“That was notice. The GPS only gives me so much advance warning.”
Paige took the exit too fast. She pressed hard on the brake to slow the SUV down quickly before they flipped going around the tight corner. The car behind her honked. But they could honk all they wanted. If they had Zoe in the backseat, they’d be frazzled behind the wheel too.
“Ouch,” Zoe called from the back where she’d banged her shoulder into the door as they’d come out of the sharp corner.
If only Zoe’s door had flung open at the time. Then Paige would have one less headache.
“You have no one to blame for your injury but yourself. Maybe next time you’ll give me more warning if you want me to drive.”
“Maybe there won’t be a next time with the way you drive.”
A yellow cab came out of nowhere, laid on the horn, and flipped Paige the finger as she hit the brake so hard the tires squealed. Zoe shrieked in the back as she slammed face first into the back of Paige’s seat.
With her knuckles white on the steering wheel, Paige took a couple of deep breaths and tried to stop her sudden urge to throw up. From beside her, Evan chuckled as he pointed his camera toward Zoe.
“I blame you for all of this,” Paige said, narrowing her eyes at Evan. “You just had to go and get Cassidy all knocked up so she couldn’t be my partner. You better name that baby after me if it’s a girl.”
He shrugged and smiled in response.
Refocusing, she asked, “Where to now, Zoe?”
For the next few minutes — that felt more like eternity — they made their way through the busy city streets with Zoe telling her where to turn. Paige did her best not to get them into any more close calls with taxis.
“It’s somewhere in there,” Zoe said as they pulled alongside Central Park.
“Okay, where can I turn in?”
“I don’t know. It says we’re pretty close. I think we’re going to have to park and do the rest on foot.”
“Park where?”
Zoe leaned in between the two front seats and pointed a little way down the street. “There. That big P is a parking garage. We can drop the car off then double back into the park.”
“Did they give us any money in the information packet?”
Zoe opened it and pulled out a handful of bills. “Looks like more than enough for parking.”
“But what if we need it for other things?” Paige asked. They should be careful with their money since no one had told them yet if they were going to get any more along the way. What if this was the only money they got and then didn’t have enough for another one of the caches later on?
“Unless you want to drive around for an hour looking for street parking and wasting even more time, then I suggest we pull into the garage and tell them to keep it somewhere close since we’ll be back in a few minutes.”
Paige didn’t answer. There was no point. Zoe was right and arguing with her or strategizing other options was only going to waste precious time. They’d already lost enough of that at the beginning of the race.
After dropping off the SUV, they crossed into the park at the light then sprinted in the direction the arrow pointed. Now that they were close, only a quarter of a mile away according to the GPS, Paige felt her pulse quicken. And it wasn’t just because of the jogging. The thought that they were going to find their first cache was so exciting.
What if there was a prize inside? What if they had to do something crazy to get the cache once they found it?
That made her feel marginally sick so she forced it out of her mind and instead focused on running without falling. They wove through a pathway that was as close to following the arrow as they could. It was either that or run through trees, which didn’t sound like any fun. Countless confused looking dog-walkers later, the path opened up, leading directly to a castle.
A castle in Central Park.
“That has to be where it’s hidden,” Zoe said, sprinting in her heels.
Paige raced behind her, barely managing to keep up. Zoe wasn’t kidding when she said she could do anything in those heels. As was proven again when she bolted up the stone staircase taking two stairs at a time. They looked along the stone wall and balcony for any kind of spot where a cache could be hidden. Too bad Paige hadn’t a sniff of an idea about what a cache actually looked like.
Paige glanced down to the GPS unit in Zoe’s hand. “It must be up here somewhere. We’re really close.”
They followed the arrow, watching as the distance on the screen shrank. As they came to the far edge of the outdoor balcony, they glanced around, finding only a covered area left to check. Finally after a few minutes searching, they found a small container, no bigger that a pill bottle with the show’s purple TT logo stuck to the lid, tucked up into a nook in the decorative facade.
Paige held her breath as she dumped out the contents into her hand. A small laminated note tumbled out, followed by … nothing. Paige sighed. Oh well. Not every cache would have an extra prize inside. At least they’d found one and now she knew they could do it.
She unfolded the note. A large 303 was written inside.
“What are we supposed to do now? How do they know we’ve been here and found this one?”
“We take a picture with it on the GPS and it will upload to their main tracking server.”
“How do you know that?”
“I read the information packet while you tried to kill us on the road. I had to do something to distract myself from the crazy woman behind the wheel holding my life in her hands.”
Paige rolled her eyes. “Just take the picture.” She held up the note with the cache number card in front of her and smiled with a thumbs up for the camera, trying to look cute and giving in to her happiness at finding their first cache. She hadn’t mentioned it to Zoe, but she’d secretly been scared she’d come on this show only to be a part of the team who never finds a single cache. Ever. Thankfully, they seemed to work well enough together that it wouldn’t be the case.
