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twelve

ERIN

Harker was gone when we got back.

I made a point to avoid Ev, and glared at him when he offered me a hand to help me out of the boat. Though I accepted the help, I released him as soon as I could and strode back to the shelter. As I went, I called in a flat voice, “I’m going to bed.”

No one tried to stop me on my way there.

When Rhett joined me in the shelter, he held me casually, but lulled me to sleep with another mental image of us on a warm beach together. The things he murmured to me in the illusion told me he was struggling with smelling my scent on the other guys’ skin, so I knew I needed to back off for a while if I could.

Acting like I’d been caught with Julian required keeping to myself more the next few days, so I did exactly that. It calmed Rhett’s possessiveness down, too.

Julian won the next challenge as well. It was a different kind of puzzle, so Ev went home in the next vote.

When Kyle won the challenge after that, he got to choose two guys to go with us. He picked both Rhett and Travis for our outing to a little bar nearby. Having Travis there meant Rhett and I couldn’t talk freely or spend any real time together, which was shitty.

But Julian was gone when we got back after the vote.

With him out, the biggest threat to Rhett’s game was gone, so I finally relaxed for a few days.

Of course, relaxing didn’t mean I could spend any more time with Rhett. But it wasn’t raining anymore, so I tried to enjoy it.

On the morning of day 17, I woke up early. Rhett was still sleeping, so I slid off his chest quietly and padded out to the beach.

I walked along the sand alone, watching the sunrise as I went. It was windy, which didn’t seem like a great sign as far as the weather went, but I tried not to worry about that.

There were bigger things to deal with.

We were only a little over halfway through the game.

It felt like I’d survived a lifetime on the beach. I wasn’t sure how I was going to make it another thirteen days, but I also wasn’t sure what it would be like to go back to reality anymore.

I itched to sit down with Rhett and have a conversation about what life would actually look like if I chose him in the end like we were planning. I barely knew the guy. And while I did like him, forever was a lot to promise someone.

Granted, I hadn’t actually promised anything.

I hadn’t even completely agreed to go along with his plan.

Maybe I needed to rethink that.

Thunder rumbled overhead, and I grimaced. Though the sun was rising, I was well aware of how quickly storm clouds could come in and change everything.

I forced myself to consider the main reason I was working with Rhett.

The reason I’d attempted creating chaos in the game.

Because I didn’t want to land in an abusive relationship. And Rhett was a lot of things, but he wasn’t an abuser. He was patient. Laid-back, even.

I would be safe with him, and that was what I wanted.

But… what if I wanted more, too?

According to him, fae couldn’t abuse their mates. Which meant that every man on the island could actually be a potential mate for me.

And as much as I liked Rhett, he hadn’t really shown the dominance I wanted in a guy. I didn’t want someone cruel, but I didn’t want someone too soft, either. I would walk all over one of the nice guy types.

Not that Rhett was really a nice guy .

I just…

I didn’t know.

It was a big decision. A really big decision.

Not one I wanted to make while I was uncertain, that was for damn sure.

The wind picked up as the day continued.

The sky darkened too, but no rain fell.

I held my ponytail back as the boat carried us away from our island and into the middle of a rainstorm over the island I recognized from the first day of Survival .

Thankfully, the showrunners had set up a large, permanent canopy. It was made of metal, and didn’t move even slightly in the heavy wind, which made me think they’d drilled it into the ground or something.

I sure as hell wasn’t complaining.

All of us gathered beneath the canopy as Jordan announced a different kind of contest. The guys seemed to know what he was talking about when he called it the “care package challenge” and said everyone would win that day.

When they all headed into the pouring rain to look for their care packages, I asked him for more details.

“They did this challenge in the first season,” he explained. “All of the guys packed a bag with three things in it as well as an asset folder. The items could be things for their comfort or your comfort. The asset folder has pictures and information about their life back home. Each of them will get a few minutes to show you the items and explain the folders’ contents to you.”

Oh.

