Page 49 of Insta Bride

The couples were divided.

The result, a tie. Between Clint and Darnelia, Elena and I.

“Well, Clint, you and Darnelia have been loved up and smooching on the sun lounge all day. Did the votes come as a surprise?” JP asked.

“Not at all,” Clint said, his arm still around Darnelia. “Last night’s dinner party was fairly brutal.”

“Have you got any advice for our other couple who is facing elimination?” I knew JP was about to go for my throat seconds before he said, “Even if they don’t go home today, do you think Kye will ever forgive Elena for writing another man’s name?”

Clint looked to me, offered an air fist-pump and replied in his lazy drawl, “I think Elena knows exactly how to keep Kye on his toes. If writing Seb’s name was her way of reminding Kye he’s not the only man in the world, then good for Elena.”

“What about you, Darnelia. Any advice for Elena?”

Darnelia looked to my island girlfriend and sighed, “Elena and I had a chat last night. She knows what she wants. Maybe she should just go for it.”

I moved half a step closer to Elena, removing any personal space and assuming my balls were about to be handed over for her to crush, again. Except, when she snuggled into my chest the way she had on the lounger, I wanted to explode. Her body felt relaxed, and her breathing light. “Welcome home, babe.” I kissed the top of her head.

She turned into my shoulder and teased, “Don’t be so sure.”

JP continued the ceremony, “Our couples now get to decide. Do you want to stay, or do you want to go? You’ll each have one card and you must write Stay or Leave.”

Darnelia hugged Elena on her way to the table, kissed me on the cheek before whispering, “She wants you to fight for her. Prove that you’re not going to be that lying cheating asshole.”

Clint went up next, hugging Elena and giving me our last fist pump. “It’s been a ride, mate.”

“Yeah, it has.”

“Love it when a brother is the last to know when he’s fallen in love.”

“What the—I’m not.”

Clint and Darnelia looked at each other and laughed. “See,” she said. “I told you he didn’t realize.”

“What about her?” Clint nodded to Elena.

“She doesn’t have a clue, either. Can’t wait to watch them find out.”

“How ‘bout we watch it together at your place. I can fly down to Melbourne; we can watch a bit of TV before I head back.”

“Sounds perfect, we can take bets on which one of them realizes it first,” Darnelia hugged her man as they shared a joke that I assumed was about Elena and me.

When it came my turn, I wrote STAY in large, uppercase, block letters. Turning back towards Elena, I offered her my marker. As she wrote on her card, I couldn’t work out whether she’d written four letters or five.

“Okay, the votes are in. Kye, we’ll leave you to last.” JP said, calling Clint to the front. “Clint, is it stay or leave?”

Clint shrugged off JP’s arm, and half jogged back to Darnelia and gave her a kiss worthy of any movie. “Guess this is the end of the road, babe.”

“Yep.” Darnelia looked at Clint as if he was her everything showed him her card. They dropped both cards to the ground, Clint’s face up. Leave.

“A little unorthodox, but we’ve got one couple leaving the island.” Yet again, JP struggled to control us. “Elena, how about you? Are you joining Clint and Darnelia on the plane back home?”

I shot JP a look, “The rules were, if someone says stay you both stay.”

“The rules have changed.” JP gave me a shit-eating grin. “We don’t believe we should force Elena to stay if she doesn’t want to, especially after she wanted a different man. We think that that would be uncomfortable.”

Elena’s eyes twinkled. She knew I’d vote to stay, but I didn’t put it past her to teach me a lesson.

“Babe?”

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