Wicked Games
Page 14

“We have food,” Will added, holding up the coconuts. “And two bananas.” He pulled them out from his shirt.
I have to admit, I gasped in delight at that. “There are bananas on this island?”
“And mango, if you know where to look,” Lana said, smiling. “We can show you if you promise not to show anyone else. In exchange for fire, of course.”
I glanced over at Dean, and he looked at me. “Can you give us a second?” I asked, and before anyone could answer I grabbed my partner by the elbow and dragged him away.
“What do you think?” Dean whispered low in my ear. The feel of his breath against my neck made my entire body shiver with want.
“I’m not sure,” I admitted, still a little irritated at the sight of beautiful Lana rubbing her hands over Dean’s chest. Why that bothered me, I couldn’t quite say. I mean, Will was good-looking too, but I wasn’t getting upset at the thought of Lana putting her hands on him.
“If they can show us where the rest of the fruit is—”
“I know, but fire?” I shrugged my shoulders, then crossed my arms over my chest. “What if we’re the only ones that have fire? How much of an advantage are we giving away?”
“We’re not the only ones,” he reminded me. “Remember the matches? And besides, I think we’ll need allies in the next few weeks to come. We could do a lot worse than sharing information with our neighbors and bringing them to our side.”
Unless they use it against us, I thought uncharitably. I glanced over at the waiting duo, and Lana had her hand to her eyes, shielding them from the sun. She gave me a cheerful smile and I racked my brain, trying to remember what I’d been told about her. “What was her job again?”
Dean thought for a moment, then snapped his fingers. “Camp counselor. And I think I remember someone said that Will was a teacher.”
“I guess they sound okay,” I said, caving in. “I just worry that someone’s going to mess this up for us when we’ve got things going so well.”
Dean gave me a greasy hug, rubbing my arm. “Don’t you worry about a thing.” His hot, oiled skin slid against mine as he pulled me close. “I’ll handle them.”
To my vast shame, it felt marvelous to have Dean hold me close to him, feeling his sun-warmed skin against my own. The urge to sink against him was consuming. Lana was giving us an interested look, and too late, I remembered that we were supposed to be at each other’s throats. I jerked away and followed Dean back over to Team Nine, trying to remain as nonchalant as possible, despite Lana’s gloating grin.
“Fire for food sounds like a good deal to me,” Dean said, stepping forward. Lana clapped her hands happily, and Will burst into a smile, and I realized just how much they’d needed fire. They were probably desperate for something to drink that didn’t come out of a coconut.
Will handed the fruit over to Dean, who handed me a banana. I immediately began to peel it and eat it—the fruit inside was a little green and hard, but it was still one of the best things I’d eaten in a long time. I noticed Dean was eating his as well, and we made no pretense of trying to have a conversation as we scarfed the food down.
When I’d eaten the last bites of the banana and sighed, I pondered what to do with the peel. Maybe we could boil something in it later. Or… something.
“Fire?” Lana said expectantly.
Dean glanced over at me and nodded. He put his arm around Will’s shoulders and gestured at the heavy thick of palms in the distance. “Why don’t I have Will show me where the food is, and you show Lana the fire?”
I nodded and we split up, us girls heading back to our camp while the guys tromped into the heavy underbrush. Lana gave me a scrutinizing look as soon as they were out of sight. “So how are things with Dean?”
“Fine,” I said slowly, not sure how much to reveal or how much she’d already guessed. “How are things with Will?”
“Very platonic,” she said with a faint half smile. “He’s gay.”
“Oh.” I wasn’t sure how to take that. Will was the only black man on the show, well-built and utterly gorgeous to look at. “So I guess you two aren’t an item?”
Lana snorted, the sound overly loud out of the petite Asian woman. “He’s been talking about your partner, Dean, for days now. No, I’m afraid that boy likes dick.”
I laughed at that. “Well, Dean’s the biggest dick on this island, so he came to the right place.”
She grinned but the shrewd look returned. “Really? You two seemed cozy earlier. I noticed you were holding back in the reward challenge, too.”
She had noticed all of that? Crap, Lana was far more observant than I liked. “I thought it might be a little obvious if we placed in first.”
“It’s a genius plan,” Lana admitted. “When I saw you hesitating with that puzzle and then yelling at Dean, I thought you were pretty smart.”
“I’d really appreciate it if you didn’t say anything to anyone else,” I said hesitantly. That she’d pegged both Dean and me so fast made me nervous.
“Say anything?” Her face broadened into a smile, and I realized for the millionth time how beautiful every single woman on this island was. “I’m not going to say a word. I think the four of us would work better as allies.”
I squatted next to the fire, poking the giant log we’d thrown over it before the challenge to keep it smoldering. Sure enough, the flames had died down but the coals at the bottom were still red. It wouldn’t take much to get them hot again. “How are you going to carry this back?”
“Good question,” Lana said. “I don’t think we thought that far ahead. We were just desperate enough to try anything.”
I held out our boiling pot. “Dean and I haven’t had a chance to use this yet. We can put some coals into this to carry over to your camp.”
“That sounds good,” she said, and Lana paced around our small camp, as if taking notes. “Your shelter is amazing,” she gushed, leaning over it and examining where I’d woven the palm leaves together. “How did you get everything to hold together? I tried to build something but it fell apart the first night because of the wind.”
I gestured at the shelter and tried not to feel too smug. “I used my string bikini to hold it together.”
Lana gave me a startled look, then laughed again. “They are a little revealing,” she agreed, though I noticed she was currently wearing hers. “And a blanket, too. Nice. Will got fishhooks and I have some spices. What did you get?”
“I…” Oh lord, I really didn’t want to tell her about my peanut butter. “I got a jar of some sort of food, but I dropped it in the water before I even hit shore,” I said, making up the lie as I went along. “Pretty disappointing.”
She made sympathetic noises. “I’ll bet.”
Once she’d finished boiling the water, we filled the pot up with hot coals and carried it down the beach to their campsite, adding tinder to keep the fire going. Team Nine’s beach was situated a mile or so away and across a small inlet. Not too long, really. A quick check of their camp revealed what I’d suspected—it really sucked. No fire pit, no shelter, nothing. With Lana’s help, I set out creating a new fire for them, building the wood into a small pyramid and sending Lana to get tinder and other bits.