Yeah, bring me your body, said a naughty part of my brain. I blushed furiously at the terribly inappropriate thought and buried my head under the blankets. “No, I’m fine!” I called out a second later. “Goodnight!”
I could hear a hint of amusement in his voice as he replied. “Night, Liv…”
Chapter Ten
Dec
“You ready for this?”
I turned to Liv, my brows raised with concern. We were about to embark on our first challenge for the show, and I wasn’t sure if she’d be able to hack it. It wasn’t that I thought she was weak. Hell no. She’d proved time and time again that she could be quite tough and resilient when she wanted to be. I was just worried about her current state, that was all. For the last few days, she’d been suffering from some pretty shitty cramps, and I wasn’t sure how she’d cope with this hiking challenge while she was suffering with that.
She nodded and tightened the straps to her backpack. “I think I’ll be okay. I took a couple of Advil before we left the room.”
Now that the first ‘honeymoon’ night in the hut was well and truly over, all the married couples had been sent back to the main resort to share rooms for the rest of the stay. Liv and I were fortunate enough to get a room right on the top floor with a view overlooking all the other islands. I was still sleeping on the couch—lucky me—but I expected nothing more, to be honest. We seemed to have reached a state where we could easily act like a brand-new couple getting to know each other when we knew the cameras and microphones were on us, but when we weren’t being recorded or filmed, we stayed away from each other. Or more to the point, Liv stayed away from me. Wasn’t exactly my choice, but at the same time, I didn’t blame her. I’d probably gone a bit too far in all my teasing.
I gave her shoulders a quick rub before turning my attention back to Chase, who was in the process of explaining today’s challenge to the cameras. “Today, our couples have come over to the biggest island in the archipelago for their challenge. There’s a lot of jungle out there....so I hope you’re all ready to get wild! Rawr!”
I suppressed an urge to roll my eyes as he went on, facing the big group of contestants again. “You will receive a map with clues that lead the way to a treasure, and you must work together as a team to navigate the rough terrain and sweaty jungle in order to hunt it down. Each couple has a different treasure to find, so you can’t just cheat and follow another couple! The husband and wife team who are the slowest to find their treasure will face elimination at the end of this week, because as we know from past seasons, viewers don’t take kindly to those who can’t work together. So, are you all ready to go?”
Everyone nodded and yelled excitedly. “Yes!”
Chase held up a big flaming torch and then blew into a giant whistle. “Go!”
I shook my head and grinned at all the theatrics. How the hell did shit like this attract so many viewers and make so much money? Was it just because it was such a fucking train-wreck that it easily fitted into the ‘so bad it’s actually good’ category? Or did hundreds of thousands of people seriously like this stuff?
Liv glanced down at our map and clue list, a frown puckering her eyebrows. She was so cute when she was thinking hard. “Okay, first one’s obvious. We have to go over that bridge we saw when the boats were bringing us here. East.” She pointed, and I nodded.
“I agree. Let’s go.”
Instead of having one or two camera operators following us around for this challenge, each contestant had a GoPro camera attached to the front of their shirt. That way any moments we filmed along our journeys would be truly private, rather than obviously staged for the trailing cameramen.
Liv and I didn’t say much as we trudged along the path toward the natural bridge we saw earlier, and I wondered how long it would take for us to get kicked off the show. From what I’d been told, viewers seemed to like three main things: hot people, drama, and sweet couples. Liv was hot as hell, so she definitely fitted into that category, but she wasn’t dramatic and our relationship wasn’t exactly sweet, either. I was willing to bet we’d be off the show within a couple of weeks if things continued like this. Everyone would think we were the most boring couple alive.
“Who do you think’s gonna get voted off first?” I asked, trying to make conversation as leaves crunched under our hiking boots. “If it’s not us, that is.”
Liv’s eyebrows drew together again. “Hmm…hopefully Isobel and her husband. No offence to the husband; he’s nice. But she’s the worst.” She suddenly clapped a hand over her mouth, then lowered it to the little mic strapped to her chest so that it couldn’t capture her words anymore. “Oh, shit. They better not air that.”
