Quentin
The five of us were locked in an escape room, the clock ticking down while my skin crawled at being locked in an enclosed space, surveilled by the teenage boy on staff who hardly knew how to shave. I didn’t exactly trust him to get us out of here if we failed.
Bryce, who loved puzzling out a riddle, was pacing back and forth along the wall, looking at symbols and muttering something about patterns while Jude sat bored in a chair.
Cruz flipped through a magazine on one of the end tables like the clues might be inside, but I’m pretty sure he was just avoiding everyone. This game was the opposite of fun.
Even Aaric was finally showing signs of his stress, jaw clenched, tendrils of hair falling loose from his bun. When his phone rang in his pocket, we all jumped. Bryce strode toward him, saying, “Is it the girls?”
“No.” Aaric frowned at the screen and held it to his ear. “Hello?”
From the speaker in the corner, a nasally voice said, “No phones.”
Aaric held up his finger. “Rei, are you injured?...Ill?”
My heart clenched. “Rei?” I moved closer, legs feeling like cinder blocks.
He pursed his lips together, waiting. She’s okay, he mouthed to me, then aimed his gaze down to listen.
I extended my hand for the phone, but he turned away. I’d never wanted to tackle someone off the football field more than I did right now.
“This line is for life or death emergencies only,” Aaric said, “Quentin will call you as soon as he gets his phone.”
“Let me talk to her,” I ordered.
Aaric hung up. “She’s in good health. Everything else can wait.”
I stared at him. “She needed me.”
He shook his head. “She wanted you; that’s different.”
“That’s bullshit!” I roared. I walked to the one window, tempted to punch it so I could get out of here and bribe the teenager to let me use his phone.
Jude sounded bored as he drawled, “Just pretend we’re in that meditation class and let the time run out. This torture will be over soon enough.”
“Goddamnit!” Aaric snapped. “This retreat is supposed to fix the team you fucked up, Jude. The least you could do is get off your ass and look for a clue.”
While the rest of us stared at Aaric in shock, Jude did the worst thing he could do and laughed.
“I messed up this team? We were fucked the second Simon sat us down for that meeting and you all agreed to get married instead of solving the problem!”
“Shut your mouth,” Bryce snapped, fists balled at his side.
Cruz and I exchanged glances, and I nodded at Bryce. I’d take Jude if I needed to.
Jude fired back, “What? I’m not allowed to say a negative thing about your sham marriage to a woman you’ve known all of two minutes?”
Before Cruz or I could do anything about it, Bryce sprinted toward him in a move that belonged on a football field and crashed into the chair, making the legs break.
“Oh shit!” Cruz yelled, chasing after them to pull Bryce and his blurring fists away. Aaric had to help with Bryce when Cruz’s efforts weren’t enough. I would have held Jude back, but he sat there and took it.
When they finally pulled Bryce off of Jude, Bryce’s chest was heaving and Jude stood up, blood dripping down his chin and coating his teeth.
I could see them because he grinned like a madman.
The smile didn’t meet his cold, steely eyes, and he spat on the floor, blood landing in a splatter near Bryce’s feet.
“You’re all distracted with the marriage game,” Jude said, wiping his hand along his jaw. “It’s going to be the end of our company.”
“Why do you say that?” Aaric asked breathlessly.
Bryce fought out of his and Cruz’s arms, still breathing deeply. He walked away, pacing again while rubbing his knuckles.
Jude said, “You’ve seen Simon with Aleyna. He loves his kids, no matter how fucked up they are. His fever dream is for them to be successful and follow in his footsteps.”
There was something to Jude’s voice. A bitterness that belied emotions hiding underneath. But Bryce argued back, “Simon’s a man of his word. If we follow through, so will he.”
“You think we have time?” Jude said derisively. “We don’t. Not with Aleyna getting back in his good graces so easily. She could be the next one to poison him, or beat him, or smother him with a pillow for all we know.”
Bryce’s jaw jutted out. “She’s not the only one who wants to stop these weddings. You’re pretty opposed to them too.”
Cruz sucked in a sharp breath, and for the first time, even after being punched repeatedly in the face, Jude looked hurt. “You think I would hurt Simon?” he asked, letting go of the antagonizing tough guy act to look young and vulnerable for the first time in months.
A moment passed. Then two. Bryce turned away, scanning a bookshelf for clues again.
Heaviness settled over all of us. Aaric sat heavily in the chair that hadn’t been broken and looked down at his lap. He seemed lost for words, but something I’d learned was that words hardly ever came out perfect, no matter how you practiced them.
I took a breath and said, “On my football team, there’s a rule between the players...”
Everyone stilled, listening to me.
“You don’t have to like each other, but you have to work together toward the same goal. A championship. I know we’re not a football team, but Simon was right when he said we have to be pointing toward the same goal. What’s our championship? It can’t just be profit. That’s not good enough anymore.”
Silence held even longer because the truth was, we didn’t know. We didn’t even agree on the next best step.
“We save our company,” Cruz said. “We protect it from Simon’s children, and then we decide what we want to do without the pressure of weddings and assassination attempts hanging over our heads.”
Aaric nodded. “It’s the only course of action. If an attack and attempted murder haven’t changed his mind, we’re not talking him out of this.”
“Exactly,” Bryce said.
Jude’s jaw flexed.
Aaric continued, “We all get married this year like we planned. At the end of the year, we’ll meet again and decide what comes next. Are we all in agreement?”
“Yes,” Bryce said firmly with a tense nod.
“I am,” Cruz said.
“Agreed,” I echoed.
We all looked to Jude. He spat a red glob on the floor. “I’ll do whatever you want as long as you get us the fuck out of this room.”
For the rest of the hour, we worked in quiet determination, only speaking when absolutely necessary to solve the puzzles. Even though I tried to contribute, my mind kept drifting to Rei. Why had she called? I hoped to God everything was okay.
Bryce found the key locked within a hidden brick in the wall, and we all stared at it.
With a deep breath, Bryce walked the key to Jude, who leaned against the wall looking bored, blood dried and crusted on his chin.
“Get us out of here,” Bryce said, handing him the key.
Without a word, Jude gripped the piece of metal and unlocked the door.