Chapter Fifteen
Valerie was more than surprised when she and Adrienne walked away from the second Sending unscathed.
Even more so, Niko and Amy had stayed true to their word.
Not only had they gone through with their promise to convince Sienna and Tamera to join their alliance, but they’d voted with them.
Tamera had agreed only because she and Valerie had shared a brief connection for the five minutes they were paired together, though she had very much wanted to reiterate her dislike for Adrienne.
In the end, three votes had landed against Carmen and Safiya, and thereafter the contestants had reached a unanimous decision to send Carmen home. Poker players had poker faces, and apparently, the consensus was that keeping her in the game was just too risky.
“I’d like to bring back the tribute,” Safiya said, dropping down on a log beside the fire. She wiped a fresh set of tears from beneath her eyes and hugged her knees to her chest. “I think Carmen deserves at least that.”
Valerie, who absolutely hated seeing anyone cry, dropped down beside her. She slung an arm around her shoulders and nodded. “I think that’s a great idea.”
In past seasons, especially the earlier ones, the contestants came together after a Sending to pay tribute to the contestants who had been voted out. It was a small ritual of respect, a way of acknowledging that someone’s journey had ended. For some reason, the tradition had died out.
Isla stoked the embers with a stick until a shower of orange sparks floated up into the dark sky. “You go first, Safiya. You knew her the best.”
Everyone gathered around the fire pit, taking seats on overturned logs or sitting directly on the pebbles.
Valerie spotted Adrienne across the fire, and when their eyes met, she did something she hadn’t expected herself to do.
She winked. Adrienne smiled, then looked down at the fire, and Valerie wished more than anything that she was sitting beside her with her arm around her shoulders instead.
“I’m going to miss her morning pep talks,” Safiya began, her voice cracking slightly. “Every single morning, we’d walk out to the shore, and she would look at me and say, ‘Saf, today is a clean slate. Yesterday’s losses are just fertilizers for today’s victories.’”
Isla tossed her poking stick aside and folded her knees beneath herself. “I’m going to miss how she talked in her sleep,” she said, chuckling to herself. “I don’t know if anyone else heard her two nights ago.”
“You mean when she sat up and yelled, ‘I don’t want to swim anymore, Mom,’” Sienna said, laughing, which had everyone laughing.
Valerie forced out a chuckle, not because she remembered that moment.
On the contrary, she did not. In fact, she was quite certain that was the night she and Adrienne had been naked in the pine forest. Had anyone noticed they weren’t there?
She quickly caught Adrienne’s gaze and watched a flash of panic mirror her own face.
But if anyone had noticed, then surely they would’ve said something by now. Right?
“I love how she used to bluff herself into thinking that beans and rice were a five-course meal,” Tamera said, smiling at the fire. “Her last meal was apparently a charred filet mignon with a side of truffled mashed potatoes.”
“She was also the loudest chewer I’ve ever heard,” Stevie added, yanking off her Doc Martens and plopping them down beside her. “It sounded like she was chewing on rocks.”
“She asked if I could write my next book with a poker player as the main character,” Amy said, yawning so wide she could swallow the fire and all of them in one go.
“She thinks a high-stakes card shark from Las Vegas who knows exactly when to hold ‘em and when to fold ‘em would make a great love interest. She also begged me to include a scene with a private suite poker table and a pair of silk restraints.”
“I’d read that,” Niko said, nodding. “But only after I’ve indulged Spurred and Spanked. I’m going to order that book as soon as I get home.”
More laughter rippled through the circle, but this time Valerie didn’t join in.
Hearing them talk about Carmen in the past tense felt too much like a funeral.
Suddenly she wasn’t on the island anymore.
She was standing on the linoleum porch of Sitka’s assisted living facility with the smell of lavender ripe in her nose.
“I want my tombstone surrounded by fireweed,” Hattie was saying as Valerie pushed the squeaky wheelchair out onto the garden path.
“And don’t you dare let anyone cry. I want everyone dancing to ABBA.
” Valerie had laughed it off and told her mom she was being ridiculous.
She wasn’t going to die; she was going to live forever.
They were going to beat it. The next second, the garden path fell away, and Valerie could see those giant ethereal wings.
She shuddered so violently that even Safiya, who was still tucked in the crook of Valerie’s armpit, looked at her. “You alright?” she asked.
