I reached down to tighten my shoelaces, unable to watch this. “Had we decided?”
Barnes tutted theatrically. “You’ll know when we do, I guess.”
“No reading for me?” Arjun asked, any pretense fading.
“It’s pretty unusual for the best man to do a reading,” Barnes replied coolly, and I yanked so hard at the knot I was tying I thought I’d slice through shoe, sock, and skin alike.
“What?” Arjun’s voice was so guttural I wouldn’t have recognized it.
“You two are so close again… Who else could it be?”
“Luke, watch the flag,” Imogen said suddenly, snapping me to attention.
My mouth dumbly parted as I nodded and retrieved it from under my leg, Barnes glancing away for maybe two seconds too long, as Imogen’s eyes shifted between us.
“Well… nice try,” she said lowly. “Was that the plan, Luke? Distract us with this wedding crap while you leave the flag and gift your dearly beloved a trip to the final?”
“No, this was all me. Luke insisted on inviting you after we’d wrapped, precisely so you’d know it wasn’t a game move,” Barnes lied. “That’s why he’s upset with me now, huh?”
“Yeah,” I mumbled, no choice but to play along.
“He was still going to leave the flag,” Imogen countered. “Weren’t you?”
“Can you blame him for helping his fiancé?” Barnes quickly cut in. “What will you do now, send us against each other in the Trial?”
“You voted me in last year for throwing a competition,” Imogen replied.
“Which was an overreaction… Come on, how do I make this right?”
“Leaveyourflag,” she said coldly. “Gesture of good faith. You’ll be safe.”
“Except the rest of your team outnumbers you,” he reminded. “However, if I win, my team chooses the players… and I don’t benefit from putting you two in a Trial you’ll only win anyway. Besides, I’d prefer not to alienate African American voters when this airs.”
She raised her eyebrows. “You’re already screwed there.”
“Then call it my investment in undecided moderates.” He offered his hand with a smile. “And don’t you still kind of owe Luke for the ‘saltine cracker’ comment?”
She looked at me as the tram docked, then accepted Barnes’ hand, none of us budging until he indicated the flag I still firmly gripped. “I think he needs to hear it from you.”
“Luke, leave it,” she said, unable to mask her fury.
The flag tumbled to the metal floor before the funicular doors opened, and Barnes nodded his approval. “I’ll give you a running start so it looks good on camera.”
Imogen bounded off, and the hapless waiting cameraman joined us in pursuing her, until a few blocks away when Arjun abruptly exclaimed, “Shit! I left the flag!”
I slid to a halt, stunned he’d take my bullet. Even worse, he tripped as he pivoted to sprint back, smashing into the asphalt. The sight of me lifting Arjun, hands and knees scraped raw, almost stalled Barnes as he too hurried past. But on he ran, and so did we.
“Hey,” I said tentatively from the doorframe of the production office. Zara swiveled to attention in her chair, face hardening at the sight of me, and I knew I had to cut to the chase. “Look, if I’d known how bad it was, I would have told PB… and I hate I let you down too.” She inhaled sharply, silence hanging with only me to fill it. “Zara, I realize this is the worst night to ask, but do you remember that favor you promised?”
“Really wouldn’t try cashing in now.”
“I get that, but it needs to happen while Troy is dropping Greta at the hotel.”
“So you’re playing me and Troy off each other now?”
“No, it’s because you’ll tell the truth. Not some story he’s trying to manufacture,” I answered firmly. “And this is how you’ll get rid of meandBarnes both. For good.”
She shook her head. “This isn’t personal—”
