“I lost a battle. I don’t intend to lose the war.”

  “Whatever.” Anya laughed and took a drink of her beer.

  “Fine. Whatever back.”

  “Hey, what about Celeste?” Anya asked her, nodding toward Celeste, who was in the hot tub with Winston and Charles.

  “What about her?”

  “Are you into her?”

  “I think Vince was the other night,” Dayton joked.

  “I like her.”

  “Yeah?”

  “I’ve never been with a woman before, but I think if I swung that way, she might be my type.”

  “She’s straight, right?” Dayton took a drink of her own beer.

  “I don’t know. I know she and Vince hooked up, but they haven’t hooked up again.”

  “Are you thinking about doing something with her?”

  “Maybe,” Anya said with a smirk. “I’m twenty-three. Technically, I’m still in college, since I’m a fifth-year senior. I could still consider it my experimental phase.”

  “Go for it.” Dayton laughed.

  “You interested?”

  “In Celeste?”

  “No, in my experimental phase,” Anya replied with a wink.

  “You’re asking me if I want to hook up?”

  “Why not? You did it with Heather and Bristol, and God knows who else.”

  “You hate me,” Dayton stated.

  “I hate everyone,” Anya argued.

  “What about Celeste and her being your type?”

  “She might be straight. I know you’re gay, and I know you’re open to sex without strings.”

  Dayton swallowed. Anya was definitely hot. Everyone on this damn show was attractive. That was the point. She also knew there were several cameras aimed at her right now, awaiting her answer. She nearly said yes. The word almost slipped her lips. If it had, she would have gone to Anya’s room, gotten under the blanket with her, and fucked her until Anya begged her to stop because it was just too good. She was pretty sure Anya wasn’t going to be a giver her first time. There was just something about the woman right now that told Dayton she wanted to be touched but didn’t care all that much about doing the touching in return. Normally, that wouldn’t bother Dayton, but it had been a while now, and she was getting pretty hard up. Going here, she’d been expecting nightly orgasms from the very sexy Bristol Collins, and that hadn’t happened. Dayton was more than ready.

  “I don’t think so,” she replied.

  “You’re turning me down?” Anya asked with a lifted eyebrow.

  “I think the boys are leaving the hot tub.” She nodded in that direction. “Celeste will be alone. You could swoop in and see if she’s interested.” Dayton stood up.

  It was three in the afternoon. Everyone was having fun by the pool except for Cali, who was in her room, like always. Dayton hated that Cali was missing out on this part of the experience. The pool and the hot tub were amazing, but the view of the beach and the water was even better, and Cali was sequestering herself in that bedroom in that tiny bed.

  “Hey, they’re letting the prisoners outside for a few hours,” she said to Cali a couple hours later.

  “What?”

  “A few of us are going out to dinner at a restaurant nearby. Come on. Let’s grab dinner.”

  “We’re going out? I didn’t hear Ryan.”

  “No, it’s not part of the challenge. It’s just dinner. Like half of us are going.”

  “Oh, I think I–”

  “What? You’re busy?” Dayton interrupted. “You’ve read that magazine ten times, at least. The cards are worn down by how many times you’ve played solitaire. You’re coming to dinner, Cali. At the very least, we’ll eat some good food, socialize a bit, and come back here.”

  Dayton watched as Cali’s eyes moved to the two cameras behind them and returned to her.

  “I guess. I–”

  “Great. Get changed. We’re leaving in twenty minutes.”

  Dayton left the room in order to give her some privacy. Thirty minutes later, the vans pulled up to the restaurant where the show had made them a reservation. It was a Hawaiian place, and the view was quite possibly even better than the one at the house. They sat around, laughed, talked, drank, and ate local food. The whole time there, Dayton kept glancing over to her right, where Cali was sitting. Every so often, Cali would participate in the conversation, but most of the time, she just sat there and moved food around her plate with her fork.

  “Do you want to try mine?” Dayton asked.

  “I’m good.”

