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eleven

MOLLY

I didn’t say a word on the walk back to the shelter.

Or as I cuddled up in the blanket Travis had packed for me.

Travis, my possible future mate.

I was going to be sick.

I didn’t want a mate at all. And now the one guy I somewhat trusted had probably broken my trust again.

So what the hell was I going to do?

Kyle walked over to my shelter and leaned up against the tree nearest to it. “What’s going on, Doll?”

“For the love of all that is holy, stop calling me that,” I said, staring up at the stars through the tree branches above us.

“I will if you will.”

“I call you by your name,” I said, flashing him a look.

“I mean that I’ll call you Molly, if you tell me why I can’t smell your pheromones anymore.”

Squeezing my eyes shut, I let out a breath.

A long breath.

A long, long breath.

I wasn’t ready to deal with Kyle right then.

“You were fucking Chris behind our backs, weren’t you?” he asked.

“How would I possibly be having sex with anyone right now? You guys have at least two sets of eyes on me at all times, not including Rhett’s,” I shot back.

“Where there’s a will, there’s a way.”

“That saying does not apply to this situation. I’m frustrated because you guys voted out one of my top candidates when I was under the impression that someone else was going home, okay? Now, just give me space.”

“Alright.” Kyle finally strode away, looking pretty proud of himself.

I wanted to throw something at the bastard.

A coconut, maybe.

Or something harder.

A rock would be good. A big, heavy rock.

I stayed where I was, still staring up at the sky.

Kyle went to sleep pretty fast.

For once, Travis and Reid did too.

None of them were suspicious of Cameron, which meant our plan had succeeded.

But the victory felt hollow.

After a little more time passed, Cam sat down near the base of my shelter, leaning up against a tree. “You’re upset with me,” he said.

“You were supposed to be on my team.” My voice was quiet. “Tell me the Chris vote wasn’t your idea.”

“I can’t lie to you, Lollipop.”

My eyes stung. “He could’ve been my best chance at happiness.”

“Your second best.” There was an edge to Cam’s voice. A hardness I hadn’t heard before.

“You voted him out because you didn’t want to compete with him.” My sadness started to fade.

“Of course I did. I’m not here to watch you walk off with some other bastard.”

“ Some other implies that you’re also a bastard.”

“I never said I wasn’t.”

I sat up, anger in the lines of my face. “I helped you. I trusted you.”

“And I’ll take care of you for the rest of our lives in exchange.”

I shook my head, shoving hair out of my eyes. “I don’t want someone to take care of me. I don’t want a guard, Cam. I want a partner.”

“And I can’t be that?”

“Do not start answering me with questions again. You were supposed to make it to the end so I could choose you.”

He nodded. “I’m aware.”

“It’s not a choice if the other options are men you know I’d never consider tying myself to.”

“Of course it is. It’s just a controlled choice,” Cam said, far too calmly.

I scoffed. “Whatever we had is over.” I grabbed the care package he’d given me and dropped it on his lap before turning over in my shitty shelter.

My eyes stung, but he didn’t say another word as I clutched my blanket to my chest and tried to will myself not to cry.

It didn’t work.

Three quiet, tense days later, we finally made it to the last challenge. It was another puzzle—a massive 3D thing, with so many pieces I had to wonder exactly how big it was going to end up.

“Winner gets an automatic ride to the final three,” Rhett said. “And spends tonight alone on a yacht with Molly.”

I closed my eyes.

The last thing I wanted was to miss the final vote.

And removing one of four voters? It could screw with everything.

If Kyle won, it would be easy for Reid and Travis to get rid of Cam. If Reid won, there was every chance Kyle could decide to stick with Travis over Cameron too.

And after everything, I still hadn’t decided who I was going to choose at the end. Choosing Cam was the safe but stupid choice. He’d made it clear that he was on his own side, not mine.

But the other men had too.

So where did that leave me?

In a shitstorm, that was where.

I pulled my long, tangled hair out of my eyes as the men got into position in front of the puzzles.

I had no idea which of them was going to win. Reid and Travis had done okay with the brainy challenges, though neither of them had actually won anything. Cam was almost always dead center, which told me he was aiming for that position.

There was a chance he was good at puzzles.

There was also a chance he wasn’t.

Kyle didn’t have a shot in hell, though. He was terrible at those kinds of things.

The challenge began at Rhett’s command, and the men got to work.

As expected, Kyle didn’t have a clue where to start and was aimlessly trying pieces, one after another.

Reid started sorting everything, which seemed like a decent route to take. No one knew what the puzzle was going to look like, so sorting might give him a clue or advantage of some kind.

Travis went ahead and started trying to fit pieces on the base of it like Kyle. His forehead was creased, and his lips pressed together in frustration as he tried piece after piece.

When I finally looked at Cam, my attention stopped there. And stayed.

He was moving through the puzzle quickly. There was no trial and error—he simply went through the pieces until he found the right one, and lined it up with the others easily.

He was already a third of the way through the puzzle, and no one else had a single piece.

I bit my lip as I watched him.

There was no reason for Cam to hold back anymore. If he won, he didn’t have to participate in the vote. He was in the final three—which meant I could pick between him and two others.

Considering he’d gotten rid of Chris, the only other guy I somewhat liked, I didn’t think he cared who he went up against.

