As she watched them eyeing each other like two bulls trying to size each other up, Michael suddenly increased the speed of his treadmill, making him jog a little faster. He grinned mischievously at Adam. A determined look came over Adam’s face, and he increased his speed as well until he was sprinting slightly faster than his brother was moving. Challenged by the move, one of Michael’s eyebrows rose, and he upped his speed again. Apparently not wanting to be outdone, Adam cranked his treadmill up until he was flat-out running, as if he were in a race for his life.

Watching him run like that, Preslee shook her head. Clearly someone had been holding back on their buddy runs in the park. Adam had kindly kept pace with her the entire time. Yet now he was running at a speed she would never be able to maintain. Not without falling on her face within the first three seconds.

While she knew Adam had a competitive streak, she hadn’t expected his older brother to bring it out of him to this degree. The brothers looked like two warriors going head-to-head, although she wasn’t quite sure what the battle between them was about. She’d heard enough to know that it had something to do with their parents and Adam quitting medical school but not enough to put the pieces of the puzzle completely together.

But enough was enough.

She needed to put a stop to this absurd contest between them before one or both of them fell over dead from exhaustion. She stopped her treadmill and motioned for Kurt to bring over some water. Then she walked behind Adam and Michael, located the plugs for each of their machines, and yanked them out simultaneously. Both treadmills immediately slowed to a stop.

Huffing out a deep breath, Adam glared at her. “What the heck…did you…do that for?” he asked, panting between words.

Michael leaned over, his hands on his knees, as he wheezed in and out. “Yeah…I was…winning.”

Adam turned steel eyes onto him. “Wrong.” He sucked in another deep breath. “I was running…way faster.”

She narrowed her eyes. “I don’t care who was winning. I just wanted you two to stop competing before you killed each other.”

Adam snorted, his breath starting to regulate a little. “He’s my older brother. We’ll never stop competing.”

“It’s our way,” Michael said, straightening as he released a steady breath.

Kurt appeared with three bottles of water and paused when he started to hand one to Adam’s brother. “Michael? Man, I haven’t seen you in a while. You look good. What are you doing in town?”

“Surprising my brother,” he said, accepting the water from him and wiping sweat from his forehead. “How have you been, Kurt? You still using the web to self-diagnose your ailments instead of visiting an actual doctor?”

Adam chuckled under his breath.