“Fine,” Valerie said, dropping her arm only to smooth her suddenly clammy hands across the front of her jeans.
“I’ll go next.” She paused. Her interactions with Carmen had been limited to water refill excursions.
But even so, Carmen loved to talk. “I don’t think any of us realize how good she was at poker.
She literally just came off—and I mean a week before Outlast Her started—a massive victory at the World Poker Tour in Sydney. ”
“Really?” Isla and Stevie asked at the same time.
Valerie was just about to mention the astounding amount she’d won when Niko said, “Your turn, Adrienne.”
Valerie looked across the flames at Adrienne.
She had her long legs tucked up to her chest. So far tonight, Adrienne had said next to nothing.
Even at The Sending, her name had barely come up.
Valerie had a suspicion that after the last Sending, when she’d basically been everyone’s target practice, Vivian had decided to take it easy on her.
Adrienne cleared her throat and for some reason, Valerie’s stomach did a nervous little flip. If Adrienne opened her mouth right now and said she had no idea what to say because she had, in fact, never had a conversation with Carmen, well...
Valerie braced herself.
“I told her I loved her Khaite ribbed tank top. I’ve got it in three different colors. She said I can have hers when she goes.” She reached into the front pocket of her hoodie and pulled out a knit fabric the color of a forest. “She gave it to me just before she left.”
Valerie stared at the fabric, stunned. Not only had she completely missed the exchange—which was surprising considering she had a firm grasp on Adrienne’s whereabouts at all times—but as she looked around the circle, she felt a massive wave of relief.
Everyone looked satisfied, almost impressed by her tribute.
It appeared Adrienne had come a long way since that first Sending.
“Alright, everyone,” Isla said, heaving herself up as if she had a hundred-pound weight attached to her back. “I’m off to bed.”
Valerie watched her go as more murmurs of sleep echoed around her. Soon enough everyone had left for the shelter except for Valerie and Adrienne. For what felt like forever, they sat without moving, without talking, without even looking at each other.
Then, when the flames were shorter and the night darker, Adrienne pushed herself up, but instead of heading toward the shelter, like Valerie assumed she would, Adrienne made a beeline for the path leading toward Moon Pit.
Before Valerie could even think about what her legs were doing, she followed.
“I didn’t know you even spoke to Carmen,” she said when they were both out of earshot of camp. She bent low under a broken branch no one had bothered to cut down and added, “Or that she gave you that top.”
Adrienne looked back over her shoulder and smiled.
It was as if she knew Valerie would follow, and hoped she’d follow.
Frankly, that look in her eye warmed Valerie’s body in all the wrong places.
Or were they all the right places? “I’m not an ice statue, Val.
I do actually make an effort with people out here. I have a heart.”
“I never said you didn’t.”
Adrienne laughed. “Let’s talk about something else.”
“Like what?” Valerie asked.
“Mmm,” Adrienne said, obviously teasing. There was something on her mind, and Valerie was desperate to know what it was. “Did you really mean it when you said that you liked me? Do you really like me, or was it just your orgasm talking?”
“I do like you,” Valerie answered truthfully. “And if I had to go back and tell my old self that had just met you aboard The Valentine, that I’d end up liking Adrienne Vale, I’d think I’d gone completely insane. Insane enough to be admitted to—” She suddenly stopped in her tracks.
Ahead of her, deep in the shadows from two twisty olive trees, she could hear the murmur of voices talking so low it was obvious they didn’t want to be overheard.
Two steps closer and she spotted Sienna and Isla hunched over a flat limestone boulder.
They had their backs facing them and shoulders touching.
Valerie could just make out their fingers tearing at a small wooden container.
Wait. Was that what she thought it was?
Before Valerie could even consider the possibility, she grabbed Adrienne by the crook of her elbow and pulled her off the path until they were hiding behind a chest-high thicket of Jerusalem sage.
Moon Pit was the only part of the island where the silver leaves and their whorls of buttery-yellow flowers thrived.
“Do you think they found something?” Adrienne whispered. Her breath brushed the skin at the back of Valerie’s neck, and every single hair stood straight up. “The—”
“Advantage,” Valerie interrupted grimly. And yes, that was exactly what she thought.
In every single season of Outlast Her, production hid a game-changing advantage inside a box of treats and finding that box meant holding the ultimate power.
