane immediately sped up and left him behind.

Next, instead of climbing a ladder, Dane climbed a rock face by grabbing a dangling rope. Faintly, he could hear the shouts of his colleagues cheering from below, but they sounded distant, like the buzzing of insects. As soon as the rope climb was finished, he crossed a small stream by grabbing tree branches.

The uphill climb continued. Dane moved mechanically, running without stopping for a moment until the spot he had planned for appeared. After finishing two or three courses, as he rounded the mountain and entered the slope, Dane recognized that this was the exact place he had been waiting for.

The faint sounds of cheering had completely vanished. In the silence, he quickly looked back. Grayson hadn’t appeared yet. Dane gasped for breath and quickly surveyed his surroundings. The area, clearly included as a substitute for the search part of the test, had no clear path, with few places to step firmly. He found a relatively flat spot, planted his feet, and steadied himself. Two and a half good hits should cover 38 dollars and 25 cents.

Come on.

He stood silently, his ears straining, when he heard a faint rustling sound. It was Grayson’s footsteps. The tremendous speed at which he was approaching meant he would soon appear before his eyes. Dane held his breath and waited for the right moment. One, two. And finally.

Grayson, who rounded the low slope, paused. Dane stood tall at the end of his gaze. Seeing his long eyes narrow, Dane nodded slightly.

“Hello, pretty boy.”

His lazy tone was full of sarcasm. Grayson simply stared at Dane without saying a word.

4

For a while, the two merely stared at each other in silence. To be precise, it was closer to Grayson glaring and Dane meeting his gaze with an indifferent look. The first to break the silence was Grayson.

“To wait for me like this! Were you worried about me? Ah, a firefighter, our hero! How touching…”

“I’m going to hit you now.”

Listening to nonsense was not part of the contract, so Dane cut him off without mercy. As Dane rotated his arm, stretching one of his trapezius muscles in preparation, and tilted his neck side to side once, Grayson widened his eyes and asked.

“Hit me? You’re going to hit me? Just now? Why?”

The man was excessively talkative. For Dane, who wasn’t usually very talkative, it was enough to hurt his ears.

“Because I got a request.”

“A request?”

“Yes.”

He let go of his trapezius muscle and said.

“Let’s finish this after you’ve been hit for exactly 38 dollars and 25 cents.”

Grayson’s face twisted. One might think he was surprised by the situation, but that would be for an ordinary person.

“Thirty-eight dollars? Is that all the price for hitting me?”

He grabbed his forehead, asking in disbelief. He seemed more shocked by the amount than by the fact that he was about to be hit.

As a rake of the great Miller family, there had been countless people who had tried to do something with him for money. While that ‘something’ was sometimes love or seduction, there were also no few cases of requests for injury or assassination. Of course, it was the karma of his life. The countless ‘brief entertainments’ he had discarded were always sharpening their knives for revenge.

However, that was Grayson’s problem, and Dane had absolutely no interest in that. He figured Grayson was just shocked by the amount of $38 because he was rich beyond measure. It made sense. Dane readily understood and still accepted the words with an indifferent expression.

“Right. I don’t take requests for free. It harms my credibility.”

“Ah, that’s troublesome. Credibility is very important. But…”

Grayson, who had thrown his hand out dramatically as if the idea was absurd, sighed in disappointment.

“It’s too cheap. You’re the cheapest one among the guys who came to hit me for money. Everyone else wouldn’t dare approach with such a small amount, even out of fear of the Miller law firm. Why didn’t you ask for more? Or is that your usual fee? You come cheap.”

He went on and on, implying Dane was cheap, but Dane wasn’t provoked. He swept back his hair indifferently and said. “Don’t be surprised. It just means that’s your worth. If you want more, you should try raising your own price.”

And after looking Grayson over once, Dane added.

“If you work hard, you might be able to reach forty dollars.”

“Hmm.”

Grayson, who had blinked his eyes, soon wore a strange smile.

“Not bad.”

Though Dane wasn’t exactly delighted, this man had an exceptional talent for getting under other people’s skin. If Dane cared about others even half as much as they cared about him, he would have been offended by Grayson’s words. But Dane had the natural talent of not listening to a single word from people who had nothing to do with him. It was simply out of the question for anything Grayson Miller said to offend him.

Seeing Dane show none of the reaction he expected, Grayson soon changed the subject. Moving his gaze to Dane’s hand, he asked.

“Is that it? The tool for kissing me?”

He also has a talent for being repulsive. Dane added one more thing to his evaluation of Grayson and opened his mouth.

“If that expression makes it less painful for you, then sure, call it a deep kiss.”

“Nice, a deep kiss. Very nice.”

Grayson applauded as if he had made a great discovery. Dane was starting to get tired of talking to this lunatic. He had talked too much to an opponent who seemed out of his mind. He didn’t waste any more time and threw a punch. He had given enough warning and more than enough time for Grayson to flee.

Thwack! A loud, dull sound echoed in the quiet forest.