West smirks when he sees my shirt.
I stick out my tongue at him.
Kal tugs at his shirt. “Can you tie mine up like that so I can be pretty too?”
I snort. “Are you kidding? Did you get my size by accident? It’s so tight it looks like your shirt was painted on.”
He flexes his arms. “Do you know how many eligible girls will be here?”
I raise an eyebrow. “Guys too?”
His eyes widen. “If anybody asks, you have a boyfriend named Kal.”
“But then how are you going to pick up chicks?”
“Never mind.” Kal points at West. “West can be your boyfriend.”
West grunts. “Are you two done yet? We really should get going if we want a good parking spot.”
I tug at the shirt. “Is it too late to trade this out for a Team Kal shirt?”
Kal laughs as he shrugs his arm around my shoulders. West doesn’t say a word, he just stomps out the door ahead of us. I’m a little sad that the nice West from last night is gone, but this is what I expected. It’s always like this.
We get into the Jeep, Alek in the back with Kal and me. This seems to be our new normal lately because Ian can’t stand to sit beside me and I’m always the one in the middle.
“Think the girls will be all over me?” Kal makes a muscle with his arm.
I squeeze it, giggling. “Absolutely.”
“The only reason girls will be talking to you is if they want to get close to me.” Alek makes a muscle.
I feel his muscle too.
“Princess, stop flirting with Alek and Kal.” West looks at me in the rearview mirror. I’m surprised he’s not glaring.
“She’s not flirting,” Kal counters. “She’s my wingman today.”
I nod, then pause. “Wait, what does a wingman do?”
“You help him pick up chicks,” Alek answers.
My grin widens. “I get to pick out a girlfriend for you?” I clap my hands excitedly. “Oh, I’m going to like being a wingman.”
Kal groans.
Alek laughs.
“What?” I look between them.
West even chuckles. “Princess, I don’t think he’s looking for a girlfriend—I think he just wants a girl for the week, or maybe just the day.”
I wrinkle my nose. “What’s the point of that?”
Kal just pats my head. “Ah, Roxy, you’re so cute. Honestly, if we weren’t on the same team, I’d probably break my no dating until I’m thirty rule.”
I sit up straighter. “Flattery will get you everywhere.” I pull out my phone. “Now, tell me, what is your type. I need to make notes.”
“Uh, hot,” he says.
Looking up from my phone, I shake my head. “Kalvin Fuller, come on. You’ve got to give me something to work with here. Do you like blondes? Brunettes? Maybe you’re into gingers? Oooh! Or girls with bright colored hair—I saw a girl at Fight Club the other night with yellow hair. So cool. I could never pull it off.”
“Pink looks rather good on you,” West says.
I huff, looking at him. “And bald is going to look good on you if ever think about dying my hair again.”
Alek and I bump knuckles and West even laughs.
West glances at Ian. “We’ve got to separate The Three Musketeers back there. Can’t you just make up with Roxy?”
“Yeah,” Kal says. “We need a fourth.”
Ian crosses his arms over his chest. “Not unless you ditch her.”
I swallow hard.
Her? I’m just her now?
Feeling dejected, I sit back in my seat. The guys continue joking around me, but I just keep my mouth shut for the remainder of the trip, not wanting to make Ian upset. Thankfully, it’s only a short drive to where the first challenge is being held, and I’m pleasantly surprised when we pull into a shooting range.
I grin, looking at West. “Shooting? That’s today’s challenge?”
West grins. “Yep.”
I am completely elated because I excel at shooting. It’s something I’ve always been a natural at. Maybe I can be helpful to my team in The Royal Games after all. I feel a lot better knowing that today I won’t fail them.
Getting out of the Jeep, I follow the guys inside. There is already a crowd starting to head in to watch, and my excitement turns to nervousness.
I’ve never been good at the whole crowds thing. One time I had to give a speech in school and I ended up tossing my cookies in front of everybody. The teacher felt so bad for me, she gave me an A for every speech I was supposed to make, but she never forced me to give a speech again. I liked that teacher, she was great.