I winked. “My little mean girl.”
“I’m not being mean! She really is horrible,” she insisted.
I grinned. “If you say so. Anyway, I think Yvonne and Andrew will go first. They already got into that bust-up with Hayley and what’s-his-face at the reception a few nights ago. And they started it.”
Liv nodded. “True. And Andrew just comes across as such a…”
“Filthy sleazebag?”
She giggled and nodded. “Hey, you said it.”
She uncovered her mic and pulled out the map again. We’d just crossed the bridge, and it was time to look at our next clue. As she was about to read it to me, we heard a familiar voice. “Hey! Livvy!”
I looked behind us to see Shayla and her husband Paul. They must’ve been given similar starting directions to us, because they were coming across the same bridge we’d just crossed.
They approached us, and Shayla hugged Liv, squeezing her tightly. “How’s it going so far?” she asked. “Figured out all your clues?”
Liv shrugged. “Not yet. We’re doing them as we go along.”
“Fun. We have to head west now, according to ours. I bet our treasure ends up being in some little cave on the beach, and we have to walk in circles to get there.”
Liv laughed. “Probably. Our next one is telling us to go to…” She paused and looked down. “Some old statue near the edge of the jungle. Haven’t figured out where yet.”
Shayla frowned and looked down at our map and clue. “I know where that is. I researched all the Starling Islands before I flew out here, and I’m ninety percent sure it’s that way. See where that mountain peak is? In that exact same direction.”
She pointed, and Liv nodded. “So you think it means to go north?”
“Well, don’t quote me on that. Like I said, only ninety percent sure.” Shayla laughed.
I gave Paul a ‘look’ before turning my attention back to Liv. “Honey, I think we’re supposed to figure out our own clues. We should let these two get back to it.”
Shayla apologized for taking up our time, and then she took off with her husband, arms linked together.
“They’re so cute together,” Liv said dreamily.
I nudged her playfully. “Aww, look who’s getting into the spirit of the show!”
She laughed. “Shush. Honestly, though, aren’t they perfect for each other? I think they might become the first couple off this show who actually stay together.”
I covered my mic so it wouldn’t capture my next words. “Well, they’re both dumb blondes. So yeah, I guess they mesh well together.”
Liv covered her mic again as well, casting a horrified look at me. “Shayla isn’t dumb!”
“Look, she’s a lovely woman, but she’s as dumb as a box of rocks. Honestly, I tried to have a conversation with her at dinner the other night. Everything seemed to go right over her head. And for god’s sake, our clue is telling us to go south. Not north. She’s clearly not that bright.”
Liv frowned and peered at the clue. “No, I honestly think she’s right. It’s all cryptic. It’s trying to trick us into thinking it’s south. But we have to go north.”
“South.”
Our day was quickly heading south too, judging by the way Liv was glaring at me now. “Well, I think it means north. A
nd really, what you said about Shayla was just plain mean,” she said.
I held my hands up. “Okay, okay. Sorry. Like I said, she’s nice. And fine, you wanna go north? We’ll go north. But if you’re wrong, you owe me a kiss.”
She gave me an impish smile. “Fine. You can kiss my ass.”
I grinned, watching her power-walk ahead of me. We headed north for ten minutes, deep into thick trees and vines, and every time Liv looked down at the map, I saw the resolve in her eyes dwindling. “You starting to think it might’ve been south?” I said teasingly.
She shook her head. “No, I think we’re getting close. Ten more minutes. It did say it was a long walk, after all.”
I smiled. “Whatever you say, pumpkin.”
“Pumpkin!” She huffed, rolled her eyes and strode away again. I decided then and there to call her every ridiculous ‘wife’ nickname under the sun for however long we were partnered on this show together. Her reactions were hilarious.
