laying Games (Games #2)(24)
Author: Jessica Clare

I did, turning back to the rocky hills of Cappadocia. There was nothing that could be written anywhere on these hills, I determined, but enjoyed looking anyhow. The balloon ride was incredibly peaceful, and I was happy that Brodie and I seemed to be back firmly on brother-sister ground. I liked my brother, even though he was a bit of a selfish brat at times. And if he hadn’t been a brat, I wouldn’t have gotten the chance to spend all this time with Liam. It had worked out really well, actually.

And I smiled to myself as I scanned the countryside. It had worked out wonderfully, if I was honest with myself. And Brodie just wanted to get ahead in the race. There was no harm in that. At least he hadn’t asked me for money.

"See anything?"

"Not yet," I told him. "Nothing that even looks like a message."

"Me either. Keep looking."

I did, obediently scanning the countryside with the binoculars.

"Hey, Katy?" Brodie said after a few more minutes.

"Hmm?"

"So…what are you and Liam planning to do with that Ace?"

I sighed. "Leave it alone, Brodie."

"Oh, come on," my brother said in a pleading voice. "You and Liam have been hovering around first place for several legs now. Tesla and I have a good leg, and then we drop all the way to the back of the pack again depending on whether or not she’s having a good day or a bad day. And guess what kind of day she’s having today?" There was an unpleasant tone in his normally cheery voice.

"A bad day?" I said, trying to hide my gloating and failing.

"She’s hot, but man, she’s really high maintenance. You can ask Liam about that." Brodie sounded a bit disgusted with his partner. "She drinks like a fish, insists on using all of our money, and she’s horrible with a freaking map."

I chuckled. "Is she good at anything?"

A pause, and then Brodie gave me a sly grin. "Well, yeah. She’s pretty good at something."

My face flamed. "Yuck again, Brodie! I did not want to know that."

"You asked!" He reached over and tried to give my head a brotherly noogie. "So, come on. Are you going to help your brother out?"

I turned back to my side of the balloon, scanning for the message. "Shouldn’t we be looking for the clue?"

"I found it about five minutes ago, actually."

"What?" I yelped, rushing over to his side of the basket. My stomach heaved when the thing lurched in response, and the others in the basket glared at me. I clung to the chicken bar and raised my binoculars again. "You saw it and didn’t tell me?"

"Well," Brodie said. "That’s why I wanted to talk about the Ace."

I scanned the hills behind us with my binoculars, but could see no hidden messages, no nothing. Crap. Double crap. I’d lost the message and Brodie was going to hold it over my head. "I can’t believe you!"

"Like you said, it’s a race for two hundred and fifty grand, Katy."

"You really, really suck."

"And you have the Ace."

I resisted the urge to fling my binoculars at my brother’s head. "So you’re blackmailing me? Is that it? If I don’t give you the Ace, I’ll end up in last place because I’ll have to go up again. But if I do give you the Ace, I’m helping you win. What exactly am I supposed to do here, Brodie? Either way, I lose."

"You should give me the Ace because I’m your brother," he said, his face earnest. He gave me a puppy dog look. "And Tesla hasn’t done her challenge yet. You know whatever it is, she’s going to suck at it. She’s hung over like hell. And then we’re going to be last, and I’m going to be eliminated." His face, so similar to mine, drew into sad lines. "It doesn’t matter if you go up twice in this stupid balloon. I’ll still be the one going home at the end of the day."

"Brodie," I began.

"You don’t need it," he pleaded with me. "Liam’s a great partner. And even if he wasn’t, you never wanted to win. Not really. But I have to win, Katy. I have to stay on the show for as long as possible. And I can, if you give me the Ace. Think of what good TV it’ll make – a secret brother/sister alliance."

I wavered. "It’s not exactly secret if we work together. People kind of expect that, don’t you think?" But that ‘good TV’ comment had me thinking, and thinking hard. I could save my brother and make him happy, get the clue from Brodie and ensure Liam and I stayed at the front of the pack, and the sneaky exchange would make good TV.

Except Liam would be mad that I’d given away our advantage. He wanted to win. And he hated Brodie.

And I’d promised Abby that I’d save her if it came time. Abby, my best friend on this race, and the one who’d really helped us out from day one. Not Brodie.

But Brodie was my brother. And he had the clue I needed.

I pulled the Ace out of my pocket and held it out to him. When he reached for it, I snatched it out of his grasp. "Just a second. I need you to make me a promise, first."

His eyes lit up. "What’s that?"

"I promised Abby and Dean that we’d save them. If they get into danger and you don’t, I want you to use it on them."

"Done," Brodie said quickly. He reached for it again.

This time, I smacked it into his hand, feeling uncomfortable as I watched his fingers curl over that important packet. He stuffed it into his pocket and then enveloped me in a boisterous hug. "You’re the best, Katy. You know that?"

"Yeah, yeah," I murmured, but I hugged my brother back. Liam had said it was mine to use as I judged, after all. Maybe he wouldn’t be too mad about this.

Maybe. Or maybe he’d be pissed that I’d given Brodie and Tesla the chance they needed to push ahead. He wanted to beat Tesla, and he wanted the money. He also hated Brodie.

