Still, Fox was late, and wasn’t sure what kind of competition they were supposed to be starting right now. He glanced at the small bathroom in his room and debated giving his teeth a quick once-over before answering.
Fox shook his head. He was already in hot water after last night. So, with one last longing glance toward his toothbrush, he answered the door instead.
On the other side was a much-too-refreshed looking Wade. He wore a giant smile on his face and carried two cups of coffee. “Everyone was wondering where you were.”
Fox grabbed the extra coffee from Wade’s hand and hurried to explain. “I forgot to set my alarm when I got in last night, and these stupid curtains make it so the sun doesn’t come through the windows, and—”
Wade’s chuckle cut him off. “Relax. You’re good. Bruce gave us the morning off.”
Fox’s head whipped up. “He what?”
Wade smiled. “I guess he sees how hard all of this has been on everyone and wanted to give us a break.”
Fox’s mind was sharp from the adrenaline of his jumpstarted wakeup, and the idea of Bruce giving them a break just didn’t feel right. Bruce didn’t do anything out of concern for the contestants onWedding Games. Fox knew that much, at least. But he’d get to brush his teeth after all. He waved Wade in and ushered him to the small chair in the corner of the room.
“So why do you think he’s giving us a break?” he asked before he loaded up his toothbrush and started brushing.
“Who knows why that guy does anything that he does?”
Ratings,Fox thought as he moved on to flossing.
“He told us to enjoy the property, and I thought I might go for a walk to loosen up my muscles after last night,” Wade said. “My quads are feeling tight.”
Now that the initial panic of messing things up for Eli and Audrey had passed, Fox could feel all the aches and pains that came from the previous night. While his work kept him healthy enough, Fox wasn’t eighteen anymore. His body wasn’t prepared for the late-night mountain run, or the secret agent moves through Wellspring. He was acutely aware of his lack of sleep thanks to the way his mind had buzzed with thoughts of Sienna until 4 a.m.
And he wasstillthinking about her.
Fox nodded. “Sure. Sounds good.”
He grabbed a pair of tennis shoes, and five minutes later, Wade and Fox were walking along one of the various hiking trails surrounding the Emerald Inn.
“So, where’s Eli this morning?” Fox asked once the massive building was out of view. It was unfortunate the camera still followed just a few yards behind them.
Wade gave the cameraman a quick glance. “He’s, uh, in the safe room with Audrey.”
Fox’s eyebrows shot up.
“Everything’s fine.” With a high arch to his eyebrows, Wade jerked his head toward the camera.
Whatever Eli and Audrey were doing, Wade didn’t want to say on camera. He continued to make weird faces, but Fox couldn’t interpret what Wade was trying to say. They needed a distraction, or to lose the cameraman, but even then, Fox knew better than anyone it wasn’t foolproof. Just because you didn’t see the camera, didn’t mean it wasn’t there.
“So, how about the Bears,” he said, hoping his slight hesitation wasn’t noticeable.
Fox didn’t know anything about football, but it seemed like a safe—and boring—topic of conversation. With any luck, Wade and Fox could be so bland, the cameras would want to leave.
A corner of Wade’s mouth tipped up. Apparently, he was much better at playing charades than Fox. Wade started rattling off statistics and droning on about this player and that coach and their chances at making it to the Super Bowl this year. The words came out so smoothly, like Wade was an expert, though Fox wasn’t sure if any of it was true.
Fox nodded and made sounds of agreement as Wade continued, but the cameras were still there. He was just about to give up hope that he’d be able to talk openly with Wade, when the cameraman’s phone rang. Fox held his breath as he listened to half of the conversation.
“Yeah. Uh-huh. Nope, just sports talk. Yep. Be right there.”
The guy didn’t even bother saying goodbye to Fox and Wade before going down the trail back to the inn.
The two friends watched his retreat in silence, and at some point, Fox realized he was holding his breath. Once the crew member disappeared behind some trees in the distance, Wade started laughing.
Wade patted Fox’s back hard. “I knew you were hopeless, but seriously, I started listing the Weasley family tree once it was obvious neither you nor the cameraman were paying attention.”
Fox looked up with a sheepish smile. “Yeah, not my thing.”
