Chapter Fourteen
Brett
I watched as Hannah bounced on the balls of her feet, glowing with excitement. Her ponytail swung with each bounce, and I chuckled.
“What’s funny? Is my number crooked?” She turned her head to look over her shoulder at the number twenty-three that was pinned to the back of her t-shirt.
“No, babe,” I assured her. “I was just wondering how long it would take before I had to hang on to your ponytail and pull you out of the mud.”
“Very funny,” she huffed. “It’s a good thing we’re on the same team so that you won’t feel bad when I beat you.”
Pulling her to me, I palmed her ass. “How many times do I have to tell you, the only one getting their ass spanked in the Griffith household is you?” She giggled and after a squeeze, I released her.
“I can’t help it. I’m just so excited!”
We were waiting for our turn to start the course. Times were staggered to keep the participants from falling all over one another. That didn’t matter so much for the initial run, but obstacles took longer to complete and muscles needed to be kept warm and pliant, so long periods of waiting for others to finish a challenge wasn’t good.
Stephanie was as excited as Hannah, her feet bouncing as well.
“Think they’ll have enough energy to finish?” I asked Gary.
“Not if they don’t stop bouncing while we wait. We’ll not be given the go for at least another ten minutes.”
“Don’t worry about us,” Hannah said. “We’re like the Energizer Bunny. Once you turn us on, we just keep going and going.”
There was a weighted pause and then all four of us laughed. Hannah’s face flushed but she shrugged. “Well, it’s true both here and in bed. So, gentlemen, if you want to cross the finish line, I suggest you manage to keep up.”
We’d all trained together as well as the women having trained separately. Hannah was more fit than she’d ever been in her life. While I would admit to worrying that she’d become too toned, that she’d lose the curves that I so loved, she hadn’t. She was still rounded and soft every place a man could desire.
“Remember, the goal is not to win. Our goal is to navigate safely and to have fun. You’ve worked very hard to get here and I’m very proud of you, Hannah,” I said. “Spotless or not, there is nothing more beautiful than the light in your eyes, the excitement on your face, and the bounce in your step.”
“Yeah, yeah,” Hannah said, waving her arm. “We both know what you really mean is you can’t wait to see me fall on my ass.”
Chuckling, I pulled her in again, bending my head to speak into her ear. “No, babe, I just can’t wait to sink into your ass.”
Her face flushed and finally, it was our turn to start.
We set out on a slow jog. As our team leader, Gary set the pace. Hannah squealed and clapped her hands when we came within sight of the first obstacle. Two beams, set a few feet off the ground were lined up side by side. A narrow ramp allowed one to run up and if you maintained your balance, navigate the length of the beam without falling off into the mud below.
“After you,” I said, sweeping my hand toward the ramp.
“Oh, no, you don’t,” she said, pointing to the second beam a few feet away. “You go on that one. I’m not about to let you ‘accidentally’ tip me off the beam.”
Chuckling, I went to the second beam, but didn’t start up the ramp. Instead, I watched my wife back up a bit, then take off at a faster run and fly up the ramp and then race across the entire length of the beam without a single wobble. She cheered as she jumped off the other end.
Once I was across, I cocked my eyebrow. “Very impressive.”
Each obstacle required a bit of jogging to get to them, again allowing time for people to conquer one and move on before another team arrived. The arrangement of tires required you to plant your feet and lift your knees high, but, again, proved not to hamper Hannah or Stephanie in the least. People who’d pledged money to support the participants lined the course.
Once we reached the first set of bars, Hannah watched as a participant didn’t swing beneath them, but crawled across the top.
“Hey! You never told me that was an option!”
Stephanie looked as surprised as Hannah. “I didn’t know it was!”
Gary chuckled. “You’ll see all sorts of creative thinking. Team members will help those who can’t make it finish. We don’t leave anyone behind… not on the field of battle and not on the course.”
Hannah clapped when the woman reached the end, turned around, and slowly lowered herself until she could drop to the ground.
“Are you going to go that route?” I asked as we approached.
“No. I’ve worked too hard, swung from too many bars to crawl over now. I’ll save that for the walls.”
She took a few deep breaths and then jumped for the first bar. I remember the first time she’d realized that the bars at the school yard and even at the obstacle course close to our house were not the height we’d be navigating for the Mudder. When she failed to reach it, I stepped up, wrapped my arms around her waist and lifted her.
“Hey, that’s cheating!” she said, looking down.
“Teammates, remember?” I said. When she nodded and I was sure she had a grip, I stepped back. “Now you’re on your own, babe.”
She took a deep breath and reached for the next bar. When she squealed, her right hand slipping, I was ready to grab her, mud puddle or not, but she adjusted her grip and continued.
“You’ve got this,” Stephanie yelled and she did. Swinging her legs, Hannah stepped onto the bar at the end of the expanse that allowed her to release the bar above her and jump down. We all made it across and I gave my wife a hug.
