AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Fifty-Three
BROOKE
The next few minutes were totally insane; a whirlwind of dragging ourselves to the summit and then flying back down. Devin read the final clue in a full-blown sprint while I dashed ahead, the Fast Pass token all but burning a hole in my clenched fist.
“St. Peter’s Basilica!”
It made sense, of course. It was probably the only big attraction left in Rome wehadn’tbeen sent to.
I stopped briefly to hug Sarah again on the way down, as tightly as I could. But I was torn away by Reese and Hayden, as they pulled me crudely from her grasp.
“Get out of here already,” she smiled one last time, still sitting in the same spot we’d left her. “Oh, and Brooke?”
“Yeah?” I cried breathlessly as I was being dragged away.
“You’d better fuckin’win.”
By the time they let go of me I was already ahead of them, my legs carrying me downward as fast as I dared run. I hit the street and began frantically scanning traffic. A full half-minute before they got there, I’d already flagged down a cab.
“Get in!”
The driver zipped through the streets as we struggled to catch our breath. There was almost no traffic. The sun had gone down and the lights had gone up, and the people of Rome were home with families, eating, drinking, laughing…
“I can’t believe this,” Hayden kept mumbling over and over. “I just can’t believe it, I can’t—”
On a whim I grabbed him and kissed him, full-on face to face. The lone camera crew still on us hadn’t even reached the street in time. We’d taken off before they got there.
“Believe it,” I smiled, finally breaking the kiss. “We’re going to win.”
We crossed the bridge over the river, and turned down the main thoroughfare. The avenue yawned open into St. Peter’s Square. The Piazza San Pietro was fulled with throngs of people! Hundreds of them, lined up on both sides.
People that saw our cab and suddenly startedcheering.
“Holy shit…” Reese breathed. “Holy no fucking way—”
The cab stopped, and the driver smiled back at us. By now the amount of adrenaline surging through me was almost lethal. My hand shook so badly I couldn’t even find the door handle…
When I finally did, a wrist shot out and closed over mine.
“Wait.”
My heart was pounding so loudly it was thunder in my ears. I could barely see straight.
“Not yet.”
I whirled, and found all three of the guys staring back at me. They were terrifyingly motionless. Like something out of a nightmare.
“Let’s go!” I shouted. “Quick! Before the other team—”
No one was exiting the vehicle. They were still looking at me, their expressions unchanged.
“This timewe’rethe ones not leaving the cab,” said Devin calmly. “Not until we’ve told you something.”
My stomach felt like a cement mixer. I was thrilled, nauseous, excited, sick. All these emotions chased each other around in my head, as Hayden shifted beside me.
“This all started out as us having a little fun,” he said, “nothing more. A no-strings attached arrangement. Playing with you in paradise. Treating you like our little toy…”
“I know,” I swallowed, feeling butterflies. “I wanted it. I needed it—”
