Playing Games
Page 10

I watched as Tesla grabbed the disk before Brodie could and flipped it over to read. This time? Brodie was forced to peer over her shoulder. Glad to see someone was turning the tables on my brother, at least. They glanced at each other and immediately shrugged on their packs and headed back toward Kulusuk, the small town on the shoreline that held the airport. Made sense, considering that was the only real town I’d seen so far. My eyes narrowed as Tesla twined her fingers with my brother’s and they held hands as they raced off. I glanced over at my teammate, but he was looking anywhere except at me. That was fine. I was pretty cranky as it was.
After what seemed like eternity, Liam and I were the only team left. I huddled in my black jacket - better than yellow, at least - and headed toward the starting mat as the cameras zoomed in close. When the Inuit guide offered the disk to us, Liam gestured that I should take it.
I did, grudgingly, and flipped it over.
"Your next clue is at Blarney Castle in Ireland. The charter planes will take you back to Reykjavik, Iceland, and from there you may select your flight to Ireland. One hundred dollars has been provided for food, drink, and necessities." The hundred dollar bill was inside an envelope fitted to the back of the disk. "Have this disk - along with the others you receive - when you cross the finish line." I held it out to Liam to read.
He declined with a wave of his hand, glancing at the distant horizon. "I suppose we should head back to the airport, then. I'm guessing we're going to be on the last charter flight again."
"I'd say that's an accurate guess," I replied sourly. I shrugged on my backpack. "Might as well get it over with, then."
One trip to Acapulco, coming right up.
 
 
~~ * * * ~~
 
 
It wasn't surprising to me that when we arrived at the airport in Reykjavik, all the other teams were still there. A travel agent had suggested that we fly in to Cork, the next flight to leave, and sure enough, all the other teams were waiting at the terminal.
They didn't look happy to see me and Liam, either. I supposed that if we hadn't caught the same flight, they would have been assured that we were one of the teams sure to go. This way, it was a toss-up all over again. I had a hunch that the producers were deliberately shoving all of us together just to see how the two new teams – mine and Brodie’s – reacted to each other.
Too bad for them. I was still in a bad mood, so I took my water bottle and headed to a seat away from all the others, not feeling particularly social at the moment. I didn't care about getting to know the others or 'hanging out' with them, since they didn't seem to want to get to know me, either. No one had made any effort but Abby, and she was cuddled up next to Dean, her eyes closed as if trying to take a nap before the plane got here.
Brodie was sitting in the center of the group with Tesla at his side, looking for all the world as if she'd always been his partner. His arm was loosely around the back of her chair, and she leaned into him, laughing at everything he said. I rolled my eyes and ignored them. Sitting down, I pulled my legs up into my chair and rested my arms on my knees.
Liam glanced at me, and set his backpack down next to me. Then, he went to chat with Tesla, likely to talk strategy or to bitch about his partner. I didn't care. This wasn't fun anymore. If we were the first ones kicked off? I'd be just fine with that. I'd gone from being genuinely excited about being in first place and thinking we had a shot at the money to feeling abandoned.
"Oh, don't worry about her." Brodie's voice rose above the crowd, and I could hear it from where I sat. "She's just in one of her Cranky Katy moods. She'll get over it soon enough."
The teams around him tittered. I narrowed my eyes as a camera zoomed in on my brother, who didn't seem to give a shit that I was miserable.
"Maybe she's cranky because her brother abandoned her to hook up with a hot girl." The voice was deep and smooth and held just a hint of reproach. "I imagine that anyone would be in a bad mood if that happened to them. She got sold out by her partner."
I looked up in surprise. Liam’s back was to me, so I couldn't see his expression. But that voice had been his. Was he defending me?
The crowd went quiet. Tesla wriggled in her seat, as if uncomfortable, and Brodie scowled at Liam.
I glanced away, pretending not to notice that Liam abandoned their little crowd and came to sit next to me in the empty seat. He didn't look over, just grabbed his pack, put his headphones on, and began to drum a beat on his backpack, acting as if nothing in the world bothered him.
Me, I was full of confused thoughts. I'd been nothing but nasty to the guy and he'd defended me. Meanwhile, my brother, who was supposed to have my back? Had been calling me by the childhood nickname that he knew drove me crazy – Cranky Katy. Brodie and I argued - that was just how siblings were - but on TV? It was kind of embarrassing.
And yet Liam hadn't sat around and laughed at Brodie's words. He hadn't joined in the little party that was trying to make me feel bad for being unhappy. He'd chided Brodie to his face and then turned and left.
At least someone had my back.
 
 
~~ * * * ~~
 
 
"Blarney Castle, just up ahead," I told Liam, folding up the map I'd been reading. I was in the back seat of the small car with the cameraman, given the task of navigating while he'd drove, since Liam was better with a stick shift than me.
We'd more or less reached an uneasy truce since getting off the flight at Cork. While we weren't exactly friendly with each other, we'd fallen into a working relationship of a sort. We were polite and efficient as we'd gotten into the car rented for us, bought a map, and found our way to the next location. Liam was a rather quiet sort, so I didn't know what he was thinking.
Not that it mattered, I supposed, since it was still looking as if we'd be the first ones kicked off of the race anyhow. We'd had the bad luck to have seats in the very back of the airplane since we'd arrived last at the ticket counter, and Liam wasn't the type to shove his way to the front of the plane in a hurry to get off. He'd simply sat in his seat and waited for his turn, and I'd followed his lead. By the time we'd gotten off the plane and found the rental cars marked for the racers, we were the last ones to leave the airport.
"There," I said quickly, pointing as we drove over a tiny bridge. "Parking is in that direction." The castle was a fair distance away, the tower of it on the horizon. "Looks like we hike it from here."
"Looks like," he agreed, and then gestured at the line of identical silver hatchbacks already in the parking lot. "All the others are already here."
"Not surprising,” I said. We’d known we were in last place and nothing had happened to change that.
We parked our vehicle and grabbed our backpacks out of the trunk. To my surprise, he grabbed my pack and swung it onto his back next to his own, doubling up.
I gave him an odd look. "I can carry my own bag."
"I know," he said easily. "But it's a long walk to the castle and we can make up time if I carry it."
I hesitated. "I'm not helpless."
Those dark eyes lit on my face. "Never said you were."