The next obstacle had Hannah pulling up, planting her hands on her hips and turning to glare at me. “You rigged this!”
“I didn’t set the course, babe,” I said, but couldn’t hold back a grin.
Gary nodded. “No one really knows what they are going to include. Each Mudder is different. But, we can take a time penalty if you want to walk around.”
“Not on your life,” Hannah said before pinning me with her gaze. “But, if I go under, I’m pulling you down with me.”
I lifted my hands in the universal sign of surrender. “I won’t let you go under, babe.”
“All right. Everyone tighten your laces. We sure don’t want to lose our shoes now,” Gary instructed, pulling a roll of duct tape from the pack he wore on his back. After we’d each retied our shoes, we lifted our feet and he taped them, securing them to our ankles. I did the same for him and then tossed him the tape. Instead of tucking it back into his pack, he passed it to Stephanie. “Tape my leg,” he instructed.
“Gary, we can take a penalty. We’re not trying to win and I didn’t even think about your leg,” Hannah said.
“In the words of my teammate, ‘Not on your life’,” he said.
Once Stephanie had wound the tape around and around where his prosthetic was attached to his leg, he tucked the roll back in the pack. We stood to strategize how to move through the obstacle.
“Everybody stay close. Do not hesitate to ask for help. Lifting your feet is going to feel like lifting lead before we’re done.”
“We’re going to get filthy,” Stephanie said, looking at the pit before us.
“At least it’s not very far,” Hannah said, evidently not seeing the sign that identified this obstacle as the ‘Mud Mile’. I wasn’t about to point it out either.
Gary had no such hesitation. “This is but the first pit. See that wall?” He pointed to a wall that was about fifteen yards away. Once he was sure we’d all seen it, he continued. “It’s five feet tall and will be slippery as goose shit. After we scale it, there will be more pits and more walls. Ready?”
The women looked at each other, at the edge of the pit, and then joined hands, shocking me when they screamed, “Hooah,” and jumped. Water and mud splashed up and they squealed, but it was far too late to worry about staying clean.
“They are nuts,” I said as Gary and I entered in the normal way… by walking.
“They are having a blast,” he corrected.
We weren’t halfway across before Hannah’s hand disappeared beneath the surface. “Forget my shoes, I’m going to lose my shorts!”
As the shortest of us, the mud didn’t rise to her waist, but to her breasts. Still, she slogged on, occasionally tugging up her shorts. Staggering forward, she was breathing hard as Gary and I planted our hands on the top of the wall and pulled ourselves up. At the top, we hung over the edge and extended our hands to our wives. Hannah grabbed my wrist with both of her hands and allowed me to pull her up, her entire front sliding along the muddy surface. Once at the top, I held on while she swung her legs over and then dropped, straight into another pit.
It was by far the most difficult obstacle we’d yet done. We were all breathing hard, our legs trembling from the effort of lifting feet through mud that was determined to suck our sneakers off. I could actually feel myself stepping on shoes that had not been secured tightly enough to a participant’s foot.
“Oh, God,” Hannah said, bending over and dragging in huge gulps of air as we faced the last that this obstacle had to challenge with. It was a concrete culvert, mud cutting the diameter in half.
“We have to crawl,” Gary said. “Stay low and use your arms. Your feet will just slip. Hannah, you go first. Brett, go behind her so you can push if she needs help. Stephanie next and I’ll bring up the rear.”
The mud was thick, the holds nonexistent, but I enjoyed the sight of my wife’s ass wiggling from side to side as she buried her hands in the mire and pulled herself forward. At the midway point, she turned to look over her shoulder, her face streaked with mud. “For God’s sake, for a man who loves ass play, why aren’t you giving me a shove?”
Grinning, I scooted forward a bit and then planted my palms on her ass. “One, two, three,” I said and then shoved with all my might. She squealed but slid forward and crawled the last few feet. One by one we made it through. Standing, Hannah gave up trying to slough the mud from her clothes.
I grabbed her and pulled her close, planting a kiss on muddy lips. “God, you’re beautiful!”
She shook her head but smiled. “That was awful, but kinda fun.”
We began to jog again and both she and Stephanie waved when women they volunteered with began to scream encouragement.
My wife surprised me yet again when she didn’t even attempt to grab the rope that a spotter had swung across the pool. Instead, she walked into the water, took a breath, and executed a perfect belly flop. Coming up, she shook her head from side to side, sluicing water from her face and then her body. I could see her nipples going rock hard and knew it wasn’t from arousal. Huge chunks of ice floated in the water to discourage people from dropping off the rope. Standing, she ran her hands down her legs and then calmly walked out the other side.
I grabbed the rope and swung across, landed, and reached for her.
“No, you don’t!” she said, putting out her hands.
“I was just going to warm you up, babe.”
“I’d rather freeze than get all muddy again.”
