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Nothing is certain.
One of us could go home. Hell, both of us could be voted off.
Which is probably why when he kissed me goodbye, it felt final. My heart hurt and tears threatened to fall as he closed my door behind him.
Gold.
I only wear it when I need to feel bold. In control. On top of the world.
Right now, I feel none of those things, so when I caught sight of the gold dress hanging in my closet, I instinctively reached for it. It’ll give the appearance of confidence even though I feel anything but.
With only a few minutes to spare, I grab my phone—ignoring the twelve texts from Wren I still need to read—and take a quick selfie in the full-length mirror, sending it off to Naomi. She replies immediately with wishes of luck and tells me I look stunning.
What are best friends for?
The girls are all congregating outside the villas. They fall silent when I approach. It’s a bit awkward until Bella pulls me in for a hug and the rest of the girls join.
“What’s going on?” I ask, Courtney’s hair getting stuck to my lip gloss.
“We plan to walk in united. One of us is going home, and it doesn’t matter who it is. Right now, we’re all here and...” Teegan’s voice trails off as her she begins to stutter.
I get the message loud and clear. No matter what happens, we’re saying our goodbyes right here and now. Kind of like what Jace and I did earlier just in case.
Arms linked, Bella, Courtney, Teegan, Natasha, and I all make our way to the main house where the guys are waiting for us outside the door. Next to them is an irritated-looking Claudia, tapping her heel against the pavement.
Without a word, she opens the door. The guys usher us through first, and Claudia hands each of us a voting slip and pens as we pass her, taking our immunity slips in exchange. My hands shake as I try to fill out my form. I made my decisions this morning, but now that the moment is here, I’m second-guessing everything.
Because I don’t want anyone to go home.
And I don’t want to go home. Not yet. I’m not ready.
I may have hated this idea in the beginning. It may have taken Naomi a shit-ton of booze to get me to agree. Still, at the end of the day, I’m glad I’m here, and I’m ready to fight until the bitter end. Whenever that may be.
After turning in our slips, Claudia arranges us on the platform, pushing us as close together as she can get us. The spotlights seem brighter tonight, the cameras closer. It’s all I can focus on until Ed’s voice interrupts my thoughts.
“How’s everyone doing tonight?” he asks, addressing us. The cameras aren’t rolling yet, so he lacks the usual amount of swagger he puts on for the camera.
There is a mumble of fines and goods before he nods his head and turns to face the nearest camera, shouting at the man behind it. We stand there for ten minutes before I notice the light above the camera begin blinking and hear the soft countdown as Claudia motions at us behind the camera to smile.
“Welcome back to Love or Lust,” Ed begins. Motioning to the ten of us, he keeps his eyes focused on the camera. “Right now, there are ten hearts still in the game. By the time the night is over, two of them will be sent home, voted off by their peers. Who’s going to make the cut? And who will be packing their bags tonight? You’ll find out soon, but first, let’s take a look at what the contestants have been up to this week.
“After a group date on Monday, each guy was given the opportunity to impress the ladies. They were given some additional information about each of the ladies and asked to pick an activity they thought the ladies would enjoy. Let’s hope they did well because only one person will be granted immunity tonight. Here are some of the highlights of this week’s dates...”
His voice trails off as the light above the camera changes from green to red.
Ed pivots in place and steps toward us. “We have a problem. There was a tie for immunity tonight, so it’s been proposed that we have the ladies re-vote.”
“Can’t you just grant both of them immunity?” Teegan asks.
“That’s also an option. The third option would be to use the weekly voting as an indicator. The guy with the lower score of the two would be granted immunity.“
“I like that idea,” Courtney says, looking at the rest of us for confirmation. “It seems to be the fairest way.”
All of us nod in agreement.
“That’s what we’ll do, then,” Ed states.
“Wait,” I hear myself say. “I think you should grant them both immunity. If that’s the way the voting went, that’s what the decision was. It’s not fair to take it away from one person. They should both be able to stay.”