“You doing okay?” Alek raises an eyebrow.
I rub a hand at the base of my throat. “What? Yeah. I’m totally fine.” My stomach churns.
Every team is paired up against one other team. Of course, our team is going up against our rivals—I’m sure it was planned that way after what happened last year. Somebody obviously has a sick sense of humor.
There are bleachers set up around, and we are directed to take a seat until it’s our turn. The rival team goes first. Jensen gets up to shoot. He makes a point to wink at me, which of course grates on West’s nerves.
“That guy has a death wish,” Kal whispers in my ear.
I don’t laugh because it’s not funny. Jensen is making things so hard with West. Now he’s going to be grumpy with me the rest of the day.
My phone vibrates as Jensen is shooting. Not wanting to watch him, I glance down and see a text from my mom.
MOM: Don’t screw this up. Love, Mom.
Ah, how sweet. Nothing like a do well or you’ll be disowned text from my mother. It’s exactly how I wanted to start out this challenge.
West huffs, so I look up.
Jensen got a perfect score.
Cole takes his turn next, followed by Rook—they all got perfect scores.
West turns to me. “Ian’s out because of his broken leg. But we need one more person to sit out to make it fair—three against three.”
My stomach sinks, thinking he’s about to force me to sit this one out.
“Kal sucks at shooting anyway, so it’s me, you, and Alek,” he says, then leans closer. “Don’t screw this up, Roxy.”
The nerves are back in full force at his comment.
This really is on me—West and Alek won’t miss.
I take a deep breath, reminding myself that I can do this. I got a perfect score in this class at Spy School—it’s the one class I couldn’t screw up. This will be easy.
We get into position. West, of course, goes first. I stand behind him and watch in awe as he empties the clip of his gun, hitting the center of the target every single time. Part of me was hoping he’d miss, just to take the pressure off of me.
Alek is up next. He doesn’t even look like he’s trying as he lifts his gun and empties his clip. He got a perfect score as well, which only causes my heart to race more.
It really is up to me now. For us to tie with the other team, I have to shoot perfectly every single time.
West pats me on the shoulder as I walk past him. He smiles at me, not once doubting that I can do this. And I know I can. This is easy—I’ve done it hundreds of times. But I’m still nervous that I’m going to let the team down.
I step up to the X on the ground, looking at the target. It’s farther away than I thought it was, but that’s no big deal. I’ve shot targets from a lot farther than this.
Taking a deep breath, I pull my gun up and line it up with the target. We’re supposed to empty the clip, so it’s just seven rounds. I pull the trigger, the first bullet going straight into the bull’s eye. I pull again, until I get to my last bullet. Excitement rushes over me as I realize after I shoot this last shot, we’ll have tied with our rival team. I can’t let the guys down. I pull the trigger, ready to celebrate, when I realize in complete horror that I missed—only slightly. The bullet still hit the bullseye, but only barely. It’s mostly in the section beside the targe
t. If I were in class, that wouldn’t be a big deal, but this isn’t class. This is The Royal Games. And I know that I just lost for my team.
Frenemies.
I’m scared to face West, but I know I have to. I turn and walk away from where I was shooting. The crowd is cheering because I did do well, but I am so disappointed in myself. My stomach aches as I approach West and Alek.
Alek claps a hand on my shoulder, not saying anything. But West… he crosses his arms over his chest, narrowing his eyes at me.
“You lost us this round.” West’s voice is low and there is a vein in his neck popping out slightly.
I’ve really made him mad.
I lower my head a bit, wishing my hair was down so it would frame my face and hide me from West’s glare.
“You let your team down. And you let me down,” West continues. “I believed in you—I thought you could do this. If you weren’t sure, why didn’t you just send Kal in your place?”
I swallow hard, not knowing what to say. I dare to look up at him as tears press against the back of my eyes. “I’m sorry.”
“Your tears aren’t going to get you out of this one, Roxy.” West shakes his head, turning away from me.