That was actually kind of helpful.

I wouldn’t admit it aloud, of course. But it was.

I’d just been thinking about how I would choose someone without knowing anything about what my life with them would look like. And I’d just been wondering if I really wanted to put all my eggs in Rhett’s basket. Figuratively, of course.

Maybe the care package thing would help me decide.

“Last season, I think there was an extra care package or something to determine the winner,” Jordan added. “But they did it later in the season, and Molly didn’t have as many comfort items as you do, so they nixed that this time. The first guy back is the one who gets extra time with you. The other bastards will sit out in the rain a little longer.”

I felt bad for them, but they had signed up to play.

Except Rhett.

I couldn’t help but wonder if someone else had packed stuff for him, or if he just wasn’t going to have anything in his bag at all.

We didn’t have to wait long for the first guy to return. There were seven men left in the game, though, so it was going to take a while to go through all the information they all brought.

Ian was back through the trees quickly, flashing me a grin as he sat down next to me and shook water from his hair. I didn’t bother closing my eyes when he did, but wiped my face off afterward.

That was annoying.

I could check one guy off the list.

It was probably petty to remove him from the standings just because he shook water all over me like a dog, but I was pretty okay with that level of pettiness.

“Sorry about Julian,” Ian said, unzipping the bag. It was waterproof, so everything inside had been protected.

I was supposed to be upset Julian was gone.

Oops.

I scowled, and Ian flashed me an apologetic look. “It’s just the game,” he said. “It irks at a fae’s possessiveness to know someone was comfortable enough with you to kiss you like that, even though we know logically that you just liked him.”

He pulled the first item from his bag. It was a blanket.

His expression was sheepish. “Here’s a third blanket for you. Won’t do much good if it starts raining again, but still.”

“Thanks.”

The second two items were candy. Gummy candy, in sets that were the shape of burgers, hot dogs, pizza, and other snack foods.

“I wanted to bring the real thing, but this is as close as I could get,” he teased, handing me the treats.

The idea was silly, but clever. My smile in response was genuine. “Thank you.”

“Any time.” He winked. “Now, I’ve got an asset folder.” He waved a manilla folder before he opened it up. “Pictures of my house are on top. My family beneath. My job’s on the bottom.”

I took the thick cardstock pages of photos that he’d included. His house looked like a mansion in the forest—not exactly shabby.

His family consisted just of him and his parents, but they looked nice, and there was a picture of their house too. It was a few miles down the road from his, according to the page.

The photos of his job showed him in a science lab, shooting the camera a thumbs up as he made faces or grinned at different places in the room.

“You’re a scientist?” I asked, surprised.

“Yep. I’ve been working with a few other fae to try to figure out how to turn humans into compatible mates. We haven’t had any success yet,” he explained. “But we invented a few different medications for humans in the process.”

Hot damn, he was smart.

“So, if we mated…” I trailed off, wanting to hear his explanation.

“You could do whatever you want,” he said simply. “I spend a lot of time at the lab, so you’d be pretty much free to your own devices. Get a job, go to school, start making pottery. I don’t particularly care.”

Ah.

Well, that was better than I’d hoped before I ended up on the show. But I couldn’t say it was exactly what I wanted.

Not that I really knew what I wanted.

He told me a story about his lab, and I listened half-heartedly as my mind continued moving.

I had to figure out what I did want, so not wanting to live like he’d offered was a good place to start.

What didn’t I like about the offer?

It took me a few minutes to wrestle my feelings enough to figure it out.

Freedom would be nice, but when it came down to it, I didn’t only want to be free. Not if I was going to be mated. If I was tying my life to someone’s, I didn’t want to wonder where he was or what he was doing. I didn’t want to be at the bottom of his priority list. I wanted us to be a team, to do things together.

So, I didn’t want Ian because of the life he wanted to live.

That was a much fairer reason not to choose him than the way he’d shaken water all over me like a dog, too.

