AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Do you hate me now like you said you would?” There was a tenderness there I wasn’t sure she’d ever used with me before. Raw and vulnerable. It was enough to make my shoulders collapse before I faced her.
She continued to shield herself with the bedding, and it felt like a secondary wall between us. The first wall—the fact she wouldn’t tell me the truth about who she was running from and why—wasn’t tangible like the sheet but just as frustrating of a barrier.
“No, I don’t hate you.” I held my clothes in front of me, feeling a bit strange about being buck naked after she’d sucked the life from me, gagging on my cock mere hours ago.
“But?” She lifted a perfectly shaped brow that disappeared beneath her sweeping bangs.
I expelled a deep breath, wanting to tell her I hated myself for taking things further knowing damn well the crushing pain it’d cause me today. But I couldn’t get those words out. They would likely make her feel bad or guilty, and I refused to hurt her.
Her eyes fell to the wood floors beneath her feet. “I’m sorry.”
“Don’t be sorry,” I reassured her. “I’m an adult. I made the decision I made.” And then I went into the bathroom before she had a chance to look at me and shred me with her eyes.
I closed the door and dropped my clothes in the tight space. Resting the back of my head to the door, I closed my eyes and covered my face with my palm, trying to remind myself I was there for a mission, not to fall in love.
A few frustrated breaths later, I got my shit together, changed and brushed my teeth, then joined Charley in the room.
She’d swapped out the bedsheet for lightweight khaki pants and a white tank top with a black bikini top visible beneath it, the strings tied at the nape of her neck. Her hair was in a messy bun with a few wispy strands around her face. No makeup. Not that she needed any. She was naturally beautiful. And those big eyes of hers pointed my way while she held up her toothbrush. “Almost ready. Let me just brush my teeth, and we can go.”
I stepped aside so she could get into the bathroom, doing my best not to circle her waist and draw her to me. To tell her she belonged in my arms. That she’d be safe. That I’d fuck up all the assholes in the world who so much as made her cry if she’d only let me.
I stuffed my shit in my suitcase, put on my running shoes, then waited for her by the door. I needed air. Fresh air. Not air where the smell of sex still lingered. It was going to be the death of me.
I flicked at a piece of lint on my plain white tee that I’d paired with khaki cargo shorts, anxiously awaiting her return. When the bathroom door opened, she gave me a hesitant smile and nod, letting me know she was all set.
After she stored her toothbrush in her bag, I quietly snatched her suitcase and waited for her to successfully make it down the ladder before I navigated the thing, bringing one bag down at a time.
We walked in silence to building one where our team had slept. It was already empty, so I dropped our bags off there and we went in search of everyone at the players’ lodge.
“Hey,” Carter said the second he spotted me by the pool. “I need a word before we go.” He looked at Charley and then back at me.
“She knows,” I said, answering the question he was asking without asking.
“I’d still like to talk in private,” Carter noted, then tipped his head toward one of the camera-free zones on the backside of the pool area, walking in that direction without waiting for me.
“Yeah, okay.” I looked around the patio area of the players’ lodge where all the teams were already split up and waiting for instructions. The sun had yet to rise, but there was still enough light out to see everyone. “Be right back,” I told Charley, and waited for her nod of understanding, and for her to join the rest of our team before I joined Carter.
“What’s up?” I asked him. “You learn anything new from Gray or Camila?” I was still trying to wrap my head around Camila managing to become even more of an insider than us for this show.
When Carter had summoned me by the pool after our little uncomfortable fight last night, he’d dropped the shocking news on me swiftly and with blunt force, “I’m going to kill her. If she survives this, I’ll . . .”
I wasn’t sure if I’d ever seen Carter react like that about anyone. I supposed it was different since he’d known Camila forever, all the way back to his childhood days in Texas, but the man kept surprising me with these “human-like” sides he rarely revealed.
“How’d she become a last-minute sponsor?” I’d asked.
“Doubt there was anything last minute about it,” he’d retorted. “She was just a late arrival, which I’m sure she had a cover story for. And she used my money to put her life at risk, which just pisses me off even more. I mean, yeah, she’s on all my accounts and has the OK from me to use the money anytime, but not to risk her neck and—” He’d cut himself off, his eyes narrowing as if realizing he’d been rambling, an oddity. “She told Gray to tell me she’ll be fine and not to worry, but she thought we’d need someone deeper on the inside and went ahead and made the move.”
“Jack?” Carter prompted, and I’d realized I’d distracted myself with yesterday’s memories and forgotten he had something new to tell me now.
“Yeah, sorry. So, what’d you learn?” I folded my arms, but I was unable to stop myself from stealing a quick look at Charley from the corner of my eye.
Lucy had a hand on Charley’s arm, and a knowing smile on her face like she could tell what happened between Charley and me in the treehouse.
“Gray doesn’t think our suspect is one of the sponsors. No one from the list has been part of every season, and based on who Camila met when she arrived last night, only a handful of people requested to be on-site,” Carter explained, drawing my focus back his way.
“So, you’re thinking it’s someone who’s part of the show’s production?” At least we could narrow down our list.
Carter’s grimace didn’t do wonders for my nerves. “I don’t know. Gray tapped into Gwen’s library camera and pulled images of the three guys we assume are judges who watched from there yesterday. No red flags. It’s possible there are more judges that watched from another room, though.”