Another ten minutes passed. Then five more. Sweat was dripping from Liv’s neck, trickling down her back, and I called out for her to stop. “Liv, seriously. We’re going the wrong way. They specifically told us earlier that none of our treasures would be up in the mountains. And in case you hadn’t noticed, we’ve been heading up a pretty steep hill for the last few fifteen minutes.”
She looked at the map again with an exasperated sigh, then consulted the clue page. “Fine. If you say so. We’ll head back.” She was about to shove the map in her bag when she suddenly paused and squinted ahead. “Wait, no, there it is!”
She pointed down the trail and dashed ahead. I ran after her, and I soon saw what she was talking about. A rope bridge lay ahead. It stretched across a choppy river which had carved its path through the mountains over millennia, and there was at least a fifty foot drop from the bridge to the water and rocks below. Jesus. I hadn’t realized just how high we’d reached on the mountain in our twenty-odd minutes of hiking. It was easy to lose track of elevation when all you could see around you was thick jungle plants.
“See?” Liv pointed again. On the other side of the river was a small statue.
“You have better eyes than me. I wouldn’t have spotted that from back there. You sure that’s the right statue?” I eyed the bridge suspiciously. It didn’t exactly look safe. In fact, it looked like it’d been built at least fifty years ago, if not a hundred.
“The showrunners make sure everything’s safe before they let the contestants roam around,” Liv replied. “And come on, our clue said to find a statue, and there’s a statue right there!”
“The producers also clearly said none of our things would be this far up in the mountains, and our clue said our statue was near the edge of the jungle. In case you hadn’t noticed, we’re pretty damn far from the edge. Seriously, I think we were meant to find a different statue. It’s just a coincidence that there’s one here too.”
She glared at me. “You really can’t stand being wrong, can you? It’s right there, Dec!” She pointed at the carved stone statue again.
I reached forward and touched her arm. “All right. But Liv, I am not letting you cross that bridge. I—”
I was about to tell her that I would cross it first to make sure it was totally safe, but she sprinted ahead before I could get the words out. She took her first steps onto the planks of the bridge, and seconds later, there was a sickening crack as one of the planks caved in. That crack was followed by a terrified scream, and I dashed forward just in time to see the most horrifying sight of my life.
Liv had fallen.
Chapter Eleven
Olivia
I screamed as my leg shot right through the broken plank, dragging the rest of my body with it. The wood on the bridge must’ve rotted right through, and all it took was the pressure of a few of my footsteps to break it. The only thing keeping me up in the air right now was my backpack and part of my pants, which had caught on the ropes which suspended the bridge in the air, a hundred feet above the rocky chasm. There was water in the river below me, but I could see it wasn’t deep, and if I fell, I was a goner.
I reached out and tried to grab one of the other ropes, my hands slipping from all the sweat as I shrieked in terror, body twirling slowly on the ropes I was caught on.
Why the hell had I been so damn stupid? Why couldn’t I have just listened to Dec? He told me. He warned me. And now here I was, hanging on for dear life with nothing but air and certain death beneath my kicking feet.
I felt a strong arm shoot out to grab my right hand, and I looked up to see Dec. He was on his knees right at the edge of the broken bridge, risking himself to hold on to me now that my body had twirled around to face him. “Dec!” I screamed. “Help!”
“I will. Just stay calm, baby girl. Stay calm. Stop struggling.”
I took a few deep breaths. He was right. The more I kicked and flailed around, the more my chances of falling all the way through increased. I was barely hanging by a thread, and if he wasn’t holding my hand so tight, I might’ve already fallen.
“Keep hold of me with your right hand,” Dec commanded. His deep voice soothed me, made me think everything would be okay, and I did as he said, gripping his hand as tightly as possible. “Your bag is stuck on the ropes. It’s already slipped off your right arm. I need you to carefully wriggle it off your left shoulder and drop it.”
“But the map is in there,” I said stupidly.
“Forget the map! Do it. I can’t pull you in if you don’t.”
“Okay. Just don’t let go,” I begged.
