Page 40 of The Mastermind

“Wanna go?” Royce blew one sumo outfit up with the self-contained blower. “Or are you afraid?”

A sumo match had been a fun pastime during college, but I hadn’t wrestled in a sumo outfit in a while.

An idea fluttered into my mind. I could use this opportunity to entice Remi to wrestle with me. Would he do it? He loved video games, but this kind of combat didn’t seem like his kind of thing—too rowdy, messy, and sweaty.

Maybe I could lure Remi to do something out of his comfort zone. That could be part ofmymission. Maybe he’d wrestle me, and I could “accidentally” fall on top of him, and my lips could “accidentally” land on his?

You’re brilliant, Audri!

“Sure, I’ll battle you, Royce. Get ready to deflate, pal!”

Royce roared out a laugh, and Remi crossed his arms and watched me get into the inflated outfit. “I’d like to see Royce deflate.”

Remi helped me zip the back opening. These high-end sumo outfits Grayson had purchased felt sturdier than the ones I’d been in before.

Remi placed my padded helmet, glanced at my ensemble, and smiled. “You look cute. Like a really chubby baby.”

“Thanks. You should keep smiling.” I lifted an inflated arm and pointed at him. “That smile is loaded with joy, and it lights up your face, DLS.” I leaned in toward him, wanting to ask him to wrestle with me later, then wobbled and lost my balance.

He stabilized me with one arm, and the amused expression told me he remembered Dangerously Loaded Smile. “I’ve never been addressed as an acronym before.”

“There’s a first time for everything, right?”

Remi didn’t reply as Royce waddled into the circle marked with white chalk on the ground and waved me over.

“Get ready to lose! Remi, you can referee so she doesn’t cheat.”

“Ido notcheat, thank you very much.”

Feeling like a baby just learning how to walk, I waddled and slammed my body against Royce, who was a lot bigger than me. He didn’t budge. This would be good practice for when I battled Remi. Slamming my body against Royce, I bounced back while he only took one step backward, regaining his stability a lot faster than I did. I shoved back, and he pushed me. I staggered, almost falling, but recovered my equilibrium.

“That’s all you’ve got, Audri?” Royce taunted me. “I thought you had more guts than that—”

I threw my body at him, creating a loud slapping noise. Laughing, he fell back two steps, regained his composure, clenched his fists, and wobbled over, pushing at me with a force I couldn’t stop.

“Ah!” I lost my balance, and the padded outfit cushioned my fall.

Royce pounced on me, and I tried to wriggle free, kicking and flailing.

“You’re going to crush her,” Remi said, staring down at us.

“Nah, she’s fine.” Royce laughed, staring at me. “Who’s the loser now?”

“Can you breathe, Audri?” Remi asked, looking serious.

“Yeah, I’m good.” Was that a flash of jealousy in his eyes? I could see how Royce and I looked to someone watching us.

Reaching a hand into Royce’s padded helmet, I tickled his neck. The moment he squirmed, I wriggled out from under him.

“Hey! You can’t do that!” He lay laughing, his hand extending past the chalked line.

“We have a clear winner.” Remi stepped over and offered me a hand, lifting me. “You okay?”

Royce got to his feet. “Let’s go again—”

“No. I’ll go this time.” Remi slapped at Royce’s inflatable outfit. “You don’t want to lose again, do you?”

“Fine. Help me out of this. I need to towel off my sweat.”

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