Outback Hearts (Beyond Reality Book 1) (11 page)

* * *

Alex didn’t go straight back to the camp. He stayed back at the station to visit with his Aunt Nancy for a bit. He wasn’t sure when he’d get to see her again and he missed her. They talked a little about what had happened that day. Neither could understand what was going through Sammi’s head, and while they had a good idea about what went on in the barn, neither knew for sure. When Alex asked the producer about tapes from the barn, he’d told them the cameras had taped them while he was helping them out and stayed for a bit afterward, but hadn’t been back. That wasn’t going to help them figure out what happened.

“You said her hands had blisters all over them?” Nancy asked her nephew with concern in her voice.

“Yes, and they were bad. I don’t know how she was able to muck the barn out with them like that,” Alex told her, still concerned if she’d gotten help when she got back to her camp.

“I’m sure they were fine when she was up at the water pump,” Nancy told him. “We shook hands and I didn’t see her flinch or feel anything out of the ordinary. In fact, I was impressed she actually shook my hand and didn’t give me a “limp fish” handshake. She couldn’t have done that if she’d been hurt then.”

Alex agreed with his aunt. “She must not have used gloves when she went back to the barn. We could ask John about it,” Alex told her, getting ready to stand up to go and find John right that second. Anything to help get to the bottom of what happened to Sammi. He was having a hard time letting it go.

“Let’s just forget about it. We don’t know what happened, but it doesn’t really matter now. Sammi was right, John made a judgment call. We might not like it, but we weren’t there either. She seems to be okay, tired but fine and she’ll get her hands looked at by a doctor back at camp.” Trying to change the subject, Nancy said, “Let’s talk about what they have planned for you for the upcoming week.” She settled in to speculate with Alex about what was going to happen next on the show.

Alex and Nancy spent the next couple of hours catching up and talking about the show and the ladies. Before long, it was time for Alex to get back to the camp. He was anxious to see the tapes and see how Sammi’s hands were.

After saying good-bye to his aunt and going back to the producer’s camping area, Alex sat in his tent with the tapes from that night. He was told all the women were sound asleep or at least in their tents for the night. He watched as the doctor cleaned and bandaged Sammi’s hands. Neither said much. Alex could tell the cleansing process was hurting Sammi. He could see her biting her bottom lip, but she didn’t say a word. He watched as she walked back to her tent. Eddie had also given him another tape. It was one from the inside of one of the women’s tents. The women knew the tent cameras were there, it was all a part of the show.

Alex watched as the women settled down and got ready for bed. This camera was more of a “wide angle” lens, so he didn’t have any close up shots of anyone, but he saw Kathi walk up to Sammi’s bed as she was lying on it. He heard bits and pieces of the conversation, enough to know that Kathi was giving Sammi a hard time about the attention he’d given her.

That’s what she was talking about,
Alex thought to himself.
No wonder she just wanted me to leave her alone.

Alex watched as the other women gathered around to hear the conversation. Alex was amazed to hear Sammi peg him when she was defending his gallant tendencies and explain how he didn’t like to see women hurt. He was surprised she knew that about him already. They really hadn’t spent that much time together, but he’d hoped that perhaps she had some feelings toward him. Hearing her defend him made him realize the attraction wasn’t just on his side. It made him smile.

Alex watched the conversation and saw the women drift off toward their own beds until it was only Kathi and Sammi left talking. He saw Kathi lean in toward Sammi. He couldn’t hear what she was saying, the camera only picked up bits and pieces of the conversation.

I’ll have to tell Eddie to turn up the microphone.
Alex thought as he strained to hear what was being said. He heard Kathi say something like, “saint, help women, and egg.” Alex wasn’t sure what to make of that. He couldn’t hear what Sammi said in response, but as she spoke her words got louder and he was able to hear the end of the conversation.

“I don’t
need
him or any man to help me feel better, or to take care of me…I can do it myself.” He chuckled to himself. Alex never thought he could be attracted to an
independent
woman, but he found he liked the thought of Sammi not needing him, but perhaps wanting him instead. Lord knew he wanted her. He was attracted to her. More than attracted. He was thrilled there was at least some reciprocation on Sammi’s behalf.

