24
Epilogue Karly
Two days later…
I can’t stand this, I just can’t stand it.It was too much, too intense. I was on the edge of my seat, my knuckles white, my breaths sharp and ragged in my throat, my whole body aching. I knew all too well that we had a plan in place, but that didn’t make it any less scary. Especially when it didn’t seem to be working out as planned. Alek just couldn’t help himself, could he? Could he not see that Hatcher, Rory, and Chase were at the back of the pack, attempting to look like they were fighting to get a better spot in the second part of the first round of the race, but clearly not? They were doing exactly what we’d discussed. They were going to lose the race and get kicked out in the first round so we could all be together. But Alek was still well and truly caught up in his rivalry with Drew. They were at the front of the group, practically butting heads.
They might as well have been in their bear forms because they were acting that animalistic. I wished I could run down to the track to scream at Alek, to remind him what was going on, but I couldn’t. He wouldn’t hear me anyway, and I would give everything away. The most important thing was to keep it under wraps so no one had to put up with shit from their clans. I had to keep it together.
“Oh my God!” Ben screamed beside me, not containing his excitement at all. “Look, Alek is just about to win…”
No!I wanted to yell. No, this will just keep going if we don’t stop this.
I rose to my feet, taking an unconscious step forward, but then, all of a sudden, everything changed. Alek skidded. I wasn’t sure what he caught his wheel on, but he seemed to lose control of his bike. Fear balled up in my throat and I waited, scared to see what would happen now. The scream that flew out of me rumbled painfully in my chest.
“They’ve fallen off their bikes,” Ben yelled. “But they aren’t hurt. At least, I don’t think they’re hurt. They seem to be getting back up, back on the bikes…” Thank God Ben was narrating the whole thing because I couldn’t look. “Riders are whizzing past them, going over the finishing line. I don’t even know who came first, but Alek and Drew are finishing the race.”
My heart thundered in my throat as I watched names pop up on the big screen. Drew’s finally appeared in seventeenth place. I couldn’t believe it. That was the last place that would be eligible to go through to the next round. Anything eighteenth or below would be eliminated.
Alek was in eighteenth place. Holy fuck, he’d done it. Was that his plan all along? His last ditch attempt to take Drew down? To at least give the other competitors a chance to take him down? Fuck, that was clever. It was brilliant, he was brilliant. I clapped my hands together in delight, just the once, because I didn’t want to give myself away. I was supposed to be neutral. Maybe even disappointed that Alek was out.
A frenzy occurred in the arena. It seemed like no one could believe what had happened in the saga of Drew verses Alek. Even after Alek lost all his points, people still expected him to win. They were first and second place until the very last moment. The crowd probably thought Drew had won and Alek had lost because he was out on his ass. He was done. Not many of us knew this was exactly what he wanted.
This was better, much better, I realized. Because Alek was one of the favorites to win, it might have been suspicious if he hung back with the rest of the guys.
“I can’t believe this.” Ben stared at me with wide eyed shock. “Can you believe this? This is insane.”
I winked at Ben, letting him know that I knew this would happen all along. I hadn’t told Ben beforehand because I was so scared things wouldn’t work out, but now I could be honest. Well, as honest as I could without saying it out loud yet.
When Ben and I turned to make our report to the camera, I had to keep all my glee down. I had to really draw on the professional woman within me, the queen of morning TV, to be neutral and calm. But deep down, my insides were flipping over like crazy. I couldn’t wait until all of this was over so I could sneak away with the men who were now out of the Astro Games competition, who were now officially mine. My God, I couldn’t wait to get my hands on them all, to explore them all, knowing that finally we were going to be in a relationship.
We hadn’t exactly worked out the practical side of things out, but I didn’t care about that. I was head over heels in love with them all and more than willing to do whatever we could to make it amazing.
As soon as we were through the report, Ben nudged me in the side and winked at me. “Go on,” he whispered. “Get out of here. I will cover you.”
I thanked him profusely before I made my escape. I was so freaking grateful to him for everything he had done for me. I was going to have to find a way to make it up to him later. Although how could I make it up to him when he’d basically given me the loves of my life? I would somehow find a way. I wouldn’t let this chance slip through my fingers.
I found Alek first, and kissed him sneakily. Slipping away from the crowd must have been hard for him because he had a lot of attention on him. Thankfully, it wasn’t long before we found Hatcher, Chase, and Rory, who had all come very close to last place and were easily eliminated from the competition. It was nice to see them happy to be in the position they were, and not crushed or disappointed now that it was all over. Now we could start a new chapter; our life together was about to begin.
“You want to get out of here?” I asked as I snuck a kiss with Rory. “I’m sure there’s a party to celebrate the people who got through to the second round if you want to stay.” I kissed Hatcher next. “But there’s also a party in my bedroom if you want to come along.” I kissed Chase and held him for a moment. “It would mean a lot to me if you all came.”
“There’s nowhere else in the world we would want to be,” Chase agreed. “There’s no other party I would like to go to. Let’s get the hell out of here.”
Who would have pictured this being the outcome of the Astro Games for me and these men? Not me, that’s for sure, but I was really happy. I couldn’t wait to live the rest of my life in this incredible harem with the four men who made me feel complete.