Page 40 of False Start

“I guess we’re not that far behind,” Trent said.

Feeling generous, I didn’t point out that we’d probably missed a bunch of stops. It didn’t matter. Winning was off the table the second Trent told the organizers what he did for a living, and winning had never been my goal. I just wanted to finish this rally.

“We must have made up time with the rain.” His grin grew into an infectiously wide smile, and my chest tightened at just having caused it. Which made me sympathize with Derek a bit. I shook off the feeling of finding Trent charming, blaming it on my lack of sleep and the stressful trip.

Without bothering to change out of my soaked pants, I grabbed an umbrella and hopped out of the car before I had any more sympathetic thoughts toward the rich, handsome, charming football player sitting shotgun.

He caught up at the entrance of a cave, having pulled a rain jacket out of his luggage. A surprise, considering how he’d shoved clothing in that morning with no rhyme or reason.

“So, what exactly do we do here?” I ducked into the mouth of the cave to get out of the rain.

“Go into the cave, obviously.” Trent scoffed.

“Yeah, I get that, but what do we do in there? Do we need to take a picture with something or find something?”

He shrugged. “How would I know?”

“You have the guidebook.”

His smarmy smile slipped off his lips with a jolt. “Oh, right.”

While he checked his pockets for the book, I stepped into the entrance of the cave. I didn’t exactly expect to find a kiosk to buy tickets, but here was nothing inside the cave. No maps. No friendly tour guide. Only a single sign pointing ahead that said, “Bat Cave.” I angled my ear toward the barely lit path leading deeper into the cave and heard nothing.

“Find Bat Man,” a deep voice whispered into my ear. I jumped and pushed him away when I caught a smirk. He’d done that on purpose.

“What? Is his secret lair in here?”

“No, Bat Man. Two words.”

I rolled my eyes, pulling out my phone and finding zero bars. “Is that an actual person? An animal? A statue? Please tell me you looked this stop up.”

He shook his head. “Nope. We’re in this for the adventure. And to win, of course.”

“Wouldn’t you have a better chance at winning if you actually planned ahead?” I asked.

Trent ignored my question.

“Let’s walk and I’m sure we’ll find the guy or animal or whatever.” He took off down the marked path, dim lampposts guiding the way.

“Is this how your life goes? You just show up and everything works out?” I asked, trailing behind him.

He shrugged. “Sort of? I mean, I guess.”

I shook my head, fending off a wave of annoyance at the answer. Of course, things worked out for Trent. He was talentedand handsome. He floated through the world, unaffected by the problems of the poor and plain.

The path split in front of a deep crevice. Without so much as considering his options, Trent veered left. I paused to read the faint inscriptions carved into the wooden fence, preventing tourists from falling off a ledge.

One of them read “Bat Man” with an arrow pointing to the left. Of course. I kept my eyes on the path as we descended a set of carved steps.

“You don’t think there are actual bats, do you?” Trent asked from up ahead, his head tilted up to the ceiling.

“Are you serious?” Water wept from the wall, and I clutched the wooden railing, taking one stair at a time while Trent bounded down, two at a time. “Of course there are bats. It’s a giant cave.”

“But that’s just a name.” He paused at the bottom of the stairwell, turning around with a goofy grin on his face. “If it was Yeti Mountain, you wouldn’t expect to find a family of Big Foots…Big Feets?”

I craned my head up at the darkness above us. “I’d be shocked if thereweren’ta bunch of bats up there.”

He followed my gaze, blond hair amber in the dim light. “Really? Like, here?”

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