Chapter Eleven
Olivia
I screamed as my leg shot right through the broken plank, dragging the rest of my body with it. The wood on the bridge must’ve rotted right through, and all it took was the pressure of a few of my footsteps to break it. The only thing keeping me up in the air right now was my backpack and part of my pants, which had caught on the ropes which suspended the bridge in the air, a hundred feet above the rocky chasm. There was water in the river below me, but I could see it wasn’t deep, and if I fell, I was a goner.
I reached out and tried to grab one of the other ropes, my hands slipping from all the sweat as I shrieked in terror, body twirling slowly on the ropes I was caught on.
Why the hell had I been so damn stupid? Why couldn’t I have just listened to Dec? He told me. He warned me. And now here I was, hanging on for dear life with nothing but air and certain death beneath my kicking feet.
I felt a strong arm shoot out to grab my right hand, and I looked up to see Dec. He was on his knees right at the edge of the broken bridge, risking himself to hold on to me now that my body had twirled around to face him. “Dec!” I screamed. “Help!”
“I will. Just stay calm, baby girl. Stay calm. Stop struggling.”
I took a few deep breaths. He was right. The more I kicked and flailed around, the more my chances of falling all the way through increased. I was barely hanging by a thread, and if he wasn’t holding my hand so tight, I might’ve already fallen.
“Keep hold of me with your right hand,” Dec commanded. His deep voice soothed me, made me think everything would be okay, and I did as he said, gripping his hand as tightly as possible. “Your bag is stuck on the ropes. It’s already slipped off your right arm. I need you to carefully wriggle it off your left shoulder and drop it.”
“But the map is in there,” I said stupidly.
“Forget the map! Do it. I can’t pull you in if you don’t.”
“Okay. Just don’t let go,” I begged.
Emotion flickered in his eyes. “I won’t. I’ll never let go of you, Liv. I promise.”
His words spurred me into action. I might not have trusted him in the past, but I believed him now; believed he’d never let me go. I was still afraid, but I knew he had me. He wouldn’t let me fall. I carefully rolled my left shoulder until the bag straps loosened and began to slip down my arm, and then I felt it drop away. About ten seconds later, there was a splashing sound from below, but I didn’t dare look down to watch the backpack sink into the murky river.
“Okay, you’re doing great,” Dec said. “Now move your left hand onto me as well. Let me pull you up. Move slowly. Very slowly.”
I did as he said, careful to move slowly, just like he told me. His strong hands pulled me up, inch by inch, and soon only my legs were left dangling over the edge of the chasm.
“Nearly there, darlin’. Nearly there.”
Dec kept pulling me until I was safely on the ground again. Clawing at gritty dirt and dead leaves had never felt this amazing, and I let out deep breaths as tears quickly began to fall. “Oh my god. Oh my god…”
Dec wrapped his arms around me. “Shh, princess. I’ve got you.”
I felt like I was about to hyperventilate. Shock over what just occurred was beginning to set in, and I clung to Dec, never wanting to let go. “I’m so sorry!” I said, my voice partially muffled by his shirt. “I shouldn’t have been so stubborn. I’m so stupid.”
Dec’s hands made a slow trail through my hair as he stroked my head. “Hey, now. Don’t say that. You’re fine. You aren’t stupid. Stubborn, yes. But not stupid. You genuinely thought that was the right statue. And you were right about that stupid clue. It was too ambiguous. Could’ve meant fucking south, north, east or west.”
“I should’ve listened.” I drew back to wipe my eyes. “You kept telling me all these reasons why it was the wrong way. I ignored you.”
He looked down at me, eyes flashing with concern. “It’s all over now, Liv. You’re safe. That’s all that matters.”
He gently tugged on my shirt sleeve, and I kept hold of him as he led me back the way we’d initially come. We had no map now that my bag was gone, but he seemed to have a natural sense of direction, and it wasn’t long before we were nearly back where we started. “We won’t be able to get our treasure now,” I said quietly.
Dec winked. “Hey, you’re the one who said you wanted to get us kicked off the show as soon as possible. This is a good way of doing it—making us fail all the group challenges.”
I smiled at his little crack in spite of myself. “I really am sorry.”
“I know. Don’t worry about it. Like I said, important thing is that you’re safe.”
We finally arrived back at the starting area. It looked like every other couple had already returned before us, save for Belle and her husband (I couldn’t remember his name) and the show producers were frantically pacing around, my mom included. When they spotted us, their faces fell with relief.
