Page 21 of Forsaking All Others

“Yes, ah, but the first competition is usually announced by the bachelor.”

“Then shut the fuck up and let me get on with it.”

He sighs and nods.

‘And… Action!’

“As you know,” I look back at the women. “There can only be one winner. The person who solves the puzzle and gets back down here with the answer first, wins. You can’t return to me until you have the answer. The last to come in will be eliminated. You have until ten minutes before dawn. That’s all you need to know.”

“Wait,” the Mexican interjects. “Is it a puzzle or a question? You said solve the puzzle, but then you said we had to give you an answer.”

“Cut!”

“For Christ’s sake, what now?”

The director rounds on the Mexican.

“Contestant, there’s no room for questions. Did I say you could ask questions? Did I?”

She blushes and looks down at her feet.

“No.”

He glares at her for a long minute before turning back to me.

“Ah, Viscount, as distasteful as you might find it, given your ah, sensibilities, you need to outline the task in full.”

“My sensibilities do not preclude me from ripping your throat out if you disrespect any of these women again, Mr Dott.”

“I’m very much aware of that, Viscount,” he stammers, “very much aware. I apologise. But the rules are the rules.”

Gritting my teeth I spin back to the women, noting most of them already have their eyes on the packs. All except the Italian, still staring, frowning, at the lake.

Following her gaze I see she’s most likely watching a boat far, far out in the distance. I don’t know why she’s bothering. I’ve just told her the task is in the mountains.

Perhaps sensing my attention she glances towards me, and I look away to concentrate on the task at hand. The sooner I get this over and done with, the sooner we can all go home.

“Like I said, if you team up, you’ll likely make it faster. Or you can go the other route and take the clue from another competitor by force. As usual, the only rule is that there are no rules. On my mark, head out.”

I know what the director wants me to say. He wants me to encourage them to hunt one another, to shed some blood and get down and dirty. But I won’t encourage that. I don’t need to. Already some of the women are eyeing each other off like lions surrounding newborn wildebeests. Only in this case even the wildebeests can be deadly.

Taking a deep breath, I complete the task of starting the first competition.

“Let the games begin. Good luck!”

The competitors lurch away immediately, all but two. Cherry collects her pack before sauntering back to me, while the Italian walks calmly over to pick up the final remaining pack. I can’t help but admire her body as she walks. While all the competitors are nicely shaped, this one has the kind of curves a man craves. Her swimsuit leaves nothing to the imagination. She’s a literal Venus.

‘But why is the woman always last?’

I don’t have time to ponder this, however, as Cherry approaches and looks up at me through her lashes.

“A kiss for good luck?” She asks coquettishly.

I flick my eyes across to the Italian where she’s knelt down to open her pack and peruse the contents. She’s the only one to think to do this, and I’m a little impressed. It would have been my first thought too.

As I draw the English contestant into my arms and kiss her soundly, the Italian sniggers and saunters off into the darkness.

Spinning the English contestant towards the forest, I give her ass a pat for good measure to push her in the right direction. Kissing her had felt like sucking on a kitchen sponge, but the director is grinning like a maniac behind the cameras.