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“Okay, good. Otherwise, I’ll need to destroy the footage somehow.” She tossed a look over her shoulder only I could see since we were still under the spotlight. A perfect TV moment. “Know any hackers just in case?”
I laughed. Because yes, I do, in fact. One is on our team. But she’s on the good side. No dark web shit. “Don’t worry. This show won’t ever see the light of day.”
Why in God’s name did I just spill that top-secret bit of news with a woman who didn’t even trust me, and who had her own mysteries I still needed to unravel? Like for one, why’d you leave me that morning?
Instead of pressing me for more information, she returned her attention back to the task at hand. She scaled the most challenging ten feet without falling, and the rest was quick and easy from that point on.
Once we were both topside, we made our way to the bridge. It was missing three more boards than before. Mya was at the other side of the bridge, looking at us. “You two okay?”
“We’ll be fine. Her leg needs attention, though.” I faced Charley. “You ready?”
“The rain’s stopped, so I think we can do this,” she said with the confidence I needed to hear.
Carter made his way across this time to help. “You gave Mya a heart attack,” was his greeting, and I’d swear there was a touch of worry in his tone he was working to mask. “Glad you’re okay.”
So, you do have feelings. Who’d have guessed, you’re human after all.
“Uh, thanks.” Charley shot him an awkward little smile, the lights from the other side panning across our faces.
Done with this show’s shit, and ready to be on solid ground, it took two minutes to get across that time, and I was damn relieved it was over. Lucy ran over to us and pulled her sister into her arms for a hug.
“I’m not hanging back to watch the other teams,” I told Stephen during their embrace. “I want her to get this wound looked at. With her open cut and bacteria in the water, she needs antibiotics.”
Stephen crouched before Charley to check her leg, making me uneasy given the short length of her dress and lack of panties. “Your team really learned to trust each other out there, even in the thick of danger,” he said while righting himself. “And you going in after her, knowing you’d lose points for falling, says a lot.” He gave me a tight nod of approval that I didn’t give a shit about. “You two will be coupled up.”
Charley spun toward me at his announcement, and I couldn’t get a read on her look. Was she happy or pissed about that? Whatever she was, she was masking it from me.
“But since she fell,” Stephen continued, “and you both lost an article of clothing earlier, you don’t have enough points to win the treehouse sleepover.”
“And who does have the most points?” Lucy asked as I grabbed my boots, sliding them on in preparation for the journey back to the lodge.
“You and Mason. You’ll be staying in the treehouse.” Stephen peered at the rest of my teammates. “The judges have matched Carter and Gwen. And Oliver and Mya. Those not in the treehouse will be sleeping in building one. Your beds, where you’ll sleep as couples, are being prepped now.” He looked back at me. “We’ll have a medic waiting for you when you return. If you think you all can find your way back in the dark, you can go ahead. If not, stay until the other teams are done.”
“I’ll take my chances in the dark.” I was anxious to get the hell out of the jungle.
“Am I really sleeping in a treehouse with Mason?” I overheard Lucy whisper to her sister once we were all “booted up” and on the move.
I turned my attention to Carter when he came up alongside me, and Lucy and Charley’s conversation became too muddled for me to overhear.
“You good?” Carter asked me.
“Not really.” I looked back at Mya and the others trailing behind us.
“Is she going to blow our cover?” he asked me, keeping his voice down.
I focused back on the “she” he was referring to since Carter was aware I knew Charley. “Something tells me she has more to hide than we do.” My chest tightened at that fact. “So no, I think we’re safe.” For now.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
JACK
Charley’s lecture to Mason on the dos and don’ts during his treehouse sleepover lasted nearly five minutes. It was impressive. She could go head-to-head with Wyatt in the parenting department without missing a beat.
And then it dawned on me, Charley probably had to step in as a mother-figure for Lucy at some point since they’d lost both their parents.
“. . . And if you so much as touch my sister—”
“Unless I want him to, you mean?” Lucy finished her sister’s threat, then gave Charley a pointed look. A plea to back down?