“Oh, thank god!” Mom dashed toward us. “We were worried sick!”
“Are we really that late?” I asked.
Her eyes were wide as saucers. “No, but your GoPros—all the data is transmitted wirelessly, and the crew watched all of you as you went. We saw everything! That river…the drop….” She hesitated, and I could see the fear in her eyes as she looked down at me. Knowing her, it was only a matter of time before she let that fear out in the form of anger. “What the hell were you thinking?”
And there it was.
I let her continue, knowing I deserved her ire.
“We told you not to go that far north. Didn’t you see any of the signs? The showrunners have never been able to safely secure that part of this island!”
“I’m sorry, Mo—I mean, Ellen,” I said. “I wasn’t thinking.”
She took a deep breath, and then her shoulders sagged. “Well, at any rate, I’m glad you’re both safe.”
She paused as a junior producer—Ben, the guy who greeted me on my first day—whispered something in her ear. Then she nodded and resumed talking. “In the end, that rescue footage was priceless. At least there’s that.”
Dec narrowed his eyes. “You aren’t really going to use it on the show, are you? Liv nearly died!”
“Ben just pointed it out to me—it’s pure drama. Just what this show thrives on. What happened is awful, but like I said, you’re both safe, so why not use the footage? Imagine the ratings.”
I sighed. Mom was ruthless when it came to her job and keeping her show’s ratings up. And I guess she had a point, after all. I wasn’t dead, so why not use the dramatic footage of my rescue? It would be a ratings goldmine.
“We’ll spin it,” Ben added. “If the network heads ask, we’ll tell them that part of the island was secure, and it was all a trick, set up to look like a real fall and rescue.”
He kept going as he walked off with my mother, and I turned to Dec, who simply glared after them. “Unbelievable,” he said.
“I know. Get used to it.”
“They’re lucky contestants don’t sue, with shit like this happening.”
“Well, we can hardly sue, can we?” I said with a sigh. “It’s my fault for being negligent and running off the way I did. Like you said, we were told not to go that way into the mountains. And even if we could claim something…well, for one, I’m not suing my own mother and her show. And secondly, the truth would come out about who we really are if we did, which would cause a huge shit-storm for the network. And our lives in general. Not to mention, it would ruin your little deal with my mother.”
Dec sighed and rubbed his chin. I gazed at him curiously for a second. Something had just occurred to me. This whole time, I assumed it was money he was getting from my mom—and I’d made more than a couple of nasty statements about it—but he’d never actually officially confirmed that for me. Neither had Mom. If it wasn’t money…what was it? And if it was money, how much was it, and what made Dec this desperate in the first place that he’d resort to a sham marriage? Was he just that slimy that he didn’t care how he earned his living, or did he have a good reason?
I guess now wasn’t exactly the right time to bring it up. Our day had been rough enough without me opening that particular Pandora’s Box.
Belle and her husband finally arrived back, and the crew packed everything up. Dec and I rode the boat back to the resort island in silence. Shayla was next to us, and she wouldn’t stop tearfully apologizing, but I knew it wasn’t her fault. It was all mine. I’d acted like an idiot and insisted on going north, and I almost got myself seriously hurt. Or worse, killed.
When we finally arrived on the dock, I took off toward the resort, embarrassed at my behavior. Dec followed closely behind me, along with a cameraman—the one who’d been assigned to capture our every move on filming days, aside from when we had GoPros attached.
I heard Dec turn and talk to him. “Hey, can you give us a few minutes?”
The guy shrugged. “Just doing my job.”
“Okay, well, I’m about to tell my wife here how fucking constipated I am after that shitty lunch earlier. Pun not intended. So if you wanna get five minutes of footage about my bowel movements and how I need her to grab me some laxatives from somewhere, then be my guest. Or you could piss off and shoot something else for a while.”
The camera guy slunk away, and Dec caught up to me.
“You’re not really going to ask me for laxatives, are you?” I said with a wry smile.
“Nah. Just wanted to talk to you about some stuff in private.”
My heart skipped a beat. “Oh?”
“I…” He hesitated and rubbed his chin. “Firstly, I’m glad you’re safe. I know the show is writing it off as set-up drama, but we both know what happened today was real. I didn’t tell you this earlier, because I didn’t want to freak you out even more while you were in trouble, but I was damn frightened at that bridge earlier, Liv. I didn’t want to lose you.”