Alex watched as Kathi stormed back to her bed. He was definitely glad for the opportunity to watch the tapes from camp. He was learning a lot about the personalities of the women, and what he was learning made him more and more cynical. He was amazed at how different the ladies were around him than they were around each other. He shuddered to think about having to make a decision without knowing the true personalities of the women. Thank God he was able to see the tapes. It was bad enough to feel like a piece of meat that dogs were fighting over.

He felt as if with the tapes at least he could have a fighting chance of making the right decision at the end of the show. He might not like Eddie very much as a person, but as a producer, he certainly knew how to make a show exciting.

The next week went by fairly quickly for Sam. Her hands healed quickly, enough so that it no longer hurt to use them. Al was true to his word and checked them himself the first time they saw each other after the incident. It should’ve been awkward since they were still basically strangers, but instead it was awkward for Sam because of how she felt when Al had taken her hands in his and run his fingertips over her quickly healing palms.

Sam wanted to grab him and never let go. She imagined his hands running over the rest of her body and it was all she could do to not fall in a puddle at his feet.

The days at camp were lazy ones. Sam no longer took walks away from the camp, not because she didn’t want to, but because she didn’t want to put any of the camera operators in danger again. She still blamed herself for Kina almost being bitten and didn’t want to have a repeat.

The women went through challenges and won “prizes” such as small group dates with Al and even a visit to a hot spring to soak in the soothing waters. There were four more women who’d been “voted off”—Candi, Nikki, Brandi, and Jennie. The women came back to camp after Jennie left to find that one of the bunkhouses had disappeared and they’d all be staying in one. That was a tough adjustment for most of the women because they’d gotten used to the space and only having four or five of them in each bunkhouse.

Sam was surprised she was still around. For the most part she avoided Kathi, Courtnee, and Missy. They certainly weren’t friends, but at least they weren’t enemies either. Apparently the last run-in with Kathi and the threats that hung in the air between them was enough to chill Kathi out. Sam hung out mostly with Amy and Lori. They didn’t have much in common, but when a person is put in a situation where there isn’t much to do, comradeship is forced.

The women who were left were Ashley from Toledo, Cindee from Albany, Lori from Colorado Springs, Kiki from Miami, Courtnee from Pensacola, Missy from LA, Amy from El Paso, Kathi from Knoxville, and Sammi. It was an interesting mix of women. There were definitely cliques that had formed. Kathi, Courtnee, Missy, and Kiki had banded together. They acted like they were the “popular” girls in high school. They sat together, got ready in the mornings together, and probably most importantly, they helped each other in the challenges. That wasn’t exactly illegal, but it reminded Sam of the Alliances that were formed in the game of Survivor.

Today was a big day because the prize for being in the top three of today’s challenge was a one-on-one date with Al. So far in the show there hadn’t been any of those types of dates. They’d all either been the entire group together or four or five of them at a time. They were all hoping to win one of the personal one-on-one dates, but Sam knew the “clique” would do everything in their power to win. Sam hoped, however, that since there were four of them and only three slots for the individual dates, it would work against them and their so-called friendship might not be able to handle that type of competition.

The nine women were told to wear their bathing suits and to be on the bus by nine in the morning. Obviously this was going to be a water competition. Sam was nervous, while she had a pretty healthy body image, there was no way she’d be able to compete with the other women. She was heavier than them, and she knew if she had to stand next to them while they were all wearing their skimpy swimsuits that she’d definitely be at a disadvantage.

The bus pulled out at precisely nine in the morning. The bus ride turned out to be one of the longest they’d been on to get to a challenge so far. Sam suspected it was because they had to drive quite a ways to get to a body of water. Finally they pulled up to the most beautiful lake Sam had ever seen. It was crystal clear and huge. The production staff had obviously gotten there earlier because they had all the cameras set up and there was what looked like an obstacle course set up in the water. Sam smiled to herself. If this was a water swimming challenge, she was set.

