Page 16 of Sweet Surrender
Hazel’s eyes widened. “Seriously?”
“It’s been quite a process,” Barra said. “The brief was insane. Six-story glass atrium, an indoor running track suspended above a public library, a rooftop amphitheater for summer concerts, subsidized artist studios, and a farm-to-table café.”
Even Sutton looked momentarily distracted. “That sounds expensive.”
Allie, meanwhile, felt something inside her unclench. Somehow Barra had saved the two of them by doing the bare minimum. She didn’t even stop to consider how effortlessly Barra had redirected the conversation, how clearly she’d lied.
But then again, she didn’t have the time to think about anything because... wait. Her knee bumped something under the table. Something was stuck to the table. Was that even possible? Very slowly, she slid her hand underneath the rough wooden edge. No way. Her fingertips met soft leather. A pouch. And then the realization hit her. The protection bracelet. It had to be. Suddenly, heat flooded her body to the point where her ears actually popped. It felt like she was taking off on a plane. Even her pulse went feral. How was she supposed to get the pouch into her bag without anyone noticing?
“So, did you finish the project?” she asked, her voice just a little too high-pitched. The pouch felt like it had been riveted to the underside of the table. The fingers of her right hand worked frantically. “How long does something like that usually take?”
Then, the pouch came free. She quickly scooped it straight into her lap and, with one wildly ungraceful motion, shoved it deep into the waistband of her shorts and hoped no one had seen. But hope was a flimsy plan at best.
Across from her, Barra was frowning. “It’s a five-year build,” she said evenly, though her gaze had flicked to Allie’s waist before catching her eye and holding onto it a fraction too long.
Allie felt heat crawl like insects up her neck.
Had Barra noticed? Or was she just frowning because Allie was acting nervous?
“How about another round of sours,” Allie said, pointing at the jug sweating at the end of the table. “Then we should probably talk about alliances.” The subject change was abrupt enough to cause whiplash, but what did she care? She had the protection bracelet.
Chapter Nine
Barra was making a habit of sneaking out of camp in the middle of the night. She felt like a raccoon searching for a garbage can. But tonight she didn’t have much choice. She was almost certain Allie had found the protection bracelet at the feast today and had hidden it in her backpack, and that thought had stuck in Barra’s head and refused to let her sleep.
She had to know.
That was why she’d carefully taken Allie’s bag from where it lay at the foot of the shelter and rushed silently off into the jungle. She didn’t need to go far, just far enough away that no one would hear her and no one could see her.
“What if you find the bracelet?” she muttered to herself as she stepped over a root that was hopefully just a root. “What then?” She wasn’t planning on stealing it, but what she did know was that she needed confirmation. The fact that Allie had found the bracelet and hadn’t decided to share it with the rest of the table gnawed at her. Anyone else would’ve used it as a perfect opportunity to seal an alliance.
But then again, would Barra have done anything differently from Allie? Yes... No. Maybe. Barra suspected Allie would rather walk barefoot on hot pavement than tell Sutton anything. Not that Barra blamed her. Sutton was rather intolerable.
Something creaked.
Barra’s body froze, then thawed enough for her to glance back over her shoulder. She couldn’t see the beach at all. She couldn’t even see the ember glow from their dying fire or the shadowy slant of the palm-frond lean-to they’d lashed togetheron day one. The only thing she could see was the occasional blink of a red camera light somewhere in the trees. Elise was probably already salivating. Barra had no doubt her sneaking off into the jungle with Allie’s backpack would make excellent TV. The viewers wouldn’t just eat it up like chips; they’d dub her the villain of the season and give her a nickname like Barra the Bandit and comment on how she had done a full one-eighty since Season Five, and they’d be right. She was different. She even felt different. She was a completely different person from the one who had fallen in love with Dominique. She was, as her friend Gabi would say, a shell of her former self.
Barra breathed in deeply and filled her lungs with air that tasted like wet leaves. She tucked Dominique’s face into the back of her mind, wishing it would just stay there forever, and continued onward. A low-slung branch blocked her path. She ducked beneath it, then another until a small clearing came up. Then she dropped the bag to the ground and crouched over it before her fingers worked the zipper. She would lie if she said her heart wasn’t racing faster than Usain Bolt leaving the blocks at the London Olympics. And she’d lie, too, if she said she didn’t find it kind of thrilling. Maybe being the villain wouldn’t be the worst role to play.
“What are you doing?”
The voice cracked through the clearing so close behind her that Barra’s entire body jolted. Her spine snapped upright and her shoulders slammed back. Before she could even locate the voice, she was windmilling her arms in a deeply pathetic attempt to save her balance.
She failed.
Barra landed on her ass with a thump just as Allie stepped into the clearing.
“Is that my bag?” she shot, pointing at the backpack.
Barra scrambled forward and grabbed the bag again, clutching it even tighter.
“Did you seriously steal my bag?” Allie spat, looking absolutely appalled.
Barra couldn’t blame her. She’d done just that. But instead of admitting guilt and immediately apologizing, Barra shot one back, “Did you find the protection bracelet?”
Allie’s mouth opened and closed.
A ragged slice of moonlight cut through the canopy above and illuminated Allie’s face. Her expression was scrunched somewhere between guilt and infuriation. Her lips were puckered and her forehead was creased. And those brown eyes were two dark voids. “What are you talking about?” she coughed out.
