I knew what Darnelia meant. We were over halfway through our month on the island. I needed to either get over myself and either give us a chance or not wait for the elimination.
“What are you going to do about Clint?” I’d become an expert at changing the subject.
“I don’t know,” she sighed again. “Tonight was pretty vicious all around.”
“Look how about I go—” We both stared at the door.
Another knock.
Darnelia got up and I expected Kye to have clothes for me, but both Kye and Clint walked in.
“Today was pretty fucked up for all of us,” Kye said. “What they did to the two of you, I’m sorry. I didn’t want to give them what they wanted.”
“No, mate.” Clint said. “We needed to have that conversation; I just wish it had been in private.”
My heart had started racing when Kye walked into the room. Would it ever stop? This feeling of wanting to ignore the world and be wrapped inside his arms? And then reality hit me, as usual. How could I keep a man like Kye satisfied? My ex wasn’t even half the man of Kye, and he’d made damn sure I knew how many other women it had taken to keep him satisfied.
Kye had changed into the white shirt that glowed against his tan. He wore it unbuttoned over his beige shorts.
“Lena, how about we let these two talk? Come back with me and we can—”
His voice trailed off, but I knew what he meant. We could ask for our one-hour fuck time when the microphones and cameras were off. We could talk.
I looked to Darnelia who’d edged up to the top of her bed, knees pressed against her chest. Clint stood, waiting for her to either let him in or turn him away.
When I didn’t answer, Kye just jogged the few steps to my side of the bed, and swept me up bridal style. I clung to his neck as he whispered, “Since you didn’t object, I’m taking you back to our villa. I want to be with you tonight. I don’t give a fig about conversation. We were good. You know we were good. I just want to try and get back what we had.”
I believed him.
In that moment, I believed that the cameras didn’t matter, the microphones didn’t matter.
Clint followed us to the doorway and slapped Kye on the back. “Oh, I think Princess and I are out of here tomorrow. Thanks for the chat, but I want one more night with my princess, for closure.”
“Are you okay with that?” I asked Darnelia.
“Yeah.” The look she gave Clint almost broke my heart. “One more night.”
Before I’d had a chance to pull the door closed behind us, Clint had divebombed the bed and Darnelia’s giggles followed us back down the beach.
“I can’t do that,” I told Kye as he carried me up to our porch.
“What?”
“I can’t just separate my body from my heart and head. Not like them, I’m either all in or I’m nothing.”
I knew we were out of range from the cameras and assumed the audio wouldn’t matter without the vision.
“Babe,” he said, carefully lowering me to the ground. “I showed you today, I’m still all in. How about we have some fun until you feel the same. Okay?”
Kye
My anger had simmered down to a dull roar.
Yes, I’d carried Elena back to our villa, made all the right noises about wanting to get things back to where we were before she’d asked that stupid fucking question.
“Can we get an extra hour, exceptional circumstances?” I asked the invisible producers.
“Kye, why don’t you discuss your issues on camera and then we’ll leave you alone to make up,” an unfamiliar voice answered.