They piled out of the bus and went to stand in front of Robert, who of course, looked immaculate. Courtnee and Missy had already taken off their tops and were wearing shorts and a bikini top. Al looked gorgeous as usual. He was wearing his usual blue jeans, but had substituted his button up shirt for a white T-shirt.

Sam tried to covertly look at Al. Over the last week she’d gotten to know him a little better. She hadn’t had any time alone with him, but she honestly thought they were clicking. Of course, every time she thought it, she’d then see one of the other women plastered all over him. She gave herself a mental smack in the head. Sam thought they were clicking…but that was what he was supposed to do with every contestant. They were
all
supposed to feel like they were the “one” for him.

Sam, Beth, and Christina had a long conversation about this very thing before she left for the Outback. Every time they’d watched a reality show, they’d laughed at how emotional the women were and wondered how in the world anyone could say they were in love with someone who their whole relationship with was in front of a camera and therefore probably fake. But she got it now. It was a very intense atmosphere. There were no other distractions. The only focus was on the other person. It made for an intimate setting, manufactured, but intimate nonetheless. Sam was brought out of her musings when she heard Robert start talking.

“Welcome, ladies!” Robert boomed once everyone was in place and the cameras were rolling. “Today, you’ll be competing against each other for a one-on-one date with Al. The three women who finish the course the fastest will each get to spend half a day with Al on a date of his choice. Here are the rules. Each of you will be going through the course individually. You’ll enter the lake here, swim to the first buoy...attached to the buoy at the end of a rope is a small weight. You’ll need to swim down to the end of the rope and untie the weight and let it fall. Then you are to swim to the next buoy and untie the weight at the end of the rope that’s hanging from that rope. You will continue around the buoys until you have untied all the weights. The weight on each rope gets heavier and heavier as well as deeper and deeper as you swim around. You will then swim back to the starting point and once you cross the finish line your time will stop. The three women who either finish the course the fastest or go the furthest in the shortest amount of time will win the one-on-one dates with Al. Are there any questions?”

The contestants were given time to examine the course from the shore. On TV it always seemed as if the people just went right onto the game, but in reality that wasn’t the case. There was an obnoxious amount of time spent on safety talks and explaining over and over how it was done. One of the producers even demonstrated the entire course so they would understand what they needed to do and wouldn’t screw it up once they were on camera. It was exhausting and exasperating. Sam just wanted to get started already.

Once they were ready to start, Cindee asked what order they’d be competing in and Robert told her that Al would be pulling their names out of a hat to see the order they would go in. Sam almost laughed out loud. This competition had her name written all over it. She knew she could easily beat most, if not all, of the women. She hadn’t been on her state champion winning water polo for nothing! Al pulled the names out of the hat and as luck would have it, Sam’s name was chosen eighth. Kathi’s was chosen to go last.

Sam felt way too giddy about being able to spend some time with Al alone. She again tried to warn herself that what she was feeling toward Al was manufactured and in no way could be real, but she couldn’t help herself. Al was hot, and she had a major crush on him. Every time she felt his eyes on her she daydreamed that maybe, just maybe, he was feeling the same way about her.

First up was Courtnee. Since she already had her top off, she slowly shimmied out of her shorts, leaving her standing in nothing but a skimpy black bikini. Sam groaned softly. It didn’t look like there was an ounce of fat on her. Her legs were long and lean, her boobs big, but not too big. Basically, she was perfect. The camera operators were getting close up shots of her body as she sauntered to the starting line. Hell, even her ass didn’t jiggle! Al was standing by the lake to wish each of them good luck before they started. Sam and the other women couldn’t hear what was being said, but by Courtnee’s body language, they could tell that whatever he was saying to her was quite intimate.

The producers put up a set of bleachers for the women to sit on while they were waiting their turns. They watched as Courtnee went into the water and started paddling toward the first buoy. The distances weren’t that far, maybe fifty yards, but it looked like Courtnee was struggling before she even got to the first buoy. She was doing a kind of dogpaddle mixed with breaststroke. Finally she made it and grasped the floating buoy as if it was a lifeline. Slowly, she started to haul the rope up to the buoy.