  “Come on. It’s really good.” She held the fork with a small bite on it in Cali’s direction.

  “I’m not eating off your fork, Dayton.”

  “Why not?”

  “I don’t know where your mouth has been.”

  “That’s surprising,” Anya chimed in, overhearing them, apparently.

  “Anya, don’t you need to talk to Celeste about something?” Dayton retorted, giving the woman a glare.

  “About what?” Celeste joined the conversation upon hearing her name.

  Dayton smirked at Anya and returned to Cali.

  “Seriously, it’s good. Take it off my plate if you want.”

  “I’m full, but thanks.”

  “What’s going on?” Dayton asked, wrapping an arm around the back of Cali’s chair and leaning in.

  “What do you mean?”

  “I know you’re not a fan of the cameras, but we’re having fun, right?”

  “Sure.” Cali shrugged a shoulder.

  “Man, you’re a tough one, aren’t you?” Dayton laughed.

  “I’m just eating my food, Dayton.”

  “Where’s the woman I was laughing with the other night about movie plot holes we noticed?”

  Cali raised her hand and said, “Still here. Just tired.”

  “Fine. Let’s go with that.”

  When they got back to the house, Cali disappeared behind her curtain again. Dayton wasted no time and joined her.

  “Hey,” Cali said. “I’m going to sleep.”

  Dayton pulled off her microphone, noticing that Cali’s was already off because she was, it turned out, about to go to sleep.

  “What’s going on? Are you mad at me or something?”

  “No.”

  “Then, why have you been – I don’t know – distant?”

  “You sleep above me, Dayton. How is that distance?”

  “All day today, you’ve–”

  “Are you using me for screen time?” Cali interrupted.

  “What?”

  “You like the cameras; the attention. You’ve said so yourself. Without Bristol here, you’re searching for people to help you keep the cameras aimed at you.”

  “Excuse me?” Dayton replied, shocked.

  “I didn’t come here for attention, Dayton. And the cameras stay on me because I’m with you,” she whispered to her.

  “You came on a reality TV show, Cali. You knew there would be cameras twenty-four-seven. That’s on you; not me. Yes, I like the camera time. I am who I am, and this is my business. I’m good at it, and it makes me money.”

  “Great. Enjoy that. Go. Do that.” Cali waved Dayton off. “There are a bunch of people out there that want the same thing. I’m sure you could get some of the other girls to be your new Bristol or Heather or whoever else if you want.”

  “Anya offered today, actually. I said no.”

  “Okay…” Cali appeared to be confused.

  “Look, never mind. That’s not any of your business, so don’t say anything to anyone else, okay? The point is, if I wanted more screen time, I could get it easily.”

  “Won’t whatever she said to you be on TV in a few months?”

  “True,” Dayton replied, sighing. “Cali, I’m not trying to hang out with you to get more camera time. I could’ve done that all on my own if I wanted. I thought we were becoming friends. I just like hanging out with you.”

  “How can I know that’s the truth?”

  “Cali, I literally threw my body at Kevin’s to knock him and myself both off a fucking ice car so that you could win the damn thing,” Dayton admitted.

  Cali stared at her for a moment and then said, “So, it is true? You let me win?”

  “You probably would have won anyway. Kevin’s hands were turning blue, and I was about to give up. I don’t need a new car, and I’m here for half a million, not for ten Gs.”

  “Why did you let me beat your team? Because I told you I need the money?”

  “Yes. And don’t get all prideful, either. You told me it’s bad. You told me you’re desperate. I know that doing this show for you is desperation, because you fucking hate it. So, I just wanted to make sure you went home with something. If you lose the next challenge, you still at least have something.”

  As she prepared for Cali’s wrath, Dayton gritted her teeth and waited.

  “Thank you,” Cali eventually said.

