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I studied his face. Devin wasn’t just disappointed, he was actually angry.
“But—”
“But nothing,” he cut me off. “Every good team that sticks around weakens our chances. Remember that. Keeping it in the Family went home today, but they were never competitive — just lucky. They were fan favorites, because they were funny. The father made goofy jokes. They came in third during their season, and just barely.”
Devin pointed off into the distance before continuing. “But that girl Sarah? She’stough. She’s got the eye of the tiger. Getting rid her her today, that would’ve been big.”
I made a face that was probably a scowl. “So you’re saying don’t work with other teams?”
“There’s difference between agreeing to work together to solve a puzzle or make it through a leg,” Devin said, “and outright gifting the answer. What you did today was throw someone a free bone.”
“But I already told you, the way I see it—”
“We,” Devin said sharply. “The waywesee it. Not ‘I’. Not you. We’re a team, the four of us.”
An uncomfortable silence followed, until somewhere in the beauty beneath us a bird started singing. Somehow it made things worse.
“So don’t help other teams then…” I breathed.
“Especially not good ones,” he said flatly.
I felt scolded. Hurt. Even pissed. The Devin from our beachfront villa had been sweet and welcoming. I couldn’t believe how cold he was being about the whole thing.
“Fine,” I sulked. “Any other rules I should know about?”
“Yes,” came a voice from behind me. “We don’t badger the hell out of our fellow teammates.”
I turned to find Reese and Hayden standing behind me. Reese walked over and stared Devin straight in the eye.
“What the fuck are you doing, man?”
“Nothing.”
“This isn’t cool.”
Reese took my hand, cupping it gently in his. I knew he was moving to help, but I didn’t care. He tried pulling me back from the balcony, but I resisted.
“Brooke…”
“Forget it,” I snapped angrily. “Devin’s right anyway. I probably screwed everything up already by what I did. Changed the whole course of the Race.”
I fled the room swiftly, with the cameras following close behind. By the time the guys reached out to stop me, I was already gone.
Fuck this.
I stormed across the hall and into my own room, which I’d left propped open. For once, no one followed. I heard the electronic click as the door locked behind me, divorcing me from the chaos outside. The sound of silence was re-assuring, but only for a moment.
Shit.
Then I was back on my bed, all alone again.
Alone and crying.