Sheesh.
Sam thought to herself.
She’d go a lot faster if she’d just swim down to the weight rather than pull it up to her!
The women and the cameras on the bank watched as Courtnee slowly went from buoy to buoy. They could see that as Courtnee got to the buoys further on in the course, it got harder and harder to pull them up to the surface because the weights got heavier and heavier. Finally, after resting a few minutes on one of the last buoys, Courtnee motioned that she was done and wasn’t going to attempt to finish the course.

“Five buoys in 23:34,” Robert announced. That was the time to beat.

Again, this was another non glamorous part of a reality show. The course had to be reset after each woman went through. That meant that one of the production team had to swim out to each buoy, dive down to get the weight and reattach it. It seemed to take forever to reset. This challenge was going to last all day.

Time passed as each of the other women took their turn in the lake. Some used the same technique as Courtnee, trying to pull the weights up to the buoy, while others tried to swim down to the weight and let it free. The top times with two women left to go were Ashley finishing the course in 26:12 minutes, Kiki finishing the course with a time of 26:30 and Missy making it through six of the seven buoys and weights in 25:42. Finally, it was Sam’s turn.

Sam slowly walked down to the bank where Al was waiting. She’d dreaded this part most of all. Al had gotten a good look at the other women, who were mostly all wearing string bikinis of some sort. Lori was the only other woman who’d been wearing a one piece suit. Sam took off her shorts and then whipped off her T-shirt. It was better to treat this like a Band-Aid, get it over with quickly rather than slow and painfully. She stood before Al in her one piece black suit. It was one of her practice suits. Back home, she tried to get to the pool at least once a week, and this was her most comfortable suit. It was cut high in the legs, but had a keyhole back. She and Al stood there, looking at each other for a few seconds before Al broke the silence.

“You ready?” he asked with a smile. “Do you think you can beat those times?” He sounded hopeful and was looking at her with a pleading look.

Sam
knew
she could, but the question was did she really want to? She knew beating Missy probably wasn’t the smartest thing she could do, it wouldn’t help the others like her, but at the same time, Sam was a competitive person and she knew she wouldn’t be able to not compete and try to win. Besides, she’d really have to make herself look like she couldn’t swim in order to pull it off. She tried to ignore the little voice in her head telling her that the real reason she wasn’t willing to throw the competition was Al himself. She
wanted
the one-on-one time with him. For once in her life she was going to be selfish. Even if whatever was between her and Al didn’t work out in the real world, she’d take this gift that was given to her and enjoy it while she could.

Realizing Al was waiting for her response, she said cheekily, “I know it, Al, just start thinking about where you want to go on our date!” With that she winked at him and ran toward the water.

Alex laughed and stared after her. Her one piece was definitely more modest than the suits the other women were wearing, but it was no less sexy. In some ways it was sexier. Al watched as the material clung to Sammi’s body as she ran. She filled out her suit and then some, and it was sexy as hell. Al had thought her ass was perfect in a pair of soaking wet jeans…well, it was nothing compared to her ass in the black suit as she ran toward the water. She was muscular, but he’d noticed that she still had a small bump on her stomach. Somehow that imperfection was real.
She
was real. She wasn’t perfect, but her imperfections made her seem more real. The other women were so model perfect they were almost untouchable. Alex knew if he touched Sammi she’d feel like a real woman. He was also surprised at her show of almost defiance and playfulness. This was a side he hadn’t really seen before and he was eager to see more of it. He hoped she could back up her cockiness with action. He wanted her to be in the top three. He
wanted
the one-on-one time with Sammi.

This was one of the hardest challenges Eddie and the other producers had set up so far. They figured for the first one-on-one dates they wanted to make the women work a bit harder. Alex and the other women watched as Sam gracefully made her way to the first buoy. She disappeared and Alex was surprised to see her head pop up about a third of the way to the next buoy.

“Not fair!” Missy cried. “Did she even release the weight?”