"You can go to that room and wait," the judge told me, gesturing at a door at the far end of the small room.
I nodded and stepped through the doorway. There was a small side room with three chairs lined perfectly in a row.
And sitting in the middle one? My brother.
That meant that Liam was against Tesla in this task. That also meant that I'd be against Brodie in the next one.
And if I didn't outperform my brother? Liam was going to think I threw the challenge.
I groaned at the sight of my smiling blond brother. I was totally hosed.
"Nice to see you, too," he told me.
"You screwed me in this game, you know," I told him as I thumped to the seat next to him.
"How so?"
Did he really not know? I gave him an incredulous look. "The Ace."
"Oh." He shrugged. "You didn't have to give it to me."
"You blackmailed me! You deliberately withheld information and then blackmailed me to get it after you'd promised you'd work with me. What was I supposed to do?"
Brodie grinned and leaned over to noogie my head. "Don't be mad, Katy. I'll buy you some cool stuff with my prize money when I win the two hundred and fifty thou. It's the least I can do to say thank you."
"I don't want you to promise me money," I sputtered. "My partner already thinks we're in cahoots. He's furious."
"Is he, now?" Brodie seemed really interested in that. "Good. So does this mean you're going to throw the next challenge?"
"No! Are you kidding me?"
"Come on. He's already mad. And I'll make it worth your while after I win, I promise."
"Just shut up, Brodie. It's not even up for discussion."
"Suit yourself." But he wouldn't stop smiling, which infuriated me more.
I crossed my arms over my chest and slouched in my chair, irritated as hell at him. "I hope Liam blows Tesla away in this challenge and you have to eat our dust for a change."
"Won't happen," Brodie said smugly.
Ten minutes later, the door opened. Both Brodie and I sat up, alert and waiting for our partners to return. I gave a whoop of delight when I saw it was Liam, and nearly launched myself into his arms. "So fast? You did awesome!"
He grinned at me and displayed the next task disk that he'd won. "Guess I have a better memory than I thought."
I took the disk from him, and noticed Brodie's interest. I shoved it under my shirt so Brodie couldn't sneak a peek at the writing on the backside. "Let's get out of here," I told Liam.
He nodded, and his hand went to the small of my back, instinctively moving closer to me.
"Don't forget what we agreed, Katy," Brodie called after me.
I gasped. That lying sack of shit. I turned and confronted him. "Nice try. I didn't agree to anything with you."
"Uh huh," he said, and winked exaggeratedly.
"Bullshit," I told him, and turned back to Liam. "He's full of it."
But Liam only gave me a speculative look. "Let's just get in the cab. We don't want to lose our lead."
Damn it. Why was I even trying? Liam wasn't going to believe me, no matter what.
I stood outside of the small storefront and read the sign to make sure that I was at the right place, then read the clue-disk again. "Go to the Pretzel Factory. Inside, you will find trays of dough waiting for you. You must twist 200 pretzels Philly-style and then hand them to the baker. The baker will then hand you a large box of finished pretzels that you must deliver to a nearby office. There, you will receive your next task." I turned and looked at Liam. "Wish me luck."
"Luck," he said softly.
I didn't know what to think of that response. He didn't touch me, and his voice was flat. I stared at him a long moment, then shrugged and headed inside. I couldn't read him, and it was bothering me. He'd shut down completely and it hurt me more than I cared to admit.
"Hi," I said as I walked in. There was a judge there, waiting on the mat. It was a woman with blonde hair, a chef hat, a green apron, and way too much lipstick. "I'm here for the challenge."
She gestured at one of the nearby tables and a cameraman scooted out of the way as I approached it. There were three massive tables laid out in the kitchen, all three covered with big bowls of dough and trays. I was the first one there, and I eyed the tableau, sizing it up.
The judge hurried to my side. "Let me show you how this works." She took one of the bowls and fed the dough into a strange looking machine. As I watched, it pushed out a long tube of dough, and she picked it up and began to weave it into the pretzel shape. She moved fast - so fast I was dazed watching her - and immediately picked up the next length of dough, then began to braid it, too. I watched her do three of them before she turned the machine off, gave me a thumbs up, and then returned to the mat.