Partner Games

by Jessica Clare

  “Last place,” Swift said in a low, dull voice. “I can’t believe we’re in last.”

  “But still in it,” I said brightly.

  “Last place won’t win the money.” He sounded defeated.

  “Why don’t you come sit down in the tent with me for a bit?” I told him, patting his back. “Come on. We’ll get some water in you, clean you off, and you can tell me all about it.”

  He let me lead him away into the cluster of tents. In the distance, I could hear one of the Doctor Moms start to cry as they were told they were gone. Sucked, but someone had to go. I zippered open my tent and gestured for Swift to get inside. “I’ll get some bottled water.”

  He looked down at his clothing, as if just now realizing how filthy he was. “You sure you want me in there? I look like I rolled around in the dunes.” He flicked a hand at his t-shirt and a cloud of dirt flew into the air.

  “I’m sure,” I told him. It wasn’t as if we’d be able to relax in there in this heat anyhow. “Leave the zipper open though, because it’s hot as heck out here.”

  He nodded and unclipped his pack from his back, then threw it onto the ground. That one motion told me just how defeated he was. He never slung his stuff anywhere. He was always very careful. I frowned to myself and headed over to the coolers of water bottles. I grabbed several and a towel that was lying over a nearby chair, and retreated back toward the tent I was going to share with Georgie.

  Swift sat at the entrance, his big black-booted feet sticking out. The defeated look was still on his dirty face, along with an epic shiner. He was taking the whole ‘fifth’ place thing pretty hard. Maybe it was hard after being in first the entire race.

  “Scoot over,” I told him, and squeezed into the tent next to him, sitting on my pack. I opened a water bottle and wet one corner of a towel, then offered it to him.

  Instead of taking the towel, he grabbed my hand, which was covered with the smeared henna tattoo. “What happened here?”

  “The girls had to get mehndi tattoos and Georgie and I got impatient. We were supposed to be careful with our hands and cover it for an hour, but we sweated it all off and now it just looks like a really bad rash.”

  He chuckled and pulled my hand in toward his mouth.

  I quickly jerked it away. “Smells like camel. Don’t kiss it.”

  Swift looked up at me and gave me a half-grin. “My entire body smells like camel and you still hugged me.”

  My sweaty cheeks felt even warmer. “So I did.”

  “I’ll just kiss your mouth instead of your hand. Deal?” Swift tugged on the hem of my red shirt, pulling me forward, and I went, because he was impossible to resist.

  The kiss was brief – his mouth was chapped from the heat. I immediately handed him a water bottle. “Drink this.”

  Swift sighed and took the bottle from me, but he drained the entire thing quickly. I handed him the damp towel and he wiped at his face, but all he managed to do was smear it around.

  Stifling my giggle, I took it from him. “Let me. You don’t have a mirror and you’re making it worse.”

  “Sponge bath from a hot chick? Maybe there’s something to coming in last place after all,” he joked.

  I wet a new corner of the towel and wiped away at the dirty streaks on his face and neck. “What happened?”

  “This?” He plucked at his dirty shirt, sending another wave of sand into the air and in the tent. “We asked for the fastest camels, which was dumb. The fastest camels were actually the biggest jerks. We got there first, then had to turn around after they threw both of us. I think Plate messed up his wrist.” He frowned, glancing out the tent.

  “Georgie has him. I think she took him to the medic,” I soothed before he could get up and find his partner. I handed him another bottle of water and went to work on cleaning his sandy forearms. “And I meant, why were you guys so far behind us? What happened there?”

  He rubbed his forehead, clearly frustrated. “Our plane that was supposed to get there in advance? That was so awesome? One of the toilets got clogged so we couldn’t take off. They tried to fix it for three hours and then switched us to another plane. It was ridiculous.”

  “Well, it could have been worse. Someone could have stolen your money.”

  “Yeah, right. I’d punch the daylights out of anyone that tried it.” Swift’s eyes narrowed.