Zoe snapped the picture then lowered the GPS. “That was perfectly dorky in every way. And you wonder why Brad didn’t keep you around.”
Bitch. Her good mood dissolved instantly.
Paige kept her thoughts to herself and shoved the note back into the canister, securing it into its originally spot. Of course, shoving it up Zoe’s ass might make her feel better. Maybe she’d drive to their next cache and see if she couldn’t find a few more corners to take too quickly. Maybe then Zoe would be too busy to throw out any more unsolicited comments.
She grabbed the logbook from Zoe and quickly jotted down the location of this cache and the day and time they found it. Moving to the next one on the list, she read the coordinates to Zoe who entered them in.
“Looks like this one is a long drive — fifty miles from here.”
“Isn’t there anything closer to where we are now?” Paige asked.
“Maybe, but with five hundred coordinates to read through, it would take a while to find them.”
“Then I guess we better get a move on.” Paige turned on her heel not waiting for Zoe to lead the way with the GPS. First things first, they had to get their SUV out of the parking garage and Paige didn’t need Zoe’s help for that. Hell, she didn’t want Zoe’s help for anything anymore. Maybe she should ask Chip to let her run this race alone after all.
• • •
Paige and Zoe ran for the line drawn in white spray paint across the lawn in front of a gorgeous lodge. Other teams were already standing to the side as they crossed the line and stopped running. Paige moved to the side near the others, then doubled over, trying to catch her breath.
At five minutes until eight, they’d snuck in under the cutoff time for check in that night and with only a couple of caches to their credit. Not exactly the first day she’d been hoping f
or.
The last team — Team Grandparents — finished just behind Paige and Zoe.
“We might be last, but we made it,” they cheered, less out of breath than Paige was. She really should have worked out more before coming on a show like this.
Spencer moved from the sidelines to stand directly on the line and faced the teams. “Welcome, teams, to the beautiful Cascade Lodge. This is where you’ll be staying for the month while we film.” He paused while the teams looked at the lodge. “Each morning you’ll leave from this line at eight for check-out and every evening, you’ll check back in at eight. That gives you twelve solid hours of racing time. Use it wisely. And remember, checking in after eight will earn you a two-hour penalty the following day.”
The teams cheered, but it wasn’t as enthusiastic as it had been in the morning. Apparently Paige wasn’t the only one feeling like the day had taken it all out of her. Now that she’d finally caught her breath, she noticed other teams looked as tired as she felt.
“I know you’ve had an exciting day and I’m sure you’re all ready for a hot meal and a warm bed. So without making you wait any longer, here are the keys to your rooms.” Spencer handed each team an envelope with their names and a room number written across the front of it. “Go find your rooms, relax, eat, and rest. After every check in, you’ll be given a time slot for your daily wrap-up interview. The first one is tonight. You’ll find a filming schedule posted in the common room each evening.
“Oh, and one more thing, there are cameras mounted in the common room to catch all the after hours action since the cameramen are only filming out in the field with you during the day. However, there are no cameras mounted in any of the bedrooms. Rest assured, the privacy of your rooms will not be compromised by the show in any way. So if you need a place to talk strategy with your team, remember that. If there are no questions, let’s wrap this up. Goodnight!”
Paige yawned and followed Zoe into the lodge. Looked like she wouldn’t only be racing with Zoe each day, but sharing a room with her each night too.
The show kept getting better and better.
• • •
Miles threw his bag down on to his bed. It wasn’t the ritziest of hotels or the largest room, but it was clean and looked comfortable enough. And best of all, it was quiet after a grueling day of racing.
Ben had already flaked out on his bed, his leg elevated on a pillow, snoring gently. Miles would wake him in an hour for a late dinner.
Miles lay back on his own bed, folding his arms under his head as he stared up at the ceiling. The day had been harder than he’d expected and he was a seasoned traveler and climber. He could only imagine how hard it had been for Ben.
He tried not to look at Ben’s leg.
Damn it.
What he wouldn’t give to take that moment back. That one stupid moment that had made a mess of everything.
And every day Ben had to live with the reminder of everything that had gone wrong.
His friend rolled over in his sleep, his leg twisting on the pillow and his pant leg creeping up around his calf. The hard plastic of his prosthetic leg peeked out from beneath the material; forcing Miles to move his gaze back to the ceiling.
Miles went over their race day in his mind. The caches they’d found today hadn’t been that challenging which meant they’d been easier for Ben to reach, but also meant that they hadn’t been hard enough to deserve any extra reward for finding them. He’d really hoped they’d get lucky right off the bat and find a few caches with money in them. Money he could then help Ben pay off his medical bills with.
Even with good insurance, suffering an injury like Ben’s came with a big price tag. As if the pain and suffering wasn’t enough to bear on its own.
Or the money could be used to buy a fancier prosthesis for Ben. One that would make rock climbing again a real possibility.
And Miles would do whatever he had to to make sure that Ben and his family were taken care of. That his children could go to college. That Ben could have some money in the bank to ease the burden of everyday life. It was the least he could do.
