Page 539 of The Bonding Games: Part 1

I scrunch my face up. I hate that as much as Tate does, and I’m sure all the others do, too.

“I have looked over your Scores.”

I straighten along with the rest of the men in our happy little family as my Bonded plops me back in place with them.

“17, yours has risen to 86.”

Coops folds his arms across his chest, looking neither disappointed nor proud. He only bores his gaze into Ezla intently with a short nod while my brother tells him, “Well done.”

“Player 4, yours is 90.”

“Thought my Avri seemed a little darker this morning,” Tate says smugly, though he narrows his eyes to slits at being called “Player 4” again.

“38, yours is 87.”

A dip of Scotty’s chin while I lean closer, just waiting for the revelation that I’ve bested my big bro.

“35—”

I do a drumroll on my thighs, and I can feel how unimpressed Ezzy is.

“87.”

I blink. Then—

“Whooohoooo!” I throw my arms in the air and dance around my Bonded group, twirling myself about. “Brother, I’m as good as you now! After all this time! Little me isn’t so little anymore!” I launch myself onto Scotty’s back, who stumbles with a grunt before righting himself, instinctively trying to keep me stable. “I mean,” I continue as I tighten my arms around his neck, and he coughs, slapping my arm with a, “You’re fucking strangling me,” which I completely ignore, “I’d hoped to get higher, but now I realise this is even better!”

Ez dismisses me, disappointingly, but unsurprisingly, not joining in on my parade. Our girl’s just cold like that. Always gives me the best kind of goosebumps, though.

“And 29 . . .”

We all hold our breaths, mutually agreeing this one’s the most important.

“72.”

Alby gasps, and tears immediately well in his eyes.

“OH MY GOD! BESTIE!” Leaping off my brother’s back, almost knocking him off his feet in the process, I jump on Alby instead, tackling him to the ground in a bear hug and smacking a kiss on his cheek, making the red there stretch across every patch of visible skin.

He’s so stunned to find himself on the floor that he just lays there with his mouth open—before he eventually bursts out laughing, and I beam. “I’m so proud of you!”

“We all are.” Scotty’s voice draws my gaze up to see him with a proud-dad look on his face, and when I move it to Cooper and Tate, even they give nods, the former going so far as to give my bestie his own “well done”.

“I am proud.”

The room is plunged into a deathly silence.

No one moves a muscle, afraid this is some sort of dream we’ll be hauled out of if we so much as twitch an eyelash.

Then Alby’s tiny voice whispers through the air, “You . . . you’re proud of me?”

“I am,” Ezla confirms stoically, but no one cares about the tone of it when there’s a miracle happening right before our eyes.

Helping my bestie to his feet, I stare at our Bonded in open-mouthed wonder.

“Th-thank you . . .”

She nods sharply.