I’m so confused. “You do realize we have no idea what you’re saying.”
His fingers drum a deep rhythm against the wooden clipboard. “Outsiders rarely do.”
“Kennedy?Hart?”
I turn toward my name and where Wilde and Hudson have just arrived. “Do you know what this is?” I ask them.
Hudson glances at Wilde like he’s not sure what to say, and I can’t help notice the new bruises beneath his tank top. Most of them are thick and long, suspiciously the same shape as the stick Wilde is holding.
Shock floods me. “Did youhithim?”
Instead of giving me an answer, Wilde smirks and turns to Booker. “Let me guess, they’re not on your list.”
“I don’t make the rules, Wilde.”
“You literally did.” He steps around Booker, heading inside, but Hudson stays put.
“We’re not leaving my brothers out here.”
Wilde freezes, but doesn’t turn back.
“I’m serious,” Hudson pushes, crossing his arms. “You want me to watch your match, they need to as well.”
“Sorry, my sweet Hudson. As intimately as I know you, a list is a list is a list.” Booker taps the clipboard again. “There’s nothing I can do.”
“Let them in, Booker,” Wilde snaps.
Booker’s face fills with a grin. “Make me.”
That’s a bold request, considering Wilde looks like he could kill a man. I have the muscle mass to possibly take him on, but Booker is half a head shorter than me, chubby, and looks too sweet to hurt a fly. But he goes on innocently smiling, and the longer he holds it without Wilde taking a swing at him, the more somethingoffcreeps up my spine.
Wilde glances back, taking in Ziggy, me, and Hart, before he huffs. “Let them in and I’ll break something of Foley’s for you.”
Booker’s gaze drops back to the list. “Oh, look at that. Ziggy, Kennedy, and Hartwell. Here all along.”
And when he tilts the clipboard, I catch sight of my name.
We’re actually on there.
Hart scoffs and takes off after Hudson, but I’m confused.
“If you had our names, why didn’t you just let us in?”
“I like to play games.” He waves a hand at the giant structure behind him. “I’m the maker of games, and you and your brother are unknown pieces. Word for the Wilde: permission isn’t given freely around here. It’s demanded. Better luck next time.” Booker turns his back on me, and I’m left blinking at the back of his head.
Part of me wants to push this, but Ziggy gives my hand a tug, and I reluctantly let it go. Booker’s nonsense isn’t going to ruin my night.
Especially when we step inside and I see what’s waiting for us.
Tiered seating rings the room, and in the middle is what looks like an … obstacle course? Sort of?
There’s safety flooring under nine metal platforms all at different heights, and above them is what looks like monkey bars.
“What is this?”
“Peril,” Hudson answers.
“That still doesn’t tell me anything.”