  I swallowed the ‘no really, someone stole our money’ that was burning in my throat. If he punched someone on the Green Team, they’d really be out of the race. I’d just tell him about our financial mishap later, when he wasn’t so down. “Look on the bright side. At least you’re still in the race.”

  He snorted and flopped back on his backpack, using it as a pillow. “Not for long.”

  This wasn’t like him, to be so despairing. “You guys have been in first place for the entire race so far. You’ll come back.”

  He rubbed his forehead again, and this time his hands remained covering his face. “Tiny, what am I gonna do? Dad’s counting on me. I took a big risk to come on this show and try to win. What if I can’t pull through?” He kept his face covered, and for a horrified moment, I worried that he was about to break down and cry.

  I glanced out the front of the tent and saw a cameraman hovering, recording everything. No doubt if I looked outside, someone would be holding a boom mic over the tent. As discreetly as possible, I reached over and zipped half of the tent, hiding our faces from the camera’s lens. “You don’t need to win as much as the rest of us just need to lose, remember?”

  “Shit,” he said, and dropped his hands. He looked over at me, then took my hand in his and squeezed it. “I know you want to win, too. I didn’t mean—“

  “It’s okay. Really.” I patted his hand. “You’re running this race for three people. I get it.”

  “I just…don’t know what I’m going to do if I fail him.” His gaze was full of despair.

  I didn’t know what to say to that. I’ll try to help you win? Because him winning meant me losing…and letting down my twin. And just when Georgie and I had worked through our problems, I didn’t want to drive a wedge between us.

  I squeezed his hand. “You’ll figure something out.”

  If anything, Swift being in last place had made me realize that this race was short and only getting shorter by the minute. I needed to take advantage of every minute we had.

  And the next time we had some privacy and a hotel room? I was so having sex with him.

  Chapter Thirty

  “I can’t lose. I just can’t. If I do…I might as well never go home again. I won’t be able to look my Dad in the eye and tell him I failed him.” – Swift, Team One Percent, The World Races

  Even at ten at night, the heat in Morocco was oppressive, to the point that I was almost hoping that this rest period would go by quickly.

  Almost.

  Except…I sat under one of the shades, torches flickering nearby to provide ambience and lighting, Swift’s head in my lap, sipping from ice-cold bottled water. Jendan and Annabelle sat nearby, and Georgie had planted herself in Plate’s lap and was busy decorating his makeshift cast with a scrawly version of our mehndi designs.

  “So how bad is the wrist?” Annabelle asked, her brows drawn together with concern. Unlike the Green Machine or the Red Hat ladies, Annabelle was genuinely concerned for Plate and Swift. Out of all the teams we’d been running with, we liked them the best. They were nice and friendly and not cutthroat, just here to have a good time.

  “The medical team says I should keep it immobilized for the rest of the race and then have it checked again when I get home. It’s not broken, but it might as well be.” His normally smiling face was glum. “Fuckin’ camels.”

  “Now, now,” Georgie said, her voice cheerful as she drew another doodle on his lime-green cast. “The camel was probably upset that it had to carry your heavy ass. You can’t blame it.”

  He gave her a mock-scowl and tickled her, and Georgie dissolved into shriek
s of delight, pretending to try and mark on his shirt with the marker as he tickled her with his good hand.

  In the distance, Drew from the Green Machine rolled his eyes and stalked away, complaining about how loud we were. I heard someone mutter the word ‘clique’ in the background.

  My, how things had changed. Suddenly my friends were in the majority and not the minority. Go figure.

  Jendan just grinned, watching Georgie and Plate horse around, and he leaned in and kissed Annabelle’s cheek. “Could be worse, guys. We could be naked.”

  She giggled. “That wasn’t so bad. I got a nice tan.”

  “Naked World Races?” Swift mused, glancing up at me from his headrest on my thigh. “I’d be game. You?”

  “What? No way!” I could feel my cheeks heating. “I would never even make it past the starting line. Never. No way, no how. Uh uh.”

  “Come on. You’d look good in your birthday suit,” Swift teased. “And I’d be happy to be your partner.”