Gary landed beside me and we turned to see that Stephanie was taking her own bath. Spectators cheered, and the soldier who was the spotter for the obstacle chuckled.
“I think you’ve started a new trend, ma’am.”
Hannah laughed. “Instead of ‘Rope Swing’, you can name this one ‘Arctic Bathtub’.”
When we finally staggered over the last wall and up the final hill, we linked hands at the top, all four of us grinning like we’d conquered the world.
“Ready?” Gary said.
“Ready!” we chorused and as a single line, our team passed beneath the banner signifying the end of the course. It hadn’t been easy, and several teams had passed us along the way, but we finished.
Hannah collapsed on the ground, and I worked to tug off her shoes. Dropping them into the huge pile, I added my own and then reached down and hauled her up. The four of us draped our arms over each other’s shoulders as we stood beneath an arch, our medals hanging from ribbons around our necks to have our photo taken.
“Way to go, ladies,” Jackson—the man who’d been at the club—called, additional accolades being called out by both participants, their families, and spectators.
We grabbed our bags and split up at the showers. When Hannah appeared again, it was obvious she’d scrubbed hard. Every inch of her skin was pink and her hair was shining. Our team joined others who were being treated to bar-b-que, various sides, and plenty of bottles of water or Gatorade. We’d hydrated along the way, but still managed to guzzle fluids and put away a great deal of food, including the biggest slices of chocolate cake that I’d ever seen. Hannah matched me bite for bite.
After hugging Stephanie and Gary, thanking both for their friendship and their training that enabled her to have the most incredible day of her life, my wife slipped her hand into mine as we walked back toward our car.
“I can’t tell you how amazing I think you are,” I said, helping her into the car and buckling her in. “You are not only beautiful; you have the most incredible spirit.”
“You helped me find that spirit again, Daddy,” she said, reaching up to cup my face. “You made me realize that we need to treasure every day we have together.” Pulling me down, she kissed me. Letting me go, she grinned. “And that is why, Major Griffith, I’m going to let you out of the bet.”
Chuckling, I pecked her lips. “Good try, recruit, but you lost that bet.”
“I did not! I finished!”
“Yes, you did,” I said, “But you did not complete all the obstacles. You didn’t even try to conquer the rope swing.”
“Wrong. The rules clearly state that to complete an obstacle, you must get from one side to the other. True, walking around doesn’t count, and I might not have swung on the rope, but I definitely walked through the water… not around it.”
I actually had nothing to say, realizing she was absolutely correct. My face must have shown my shock because she giggled.
After I slid behind the wheel, she turned to look at me. “I can’t wait for that massage. Full body, remember? Every finger, every toe, and definitely, every muscle.”
“Yes, ma’am. Far be it for anyone to claim I’m a sore loser.”
* * *
Once home, I went into the bedroom to grab the massage oils, looking from one to another, trying to decide which she’d prefer this time as I walked through the house to the patio door.
“Adam, I do believe you are slightly overdressed.”
Looking up, I almost dropped the bottles. Hannah was framed in the open door, holding a blanket. I didn’t just get to watch her walk across the yard naked as the day she’d been born, I got to walk beside her.
I parted the branches and she ducked inside, but turned as I stepped in after her. “I want to add a caveat to my win.”
“Oh?” I asked.
Her face flushed but she nodded. “I want to feel the snake’s bite.”
My cock was already rising and I grinned. “I think I can manage that.”
She stepped close, dropped her hand to take hold of my cock. “Make that two caveats.”
“You’re pushing it, babe.”
“Maybe,” she conceded, but her smile had my cock twitching in her hold. “And I don’t want to be greedy… well, that’s a lie.”
When I opened my lips to assure her I’d give her whatever she desired, she placed a finger over them.
“And we both know the price for lying. But instead of your belt, I want to feel the bite of one of those.” Releasing my lips, she pointed to the branches that shielded us in our Eden.
After I nodded, she set aside the gardening shears she’d concealed between the fold of the blanket before spreading it out and lying down. I massaged every inch, every nook and cranny until she was glistening, front and back. When I guided her to her hands and knees, she watched as I took the shears and cut a switch, making sure to remove every bud and burr. I whipped it through the air and she shuddered, her eyes never leaving the implement that would be but the first snake to take a bite of her ass.
Her cries were sharp, but her moans delicious as my hand rubbed away the sting after the switch had landed. Thin red lines rose on her white ass, which lifted again and again, asking for another bite. I’d placed seven lines before the switch broke. Tossing it away, I ran one hand over her welted flesh and used the other to oil my cock.
“Ready for the next bite?” I asked, pulling the cheeks of her ass apart.
“Oh, yes… yes, sir.”
I sank into her… into heaven in the middle of the Eden we’d created together. I didn’t bite, I worshipped. Every stroke was slow, each one filling her completely, pausing before pulling back. Each whimper, every mewl and gasp was sung by the angel who was the other half of my soul… my very life.