He’s just standing there, jaw working, so I go back to the mine car. When I come back, he’s yelling at me to go faster.
“What the fuck? Do you have molasses in your veins?”
I stare at him as I try the key. “I’m sorry if I’m not as fast as you.”
“We should’ve found this key by now.” The key doesn’t twist, so he yanks it out from my hands. “Okay. We shouldn’t panic.”
He’s trying to be calm. But he’s panicking.
Then he looks at the key I brought and growls. “This isn’t blue! It’s purple!”
I push my glasses up on my nose and squint at it. “I’m sorry! It’s getting dark, so—”
He points to the ground. “Why don’t you just sit there and do nothing. We’ll go faster that way.”
And then he leaves.
And I have just about had it.
So I do as the wise master says. I sit on the ground, and I don’t even look at him. I look at my nails. I stare at the sky. I sip my water. When he asks for help, I tell him to take a long walk off a short pier.
“Are you serious?” he says to me. “You’re going to sit there and do nothing?”
“I’m doing exactly what you told me to, remember?”
He stares at me, breathing hard, nostrils flaring.
“Fucking stupid goddamn idiotic challenge!” he shouts at the lock when he tries another key that doesn’t work. He kicks the ground with his boot, grabs ahold of the bars, and starts to shake the whole gate. Meanwhile, the second and third couples—Brad and Natalie with Ivy and Cody—waltz right through.
“I think you need to calm down,” I tell him.
“I think you need to get more riled up,” he snaps as another couple—Cara the dancer and Zach the father—gets through easily. “I hate losing.”
“Obviously.”
“I mean, what the fuck? I thought you were lucky, Penny.”
I scowl at him. “Maybe I’m not because my name is Nell!” I almost scream it at him.
We are definitely losing control. I’ve never been so riled up as this man has made me. And until now he always seemed so calm, so relaxed. I’m shaking so hard, I just want to claw his eyes out. And I’ve never felt like that before, toward anyone.
We don’t find our key until nearly midnight, after almost four hours of trying. Despite our early lead, we end up coming in sixth place, which I can tell Luke isn’t happy with. But when we stumble into our cabin, his mood magically improves.
“Fuck yes,” he says as he throws his pack down and looks around. “I mean, fudge yes.”
I survey the room. It’s small and dark and has one bed.
One bed. Sure, it’s a double, but . . .
“Steven and Erica just got through after us. So either Webb and Daphne or Jen and Elliott are going to be eliminated.”
He’s still talking game. He knows the teams so intimately, but they’re just names to me. I don’t say anything.
“But we’re way behind Ace and Marta. We have some serious ground to make up.” He scrapes his hands over his face but then stops and looks at his bloody palms. “I am so fucking spent.”
I peek into the bathroom. It’s a stall shower, a toilet, and a sink. Very rustic. A daddy-long-legs skitters near the drain. I cringe.
“I’ll let you have the shower first,” I say, my voice clipped. “Then you should go to medical and get your hands looked at.” So you can get away from me.
He gets the hint. “Wait. Are you mad at me?”
I give him a look, like, What do you think?
“Why?”
I cross my arms. “I’ll give you a hint: ‘Why don’t you sit there and do nothing?’” I mimic, dropping my voice an octave.
He shrugs. “I was frustrated. That asshole Ace’s trash talk was getting to me.”
“But you don’t take it out on me!” I shout at him.
He sucks in a breath and lets it out slowly. Stretches his arms up over his head. “You know what the problem is with you?”
“I’m sure you’re going to tell me.”
“You don’t appreciate shit,” he growls, storming to his bag and unzipping it. “I ran about ten miles today carrying your ass so that we could end up in first place, and what do I get in return? A thank-you?”
My jaw drops. “A thank-you? Are you kidding me? Like I wanted your thingy jammed between my legs all day!”
He laughs. “My thingy?” He shakes his head like he can’t believe