If Miles could even help Ben realize that he still loved hiking and climbing, and that he could still do it even with his injury, well, then that would make coming on some silly reality show all the more worth it, especially after having to pull every trick in the book to get Ben here to begin with. The man was stubborn and convinced he couldn’t race. It was only when Miles begged him, claiming he had no other partner to run with, that Ben had finally caved and agreed to try and run the race. When Miles added that he missed having someone to climb with, adventure with … well, that was the final push Ben needed to sign up for the show.
Now they were here and Miles had to make sure Ben didn’t push it too hard. He wanted him to realize he could still do this stuff, but he didn’t want him to take any unnecessary risks that could result in another injury. Not on his watch. Not this time.
Chapter Four
Paige settled herself into one of the wooden rocking chairs on the covered patio of the lodge, her back to the beautiful lake behind them. The room was more like a sunroom than a patio with twinkling lights strung from the beamed ceiling and screened walls separating them from the elements and bugs.
The sun would set any minute, but the twinkling lights above them as well as the crew lights would make it possible to do the daily wrap-up segment regardless of how late of a time slot they got. Luckily, they’d gotten the first fifteen-minute time slot this evening. After which, they would be free for the rest of the night to eat dinner and relax.
In the rocking chair beside her, Zoe sat looking more annoyed. “Are we ready to go yet? I really don’t want to waste my entire evening doing a silly interview.”
“I think we’re good. One more second,” Evan said, fiddling with some papers on the little table next to him.
Paige watched as he finished getting everything ready. It was strange to be sitting here in front of Evan since he’d always been the one to interview Cassidy on The One. And it made her a little sad, wishing for the hundredth time that Cassidy was here with her instead of Zoe.
“Okay, let’s get started. Paige how did you feel when you found out Cassidy wouldn’t be on the show?” Evan asked.
“I was shocked. And totally terrified that I’d be kicked off the show before it even started.” She glanced up to Evan who had that silly half-dazed smile on his face again like he had when he’d seen Cassidy at the start of the show. “And I was thrilled for Cassidy’s good news too, of course,” she added quickly.
“How did you feel when you learned you’d be paired with Zoe for the race?”
“I was terrified again. And annoyed that Chip would give me a new partner without even asking for my opinion.”
“Well, would you have agreed to be my partner if he had asked?” Zoe questioned, looking even more annoyed.
Paige shook her head. “No way. No offense.”
“Oh, none taken. I wouldn’t have said yes either.”
“Wait, you didn’t know who you were teamed up with before you got to the show?” Paige asked. How was that possible?
“Nope. And if I had, I would have thought a lot more about it before saying yes. I’m the one who has to put up with you long enough to do the whole show.”
“Gee, thanks.”
“You’re welcome.”
Paige motioned for Evan to move on with the interview.
He cleared his throat. “Back to the provided questions. How do you think you did today after your first full day of racing?”
“I think I would have done a hell of a lot better with a partner who could work a GPS or drive,” Zoe said. “I can’t do everything myself.”
Bitch.
Paige closed her mouth, which had fallen open at the rudeness of her partner’s words. �
�You’re no prize partner either, you know. You’re the one who wanted to stop at the salon to get your nail fixed while we’re running a race. I wish Chip had given me a partner who was less superficial.”
“There’s nothing wrong with wanting to look my best. If I look my best, I perform my best.”
Paige sighed. “Sure, ’cause having perfect nails really helps us find caches faster.”
Zoe narrowed her eyes.
“Anything you’d like to add to that, Zoe?” Evan asked.
Zoe folded her arms across her chest and leveled her gaze at the camera. “No.”
Good. There wasn’t anything she could say to justify a salon stop during a race and she knew it. Maybe tomorrow she wouldn’t make another stupid request to stop for something else ridiculous and unnecessary.
“Last question before our time runs out for tonight. What do you think of the other teams you’re racing against?”
“I think we have our work cut out for us. Some of the other teams seem way more prepared to do these kinds of challenges. But I still think that if we work hard together we’ll be able to hold our own.” Paige smiled, hoping she looked confident in her answer because she certainly didn’t feel it.
She was pretty sure they would lose. Horribly.
• • •
Paige eased into one of the cushy oversized chairs in the common area and curled up, cuddling her cup of hot chocolate in her hands, the three giant marshmallows in it slowly melting. The large stone fireplace threw enough heat to make her feel warm and cozy without feeling cooked. Perfect for relaxing at night after competing all day.
If only Zoe would wander off and find somewhere else to hang out for the night. Like the snake hole she’d slithered out of for the show.
Currently, Zoe sipped a glass of wine and glared at Mr. Muscles where he sat in another armchair opposite Paige. If only she could figure out why Zoe was acting like that. They hadn’t even exchanged names yet and already she seemed to have a rather large chip on her shoulder whenever she spotted him.
Stuck on You (Crimson Romance) Page 3