Ugh. I got anxious just thinking about all this. "So are you going to tell me the clue?"

Brodie dragged my smaller form against him and noogied the hell out of my head. "You know I would have told you either way, right?"

"Jerk," I said, squirming out of his grasp. And no, I hadn’t, but it was good to know now. "Just tell me the dang clue."

He pointed at a section of the distant hills. "There’s a circle with several race flags set up over there. I imagine we’ll pass by it again when we come in to land the balloon. And there are words spelled on the ground. ‘Time for your partner to get oiled up.’"

"Oiled up?" I stared at the area Brodie had mentioned, but couldn’t see anything. "I bet you’re looking forward to that."

"You have no idea," he said with a dreamy grin.

Yuck, again. I elbowed Brodie…but then I imagined Liam all oiled up, and my grin was probably as dopey as Brodie’s.

Sure enough, I saw the area Brodie had mentioned when we circled back. My brother hadn’t been lying, which I was thankful for. I raced out of the balloon and back to Liam, who had both of our bags on his shoulders. Tesla was stretched out on the ground, a shirt tossed over her eyes as she either napped or tried to kill her hangover. I stepped past her and flew into Liam’s arms. He grinned at the sight of me, spinning me around.

"How was it?"

"Spectacular," I told him, though I couldn’t quite muster an enthusiastic smile. Giving the ace to Brodie was bothering me, though it did appear that he hadn’t been lying about his partner having a bad day. I nodded back to Tesla’s prone form. "What’s with her?"

"Hung over," Liam said, leaning in to whisper it, and then nipped at my ear. "You find our clue?"

"I did," I told him. "Come on."

As we left, I glanced back at my brother and Tesla. She still hadn’t moved from her spot on the ground, though Brodie was slinging backpacks onto his back. And I felt a twinge of pity for my brother.

They were still at the head of the pack at the moment. Maybe he wouldn’t need the Ace at all. Maybe all my worrying was for nothing.

We arrived first at the makeshift stadium. It had been set up like a Greek amphitheater amongst the rocks, but at the center was a large circular grassy area, and a row of five, burly men in stiff leather pants. Off to the side was a small changing tent. This was going to be the oiled up challenge? Weird.

Liam left our packs with me, and I sat down on them and drank a bottle of water as he bounded to the flag. He glanced over at me as he received the disk, and then began to read. And then groaned aloud, looking back at me. "Turkish Oil Wrestling," he called at me.

I gave him a thumbs up. "Go get oily!"

He raced to the changing booth, grabbed something from the ground, and disappeared inside the booth. I glanced around, looking for Brodie and Tesla. The stadium was only a short walk from where the balloons had landed. They should have been here by now.

A moment later, Liam stepped out of the booth, wearing the strange pants. They were thick, the material bulky, and reminded me of old fashioned football player pants. It looked as if they were made of leather. He wore no shirt, and I could see the tattoos dancing along his skin, his arms dark with black lines.

He grinned at me, rubbing a hand on his flat belly, and then moved toward the row of waiting men. He pointed at the first one and the man stepped forward. They both moved into the grassy circle.

I tilted my head as the cameraman stepped past, zooming in, and the judge moved forward, a carafe in hand. He began to pour the oil over the thickly muscled chest of the short, stocky man directly across from Liam – his opponent – and then on Liam’s chest. His opponent reached forward and began to spread the oil on Liam’s chest. Liam hesitated, then awkwardly returned the gesture.

My jaw dropped a little, and I leaned forward, fascinated by the two men as they oiled each other up. Then, they stepped forward. As they did, two other men came out and demonstrated the proper way to wrestle.

I tilted my head even more when one man stuck his hand down the other’s pants and hovered over him, squatting.

That was…weird.

The man continued to hold the other man by his pants. It was also apparently legal, since the judge nodded approval at the pair, and they got up and clapped hands in a sporting gesture.

Oookay.

Then it was Liam’s turn.

The judge blew the whistle and stepped back. Liam immediately moved into a fighting stance, all oily muscles and slick tattoos, and I admit, I got a little turned on just watching him move.

It didn’t last long, though. His opponent gave him a minute, then quickly flipped him with a well-placed leg. Oily arms grappled and slid against each other, and then Liam landed hard on the ground, the other man over him.

And the man shoved his hand into Liam’s pants to pin him.

I couldn’t help it. I giggled.

Liam shot me a glare, his face flushed with irritation. Clearly not high on his list of fun challenges. I smothered my laugh and tried to look sympathetic.

The judge shook his head and blew the whistle. "No. I’m sorry,” he told Liam. “Try again."

The man let Liam up, and my partner got to his feet, adjusting his pants and brushing the long black hair out of his face. He shook himself off, then gave a nod of readiness.

The judge blew the whistle again.

It was clear that the wrestler Liam faced was trying to go easy on him. He held his hands out, ready to counteract a move, but he also wasn’t exactly being aggressive. He waited for Liam to move, and then when Liam lurched forward, grabbed him by the pants and slammed him to the ground again.