“Why are you so worried about my brother?” Olivia clicked to a different screen with a different readout.
“I’m just saying. We have minimal privacy as it is, and it would fucking suck if we lost it.”
“He doesn’t want to be here.”
I stared at the side of her face, a curl of anger winding around my belly. She wouldn’t look at me. “Then why is he here,Olivia?” I added snark to her name.
She didn’t respond.
“Hmm. Is it because youforcedhim into this game?”
Nothing.
“Becauseyouneeded five players and didn’t want to admit you were short? That would have disqualified you.”
She didn’t speak.
I huffed. “Couldn’t walk away, could you? This was our gig.”
“We were invited to join.”
“Except Charles wants five people, and Dennis didn’t realize you were a team of four, so you roped your brother in against his will, knowing he wouldn’t say no.”
Olivia’s hot gaze clashed with mine. “Really? You want to go there, Devereaux?” She added the same snark to my name. “Where’s your fifth, huh? I haven’t seen Elliott yet. At least my fifth showed up. I don’t think Charles has a clue that Elliott’s only a part-time chaser who’s absent most of the time.”
“You don’t know shit.”
“I know he has a family and a job.”
“He’ll be here.” I could have pointed out that the notion of five-player teams was moot, but it boiled my blood that Charles had somehow talked us into this nonsense.
“Why are you so concerned about my brother?”
“I’m not. I was making a point about privacy and cameras. For all our sakes.”
“No, you weren’t.” I didn’t like the way she narrowed her eyes, as though if she looked hard enough, she could see beneath my skin. “What happened last week?”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“When Gale got stuck in the ditch, you were with him. He abandoned his own Jeep in the middle of a thunderstorm and took off. I found him drenched and sitting against a random fence. He’s been acting weird ever since. What happened?”
“How should I know?” I was a bug under a microscope. Ordinarily, I didn’t shy away from anything or anyone. I had no filter and no fucks to give, but this wasn’t my story to tell.
“Why did he leave the Jeep?”
“He got tired of waiting and decided to go see what was happening.”
“And you didn’t go with him?”
“He didn’t look like he wanted company.” It was the closest thing to the truth I could say.
Olivia tracked my face like she was looking for a lie. It made it hard to hold her gaze.
“You’re not telling me something.”
“What do you want me to say?”
“Leave my brother alone. If I catch you harassing him, I will kick your ass.”
