Authors: Bethany Ramos
“Don’t worry, sweetheart. I’m guarding this water with my life.”
Ky glanced over at Brinkley sleeping in the bed. He dropped his voice to a whisper. “Is she doing okay? How’s she feeling? I’m really worried about her. I’ve been racking my brain to think of what we could do to help her, but I’m pretty inexperienced in this first-aid survival stuff.”
Morgan got to her feet and put her hand on his shoulder. “I’m not really sure. I’m really worried about her. But thank God that you got back here with the water because I don’t think she could have made it without it.”
“Ky, you are never going to believe this! You’re going to have to sit down.”
As dramatic as it was, she made Ky go through all of the motions of waiting for his “surprise.” She told him to sit down on the other empty bed that was just as lumpy and soiled as the first. She instructed him to cover his eyes and waited to make sure that he wasn’t peeking. When she was positive that he really was ready to receive his surprise, she lowered her voice and said, “Drumroll, please . . .”
“Okay, you can open your eyes now!” Her eyes remained glued to his handsome face to see how he would react.
She stood in front of him, cradling the packages of dehydrated food in her arms like a brand-new baby. It took a moment for him to register what she was holding. But when he did, his jaw dropped. He was speechless for a moment.
“Are you kidding me?” he finally asked. “Where did you get that from? Has it been here all along?”
“Well, yes, it’s been here the whole time. Which really sucks because we could have been rationing it out, but thank God I found all of this food in the back of the cabinet. I just can’t believe I didn’t look there before. But the good news is that tonight, we get to eat!” She held his gaze.
Ky jumped up and let out a yell before he caught himself. But he didn’t have to worry. There was no waking Brinkley. She was passed out cold in a deep sleep.
Before she knew what was happening, Ky had grabbed her by the waist and had hoisted her into the air, like the hero always does in cheesy movies that have a happy ending. While finding a stash of dehydrated food was far from a happy ending, it was the best news they’d gotten in days.
Ky slowly lowered her back down into his arms and held her there. His face was inches from hers. She could still feel where his beard had scratched against her cheek when he hugged her.
They stood frozen for several minutes. She brought her hand up to touch her cheek where Ky’s beard had rubbed against her face. That broke the spell. Ky took a step back and laughed self-consciously.
“How funny is it that we’re so excited about eating some crappy food that’s probably going to taste like powder? But I tell you what. This meal is going to be better than anything my chef has ever made me at home on his best day!” He made a face at his mention of home.
His chef?
Who actually has a chef, besides Mariah Carey or Donald Trump?
She decided to let that one slide without a comment. She had better things to do anyway. She had to start hydrating the food right away so that they could finally eat.
You would have thought that she was a celebrity chef on the
Food Network
, that’s how closely Ky was watching her every move as she made dinner. His eyes were locked on her as she slowly poured water into the packages using painstaking measures. Since they weren’t able to heat water on the campfire, lukewarm water from the river was going to have to do.
She made the first four packages of food and sat back to survey her work with pride. It was a feast fit for a king. Even though she would never in her life have thought that she would be salivating over dehydrated chicken and mashed potatoes, it looked like the best meal of her life.
She turned to Ky. “Should we wake up Brinkley? She really needs to eat and get some water.”
Ky nodded and approached Brinkley sleeping on the bed. He gently shook her shoulder. No response. He shook her again, a little harder, but she didn’t stir. He shot Morgan a helpless look.
She smiled encouragingly. “Just shake her harder. It won’t hurt her. We really need to wake her up.”
Ky shook Brinkley again even harder and tried to pull her to a seated position on the bed. Brinkley opened one eye and groaned. But as soon as Ky told her the good news, that she was actually going to eat some food, she was wide-awake.
The food was gone in less than two minutes. Between the three of them, they polished off a lumpy, powdery chicken stew, a grisly chicken breast with chunky mashed potatoes, and something that could have resembled chili if it hadn’t been dark gray in color.
But no one was complaining. No one dared to. It was the most satisfied she had felt in over a week. The days of gorging herself on the afternoon buffets at the resort seemed like a distant memory. She couldn’t believe she’d been worried about gaining too much weight on the trip. It was quite the opposite. Her clothes were hanging off her, and her arms felt frail and sickly.