  I clapped a hand over his mouth so he’d stop embarrassing me, while the others laughed. Swift just grabbed my hand and kissed my palm, making me squirm again.

  Annabelle leaned in and kissed Jendan, smiling at him. They were kissy, those two. It seemed every time I turned around, they were touching each other, or kissing, or cuddling. “I’m ready to go home and get back in my own bed, honestly,” she said, giving Jendan another peck on the lips before looking over at us. “Take our winner’s money and pay off our new mortgage.”

  “Didn’t you win Endurance Island?” Plate asked. “Maybe you let the rest of us have a turn.”

  Annabelle just giggled. “I honestly don’t care if we win or lose. I just like being here with Jendan.” And she kissed her man again. Then, she looked over. “What about you guys?”

  “I just like being here with Tiny, too,” Swift said, and reached up and tweaked one of my braids.

  “Yeah, we’re gonna take the money and open up a bike garage,” Plate said as he held his cast out for Georgie to continue decorating. “Invest in some business, you know?”

  I frowned a little at that. Swift had told me that he needed the money for his sick dad, not a garage. “But I thought—“

  Swift tweaked on my braid again, distracting me. “That’s provided these ladies don’t beat us to the finish line.”

  “If I win, I’m going to Bora Bora for a year,” Georgie declared. “Buy myself a grass hut and live on the beach with a personal masseuse at my beck and call.” She drew a little penis on Plate’s cast. “And you guys are welcome to come and visit.”

  “So generous,” Plate said with a snort. “Didn’t realize they paid that much for second place.”

  “Shaddup,” Georgie giggled.

  “Red team?” Production called out, and I saw a woman approach with a clipboard. “You have ten minutes before you need to be on the mat. Please get ready.”

  Georgie looked over at me and frowned. “Already?”

  I sighed. I was tired and hot, and I wanted a shower. More than that, I wanted time alone with Swift. The last thing I wanted was to get up and go race again through the middle of the night. I glanced down at the gorgeous man leaning against my thigh, and he gave me a small smile and a wink.

  “One of the perils of being in first place,” he murmured.

  “I wish you guys were right behind us,” I told him. Right now, I was more interested in spending time with Swift than racing off to another remote location.

  “We’ll catch up,” he said, and gave my palm another kiss. “I promise.”

  Georgie groaned and pulled herself off of Plate’s lap. “But I haven’t finished decorating his cast.”

  “I’m sure second place would be happy to take your spot,” Annabelle teased as she leaned against Jendan.

  Second place was the Red Hat ladies. Elderly, but scrappy and devious. Georgie’s mouth pursed like she was sucking on a lemon. “Fuck that noise.”

  I sighed. “Guess I’d better grab my stuff.”

  Swift sat up and I got to my feet, brushing sand off of my legs. Even though we were sitting in a grassy spot near the oasis, there seemed to be sand everywhere. It was like the wind was determined to scour a layer off of our faces with it. Between that and the long sleeves in the heat? I was totally marking Morocco off of my list of places to re-visit.

  Georgie and I retreated to our unused tent and stuffed our things into our backpacks. When we emerged, Swift and Plate were there with new bottles of water. “For your journey, ladies,” Plate said as he held one out. Georgie took it with a grin and gave him a hug, and I blushed as Swift approached me.

  “Kiss for luck?” he murmured.

  “You think I need luck?”

  “Actually, the luck’s for me,” he said, and put a hand to the side of my neck, pulling me closer. “Plus, I just wanted an excuse to kiss you.” His lips brushed against mine, and I felt the barest stroke of tongue against my mouth before he pulled away.

  I sighed and gazed at his mouth. Why was I resenting being in first place? I should be thrilled. I should be stoked that we were at the head of the pack for the first time in the race. I…just wanted to kiss and cuddle with Swift a bit longer.

  “Have fun,” he murmured as he pulled back.

  “We’ll try and save you guys seats on the flight if we can,” Georgie told them. She hugged Plate again and fist-bumped Swift.

  “Red team,” Production bellowed again. “You’re needed on the mat in five minutes!”