Emotion flickered in his eyes. “I won’t. I’ll never let go of you, Liv. I promise.”
His words spurred me into action. I might not have trusted him in the past, but I believed him now; believed he’d never let me go. I was still afraid, but I knew he had me. He wouldn’t let me fall. I carefully rolled my left shoulder until the bag straps loosened and began to slip down my arm, and then I felt it drop away. About ten seconds later, there was a splashing sound from below, but I didn’t dare look down to watch the backpack sink into the murky river.
“Okay, you’re doing great,” Dec said. “Now move your left hand onto me as well. Let me pull you up. Move slowly. Very slowly.”
I did as he said, careful to move slowly, just like he told me. His strong hands pulled me up, inch by inch, and soon only my legs were left dangling over the edge of the chasm.
“Nearly there, darlin’. Nearly there.”
Dec kept pulling me until I was safely on the ground again. Clawing at gritty dirt and dead leaves had never felt this amazing, and I let out deep breaths as tears quickly began to fall. “Oh my god. Oh my god…”
Dec wrapped his arms around me. “Shh, princess. I’ve got you.”
I felt like I was about to hyperventilate. Shock over what just occurred was beginning to set in, and I clung to Dec, never wanting to let go. “I’m so sorry!” I said, my voice partially muffled by his shirt. “I shouldn’t have been so stubborn. I’m so stupid.”
Dec’s hands made a slow trail through my hair as he stroked my head. “Hey, now. Don’t say that. You’re fine. You aren’t stupid. Stubborn, yes. But not stupid. You genuinely thought that was the right statue. And you were right about that stupid clue. It was too ambiguous. Could’ve meant fucking south, north, east or west.”
“I should’ve listened.” I drew back to wipe my eyes. “You kept telling me all these reasons why it was the wrong way. I ignored you.”
He looked down at me, eyes flashing with concern. “It’s all over now, Liv. You’re safe. That’s all that matters.”
He gently tugged on my shirt sleeve, and I kept hold of him as he led me back the way we’d initially come. We had no map now that my bag was gone, but he seemed to have a natural sense of direction, and it wasn’t long before we were nearly back where we started. “We won’t be able to get our treasure now,” I said quietly.
Dec winked. “Hey, you’re the one who said you wanted to get us kicked
off the show as soon as possible. This is a good way of doing it—making us fail all the group challenges.”
I smiled at his little crack in spite of myself. “I really am sorry.”
“I know. Don’t worry about it. Like I said, important thing is that you’re safe.”
We finally arrived back at the starting area. It looked like every other couple had already returned before us, save for Belle and her husband (I couldn’t remember his name) and the show producers were frantically pacing around, my mom included. When they spotted us, their faces fell with relief.
“Oh, thank god!” Mom dashed toward us. “We were worried sick!”
“Are we really that late?” I asked.
Her eyes were wide as saucers. “No, but your GoPros—all the data is transmitted wirelessly, and the crew watched all of you as you went. We saw everything! That river…the drop….” She hesitated, and I could see the fear in her eyes as she looked down at me. Knowing her, it was only a matter of time before she let that fear out in the form of anger. “What the hell were you thinking?”
And there it was.
I let her continue, knowing I deserved her ire.
“We told you not to go that far north. Didn’t you see any of the signs? The showrunners have never been able to safely secure that part of this island!”
“I’m sorry, Mo—I mean, Ellen,” I said. “I wasn’t thinking.”
She took a deep breath, and then her shoulders sagged. “Well, at any rate, I’m glad you’re both safe.”
She paused as a junior producer—Ben, the guy who greeted me on my first day—whispered something in her ear. Then she nodded and resumed talking. “In the end, that rescue footage was priceless. At least there’s that.”
Dec narrowed his eyes. “You aren’t really going to use it on the show, are you? Liv nearly died!”
“Ben just pointed it out to me—it’s pure drama. Just what this show thrives on. What happened is awful, but like I said, you’re both safe, so why not use the footage? Imagine the ratings.”
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