She looked at Brinkley. Brinkley, the once robust, corn-fed Midwestern girl, was at least ten pounds lighter. Her clothes were baggy, and her face looked long and thin instead of plump and healthy, as it did when she started the show. When Brinkley leaned over to drink straight out of the water bucket, her shirt came up, and Morgan could count all her ribs.
Morgan took a few deep breaths to calm down. This wasn’t the time to get worried. This wasn’t the time to panic. She had to keep her cool, or she was going to upset Ky and Brinkley. Besides, the producers had to come for them sometime, didn’t they? They would get sued if they let them all die in the jungle.
The cameramen were still around, so that was somewhat comforting. But she didn’t know how long this could go on before someone put a stop to it. They were still being monitored and observed for the show, but now the plot had changed. She had signed at least three hundred pages in her contract, so she’d probably agreed to this without knowing it.
But that was fucking Hollywood for you, wasn’t it? Everyone was a sweet talker, and everyone had some kind of agenda.
So she shouldn’t have been surprised that what was supposed to be an all-expenses-paid luxury vacation turned into something reminiscent of the
Texas Chainsaw Massacre,
sans chainsaws, in the middle of nowhere.
After eating her meager dinner, Brinkley had promptly fallen back asleep. Ky sat on the other twin bed and stared out the window.
She cleared her throat. “What are you looking at?”
It felt so weird to try to make actual conversation. But eating a real meal had helped to clear her head. She felt like she could actually string a few thoughts together and talk about something intelligent. She hadn’t really talked to Ky or Brinkley for days, other than to try to figure out how to help Brinkley after she passed out and how to get food and water.
The three of them had mostly sat in silence, thinking about nothing and praying for time to pass. So now, it felt awkward to try to pick up where they’d left off. She didn’t know if they were still playing the dating game. Was the competition totally off? Were they just hoping to survive at this point?
Ky watched her, his eyes deep and dark, almost mesmerizing. But he seemed relaxed and happy, as content as she was to have finally eaten a decent meal.
He sighed. “You know what?”
She shook her head. It seemed like a rhetorical question. She wasn’t sure how to respond, so she waited.
“I’m not thinking about anything. I’m totally at a loss. I’ve never had to deal with anything like this in my life. Normally, I have a solution for everything. Normally, I can act charming and talk my way out of anything, but here we are.”
There it was again. That glimpse of honesty that she had seen before on their one-on-one date that felt like it was years ago. But it had only been a few weeks ago that they’d had that candlelit dinner on the cliff. When they’d had the chance to really connect and have a genuine conversation.
She thought for a second.
Well, while they were being honest . . .
“Yeah, why do you do that?”
“Do what?” He froze, surprised at her question.
“Always act charming in front of the cameras. Like you’re putting on some kind of act. Do you even know that you do that?”
Maybe she’d said too much. It was one thing to be honest with people in your life, but she really didn’t know Ky that well, unless you counted seeing him at his very worst stranded in the wilderness for over a week. And she’d said it all on camera.
What an idiot.
Ky looked taken aback. “I, I don’t really know what to say to that. I’m not trying to put on an act. I’m just used to . . .” He stopped and started again. “People respond better to me when I’m charming and friendly. I don’t really see anything wrong with that. Isn’t it just like having good people skills?”
She snorted. She couldn’t help herself. “Come
on
. You know that’s not true. Maybe you don’t realize it, but you’re always turning your profile to camera to get the best shot and giving these long, cheesy speeches about how you’re looking for a best friend and a soul mate.”
When Ky opened his mouth to respond, she cut in, “Always.”
He stared back at her for a moment and didn’t say a word.
Great
. She’d probably pissed him off.
Not like it mattered at that point anyway since it was pretty unlikely she was going to win any grand prize for sticking it out to the end. The only thing that she hoped to win was a ticket home where she could take a real shower, use the toilet, and sleep in her comfortable bed for one long night of rest. It sounded heavenly.
But as far as the dating competition went, it was a total bust. She might as well say exactly what she was feeling because there was really nothing to lose at that point.