I look at Alek, wondering if he’s mad too, but he’s not looking at me either. He is clenching his jaw, looking the opposite direction.
I’ve turned them all against me—they hate me now, and I can’t even blame them. This was all my fault.
Kal walks up with Ian coming up behind him. Kal won’t even meet my eyes as he joins us and Ian only looks at me to glare.
They really do hate me. I’ve lost Kal and Alek too—my only friends on the team.
I can’t go back to the way things were, I just can’t.
The sound of hooting and cheering gets my attention, so I turn my head and see Jensen, Cole, and Rook celebrating their win. When I turn back to West, Ian, Kal, and Alek, they’re all visibly dejected with their shoulders slumped forward in defeat. My chest aches because I know it’s all my fault. I’m the one who let them down.
West heads out first, and the rest of us follow him. I go last, wondering if I should even ride with the guys. Maybe I should just call my parents for a ride—that’s what I deserve for letting my team down, to get yelled at by my mom for the entire drive home.
When we get to the Jeep, I’m surprised as Ian, Kal, and Alek all get into the backseat, meaning I’m stuck in the front with West. I chew on my lip as I get into the passenger seat. I wait to be yelled at, but West doesn’t say one word as we leave the shooting range, and neither do the rest of the guys.
This is worse than I thought.
Pulling my knees up to my chest, I hug them against me and I turn to look out the window, trying not to cry. Tears won’t do any good right now—West said it, but I knew it already.
Not one word is spoken the entire way home, and somehow, I keep myself from completely falling apart. The second I go inside, I know I’ll go to my room and sob for the rest of the day. I only have to keep it together for a little while longer.
As soon as the Jeep is in park, I reach for the door. A hand on my shoulder stops me. Hesitantly, I look behind me and I find that all four guys have their eyes on me, even Ian who usually avoids making eye contact at all cost.
“You think we can tell Michael Sinclair we made a mistake when voting for her?” Ian asks.
I flinch at the harshness of his words.
West’s eyes are hard as he looks at me. “You let us down today, Roxy. It’s more than just you losing one challenge for us, but it’s a shooting challenge. If we were on the field and you missed, even just by half an inch, it could mean our lives.”
I swallow hard, nodding.
I do know that.
I’ve never choked before like today. I don’t know if it was nerves, or maybe because there was a crowd. On the job, I’m never nervous. I’m always focused. But for some reason, I can’t make the words come out of my mouth, no matter how hard I try.
“We also think maybe it’s better if you sit out for the rest of the games. We don’t need your help,” West says.
I nod again, to let him know I heard him.
“Anything else?” My voice breaks as I ask.
“Yeah. Maybe stay away from us the rest of the day. Nobody wants to see you right now,” West says.
I glance back at Kal and Alek. Both of them are looking down, refusing to make eye contact with me. I expected it from West and Ian, but not them.
My heart shatters as I finally climb out of the Jeep.
Wanting to listen to West and give the guys a break from me, I head down to the beach, not wanting to go in the house. Not yet anyway. I just want to be alone so I can cry in peace.
I sit down on the edge of the shore, just far enough away so I don’t get wet when the bigger waves come crashing in. I pull my knees up to my chest and I bury my face in my legs.
A sob escapes my throat without warning and I can’t hold them back anymore. Now that I’m alone, I can’t help it. It’s like my body is reacting without my permission.
I don’t know how long I sit there on the beach, crying, but at some point, the sobs finally cease. The ache in my chest is just as heavy as it was. It’s so hard to breathe but being by the ocean helps. I look out at the water. I can barely hear anything over the sound of the waves crashing in. I should head back to the house soon. I need to shower and wash all this sand off me. But I also don’t want to risk running into the guys. I hope that they’re gone.
“I really hate that shirt.”
A deep voice startles me. I look up and see Rook standing beside me. I didn’t even hear him walk up, that’s how out of it I am. He sits down on the sand beside me.
“You hate my shirt?” I raise an eyebrow, wondering why he said that.
