“Ah, goodmorning, Chuck!” TJ boomed.
“Hey, TJ,” Chuck responded with a fraction of the enthusiasm. He was upright and moving and sounding less miserable, so Olivia had to assume he was already in better shape.
When TJ headed into the living room with the crew, she nudged Chuck with her elbow and quietly murmured, “You okay?”
He shot her a half smile. “Yeah. Pop-Tarts are a universal remedy.” His eyes snagged hers for a tender second before she looked down and followed TJ.
They found him standing among the furniture boxes holdingan iPad with1:00glowing in enormous red digits, and it served as a distraction. “Are you ready for your next challenge?” He gestured at the envelope in Olivia’s hands.
“That depends on what it is,” she muttered, and slipped her finger under the seal. Chuck stood behind her smelling like soap and still radiating heat from his bath. Olivia cleared her throat and began to read the letter inside.
“ ‘Olivia and Chuck, we hope you are enjoying your stay. In an effort to make it more comfortable, we have provided you with new furniture. You will have one hour to assemble as much of it as you can. Anything left incomplete at that time will be removed from the house. Remember, teamwork makes the dream work. Good luck!’ ”
Chuck reached for the letter and nodded. “Okay, an hour is plenty of time. Three pieces of furniture, two of us. This should be easy.”
Olivia was less optimistic about their ability to handle Slot A and Part B without issue, but she agreed that an hour should be enough time.
And, like he was dousing their newly stoked flame of hope with water, TJ grinned and reached into his back pocket. “There’s more.”
They both looked up at him.
“More?” Chuck said.
With his most self-satisfied sinister grin to date, he held up a pair of handcuffs. “Indeed.”
Olivia’s belly bottomed out at the sight of the shiny silver rings. In the right context, handcuffs and Chuck were a delicious combination—she knew from experience. But this wasnotthat context. Not even close.
“You’re both right-handed, right?” TJ asked, and approached them with one of the rings open like a hooked jaw.
“Yeah…?” Chuck said. The trepidation in his voice stirred every nerve in Olivia’s body. Whatever was about to happen was not good.
“Excellent,” TJ said. “Olivia, would you please turn around?”
She did as she was asked, now standing shoulder to shoulder with Chuck and facing the opposite direction, and felt TJ take her right wrist. The metallic click of the icy cuff closing around it made her heart skip in an unpleasant way. She looked over at Chuck as TJ took his right wrist and shackled it to hers. The tiny chain links between the cuffs were hardly two inches long. When TJ finished, they faced opposite directions with their dominant hands bound together at their sides.
TJ stood back and clapped his hands. Olivia looked over her shoulder to see him reach for the iPad and jab it with a finger. “Your hour starts now.”
They stood there frozen, both blinking in disbelief.
“Are you joking right now?” Chuck said.
“Nope!Go,” TJ cheered. “You’re already losing time!”
They both took a step forward—in opposite directions—and the sheer mass of Chuck’s body versus hers pulled Olivia backward to the floor.
“Ow!” she cried when she fell on her butt.
“Oh! Liv, I’m sorry,” he said, and helped her up.
“Take it easy, Chuck. You’re way bigger than me!” she scolded, and soothed her bottom with her hand.
“I’m sorry. Let’s just—” He started to turn around.
“No, that won’t—” Olivia said, and spun the other way.
“Let me go this way—”
“That’s not going to—”