When Ian’s time was finally up, Kyle sat down with me and set his backpack on his lap. He handed me his folder, the sweatshirt and hat he’d packed for me, and the box of Twinkies.

We both ate one, neither of us bringing up our plan to get Rhett to the end as I flipped through his folder like I’d consider him.

We knew I wouldn’t, though.

After him, I talked to Chris and Travis. Chris seemed nice, and I didn’t dislike anything he said to me. Travis seemed pretty boring.

But nothing either of them said made me think they were who I wanted to mate with.

Colt and Kaden took their turns after Travis. I liked both of them and what they offered, and both of them were fairly easy to talk to. That was nice. I’d chatted with them before, but watching them talk about their lives was different. Neither of them said anything that made me think I’d hate living with them, either.

By the time Rhett finally sat down in front of me, I had a gigantic pile of treats off to my side, a few new blankets, and a large fishing hat.

Colt liked to fish outside the game, hence the hat.

“Did you really pack that?” I asked Rhett, glancing at the bag.

The other guys were watching us, so we needed to seem as neutral toward each other as usual.

“Nope.” Rhett unrolled the top of the waterproof bag. “Christina probably did it.”

The Society’s leader herself actually packed Rhett’s bag? That was kind of intense.

There was a thick card on the top, and he handed it over to me as he reached into the bag.

I read the contents quickly.

Erin,

Rhett didn’t pack a bag, so I picked up a few of the comfort items you should’ve bargained for before the game started ;) He’s like a son to me, so it’s the least I could do.

You’re over halfway done!

Love,

Christina

P.S. I’m not allowed to pick sides, but I’m sure whoever you choose will be a perfect mate. You’ll have to stop by for dinner with Molly and the mates when it’s over!

I looked up when Rhett whistled.

“You’re going to like this.”

My eyes widened when I saw a shiny red jacket. It looked waterproof.

When I reached over and felt the sleeves, I found it even more rubbery than I expected.

I ripped it from his hands immediately.

If I hadn’t been watching Rhett’s expression, I would’ve missed his smile.

The rain jacket was oversized, and had a gigantic hood too.

It was perfect.

I hugged it to my chest.

I officially loved Christina.

There were a pair of rain boots beneath it.

She was legitimately my new favorite person.

“Can I mate with Christina?” I checked.

He snorted and handed me his folder. “Charlie would kill you if you tried to steal his woman.”

I opened it up, still hugging my new boots as I did so. “Where do you live?”

Even as the question came out, I saw pictures of a gorgeous, coastal home planted right on a beach.

Damn, it was beautiful.

My gaze lingered on the photos of the view from the balcony, where I would be able to watch the ocean at any time. “It’s stunning.”

“Cameron and Molly live a few doors down from me,” he said. “Christina and her husband Charlie do too, in the opposite direction.”

As much as I didn’t like the island, I did love the view. A beach house was tempting.

I itched to ask him to tell me more about what being mated to him would be like, but if he did so, everyone would realize he wasn’t just being dragged along anymore.

So I didn’t.

Beneath the house pictures, I found photos of him with Cameron and a nice-looking older couple. The label above it said they were Christina and Charlie Cassette, the leaders of fae Society.

A picture of him with his parents was beside it.

And beneath those, there was a sheet that had pictures of him guarding in the Bachelorette game show, as well as in Survival .

I wanted to ask what he’d do about work if we mated, too, but couldn’t bring that up either.

Not when we had secrets to keep and a game to play.

So, I just closed the folder and set it on top of the stack of others I’d been given.

“You have a nice house. Too bad you’re not interested in winning,” I finally said.

He gave a noncommittal grunt, and our time was over.

I didn’t hesitate to put on my new coat and boots. I was already soaked, but I wasn’t about to get any wetter when there was another option.

So, I zipped myself up and followed Rhett and the others back to the boat.

I wasn’t sure who was going to get voted out that night, but I figured it was probably a good thing I didn’t. Because I had no idea who I was rooting for anymore.