He nods to my chest, so I look down. That’s when I realize I’m still wearing a shirt that says ‘Team West’ on it. I would take it off and throw it into the ocean, but I’m not wearing any other shirt beneath it.
I frown. “Yeah, I don’t like it either.”
Especially not after how West talked to me. Not that I can blame him for talking to me that way. I’d be disappointed if one of the other guys lost the challenge for us, but I don’t think I’d react the way they did. They basically shamed me for losing.
I ball my hand into a tight fist, hating that the guys made me feel like this.
Yes, I messed up. But it’s just a stupid game.
“You look like you’ve been crying.” Rook looks at me with concern in his eyes.
I let out a long breath. “Yeah, well… I’m the best shooter on my team. I failed epically today.”
He shrugs. “So what? Everybody has an off day. And your off day wasn’t that bad. Last year, I completely missed the target with one of my shots.”
I raise an eyebrow. “Really?”
He nods. “It was really embarrassing.”
I grin, feeling slightly better. But then I remember the conversation in the car and my smile quickly fades. “I bet your team didn’t hate you for missing.”
He snorts. “No, but they did make fun of me for months. Sometimes they still bring it up.”
That doesn’t sound bad. Why couldn’t the guys be like that instead?
Rook nudges me with his shoulder. “What did they say to you?”
“Nothing much.” I shrug. “Just that they made a mistake voting for me and that I should sit out for the rest of the games.” I draw circles in the sand with my finger.
“They told you that voting for you was a mistake?”
The urgency in Rook’s voice causes me to look up and it’s then that I see his balled up fist. He’s angry and it takes me a moment to realize he’s upset on my behalf.
Uh, I’m supposed to hate Rook. He’s the enemy. But he’s so nice that he makes it hard to hate him.
I put a hand on his arm to get him to calm down. “It’s not a big deal. Trust me, it’s not the first time they’ve said it, and
it probably won’t be the last. The guys have regretted voting for me from the day I walked into Michael Sinclair’s office.”
He shakes his head back and forth. “Those guys are idiots. They have no clue how lucky they are to have you on their team.”
I grin, thinking his words are really sweet. It doesn’t matter though. It isn’t Rook I want to feel this way—it’s West, Alek, Kal, and Ian that need to feel this way.
“You should join my team,” Rook says suddenly.
I look up at him, chuckling. “Yeah, okay.”
“I’m serious,” he says.
My eyes widen. “I can’t join your team. Michael Sinclair picks out teams on The Royals.”
“You can change teams if you find another team that you mesh better with.” Rook scoots so that he’s facing me. “I’m serious, Roxy. Jensen, Cole, and I have talked about it and we’re serious about wanting you to join. We were going to wait until after The Royal Games to ask you, but you’re miserable. I want you to know there are options.”
I open my mouth to say something, definitely something like, ‘thanks, but no thanks,’ but no words come out.
Is Rook serious? Do Cole, Jensen, and him really want me, Roxy Villareal, on their team?
“You realize I lost today, right?” I ask, just to clarify. “I missed the target.”
Rook shakes his head. “So what? Everybody makes mistakes.”
“I can’t join your team.” I shake my head, finally finding my words.
“It’s a shock—I know. And it’s a lot to take in. Just promise me you’ll think about it. Don’t make any hasty decisions.” He smiles at me.
I take a deep breath, nodding. “Uh, sure. I’ll think about it.”
But it’s never happening—like ever. Even if Rook and I have become sort of frenemies, I could never leave my team.
Rook beams at me and for a moment I wonder what it would be like to join his team. I do get along better with his team than I do mine. Now that Jensen has finally gotten the hint that I’m not interested, I might even be able to become friends with him. But join their team?
My mind rejects it because I don’t want to leave West, Kal, Alek, or even Ian. Someday, the four of us will be a family again. And when we do, it’ll be epic. We’re good together. I’m not going to give it up because it’s too hard. If I did, I wouldn’t be fit to be a Royal anyway.
The Cruel World Page 15
