Page 60 of Rat Race

Again. Again. And again.

No winning. Disappointment. No vengeance. Fail?—

A loud moan of pain sounded throughout the room, echoing off the wall.

Relief hit me like a tractor.

Right.I wasn’t alone. I had my very own crazy guardian angel coming to my ruin.

And thank God for that.

"Aubrey?" I called, listening to the blonde wheeze a few feet away while watching as Ella sat up, coughing water.

"I am so fucking sick of you idiots," she groaned, crawling on hand and knee for the lip of the shallow pool, hauling herself out.

A bit rude, but I guessed I could see how it seemed like her misfortune was our mistake.

The Architects are trying to kill us.

Not only did they set off a fucking tsunami in a closed maze, but they had us free falling to a concrete floor below with only very little water to soften our fall.

I’d prepared for damn near anything, but somehow, after years of Games, they managed to surprise me.

At least there weren’t no spikes waitin’.

Didn’t much care for becoming a kebab.

“It’s your fault, you cunt,” Aubrey said with a groan.

I followed after Ella, the sound of water sloshing behind me warning that Aubrey was starting to fight her way to the lip herself.

“At least I’mtrying!” Ella said, sending a venomous glare toward Aubrey. “You’re just a fucking leech, not even contributing anything to getting us the fuck out of here. All you do is mess things up, whine about not getting that fucked-up cowboy’s attention, and whore yourself out for the entire world to see! Don’t think I didn’t hear your disgusting begging for Cam to fuck you!”

Fuck that.Aubrey was rash and had a questionable moral code, but I wouldn’t stand by and watch as Ella talked to her like that.

"Watch it," I warned the brunette. "Don’t you be gettin’ ugly on her. We could’ve just left you back there with the rats."

"Told you she’s a cunt," Aubrey said, rocketing blood out of her nose. "Leave. I told your dumb ass we don't need you."

Ella got strangely quiet after that. I should have taken it as the red flag that it was.

I hauled myself out of the shallow pool, turning to offer Aubrey a hand up when the unmistakable cool press of metal against my back made me freeze.

No way. Nofuckingway.

Aubrey’d been right. The entire fucking time.

I’m a goddamn fool.

I wanted to believe that Ella was good. Didn’t wanna be like my siblings, so I actively ignored the voice in the back of my mind that told me to ditch her—to kill her.

And look where that fuckin’ got me.

On the business end of a knifeI’dstolen. I thought I was able to nick it undetected from Elijah’s goon but someone saw it.Ella.She’d seen everything and had been slowly planning her move.

Mother. Fucker.

Ella shifted behind me, pushing the sharp end of the knife into my back hard enough to send a burst of pain through me.

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