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“I’m sure you all are wondering what the winner will get.” Oh crap, maybe it’s not fair that the girls don’t get a chance to compete. “Now that you have all officially met, the winner can switch into whatever tent they want.”
“Hell yeah!” Ryan shouts. Ouch. I try to remember who he was with. Then I see Christina’s face and know it’s her. The irritated expression on her face almost matches Leo’s.
He’s had a very I don’t give a fuck about this show vibe going on so far. I wonder if he’ll even try to win this. If he does and he wins, will he pick someone else? Probably. We haven’t gotten off to the best of starts. I guess that might be why they haven’t brought down our luggage to our tents. They were waiting until after this competition to see exactly where everyone would be.
I can’t help but wonder who I might end up stuck with. I go down the list of men, scratching off Mason. I think someone said he’s a lawyer. He reminds me of those guys on TikTok that are always in the gym. I already know what my twin would say about him. Hey, man, you can’t be skipping leg day. Mason is only buff from the waist up. His legs are scrawny, especially in comparison to Leo’s thighs.
Emile is snotty. Ryan is all brawn and no brains. I think he’s taken a few too many hits in those football games he used to play. That leaves Hudson. He’s been rather quiet. I know he’s some kind of doctor. If I had to pick someone else to get stuck with, I suppose it might be him.
“Are there any questions?” Owen asks.
“What if we win and don’t want to switch tents?” Leo calls out.
“We all know who Leo is interested in,” one of the other girls whispers.
“I’m sure things will change once people get to know each other,” another says.
A whirl of emotions fill me. This really is a competition. Leo is a pain in my ass, but I’m finding I don’t want him to be a pain in someone else's. His bossiness happens to be weirdly charming. Not that I’d ever admit that out loud.
“Then you’ll get to keep Quinn,” Owen responds. Keep me? The hell? Leo seems to like that answer until Owen continues, “For now.”
CHAPTER 7
LEO
Run fifty meters, flip a tractor tire five times, army crawl under barbed wire in a shallow pond of cold water and colder mud. At the end is a puzzle box. You have to get it open to retrieve a key. The key will unlock the rope that you have to climb to ring a bell. The rope climb is one of the hardest on any obstacle course, especially if you wasted yourself on the tire flips. After ringing the bell and dropping to the ground, you go to the way station. There you have to solve a riddle. If you get the answer right, you go straight to the finish line, which is a flat fifty meters away. If you don’t get the riddle right, you have to climb two hundred stairs, with the pack, to the finish line.
Mason will be wasted after the tire flip. That exercise comes from the legs. Emile doesn’t look like he’s lifted anything heavier than his wallet. Hudson, the doctor, might be a hidden card, but the athlete, Ryan, is my biggest competition. He has his eye on someone, but I’m not sure if it’s Quinn or Serena since they stood close together.
I’m going to draft behind him, staying close but not ahead. Obviously, you want to get the riddle right, but by the time you reach the way station, you’re going to be exhausted. Your mind will be muddled, and sorting through even an easy riddle is going to be a challenge. I’m banking that he won’t be able to get the riddle. It’s a risk, but taking risks is how I made my fortune.
“I hope that all these contests aren’t physical. We aren’t in a gym competition,” says Emile in a loud, disdainful voice.
“Why? Did you think you could buy your way into a tent?” scoffs Ryan.
“I don’t know, ladies, would you rather have a diamond necklace or a sweaty man who finished crawling through mud for no reason?” Emile arches an eyebrow toward the line of women.
“I’ll take the diamonds.” Serena raises her hand.
To my surprise, Quinn does as well. “Diamonds for me.”
“I like diamonds,” another woman chimes in. I don’t know who she is.
“The actress,” Emile whispers helpfully. “Penelope, the one with the long dark hair, plays the violin, and Anna, the blonde, is the semi-pro tennis player who is coaching the up-and-coming tennis phenom, Sia Chandler.”
“I’m not going to remember all of that,” I reply. My focus is on Quinn. No one else here really matters.
