Page 27 of Sweet Surrender
“Are you sure that’s all you are?” Toph asked. “Because I don’t think I believe you.”
“You don’t?” Barra said, panicked. Had Toph actually figured it out?
Toph smiled. “I’ll present my findings, and you can argue my conclusion.”
Barra’s ears went hot.
“You’ve spent more time with Allie than with Hazel during this game,” she said, her voice as even as though she were talking about the weather. “And from what I can remember watching Season Five and all the interviews, that’s unusual.”
Barra opened her mouth to argue, but thought it best to keep quiet.
Toph tilted her head slightly. Her auburn hair was still damp from the shower. “I overheard Sutton mentioning that you and Allie were both at Dominique and Kiara’s wedding and apparently didn’t see each other,” she said. “Which is possible. But the probability is low. Given a shared environment, timing, and social clustering.”
There was a beat.
“So, either you’re misinterpreting Sutton’s earlier question, or there’s something you’ve been keeping from all of us.”
Barra picked up her drink and took a long swallow.
Was she going to tell Toph the truth? Did she have any other choice? Yes and no. It’s possible she would be committingOutlast Hersuicide and in that case would probably be voted out next. And yet, before she could stop herself, it all came spilling out. Big Sur. The venue bathroom. The airport. That first kiss in the jungle. The way it kept happening again and again, as if neither of them knew how to stop.
Barra’s secrets poured out in one long, humiliating stream.
Landon, standing behind the camera in the far corner of the room, looked like he’d just been handed production gold. He was grinning as if he couldn’t believe his luck. Even the massage therapists stopped kneading their fingers mid-pressure point and were openly listening, likeOutlast Herviewers hungry for all the tea Barra was spilling.
When Barra finally stopped talking, she didn’t feel ashamed. On the contrary, she felt lighter than she had in weeks. Months, even. Like she’d shed an extra few pounds.
Toph didn’t look surprised. Not even a little. She just nodded as if she suspected it all along, as if she’d summed Barra up within minutes of meeting her.
“Now that we’ve got that behind us,” Toph said, reaching for her drink. “How about we talk next vote?”
Barra nodded, her eyes suddenly stinging. Good god, she was about to cry. Or maybe it was just the release of the myofascial trigger points in the soles of her feet. She had once read somewhere that a massage could trigger some kind of emotional purge.
“I have a plan,” Barra said, blinking the tears away. “But it will require some risk.”
Toph raised an eyebrow as a slow smile formed on her face. “I’m intrigued.”
Chapter Fourteen
Allie wasn’t particularly good at being patient. Especially not when her position in this game felt like it was hanging on by the flimsiest, most unreliable of threads.
Two nights ago, Connie and Margaret stood before Vivian at The Sending, and in the end, Connie had gone home. Allie had breathed out a quiet relief that the first step of Barra’s plan had worked out. A plan Barra had successfully pitched to Toph and Tilly, and then to Elodie and Anna. “We really need to get Connie out,” Barra had said while they were gathering new shells to replace the old shells everyone used to eat the rice. “In the first season she’d slithered her way to the end, and no one had seen it coming.”
Tilly had picked up a small, spiral-shaped shell with caramel ridges running along its curve. “We should get Sutton out first. She’s unpredictable.”
Toph had shaken her head. “We do what Barra says.”
Tonight was step two of the grand plan. Eliminate Sutton. Yesterday’s reward challenge had gone to Valerie and Margaret, which had only made Sutton more unbearable.
Allie was dreading The Sending, even though logically she had no reason to. The protection bracelet was still safe and sound, buried deep in her backpack. She’d checked it twice before leaving for The Sending. Then, once more, just in case. She could easily play it if she needed to. Or she could keep it and hold on to that sliver of control for later. But that all depended on how well she could read the room.
“Valerie,” Vivian said, directing her attention toward the front row. “How does it feel to be back in the game?” Her hands were, as always, clasped neatly in front of her. Above them, the sunset bled through the branches in streaks of gold and pink. “Not only are you paired up with Margaret, but the two of you won the reward challenge yesterday.”
Valerie flicked her long black hair over her shoulder. The strands were sleek and shiny. She smiled like a woman who had spent an afternoon enjoying a rainfall shower that cleansed not just her skin but her soul too. Last night Valerie had relayed the reward to them in explicit detail. How they’d indulged in mimosas, ravaged tire-sized margarita pizzas, and stuffed chocolate lava cakes into their remaining stomach spaces. Allie, however, hadn’t cared a bit about the food. She wanted to know everything about the shower. What did the soap smell like? A clean smell, obviously, but that meant nothing. Was it zesty like the Claus Porto Citrino soap that Allie didn’t mind spending thirty dollars on, or did it have more of an earthy smell like Aesop’s Geranium Leaf body scrub Allie used twice weekly?
There were oils too? No fricken way. Allie could almost feel the oil sinking into her skin. She’d imagined warming a few drops between her palms before sweeping the oil slowly along her arms, wrists to shoulders. Heavenly was the only word she could think of to describe what that would feel like.
“It feels fantastic, Vivian,” Valerie said, grinning. “It’s honestly funny to think that just a few days ago someone here was very determined to vote me out.” She let that hang for a second. Not that she needed to. Everyone knew who she was referring to.