“You didn’t lose me,” I said softly. “I’m right here. And if Mom’s right, that rescue footage just bought us another week on the show, at least, even though we didn’t find our treasure. So that’s a point for you, I guess, seeing as at our wedding you claimed you were going to keep us here as long as possible.”
He smiled. “Yeah, I guess. So look, I know we didn’t get off to the best start, and you’re not exactly in a place where you can trust me. I get that. There’s been a lot of confusion, and a lot of that is on me. But aside from your mother and some of the crew members, I’m the only person on this island who knows what you’re really going through with all this bullshit fakery. So if you ever need someone to talk to…well, you know where to find me. Right on the couch where I’ve been relegated to.”
He gave me a silly little salute, and I smiled and nodded slowly. “Thanks. I might just take you up on that offer. I came here thinking I’d get to spend some time with Mom, but she’s so busy with the show. I’ve barely even seen her.”
“You might be her child, but this show is her baby.”
“I know. But still…” My voice trailed off as I tried to think of a decent way to phrase my next question. Seeing as there were no cameras around, it seemed like a good opportunity to finally say everything I’d been wondering. “Dec, I’m sorry about how I’ve acted around you. I’ve been a bitch, calling you a manipulative gold-digging man-whore and all. I never asked if Mom is actually even paying you. I mean, for all I know, she freaking blackmailed you into this fake marriage with her. So if you don’t mind telling me, what is your deal with her?” I asked. “Not that I think my mom is the blackmailing type,” I added hurriedly.
Dec chuckled. “No, she’s not. She’s a bit of a ball-buster, but she’s not a criminal,” he said.
I noticed he was still avoiding the meat of my question. “So she is paying you?”
He sighed, running a hand through his short hair. Then he nodded. “Sort of.”
“Why?” My forehead wrinkled with curiosity. “I mean, back in New York, it seemed like you were a pretty big deal at that club. As if you owned it. So what made you need money so bad that you’d do this with her? Did your club fall on hard times or something?”
“Yeah. Something like that.” He was silent for a moment. “Do you think we could talk about this another time? It’s a pretty long story. And you look pretty tired and hungry. I think we should get back.”
My face fell. I didn’t blame him for not wanting to talk to me about it, though. Since I arrived on the island, I’d been pretty immature and nasty toward him. I’d insulted him, ignored him, and generally acted like a child. But no more. Dec had shown me his true colors today, and I’d seen that he was a genuinely good, caring person. After all, not many people would risk their own lives to save another’s, and Dec had come perilously close to the edge of that cliff in order to rescue me.
I wasn’t going to forget that anytime soon.
“We’ll talk about it eventually. I promise,” Dec added. “Just not now.”
I smiled. “Okay. Another time. And um…thanks again for today. You saved my ass. Literally.”
He returned my smile and gave me a saucy wink. “It’s an ass worth saving.”
“I knew you couldn’t be serious for more than thirty seconds,” I replied. But this time I wasn’t mad; I was amused. I was getting used to Dec and his particular brand of humor, and to tell the truth, I actually liked it. Especially right now, after the shitty day I had. It was exactly what I needed.
“Yeah, yeah,” he replied with a chuckle. “But back to being serious: even if you never wanna be friends with me, or anything else, because of our weird-as-fuck situation… I’m still gonna take care of you, Liv. Still gonna look out for you. You can be a hard-ass sometimes, just like your mom, but I think you’re a good girl deep down.”
“Thanks,” I said softly, looking down. I was embarrassed at how nice he was being to me after all that I’d said and done. I didn’t exactly deserve it.
“Anyway, let’s get you home,” he continued.
“Home?” I raised my brows.
He gestured towards the resort. “Well, our home away from home. Our marital abode.”
“Sure thing… husband.” I stuck my tongue out at him, and his grin grew wider. “By the way, after what you did for me today, I think you deserve the bed tonight.”
He arched one brow. “Oh yeah?”
“Yeah. But don’t get any ideas. I mean I’ll take the couch, and you can have the bed.”
He shook his head. “Nah, you keep it.”
“I insist. Take the bed, Dec.”
“You sure?”
I smiled widely and turned around. As I walked up the path, I called back over my shoulder, knowing he would follow. “Yeah,” I said, still grinning. “I’m sure.”