  “Gotta go,” I called, and grabbed Georgie’s hand. We raced forward to where the cameras were set up and got into our places. Georgie tucked a fresh bottle of water in my bag and I smoothed a protective layer of lip balm over my chapped mouth. That made me think about Swift again, but I had to put that out of my mind for now.

  Until the next pit stop, I needed to think about the race.

  After this leg was done, I could think about Swift, and hotel rooms, and possibly losing my V-card to a sexy, tattooed biker who had the best smile and amazing kisses.

  And who might or might not be lying about his dad being sick. I frowned at that as I offered the lip gloss to my twin. Surely he wasn’t lying about it so we’d help him win? That seemed incredibly…shady.

  Then again, he also hadn’t told me if he was really in a biker club or not. I was starting to worry I knew less about Swift than I thought.

  Someone in production came forward and handed us a disk. “Countdown in thirty seconds,” she said. “Don’t flip that until you get the go-ahead.”

  Georgie took the disk and glanced over at me. “You ready to do this, Clemmy?”

  “Let’s kick some butt,” I told her. “Only five teams left. Four away from the winner’s circle.”

  She grinned.

  The production assistant wandered away, her gaze on her watch. I chewed on my freshly-glossed lip, worried. I wasn’t being played, was I? I wished I had half the worldly experience Georgie did.

  Then I thought about her terrible confessions and felt like a jerk. Maybe it was better to be the innocent one after all. I put my arm around Georgie’s waist and gave her an impulsive one-armed hug.

  “What’s that for?”

  “For being an awesome sister and racing with me.”

  For a moment she looked surprised, and her eyes gleamed. Then she nudged me with her elbow. “You bitch. Don’t make me cry or I’m going to have runny mascara on camera.”

  “Five seconds,” Production bellowed in our ears.

  “Sorry,” I said meekly. Not sorry, though. I loved my twin, and I was glad we were here together, on the race.

  Production waved at us, and the cameras all started rolling at the same time. We were a go. I looked at Georgie and smiled, and she gave an excited wiggle and flipped over the disk.

  I peered over her shoulder, even though I couldn’t read the writing without my glasses. “What’s it say?”

  “Make your way to Huangshan, China,” Georgie read. “Look for the Hot S
prings in the Yellow Mountain Tourist Area and there you will find your next clue. On this leg of the race, the two teams to arrive last to the mat will be eliminated once again. Also on this leg of the race, there is a penalty challenge for one team. Be fast!”

  Oh crap. Two teams eliminated again, and the guys were at least three hours behind us?

  This was not good.

  Chapter Thirty-One

  “Oh look, it’s just us, being royally screwed all over again. I swear this game is rigged.” – Swift, Team One Percent, The World Races

  “The next flight to Tunxi is not until seven AM tomorrow?” I repeated, not sure I was hearing correctly.

  The woman at the travel agency nodded and turned her computer monitor so we could see the flight. “You will leave Agadir at seven in the morning and it is a four hour flight to Orly airport. From there, you will need to go to Charles De Gaulle airport and take a flight to Guangzhou. That flight leaves Charles De Gaulle just before midnight, and you will arrive in Guangzhou at about five PM the next day.” Her pen tapped the screen and pointed to the next line. “From there, you will fly from Guangzhou to Tunxhi, which is a very short flight. Two hours.”

  “So two layovers and lots of hours in the air.” Georgie’s eyes crossed and she looked at me.

  I scooted forward on the edge of my seat. “There’s nothing sooner?”

  The travel agent frowned at my question. “There are different flights of course, but they have more connections. Do you want more connections?”

  “No,” Georgie said quickly. “We want fast.”

  “This is fastest,” the agent said with a nod.

  “That means we’re all going to be on the same flight,” I murmured to my twin.

  Georgie sighed. “So much for our lead.”

  “Yeah,” I said, and did my best to sound glum, but the truth was…I was kinda stoked. This would give Swift and Plate a chance to catch up. Granted, it would also give the Green Machine the chance to catch up, too, but we couldn’t do anything about that.