Page 13 of Playing With My Heart Strings

“Well, this isn’t fair,” Aspen grumbles.

Kelsie snorts. “Guess we already know I’m not winning.”

“Ladies, you’ll be given five axes to throw.

If you hit a bullseye, that’s five points.

The middle ring is worth three points, and the outer ring is one point.

Now, there’s also those small green circles on the outside.

If you can stick one of those, it’s seven points.

Your axe must stay in the target for the points to count.

Whoever has the highest score at the end will win the challenge. ”

Once Jarrod finishes explaining the rules, a few employees bring out a couple more axes.

“All right, let’s get started, shall we?”

Each of the girls line up about twelve feet away from their targets. Speed isn’t a factor, so there’s no need to rush, but when the buzzer sounds, it’s as though a spark of competitiveness flares within all of them.

Aspen throws her axe first. It rotates through the air before sticking in the middle ring. One employee stands by each station to keep track of the scores.

“How are you doing over there, Kelsie?” I call out to her, amusement in my voice. There’s no way she’s going to win this competition. Almost every single axe she’s thrown has either been a horrible miss or has hit the target then fallen to the ground.

“Great! I suck at this!” She laughs, and I wonder how she could be so carefree knowing the stakes of the competition.

Sage has racked up nine points, Jade has five, and Baylor and Aspen are leading with twelve points each.

The rest of the girls are too far behind to catch up, so it’s down to these two.

Competitive energy radiates off them as they side-eye each other after every throw.

Even the cameramen are focusing on the two of them, a rivalry seeming to form between the girls.

“I’m going to get that solo date,” Aspen grits through her teeth, her voice barely audible over the clattering of axes on the floor, likely from Kelsie’s end.

She’s down to her last one, and sweat beads on her forehead as she raises the hatchet. A hushed silence falls over the group as she throws it. It floats right into the bullseye, adding five points to her tally and securing the win, unless Baylor can hit the small green targets.

“Ooh, we’ve got a competition on our hands.” Jarrod claps from the side of us. “It’s down to the wire here.”

I’m secretly hoping Baylor wins, because I want to spend more time with her. Figure her out. Even though it’s up to me who makes it through, Baylor winning the challenge secures her spot, so the producers can’t try to convince me to cut her.

Baylor tucks a strand of hair that fell in her face behind her ear then grabs an axe, walking slowly to the line.

Her shoulders rise and fall as she takes a deep breath, and then in a moment’s time, the axe is floating through the air.

It spins once before it hits her target: the green circle worth seven points.

Yes! I mentally pump my fist.

Jarrod walks over to her, taking her wrist and holding it up in the air like she just won a boxing match.

“Congratulations, Baylor. You’re the winner of the first ever Heart Strings axe-throwing competition.

You’ll be going on a solo date with Dusty first thing next week, which also means you’re safe from elimination. How does it feel?”

She shrugs. “Good? I guess?” She doesn’t sound too convinced, and the corner of my lip lifts in a slight grin.

I like this girl.

“Now that the competition is over, I’ll leave you all to it. Ladies—other than Baylor—you’re at risk of elimination, so use this time wisely,” Jarrod warns before he walks away.

The girls at risk of elimination waste no time trying to get to me, but Jade is able to steal me away before anyone else—namely Aspen—is able to.

As we walk toward a seating area, a few of the other girls look over their shoulders to watch us go.

Before we turn a corner, Aspen chucks a hatchet, hitting a bullseye and splitting the target right down the middle.

“That was quite the competition, wasn’t it?” I laugh as we take a seat on a plush couch tucked in a quiet area away from the action.

Jade smiles as she wraps a long strand of ink-black, pin-straight hair around her index finger. It’s so silky that it immediately slides off, and I resist the urge to brush it behind her ear. “Yeah, I didn’t expect the competition to be so cutthroat right away, but I should have known better.”

“Well, I think you did amazing.” We’re sitting close enough together that our legs touch, and I notice her bare skin is covered in gooseflesh. “Are you cold?”

“Me?” She points to herself as she shivers a bit. “I guess, a little.”

“Here.” I grab a shag blanket folded on the arm of the couch and lay it over our laps as she scoots closer into me.

“Thank you. I just wanted to say I’m really grateful to be here and that it’s you who we’re here for,” she admits. “I have a lot of hope for this process.”

“I do, too,” I confess. “I never pictured myself on a reality TV show, much less a dating show, but there’s a first for everything, right?”

“I’m honestly surprised that you’re here. How is a guy like you single?”

“I could ask the same thing about you.” I bump my elbow against hers.

I look into her onyx eyes as she sighs. “I used to be in a long-term relationship. We were really great together, playing music and performing at small shows. But I guess we just grew apart.”

Her confession hits me like a knife to the chest.

“I can’t imagine what that was like.” I’d been in relationships before, although most of them were PR relationships set up by the label to keep up the image they’d created for me. They’d never been deep. I don’t know if I’ve ever been in love before.

“I honestly believed it was love and we were meant to be together. But if that’s what loving the wrong person felt like, then I can’t wait for what loving the right person is like.”

“Thank you for sharing that with me. I know it can’t be easy, with me basically being a stranger and all.”

Footsteps approach, cutting our conversation short, as Aspen comes over to the couch.

“Hey…” She shifts on her feet. “Can I talk to Dusty?”

Jade blinks as she grabs the blanket, moving it off her legs, and stands. She’s so much shorter than Aspen, probably standing at five feet max. “Yeah, yeah, of course. Thanks for chatting with me, Dusty.”

Aspen replaces her, sitting a bit too close to me and covering herself with the blanket, although she’s wearing jeans, unlike Jade in her shorts.

“How are you holding up after the competition?” I ask, knowing she was close to securing a spot next week.

“I’m doing all right. It was obviously a bit disappointing to lose, but I’m determined. I want to be here, and I’m willing to prove that however I need to.”

We talk for a few more minutes before I end the conversation to talk to some of the other women here. The disappointment on Aspen’s face is evident, but she quickly hides it.

By the end of the night, I’ve gotten to talk to everyone except for Baylor. It makes sense in my head because she’s guaranteed to make it to the next week, but a heaviness still settles in my stomach.

When Sage—the last person I’d been talking to—and I return back to the main area, Jarrod is waiting for us with the rest of the group.