Oh, well, it’s been nice knowing you.
Ky swallowed. “I’m sorry. To be honest with you, that’s just the way that I’ve always interacted with people. It’s probably because I was in that goddamn boy band for so long. It was completely ingrained in me to kiss ass, and it’s pretty hard for me to stop.”
She smiled. She liked this other side of Ky, the irreverent, honest man that swore like a sailor. It was refreshing. Much more up her alley than Mr. Charming who looked like he drove a Maserati and lived in the Barbie dream house.
Yuck
.
Ky smiled back, but it was much softer that time. A little less plastic, and a little more realistic. “What are you smiling about?”
“You,” she answered shyly.
When Ky raised a brow, she continued. “Well, I just have to say that I like this version of you much better. Where you’re being honest and swearing and don’t have a prepared speech for camera. Just saying.”
Ky started laughing. Hard. Tears came to his eyes, and he wiped them away with the corner of his sleeve, leaving a long, black streak that looked like a wing going across his face from the corner of his eye to his temple.
She started laughing, too. “Um, you look a little Cirque du Soleil right now.” She reached over to wipe the black smudge off his face. “You have some kind of dirty streak going across your face. From your clothes.”
As she reached out her hand, Ky grabbed her wrist and held onto it. And then they were back in that frozen moment again. She stared into his eyes. She didn’t know what to do.
Was it too forward to lean in for a kiss? Was he even interested anymore since the competition seemed to be off?
She didn’t want to make it weird by trying to kiss him when she was clearly delirious from hunger and dehydration. She was probably making it all up in her head.
But Ky still held her wrist in his hand. He pulled her closer. Before she could speak or even rationalize what was going on, his lips were on hers. She forgot everything in that moment. She didn’t think about her horrible breath, how dirty she was, or how her mind was numb with exhaustion.
She felt light, happy, and a little giddy.
What was going on here?
It was like her first kiss in seventh grade. Totally unexpected, a little weird, definitely awkward, and most of all, memorable. It left her wanting more.
Ky pulled back and put his hand on her cheek. It was a tender gesture that made her stomach flip.
Who was this guy, and where had he been for the past few weeks?
“Um,” she said in a deep, throaty voice. “That was pretty incredible.”
Ky nodded, eyes shining. “I have no idea what’s going on here either. I’m not sure what to say at this point. But I really like you.”
She wanted to clap both hands over her mouth. What was she thinking?
This wasn’t a middle school dance!
She couldn’t just blurt out that she “liked” someone and expect him to respond to her. She was totally screwing this up.
Ky tugged her closer for another kiss. “I really like you, too.”
God, this was going to make for some very bad TV.
They sounded like two 13-year-olds talking about their feelings. But it was sweet, and innocent. It was a lot better than all of the lines and games she was used to from every single guy she’d dated up until that point.
“So what do we do now?” she asked, not wanting the moment to end.
Ky shrugged. “There’s not much else we can do, besides wait for someone to come and take us home.” He laced his fingers through hers.
“No, I mean about all of this. After we get home. If we ever get home.” She resisted the urge to kiss him again.
“I knew what you meant.” Ky smiled shyly. “No matter what happens, I think we should see where things go after we get home. I meant what I said. I really like you, and I’d love to get to know you better, outside of all this—” He waved his hand around at the dismal cabin. “—bullshit.”
“But what about your soul mate and best friend? Aren’t you supposed to find love at the end of the show?”
Ky let out a snort. “I think that ship has sailed, don’t you? Besides, I’ve kept you here the whole time for a reason. There’s always been something about you that I wanted to find out more about. You’re honest, you’re funny, and sometimes you’re kind of rude. But that’s what I like about you. You keep your head when things get tough, and you’re always trying to find solutions to our problems instead of bitching about them or living in La La Land. I think we have a real shot at this when we get home.”
Relief surged through her. Not once had he used the word “soul mate” to describe how he felt about her. And he hadn’t spouted off his cheesy catchphrases about searching for a woman that could become his best friend. She had to agree with him. It seemed like they really could have a chance at something when, make that
if,
they ever got out of the jungle.