Page 85 of Brim Over Boot
“The chest is still closed,” I say, my pulse racing.
“Holy fuck,” Colton mutters, tugging up the parking brake.
We lock eyes before bursting from the vehicle.
A few people look over as we sprint toward the chest, no stopping us now. I don’t know if Colton is feeling as wild and reckless as me, but I laugh at the wonder of it. How something as simple as a grown-up version of a childish game can make me feel so…weightless.
Or maybe it’s simply this man at my side.
“Is that…” Colton says, his words cutting out.
I look over in time to see Jackson and Ashley sprinting toward the chest from our right. It seems impossible that they’d have the clues necessary to collect the prize, but there’s no mistaking their goal.
Colton growls. “Go,” he calls to me, veering off toward the duo. “Get the key.”
I don’t stop moving, even as Jackson shouts. The next second, Colton is tackling him to the ground, the two spinning over the grass as Ashley stops to bark out a laugh.
I accept the distraction for what it is and rush to the statue, my breathing loud, my pulse heavy. I start high up, figuring the key has to be hidden somewhere we couldn’t see it before. There’s some cheering from the crowd when they realize what’s going on, and then Colton yells, “He’s coming!”
I look over just in time to see Ashley running my way. Colton is still on the ground, his hands around Jackson’s ankle. I hasten my search, stilling when my fingers roll over something far less smooth than stone. Plucking the key from the top of Isaiah Darling’s cowboy hat, I drop to the ground.
Ashley curses, but he doesn’t try to take it from me. Which is good because I honestly don’t know how far I’d be willing to go to keep it. As is, my hands shake as I walk the couple steps to the chest. I fit the key into the lock, the two melding together seamlessly, and then I find Colton’s gaze.
He nods, still holding his brother back, his eyes sparkling and so very blue.
With a twist, I open the chest.
Folks cheer in earnest now, and a foghorn blasts for a second time today, nearly deafening me. I shake off the echoing in my ears and look inside the chest to find…
“What the fuck?” I mumble.
Colton pants heavily as he catches up to me, dropping to his knees on the grass. “What…what is that?” he asks, sounding just as confused as I am. “Fake money?”
I reach into the chest, which is indeed filled with paper cut uniformly to look like fake bills.
“They’re Darling coupons!” Mr. Yadav declares, coming up behind us. “You can cash them in for goods and services all over town.”
I pick one up, examining the words on it. “Free oil change at Ratchet’s,” I read aloud.
“That’s right,” the board member says. “There’s nearly two grand worth of prizes in there. Congratulations! I take it you two will be splitting the spoils?”
“We will,” I answer, not for a second considering denying that Colton and I were working together. Colton doesn’t even look relieved, like he hadn’t considered I might betray him, either.
It warms me more than I want to admit.
“I’ll just need to see your clues to verify,” Mr. Yadav says.
I pull all the papers I collected out of my pockets as Colton does the same. As the board member goes through them, Colton pulls another coupon out of the chest.
“A free visit to the petting farm at… Oh, for fuck’s sake,” he mutters. “At the Darling Ranch. This one’s yours.”
I accept the coupon with a chuckle as Jackson reaches us, grass stains on his jeans.
“Look,” Colton says to his older brother, tone victorious. “See all my prizes? Not yours, but mine. Aren’t they pretty?”
“You’re an ass,” Jackson says mildly.
“How’d you guys even finish the treasure hunt?” I ask. “We didn’t pass you on the trails.”