“I’m going to confront them,” Adrienne said.
Ugh! Did Adrienne have zero Outlast Her tact? You were supposed to watch from the shadows, gather information, and use it for leverage later. Before Valerie could even open her mouth to stop her, Adrienne strode out of the tree line.
“Sharing is caring, ladies,” she declared, swinging her hips.
Isla whipped her head back so fast that she lost her balance. Sienna let out a shriek that sounded like a cat screeching and then slapped a hand to her heart. “What the hell, Adrienne,” she said, her breath as raspy as sandpaper against wood. “You scared the crap out of me.”
Adrienne laughed. “As my dad would say, a guilty conscience has better hearing than a hunting dog.” Her voice dripped with so much honey, it practically drowned the insult. “I’m surprised you didn’t hear us coming.”
Isla rolled her eyes, but she was smiling, and Valerie took that as her cue. She stepped out into the clearing and stood next to Adrienne. Neither Isla nor Sienna seemed surprised to see her, but then again, Valerie and Adrienne had been spending a lot of time together.
“Are those cookies?” Valerie asked, pointing toward the wooden box half-obscured by Isla and Sienna’s legs. When it came to sweet treats, Valerie had the nose of a bloodhound.
“I’m sure I can smell vanilla and almond nuts.”
“They’re Kourabiedes,” Isla said, stepping back to pick up the box. She flipped the lid shut and held it like a baby. “Sienna found the box out by the well this morning when we went to fill the water bottles. And if you’re going to ask, which I know you are, we had every intention of sharing.”
“That’s a lie,” Adrienne said without missing a beat.
Her voice was still sweet, but the words were not, and Valerie had to admit this was exactly the type of game she’d expected Adrienne to play.
After all, she was a Sinner. “If you were going to share, then surely your pairs would be here? Last time I checked, Safiya and Tamera were fast asleep.”
Sienna looked terribly guilty. Isla, on the other hand, did not. “Fine. You got us. But don’t act like you wouldn’t have kept it a secret if you found it.”
“I’d tell Valerie,” Adrienne said without pausing to think about it, which was not only terribly satisfying but also the truth.
And not just because Valerie and Adrienne were growing closer than ever, but because in a game like this, trusting your partner wasn’t an option.
It was survival. “But I wouldn’t tell any of you.
So don’t worry, we’re equally as evil.” She winked.
Sienna gave a nervous little laugh that bounced off the nearby rocks. “So you’re not going to tell Tamera and Safiya?”
The sinful thing to do would be to say no and then go behind their back and do exactly that.
But Valerie had a feeling Adrienne wouldn’t do that.
Besides, Isla and Sienna were big players and right now they could use them on their team.
If this were a game of football, Sienna and Isla were the heavy-hitting midfielders protecting the back line.
And Valerie and Adrienne needed all the protection they could get.
“No,” Adrienne said, shaking her head. “This can be our little secret.”
Sienna’s shoulders visibly relaxed. Isla didn’t.
And Valerie knew why. Sharing the advantage was somehow more difficult than sharing the crumbly, pale almond shortbread biscuits dusted so heavily in powdered sugar that they reminded Valerie of Sitka winters and pine branches heavy with fresh snow.
Her mouth was literally watering at the thought.
“I assume you know all about the advantage then?”
“I do,” Adrienne replied. Her fingers wrapped around a thick, woody stem of Jerusalem sage and snapped it clean in half.
Then she smiled and cocked her head in a way that even Valerie got goosebumps.
Honestly, watching Adrienne take control of the situation did things to Valerie that were wildly inappropriate for where they were standing at this very minute.
If she could, she’d rip Adrienne’s bikini top off with her teeth.
“Every season they give away an advantage that can send a whole pair home. I’m assuming that’s it and it’s not a protection bracelet. ”
“It’s not,” Sienna said before Isla could speak.
Would Isla have lied? Probably.
“Good,” Adrienne said. “Then I have an idea for our next vote.”
“You do?” Valerie asked, frowning. That was news to her. They’d just come back from the last Sending. Any thoughts of the next one were still very much in limbo.
“Niko and Amy,” Adrienne said without looking at her.
Wait, what?
But Valerie didn’t get a chance to question Adrienne’s decision because Isla then glanced toward Sienna and for the first time since Isla entered this game, she looked more like herself. “Done.”