Wicked Games
Page 40

I wasn’t sure if that made me feel better or worse. A mixture of both.
Eventually it was time for the finale, held in LA. They flew me out and kept me sequestered in a hotel. The next morning, a professional stylist and wardrobe consultant dressed me up. For the big finish I wore a plain white cocktail dress with a high waist and a tall halter neckline that tied at the back of my neck and left my back bare. It was lovely and showed the light tan that I’d kept (and evened out) long after the show was over. My shoes were simple white stilettos, and my hair was long and loose, curls cascading around my shoulders, and my makeup accented the green of my eyes. I looked amazing.
I wanted to be anywhere else.
I was kept sequestered before the finale—to keep everyone’s reactions for the camera genuine, the assistant explained. The stage was dark as the jury was led out to their seats in the bleachers, with instructions not to talk until the episode was over. Dean and Lana were nowhere to be seen. I rocked in my seat nervously, anxious for this to be over with.
The show began, and I watched with my stomach clenched in anxiety. It played on a large screen overhead, and the audience was silent, rapt as they watched.
Lana and Dean were the only two contestants left, and the scene closed in with them on the beach. A confessional shot of Lana ran, and she smiled cheerfully at the camera, looking tired and dirty. She rambled about how she missed home and her family and was ready to get back to the real world… after she got the money, of course, she said with a grin.
The camera then cut to Dean. He grinned easily at the camera, a growth of dark beard lining his now-angular chin. He looked just as exhausted as Lana, but smiled at the question. “Well, I’m not quite ready to leave the island. I sure am looking forward to seeing Abby again, though.”
Tears pricked behind my eyes.
“I’ve missed having her here with me. I liked this game better when it was just the two of us. I felt like… well, like I could trust her, you know? I haven’t felt like that since she left. Feels…” he hesitated, and then gave a half smile to the camera. “Feels weird, I guess.”
The cameraman said something unintelligible.
To my surprise, Dean blushed. He shrugged his shoulders and averted his face. “I think it’s a little too early to talk about love.”
My heart plummeted to hear that.
Dean kept talking, though. “But I do know that I miss her, and I want to see her again. I want to spend time with her away from a beach and in real life, and see if there’s something there, you know?” He shrugged. “I can’t describe it. I just… it’s…” He struggled for a minute, looking for the right words. Then, he snapped his fingers. “You know how the first few days on the island, all I talked about was coffee and chocolate? I wanted sweets. Craved sweets. Needed them badly because I couldn’t have them. That’s how I feel about Abby right now. I crave her.”
I felt my cheeks heat in the darkness, followed by the unhappy gurgle of my stomach. I was going to die of happiness.
I was going to throw up.
The show went through a few more jungle shots. Lana and Dean on the beach, scrubbing their skin with sand to clean up for the final Judgment. Lana and Dean chatting as they ate the last of the food in the camp. Lana and Dean walking to the final Judgment.
The final Judgment began. Dean’s smile at the sight of me dimmed as the camera zoomed in on my coldly furious glare. It continued to flick back and forth between the two of us, recording our reactions as the jury questioned the last two contestants. The clips were shown out of order—and I could guess why. They were saving the most dramatic bit for last.
Then it came—the moment I’d been dreading. I watched in numb horror as the me-on-camera scrawled a name on the slate and held it up to the camera. “I’m voting for you, Lana. You have my vote because you admitted to lying, and you never tried to get in my pants to get what you wanted in this game. Dean, I did not vote for you. I’m sure that ruins all your little plans for world domination, and I hope it does. I hope you slept with every woman on this island and I hope your dick falls off because of it. You are the worst kind of person to sleep with a woman just because you wanted her vote. I actually thought there was something below that shallow surface of yours, but it looks like I’m the biggest idiot on this island, right? No longer. Lana, I hope you enjoy your two million dollars.”
My tirade sounded even worse than I remembered. Bitter and angry, it poured forth from the TV, my voice ringing from the rafters of the studio. I cringed as the jury behind me began to snicker. As the me-on-camera slammed the slate into the crate and stomped away, I buried my face in my hands in sheer embarrassment.
The theme music began to play and the lights went up. The audience began to cheer.
I didn’t look up, still utterly humiliated. I’d ruined everything. I’d been nasty and hateful to him when he’d been simply happy to see me again.
I couldn’t look over at him.
Chip’s voice boomed in over the roar of the audience and music. “Welcome to the finale of Endurance Island! Here, we’ll declare one of these two contestants the winner of two million dollars!”
The audience cheered.
“And now, the moment you’ve all been waiting for… let’s read the final tally.”
I kept my eyes carefully averted, staring down at the floor as Chip began to shuffle the slates.
“The first vote… is for Dean.”
A cheer arose from the audience. My nerves gave a little flutter of hope. Maybe my vote wouldn’t matter. I looked hopefully over at Chip, unwilling to glance over at Dean across the stage.
Chip held up another slate. “Lana.”
One vote wouldn’t matter, I told myself. One vote.
The next slate. “Lana.”
“Dean.”
I hadn’t seen my handwriting come up yet, and a nervous, sickly flutter began in my stomach again. The room grew tense as Chip pulled the next slate and carefully turned it. “Lana.”
“Dean.”
A fine sweat broke out on my body as Chip pulled up the last slate and stared at it thoughtfully. The audience was completely silent. I’d stopped breathing, my pulse pounding hard in my throat as I waited for him to expose my vote. As if pulled by unseen forces, my gaze slid over to Dean and I caught my first glimpse of him since that last night on the island.
Paler than the deep island tan, Dean’s hair was cut swimmer short once more. Given what I knew about him now, this did not surprise me. He looked terrific, though. His face was clean-shaven and he wore a crisp gray suit with a green shirt that had an open collar. He looked casual and at ease despite the fact that we were on stage in front of an audience and on national TV to boot. His careful smile was easy and devastating all at the same time.
He glanced over at me. Our eyes locked.
I cringed and looked away.
“The final vote… and our winner of Endurance Island…”
Panic set in. I couldn’t breathe. The world wobbled in front of me, blackness creeping around my eyes.
I turned and watched Chip slowly turn around the last slate, displaying my angry scrawl of handwriting. My furious voice piped in over the loudspeakers.
“Lana, I hope you enjoy your two million dollars.”
The crowd erupted into cheers. Lana and Dean hugged, and Lana bounced up and down with sheer excitement. Everyone on the jury bleachers stood and began to hug each other as Chip began to chat into the camera, giving a bit of narration as the crowd went wild with excitement.