Page 4 of Glamour & Gumballs

I managed a few hours of sleep through the eleven-hour flight, though they were all restless. I tried to watch a few movies, but mostly ended up staring out the window while fighting off feelings of panic.

I was trapped.

So very trapped.

And every time I glanced at Rhett, I found him looking at me.

I didn’t bring that up. Or question it.

There was too much other shit to consider.

There was another guy just as big as Rhett on the plane too, but Rhett didn’t chat with him. I didn’t recognize him from the first season of Survival, so I had no idea who he was.

When we finally landed, I was ready to get out of the flying hunk of metal and get the game show over with.

If only I had bargained to make the contest three days, instead of thirty.

The chance of Christina agreeing to that seemed near zero, but still. I should’ve tried.

I unbuckled my seatbelt and stood up, stretching my back a little as Rhett picked up the hiking backpack that had been stuffed full of my new things.

When he held the straps out, I slipped my arms through them. He reached out to buckle the bits that would hold it in place around my chest and waist, but I swatted his hand away and buckled it myself.

“You’re protecting me, right?” I asked him.

“Yes,” he confirmed, at the same time the other man in the plane stepped up beside him and said, “No.”

I blinked at them both.

Rhett’s forehead creased as he looked at the other guy.

“Christina sent me with this.” He handed over a thick envelope with Rhett’s name written in cursive on the front.

Rhett ripped the envelope open and pulled out a card. Murder filled his eyes as he read it. Strangely, I felt safe enough with the guy not to feel the need to step away from him.

“I’m Jordan,” the newcomer said. “I’ll be your guard on the island while Rhett competes with the other men.”

“Like fuck I will,” Rhett snarled.

My eyebrows shot upward. “He’s in the game?”

“No,” Rhett said, at the same time the other guy said, “Yes.”

I snagged the card from Rhett’s hand and read it myself.

You’re the twelfth man competing on the island. Jordan is taking your place as the guard.

The Society needs you. We need you. Don’t let yourself fade.

Love,

Christina

P.S. We both know that if your mother was still here, she would’ve forced you into every game that’s happened. Play this one for her.

My eyebrows lifted higher.

Rhett took the card back and crumpled it. “I’m not fucking doing it. You can compete, or you can fly back when this plane leaves,” he told Jordan flatly.

---