Lucky for me, Elaine wasn’t done.
“We told you, Quinn. Some poor bitch with no status and no family isn’t coming in here and taking what’s ours. Do yourself a favor and enjoy them while you can. Because I plan to make some changes around here, so unless you want a job as the help?—”
Just like she’d been hoping I would, I whirled around, ready to lunge at her.
She sucker punched me in the ribs.
I wheezed.
Choking out a cry of pain, I pitched forward onto my knees. My lungs seized, and before I could get up, Elaine knocked me forward.
I face-planted on the mat.
“Elaine, that’s enough!” Josh shouted. “Brad! Get her under control!”
Certain she was still coming, I forced my body to move. It took all the effort I had left to roll onto my back.
She stepped over my body and leaned down, getting in my face. “Like it or not, they’ll both be mine.He’salready hers.”
I couldn’t breathe.
Grabbing my collar, she pulled my torso off the mat. “You’ll be what you’ve always been.”
Clawing at her arms, I willed my lungs to open as she hissed in my ear.
“Nothing.”
Chapter Nineteen
Ispent my lunch hour splayed out on the sparring mat, catching my breath.
“Hey, little buddy…” Josh spoke softly from outside the ring, where he’d been sliding things toward me like water and snacks. “You doing okay?”
After he and Brad jumped in the ring, Brad pulled Elaine off me, and Josh thumped my back so hard, it was like he’d pressed a reset button on my diaphragm.
I’d gasped for air, lungs greedy and desperate as I pulled in huge gulps of it.
When I finally caught my breath, Elaine was gone, and I’d collapsed back on the mat and hadn’t moved since.
Pity party for one?
Sign. Me. Up.
With limited time to solve my clues, prepare for the obstacles, and learn about my opponents, I’d spent most of the last three days doing none of that.
Instead, I’d obsessed over the other pieces on the board—Max confusing me, Kingston and Landon suffering in silence, Elaine driving me insane, and Vivian flying under my radar—upto my eyeballs in anxiety, with no leads on how to find relief or answers. And running out of time.
I couldn’t afford to lose any more of it.
Getting nowhere had become the theme of the day, and I refused to keep doing it.
Slowly pushing my upper body off the mat, I sat up and hugged my knees to my chest. My chest twinged. I winced, but I clenched my teeth and pushed through until the pain passed.
Overall, aside from my bruised ego, I was fine. And sitting here throwing myself a pity party was just doing more of the same—wasting my time.
“I’m fine, Josh.” Nodding to the snacks and water, I met his gaze. “Thanks.”
He gave me a tight smile, his eyes sympathetic and a little wary. “You really should get some ice.”
