Page 42 of The Book of Luke

“So typical,” she sneered, rolling her eyes. Thank God my kids loved that amnesiac fish.

Chase returned with the dirt-stained skull. His ropy arms slammed it in, and he whipped around hungrily. “We dragging this out? You want my hands on you that bad?”

On cue, Shawn emerged into the sear of the lights, arms behind his back. With a guttural laugh, Chase lunged exactly when Shawn launched the long straight object in his right hand back into the brush. Chase shot after it, a hyena chasing scraps, as Shawn bolted for the puzzle… revealing theactualbone held against his left arm, just as Imogen had hidden her castle’s final section before throwing a piece of driftwood to distract Dory.

The horn confirmed Shawn’s triumph, and Imogen suddenly—excitedly—gripped my wrist. A tiny exhale escaped her, and she quickly let me go as Chase jogged in, branch in hand. “Hey, why does the last piece look like a fucking stick?”

Shawn’s hands were moths fluttering around his face in his post-match OTF interview with Troy, victory churning through him. I was so proud watching him, relishing how it felt to know I’d helped someone who actually deserved it. Plus, it had beenfun… Addictive, even. When was the last time I’d truly savored something like that?

A faint nudge grazed the back of my arm, and I discovered Imogen there. “Good call earlier. I’d forgotten the sandcastle.”

A half-smile broke my cheek. “You would have remembered eventually.”

“I doubt it, seventeen seasons blend together.” I almost asked why she’d missed three of the twenty iterations, but she changed course. “We bought Shawn time, but they’ll vote him in again.”

“Really hope I’m not opposite him.”

“That won’t happen if our side wins. TheMedalsboys want to save you.”

“For what?” And then I realized. “Fortune.”

“You’re the only Devil with any hope of beating him. They’re worried he’ll gas out and sink us since the finale’s always such a marathon. Plus, one less to share the cash.”

“But if I take out Fortune, wouldn’t I theoretically beat them next?”

“They’re banking on you being so broken afterward you’ll barely hobble down a garden path, much less win the game. Do with that what you will.”

“You aren’t worried about them ditching you too?”

“They know I’ll beat any girl here,” she sighed. “I’m a barnacle.”

She moved toward the bus, where most of the cast was already asleep.

“Hey, Imogen?” I called. “Thanks for the heads-up.”

Her head slightly trembled, like one magnet resisting the polar force of another. “You know it doesn’t change anything, right?”

I managed a nod and silently followed her, trying to make sure my increasingly weary gait left just enough space between us.

20

2015

SEASON 20, EPISODE 3:

“Cave of Blunders”

My roommates were asleep when I crept in from calling the kids. I was so sweaty from the irrepressible heat that Wallace thought I’d been swimming. I was drifting off when feet padded across the tile, my eyes cracking to find Shawn crouched by my bunk. I sat up only for him to messily kiss me, lips chapped, rum strong on his breath. He’d been celebrating with the others earlier, but clearly more than I’d realized.

I was so dumbstruck I didn’t even protest when he crawled into my bed, that tiger tattoo somersaulting past me in the dark. “The ceiling cameras aren’t angled this way, I checked,” he whisper-slurred.

Perhaps the one thing that hadn’t changed about the show was the awkwardness of fitting two bodies on a bunk mattress. Four nights prior, Shawn had aborted our almost-kiss, but now his mouth raced along my scarred cheek. I almost yelped as he discovered my dick under the itchy sheets, clumsily massaging me over my boxers. No one but Barnes had touched me like this since well before our wedding, and now it was happening at warp speed. I pulled back as his mouth hungrily suffocated me,all the old demons awake. “Did I do something wrong?” he asked, young and drunk but far from dumb.

I shook my head and prayed nobody heard us. “I’m just tired… Aren’t you?”

“You want me to go, got it—”

“No, I just thought you didn’t want to rush into anything physical?”