  CHAPTER 17

  Cali was feeling a little lighter today. Sure, the cameras were still annoying, and they still clung to her more now than they had before she and Dayton started hanging out, but she was growing more used to them, she guessed. She glanced over at Dayton, who was standing with her fellow OGs, and gave her a funny face. Dayton returned it with a playful glare and then laughed silently at her. Cali smiled back. Then, it was time to get down to business.

  “Today’s challenge and trial will test your brains over your brawn. Each team will disassemble a twenty-five-foot tall pyramid, which is a to-scale replica of the Great Pyramid in Egypt. Your team will then transport all of the individual pieces to another location one mile away and reassemble the pieces again. You can only touch one piece of the puzzle at a time, but you can use whatever strategy you’d like to take those pieces from point A, here on the beach, to point B, through the palm trees and onto your designated spots. OGs, you have the red box outlined in the sand; and newbies, you have the blue box. The team that completes their pyramid the fastest and in the correct order – meaning, all of the pieces are right where they belong – wins. The team that wins will then nominate two players from the opposing team to go into the trial,” Ryan explained.

  Simple enough, Cali thought.

  When Ryan said go, both teams moved into action. Cali had a plan for an assembly line. They have five people left on their team. They could stand every fifth mile and run back and forth, but before she could say anything, Gerry and Vince both grabbed pieces of the pyramid and rushed toward the other part of the beach through the palms.

  “What the fuck?” she asked. “Guys, we can do this more efficiently!”

  They stopped running, turned back, and looked at her.

  “Assembly line,” she added.

  They ran back toward her as if to start over.

  “No, go!” She waved them on. “Gerry, go all the way to the end. You’re the anchor. Drop the piece and go back to meet Vince. Vince, stay there. Celeste, go to the midway point with a piece. Aiden, you stay here. I’ll run out to about a fifth of the way with a piece.”

  “Good.”

  Everyone moved into position, and they started moving the pieces from one side of the beach to the other. Unfortunately for the newbies, Vince and Gerry just running off like that, had caused enough of a delay that they were at least one piece behind the other team, from what Cali could tell. When Aiden grabbed the last piece, he ran all the way with it to the other now nearly put-together pyramid so as not to waste any time. He’s been a track star in high school and college, so Cali was hoping they would make up the lost time. They put their last piece in place an instant after the OGs, though, losing the challenge. At this point, the newbies had five people left. And now, two of them had to go to the trial that night.

  After they filmed some post-challenge interviews with the OGs to get their excitement, and some with the newbies to get their disappointment and worry about being on the chopping block, the vans drove them back to the house, where the OGs would vote in the living room, and the newbies would wait for their fate outside. When the OGs came back into the room, Dayton practically made a beeline over to Cali.

  “I’m sorry,” she whispered when she got close.

  “For what?” Cali asked. Then, it hit her. “Oh.”

  ◆◆◆

  “As I said on the beach, today’s challenge and trial are both about the mind. Cali and Celeste, you will each be locked in your own cage. The cage has five locks. Ten keys are scattered in the sand beneath your feet and tied to parts of the cage. Each key also has a clue tied to it. Read the clues. If you can find and solve the right one fast enough, you can use it to unlock all five of your locks at once. The first one out of their cage wins,” Ryan explained.

  Well, this was it. She was in her first trial and would likely be eliminated. She had made some money, though, so that would have to be enough. Cali climbed inside the person-sized cage and waited for Ryan to say go. When he did, she instantly reached to untie the first key she could get her hands on.

  “Read the clue first, Cali!” Dayton shouted.

  “What?”

  “Read the card. If it’s not worth it, don’t waste time untying it.”

  “Oh, right,” Cali said through her nerves. “The answer is red,” she said to herself, knowing the riddle because she’d heard it before. “Red. I need a red key.”

  “There are at least three of those. I can see them from here, and there are some in the sand, so it’s not that clue,” Dayton explained. “Cali, find another one. Don’t look at the red keys.”

  Cali slid her feet around in the sand as her hands worked above them. She felt something at her left foot, reached down, and pulled it up to read the small card tied to the key.

