Page 37 of Forbidden Billionaires: Vol. 10
Tim glanced down at his phone. "I think that was actually someone else's Uber. The map shows that ours is still two minutes away."
"Is Uber Psycho a new service option that they offer?" asked Kristen. "Or is that a Brazilian exclusive?"
I laughed for a second and then started to get worried. "Wait. What if he just got kidnapped?"
"Relax, Alina," said Kristen. "The car had an Uber sticker on it, so it must have been legit. He probably just took someone else's Uber."
I looked around, but there was no one else waiting to be picked up. And her logic about why it had to be legit wasn't terribly convincing.
"Why don't you text him?" suggested Alex.
"Good idea." I pulled out my phone and typed out a text: "Are you okay?"
But there was no response.
Going For Gold - Chapter 15
Monday
Bryce
"Dude, what was that?" I asked as the driver floored the acceleration.
He eased off the gas and turned back to look at me. "Where to?" he asked in a thick Brazilian accent.
"The athletes' village. But first can we go back and get my friends?"
"Não entendo. You have map?"
"What?"
"Map." The driver picked up his cell phone and pointed to it.
"Uh, yeah. Hold on." I pulled up google maps and put in the village square. It calculated for a second and then told me to take a right in 800 feet. "Right up ahead."
"Give map," said the driver, reaching back with an open palm.
I handed him my phone. He looked at it for a second and then closed the app and put it in his cup holder. I guess he knew how to get there.
"Can I have my phone back?" I asked. I wanted to text my friends to make sure none of them had been run over by my crazy Uberdriver. They must have been thinking the same thing, because I heard my phone buzz to signal I had a new text.
"Ten minutes."
What?"Okay, great. Can I have my phone back?"
The driver responded with something in Portuguese that I didn't understand.
Oh well. I guess he'll give it back when we get there.
His driving had improved considerably once I told him where we were going, so I decided to just lean back and take in the sights. I hadn't really explored the city that much yet, so it was nice to get to see it. At first we were just driving through the new part of town. Most of it had been built within the past few years with the hopes of capitalizing on all the tourists coming to town for the games, but there were also some shops that looked like they had been there for decades. We passed a ton of restaurants with patios packed well beyond what could be safe or comfortable.
And then the scenery started to change.
Glamorous restaurants and high-rise hotels gave way to shoddy looking apartment buildings and warehouses connected to a grid of makeshift wires and satellite dishes that looked more like something you'd see at an elementary school science fair than in a city connected to actual electricity. The ride grew bumpy as the quality of the roads quickly deteriorated.
Why did the Uber driver have to pick the route through the sketchiest part of town possible?
I turned away from the scenery and let my mind wander to Alina. She ordered steak instead of a stupid salad. She liked dessert just as much as me. She was funny and sweet. And she deserved way better than Chris Hamilton. I had seen him around the athletes' village. Maybe he had only cheated on Alina once, but if I had to take a guess, I'd say it was way more. I never would have thought that Alina was his girlfriend after seeing him with a different girl every time we had crossed paths. The fact that one of the many times he cheated on her he chose the girl that had picked on Alina in school made it a million times worse. The guy was a total dick. But it wasn't my place to tell Alina that. I couldn't butt in on her decision. She needed to realize that she deserved more on her own. And I'd be waiting when she made the right call.
