Page 25 of Sweet Surrender
“Liar.”
Allie gasped. But then smiled and pressed her mouth against Barra, silencing her. She most certainly wasn’t a liar, but even so, it had been her intention to lure Barra out to the watering hole for this very reason. Why else would she ask her to help her with the canteens?
“If doing everyone at camp a favor just so happens to involve me making questionable decisions, then so be it,” Allie murmured against Barra’s lips. “And besides, you didn’t have to come. You could’ve said no.”
Barra grinned into the kiss. “I’m here to protect you from snakes. Or are you no longer terrified of snakes and spiders?”
Allie was absolutely not over her fear of snakes. She just chose not to think too hard about what might be coiled in the branches above or buried beneath the damp leaf litter on the ground. But then again, it was easier not to think at all, especially when Barra’s hand dipped beneath Allie’s no longer white blouse and slid up her back. Her fingers pressed between her shoulder blades just as Allie muttered rather hotly, “What can I say, lust overpowers fear.”
Barra laughed again.
This time Allie pulled back just enough to look at her. She was smiling, her teeth gleaming in the sunlight spilling through the canopy. Her face was younger-looking. Lighter, was that possible? Or was it just the way the morning light was hitting her features? Anyway. It didn’t matter. Barra was gorgeous, and kissing her out here, after they’d managed to thwart the camera crew, felt incredibly good, like she was somehow invincible, like what they were doing was somehow beyond the game itself. Which Allie had to admit was a terribly dangerous way of thinking.
“This has to be the last time,” Allie said, even as her fingers curled into the fabric at Barra’s side, holding her there.
“It will be,” Barra said, already leaning in again.
“That’s what we said last night,” Allie added, remembering how Barra had pushed her up against a banana tree and how Allie had nearly mentioned banana spiders but then Barra had slipped a finger inside her and Allie could barely remember what a spider looked like. “We can’t keep—”
But she didn’t finish the sentence because a branch suddenly snapped, and before they could put it down to a bird or a monkey or something less threatening, a voice followed.
Allie froze. Barra did too. She could feel Barra’s body stiffen beneath her fingertips. Then, as if they’d been zapped by some invisible cow prod, they broke apart in a scramble. Allie grabbed the rope dangling in the well and yanked the bucket up too quickly. Water sloshed over the sides. Barra, on the other hand, fumbled for the empty canteens. She picked one up and unscrewed the lid just as a voice that sounded suspiciously like Tilly said, “I really like Allie.” Her voice drifted closer. “But I honestly can’t stand Sutton, and the longer we keep Sutton in the game—”
“The more unstable the system becomes. Sutton is unpredictable, and as long as she’s in this game, no alliance built around her is going to hold,” Toph cut in calmly. Allie assumed it was Toph by the robotic way she spoke.
Allie looked at Barra. “They’re going to vote Sutton off at the next Sending,” she whispered, though what that really meant was, they were coming for them, Sutton and Allie.
Barra shook her head, her eyes wide but not worried. “I have a plan.”
Chapter Thirteen
Barra wasn’t surprised when the next reward challenge involved endurance. Or when Vivian promised a reward that would make them forget just how horribly it hurt. InOutlast Her, big suffering ended with big rewards, and everything about this challenge was created to torture.
Each pair stood on opposite sides of a relatively short wooden A-frame. Three narrow wooden footholds jutted out at different heights. One was wide enough to start, the others progressively thinner, the last barely more than a strip. Between them, they had to hold a long bamboo pole horizontally at shoulder height, each gripping one end. If either dropped the pole, lost balance, or stepped off their foothold, they were out.
Ten minutes had passed, and Barra’s feet were already throbbing. Her toes gripped the edge of the plank like they were trying to cling to a cliff face, and her arms burned white-hot from holding the bamboo pole steady. Every time she or Hazel moved, a ripple shot straight through her shoulders, and the grimace on her face deepened until she was sure her face would remain that way permanently.
“My sister asked me why I entered this competition,” Hazel said, her breath raspy, her forehead beaded with sweat. It was a gazillion degrees outside, and the air felt like a wet tongue against Barra’s skin, so no wonder Hazel was sweating. Everyone was sweating. Even Vivian, who stood off to the side in a fitted khaki pantsuit, had a dark patch blooming down the middle of her back. “I can honestly say I’m starting to question my answer.”
Barra would’ve laughed if her body weren’t in so much pain. “At least you came here not knowing any better. I knew what pain was waiting for me, and I still decided to do this again.”
Next to them, Allie wobbled.
Out of the corner of her eye, Barra caught the slight dip in Allie’s posture and the way her mouth opened but nothing came out. And then she could see the scowl already forming on Sutton’s face as she yanked her end of the pole higher to compensate for Allie.
“Keep it level,” Sutton snapped. “Your side’s dropping.”
“I know,” Allie shot back. Her voice was tight enough to snap and strained enough to twist Barra’s stomach.
“Then fix it,” Sutton spat.
“I’m trying.”
Barra suddenly had a deeply irrational urge to step off her own ledge, walk over, and shove Sutton clean off the A-frame. No one should ever speak to another person like that. She then considered shouting something in Sutton’s direction, but didn’t get the chance.
Allie’s foot slid again. But this time, instead of recovering from it, her heel skidded, and her body pitched backward. Allie let the pole go just as Sutton over-corrected, jerking her side up. Then everything went down in slow motion. Allie managed to throw herself back in a way that kept her upright. She landed like Spider-Man. Sutton, on the other hand, did not. The pole clattered to the ground at the same time Sutton landed on her back.
The whole thing happened so fast Barra barely processed it. She realized only that Allie was down, and Sutton was swearing, and it wasn’t even under her breath. “For fuck’s sake, Allie.”