  “When you have to unlock something, but a code isn’t what you need. You need this thing that’s on a ring, which has been cut but doesn’t bleed,” Cali read out loud. “It’s a key. The clue is a key…. But they’re all fucking keys,” she said a little louder than she had intended.

  “How many of them are on rings?” Dayton asked from her spot behind the railing.

  “Fuck you, Dayton!” Celeste flipped her off.

  Cali looked in Dayton’s direction as the woman explained, “The key rings; how many of the keys have rings?”

  “Oh,” Cali said and glanced at the six she could see easily. “None of them.”

  “Dig,” Dayton replied, pointing to the sand.

  Cali knelt in the sand and started digging for the four other keys. Celeste had already unlocked two locks just by finding the right keys. There was a risk in Cali’s strategy to find the one key that could unlock them all, but there was no turning back now. She pulled another key from the sand, looked at it, saw no ring, and did the same with one more until the ninth key. That one had a ring on it. Cali found the closest lock and slid the key in just as Celeste had opened her third lock. That lock released. Then, Cali heard the sound of the other locks doing the same thing, so she yanked the one on the door to the cage off and rushed out of the cage.

  “Cali is our winner!” Ryan yelled.

  A moment later, Dayton and the rest of the cast ran onto the trial stage. Dayton reached for Cali and hugged her. Cali let her. And she probably let her hold on just a little too long, but she couldn’t help it. It felt good, hugging Dayton.

  “Thank you,” she said to Dayton for saving her again.

  “You would have figured it out on your own. I just didn’t want to risk it,” Dayton replied, winking at her.

  “Why me?” she asked, knowing the camera was right there in their faces.

  “Celeste is kind of a bitch.”

  “I heard that,” Celeste said from her spot inside her cage until the locks released on their own. “Vince, I could have used a little help,” she told the guy she had hooked up with.

  “Sorry.” He shrugged.

  Cali felt very lucky in the moment. She might have still managed to pull it off, but Dayton’s help had made it all but a guarantee, and that meant the world to her.

  ◆◆◆

  “That’s your second one.” Dayton pointed at her.

  “Third, actually,” Cali replied.

  “Are you sure you shouldn’t switch to tea?” Dayton teased.

  “I’m good.” Cali took a drink of her beer, followed by the tequila shot on the table in front of her.

  “Damn, girl,” Aiden commented.

  “What?” Cali asked.

  “I’m just surprised. I didn’t think you could throw down like that.”

  “Oh, crap,” Cali said and smacked her own forehead.

  “What?” Dayton laughed.

  “I forgot.” She looked over at Dayton with glassy eyes. “I love tequila, but tequila hates me.”

  “It does?” Dayton asked.

  “I’m going to be so hung-over,” she said, taking another drink.

  “How about I make you a cup of tea, then? I’ll get you a couple of bottles of water, too.”

  “But I won a thing today,” Cali said.

  “You did.” Dayton laughed.

  “You helped me.”

  “You would have been fine. Come on. Let’s put you to bed,” she encouraged, placing a hand on the small of Cali’s back.

  “Put me to bed or take me to bed?”

  Dayton’s eyes went wide at her joke.

  “You are drunk. I’m going to put you to bed.”

  “Can I watch?” Vince asked.

  “You can go fuck yourself,” Dayton replied, flipping him off.

  Vince and David both laughed. Cali wasn’t sure what was so funny. She just stood in the kitchen, drinking the rest of her beer, which was then pulled away by Dayton.

  “Water,” Dayton told her. “Come on.”

  Dayton walked her to the bedroom, where she handed her a bottle of water that she had already opened for her.

  “Thanks. I can normally handle my alcohol better than that.”

  “You burned a lot of calories today, and probably didn’t eat enough to help. Just drink the water. You’ll feel better.”

  “You can go back to the party. I’ll be fine.”

  “It’s not a party.” Dayton sat next to her on the bed, moving the curtain away from them both. “It’s the same thing every night. I’m good to skip it just this once.”