The other guys started using Cam’s puzzle as a guide, and finally managed to get a few pieces, but he was two-thirds of the way through it already. There wasn’t a chance they would catch up.

And as he neared the end of it, I realized why it was so easy for him.

And my throat swelled.

He put in the last piece, the small freckle beside my left eye, and stepped back to study the statue of me.

The other guys stopped trying to solve their own puzzles.

Travis and Kyle were grimacing.

Reid was staring at Cameron with something akin to understanding.

Cam was only looking at me.

I forced my gaze to land on Rhett.

He announced Cameron the winner, then guided us to a waiting speedboat. With one last look at the three guys headed for the final vote, I lifted a hand in a wave.

Then, I stepped onto the boat behind Cameron.

We’d done it.

We’d gotten him to the end.

But I still felt betrayed.

The bench was small, so our sides pressed together as the boat carried us to the yacht.

Cam had a backpack on his shoulders, and I knew it was the one I’d dropped on him the night before.

He might want to talk about that.

I wanted…

Well, I didn’t know what I wanted.

Everything was screwed up.

We reached the yacht and were immediately guided to the dining room. They brought menus out, and we ordered. Cam was a lot hungrier than me, considering he hadn’t gone on any of the food dates I’d been forced to attend.

It didn’t surprise me at all when he ordered four different meals.

I went with two myself. Though I’d only manage one of the large servings, I’d seen enough starving supernatural men eat while on the island to know that he’d still be hungry after he was done with everything he’d ordered. Three probably would’ve been safer, but I didn’t want to waste food when he could order more if he needed to.

“Can we please act like this is a normal meal back at the apartment for now, and have the conversation we know is coming after we eat?” Cam asked, setting his forearms on the large table. The yacht was moving, but I wasn’t watching the scenery.

“A normal apartment meal for us would require you driving me insane,” I said.

“ Flirtatiously insane.”

I rolled my eyes. “I’m not in the mood.”

“Let’s talk now, then.”

“I’ll never be in the mood for that,” I grumbled.

Cam leaned over the table. “I didn’t spend four years falling in love with you to risk watching you walk away with another man when there was something I could do about it. I’m not a gambler, Lolli. I knew I had Kyle and Travis in my pocket. I had them certain that I wasn’t a real contender, and Reid was. I was making it to the end, and I wasn’t taking the only other man you even somewhat liked with me.”

“That’s insanely selfish, Cam,” I shot back.

I wasn’t going anywhere near his comment about falling in love with me.

Not even maybe.

“Selfish, but smart,” he said.

The servers arrived with our food, but Cam made no move to touch his.

I’d seen the single-minded focus most grown-ass fae men had on the meals placed before them on the island. Him not digging in immediately was significant.

“You’re frustrated because you feel like I haven’t told you enough about myself,” Cam said. “And you’re right. I haven’t. There are a lot of things I wasn’t allowed to discuss, but there aren’t any rules now. Ask me anything.”

“Why haven’t you touched your food?” I gestured to the many plates in front of him.

“You’re hurt,” he said. “That far outweighs a little hunger.”

“A little hunger? You’ve been surviving on nothing but fish for nearly a month, Cam.”

“I’ve been fighting every instinct that pushes me to protect you and claim you for nearly a month, too. That’s been a hell of a lot harder than going hungry.”

I sighed. “Fine, let’s act like everything’s normal and just eat. We can talk when I can’t hear your stomach rumbling anymore.”

He nodded, but didn’t pick up his fork until I did.

There was a piece of chocolate cake on one of my plates, so I didn’t hesitate before cutting into it. When the flavor hit my tongue, I groaned.

Loudly.

Cameron already had a forkful of grilled chicken in his mouth.

“Holy shit,” I mumbled around the cake. It came out sounding more like “Oy it,” but I was sure he’d get the message.

Still chewing, he leaned over and cut a piece of my cake for himself.

My lower belly tensed slightly at the intimacy, and my face warmed.

Cam inhaled deeply after swallowing. His fork was still full of cake. “That’s what finally gets you wanting me again, Loll? Stealing your food?”

“Oh, shut up.” I leaned across the table and took a big chunk of what looked like cheesecake from one of his plates, taking a bite of that. “Mine’s better,” I said.

He shook his head and cut another piece of chicken. “Try this.”

When he handed me his fork, there was a bit of challenge in his eyes.

And I wasn’t about to back down.

So, I took the fork and bit down myself.

“Okay, that’s good,” I agreed.

We focused on the food, sharing bites back and forth as we ate. I was full long before Cam was, but he managed to get me to try some of everything, even after I felt like I might burst.

When he was finally as stuffed as I was, we were escorted to our room at the top of the boat.

Everything was elegant and modern, with huge glass windows that looked out over the ocean and the rest of the scenery around us. We were moving slowly, and the boat’s rocking was barely noticeable.

What wasn’t barely noticeable?

The single gigantic bed in the center of the room. It had to be big enough for a fae man. Wings, horns, and all.

Cam walked over to the windows and peered out at the ocean, whistling. “Can’t say I get tired of this view.”

I headed straight for the large bathroom I could see connected to the room. “I’m going to wash the sand off my skin.”

“Need help with that?”

I turned to glare at Cam, but the grin he wore told me he was joking.

I flipped him the bird on my way into the bathroom anyway, and locked the door behind me.